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That's cool. Paging Jim....Paging Helicopterjim.... please meet your party at the the G&G factory booth....

I recently got my copy of Motorcycle Consumer News (MCN) and was reading through it last night. Inside, the review various products and in this issue they mention a CO detector. Since the issue of tuning has come up several times recently, I thought this might be of general interest. From MCN: "If you ar a very serious home mechanic and own a bike like a Yamaha [ed: ] which is fitted with plugs in each exhaust header to allow individual CO adjustments, or a modern fuel injected machine, this $170 carbon monoxide tester can produce previously unobtainable accuracy in your tune-up efforts. Properly adjusted CO will provide superior driveability, idle smoothness and reduced emissions. This machine is very accrurate, and produces results within 0.5% of multi-thousand dollar professional gas analyzers. It attaches with alligator clips to your bike's battery fro easy portability. $169.95 from Auto Expert Products, Inc. (800)795-6958." I have no affiliation with the analyzer- don't know anything more than what's printed above, but MCN usually does a good check on products. cheers, Jason

John, Nice post! I'm biased but I agree with you about today's petrochemical industry. It spends fabulous amounts of money on product development and although there is some crap out there (as ever)- there are also some very high quality products. J

Trailers have ramparts? huh?

It's ok, I moved the topic for you. I've had this discussion with my local mechanic who swears by two cycle oil. His claim was that the stabilizers don't do much, but he's always had good luck by mixing in a few percent of just plain two cycle oil with the gas. I can't verify or deny that, but chemically speaking the two cycle oil is heavier and less likely to evaporate. So maybe it would help- it wouldn't actually stabilze the gas though. I would suggest that you just try to ride occassionally and not mess with any additives. Charleston as in South Carolina? Maybe you won't be able to ride every day, but even once a month should be fine, I would think. I ride pretty much all year round up here in I-oh-way, although not very long distance, and I don't bother with fuel stabilizers. Besides, modern fuel blends should be relatively stable anyhow. Certanly they are less volitile, so less likely to varnish. Then again, the two cycle engine will do the same. I dunno... Jason

Definitely NOT Iowa State. 'Round here that's like calling a Tsipper an Aggie. sorry for derailing your thread, Al. J

Welcome! Glad to hear you like the Sport. Just think of the oil incident as lubricating the bearing in the rear drive that didn't get any grease at the factory. Yeah, that's it. It was maintenance, not a gasket blowout. J

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/v11manuals/ look under the 'files' section. Jason

Hey Maurice, sorry I wasn't clear- I was thinking balanced with respect to the shaft counterweights. But yes, of course you could balance the individual pistons, but I bet Mike Rich already did that. And dude, you would most definitely not want to weigh any dope out on the scales in my lab. Not unless you want some serious unpleasantness (if that's a word). cheers, Jason

So you strip them and put them on YOUR bike, Robbie. Gotta start thinkin' man. J

Ah, but we do believe you. You've been assimilated. Seriously, sounds like you need two bikes. Get a little 250 or 400cc dirt bike for the 'nimble wheelie fest' bike and keep the Guzzi for the longer faster stuff. The Sport is (ahem) a great bike. Please don't tell your wife I suggested that. Jason

John- very nice! Since Pete has crushed my dreams of retiring to a south pacific isle with nubile young titters (?!), I may as well keep teaching... no money in that either. J

It seems to me that windage plates are just a fix for the real problem (if there is one). Has anyone put knife edges on the crank to reduce windage? One related point- remember it's the back of the crank that would cause any disturbances. As it whizzes around at speed, there's a vacuum that follows the flat crank weight. That's what sucks up oil (if it really does). Also- if you do make a windage plate, you might want to remove those points on it- isn't that what causes stress fractures? J

Ballacraine, I scanned the instruction sheets that came with the RAM clutch and posted them on my website. It's about a 2.2 MB download (sorry). http://plasterbath.chem.uiowa.edu/bikes.html Cheers, Jason

Hi Brian, Check the left switch cluster first. I've had one go bad on me resulting in no headlight. Sounds similar to yours. Can't say about the brake light. Also, check the clutch failsafe switch. That could cause the bike not to start. Or the sidestand switch...that one too. Does the bike turn over, but not start? Or does the starter even engage? Jason

If anyone goes, let me know how the 1100 Breva looks. I'm kind o' interested in that bike. Does it look like the seating is upright, and would normal (34 inseam) legs be bent 90 degrees or more acutely? If you go, enjoy the show....bet it's not coming to Iowa J

Well, if it's a matter of WHEN and not IF, then it makes sense to go ahead and replace the clutch now, as a preventative caution. You'll do it sooner or later, and sooner seems to be cautious choice. I don't have a Scura, but I would guess the warning would be a loud chattering. I'm just guessing though. I do have a new RAM clutch (in my Eldo, 850GT to you Euro-folks). It is dynamically balanced. It says so right on the instructions. If I still have the instructions in the garage, I could scan and post them if anyone is interested. There's not much in them, but if you want to have a look, let me know. J

I got a set from 'The Fonz' and they are nicely done. It's just a drop-in replacement and everything fits just perfectly. I mounted them up this afternoon after I got back from a ride. They do move the pegs back and down, but not as much as the old evoluzione kit did. I'm going to ride with them in the 'stock' position for awhile, then put them in the evoluzione position to see which I prefer. Woo hoo! toys! J

Since you have to loosen up the headers and whatnot, you might take this opportunity to put some neversieze on the exhaust bolt flanges. Do a little preventative maintenance. J

Antonio, Sorry to offend your sensibilities. Those were new tires (like 4 days new) when I took that picture- I'm much closer to the edge on them now. Not to the edge, mind you, but close. Curves are precious few and far between around here....but there are a few. Chris, The fit is a lot better than it looks in the pictures. Those were taken the day I mounted it up- that's silicon in the seam, so it looks funky. If you saw it today, you wouldn't notice. Pierrot's definitely looks like a better fit than mine, though. I think it's the same part since I originally got the idea from one of his posts. I took a different strategy in mounting it up- I cut the sides off when I mounted it because it was a) difficult to mount straight because the plastic curves did not match up exactly, and I didn't want the fender to wrap around the tire. J

I don't know about welding, but the bolts do need some heat to melt the loctite. Could you use a torch or a heavy duty soldering iron to warm them up? What about using an impact driver to loosen the bolts? J

OK, what about filters with backflow valves vs. filters without backflow valves? My guess is that it doesn't matter much, since the filter is always full and under oil, but does a valved oil filter prevent (slow down?) oil from flowing into the pan from the heads/crank bearing/etc? J

I fitted one on my bike as well. I found that the NT650 part was far too squared off to fit well (I never could mount it straight), so I cut the edges off with a dremel tool and shaped it to fit. It works ok, but I wish it were even longer. I still get some road crap on the lower part of the alternator cover and engine. Here's two views- it looks better in person- the pictures highlight the flaws I made in cutting (I've since evened it out a bit more). J Edited 11/14- I don't have the kawasaki extenda- I have the part from a NT650. Still didn't fit well.

Guzzi's like abuse. Ride 'em hard and put 'em away wet.