LowRyter

There are two, perhaps three sockets needed to remove and install the retainers. According to Don, it's been a comedy of errors with the post office. They are having some issues with the postman himself.

Greenie still in the shop. The good news is that SKF is sending a disassembly socket for 3rh time, hopefully the charm. I'll be riding the Duc if I'm up to it. Are you going?

I'm thinking about riding over, depending on the weather. The local Ducati club is staying in Pflugerville. I haven't ridden there in 5 years. My Doctor has cleared me. Now if I could get over some leg pain from my last gym visit and garden hoeing, I might be able to make 400 miles on Thursday. I've enjoyed T1. I think the group has already purchased tickets for T15. I've not sat there, but that grandstand is close to a sell out. Not been up the tower but have little patience for lines (Gu$$i content), afraid of heights. My understanding, the only concern for tickets is F1, and the worst part of that is getting to the track. It looks to be another Marquez exhibition race. But at least he's Rosso Corsa. The tradition is to meet up at Black's BBQ Sat after Quals. The best spot for photos is Friday on the south bridge before the bulls kick you off. Dovi on red

I'm considering riding to COTA, given weather and my health. so maybe. we all knew that 93 will likely win regardless.

More a question of when. The shop has had an ongoing fight with the post office. The first delivery was lost, the 2nd one was in a crushed box and the post office sent it back before it could opened and examined. It's not like the owner told me, so did two of the techs told me before he did.

Heck, I keep a patch kit and inflator when I travel with the runflats on my Corvette. For the record 0-2. They do like to blowout.

I've had couple of drinks...so maybe tomorrow I'll know what you're writing about.

Plenty + tips, 15% minimum, 18% standard. We tried to get some visibility about these hidden fees but we had an election in Nov and that's just one on things we forgot about. I hope you get to see the Dead & Co in Vegas. I'm hopeful to take the 'vette on a road trip and do the same if my health allows it.

We've talked about that. I think they want to gentrify their tool cabinet. Since it's been there for nearly a year and heart issues are keeping me from riding for the next week, the issue is on my back burner.

The tool still not delivered from SKF, IIRC it's coming from Germany.

I was going to call them spider retainers, but was afraid of being ridiculed.

oooh. my. I see I wrote about he Duc here too. It needed a new ABS pump as well as the radiator. The pump is $3k new, found take off for $60. So for the radiator, a new shiny aluminum Chinese radiator for $185. The bike was within a few hundred miles of the 36k service so the labor costs were only marginally more. Less than buying a pair of tires. I will say it was disappointing but it could've been worse. I've put a little more that 1,000 miles since the repair. EBay and internet can be your friends. As well as a local tech shop that'll work on Guzzis and Ducs.

OK, finally got the gearbox out and apart. As I reported elsewhere here, they've ordered new Temken cage bearings. The crux of the problems was one of the retainers came loose from one of the gears on the secondary shaft. The gear was grinding into the side cover and etched a nice ring. They said a lot crap was in the bottom of the case. We assume that all those shavings took out the bearings. They haven't disassembled the gear set yet because they had to order a tool to remove one of the retainers. So far it looks good, but we won't know it's taken apart and inspected. The special hair spring that I purchased here will be installed when the transmission goes back together. Another thing I might try are some new clutch springs. Someone, locally I believe, has come with better clampin but smoother and light action springs. I was told that it would make the clutch lever, although I don't how that's possible. Hopefully that bike will be on the road in the next couple of weeks. There's a silver Sport in the shop too. It belongs to one of younger techs. The gearbox is removed on that one too. Mine will be a teaching example for him.

Saw jeff and jan back in '78 (?) jan was a little thinner and had more hair. does it sound like Miami Vice?

I always thought Jan Hammer did the music for Miami Vice. Someone should post Jeff Beck's "Wired" here.