Martin Barrett

All in aid of keeping alert, coiled spring

I don't know what your tax is like on the weed, but putting the cost of it to a new toy is both one way of justifying the purchase and rewarding your self for quitting.

Over the last couple of nights I've spent many an hour trawling through the internet looking at various Triumph twins of various vintages. There are several books on the subject and detail model changes year by year but can't find it reproduced. Obviously there are lots of pictures, the period ones tend to be small and grainy or pencil drawings from strange angles. This one - T90 350cc Tiger is about one of the best matches, despite my fluent Japanese I'm unable to confirm that its been restorded to as original. I might beforced to the local lending library to find one of those text books

Saw the Atomium early 90's, intresting definately not spectacular, had a friend working out there visited a couple of times. But Brussels well worth a visit

I think it probably can be tarred with the same brush as any of the big Twins; R1??0GS, Valderardo/Africa Twin, Tenere/TDM, D-Strom, Rally Raid, Adventurer, Tiger(okay it's a triple) basicly big comfy road bikes that have a little more ground clearance and are a bit more suitable for unmade roads than your normall road bike. Off road they only come into there own on the open sand where they are capable of higher sustained speeds than the more manouverable single, but when they pile in they do big time and hence I think they're no longer used in Paris-Dakar and the ilk. I quite like the idea of the big twins for adventure touring, but I think you need to know their limits and your own. You'd allways need to ride in pairs at least just to pick the bloody thing up repeatedly. Stick to reasonable roads and tracks don't try and do to much. If you want to do realy wild country a smaller single is the way to go. But Yeah, go for it. If your mates are on any of the above why not go for the Quota. Is it likely to sustain any more damage in a tumble than a Beemer (plugs etc)? Go kick up some rooster tails across Tennessee. (my off road experiance is trials a a youth, a week loan of a KLR650 road use, the Lemans down some bumpy rocky tracks on the RBR and its been parked on the lawn all summer as the garage is full )

Ben, is this not you and your silver V11? Good selection of Guzzis there

They're obviously as full of shit as we are then. No wonder we have so many Buell owners (or prospective ones)

Worlds most powerful diesal engine in the world The Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke diesel engine is the most powerful and most efficient prime-mover in the world today. The Aioi Works of Japan's Diesel United, Ltd built the first engines and is where some of these pictures were taken. It is available in 6 through 14 cylinder versions, all are inline engines. These engines were designed primarily for very large container ships. Ship owners like a single engine/single propeller design and the new generation of larger container ships needed a bigger engine to propel them. The cylinder bore is just under 38" and the stroke is just over 98". Each cylinder displaces 111,143 cubic inches (1820 liters) and produces 7780 horsepower. Total displacement comes out to 1,556,002 cubic inches (25,480 liters) for the fourteen cylinder version. Some facts on the 14 cylinder version: Total engine weight: 2300 tons (The crankshaft alone weighs 300 tons.) Length: 89 feet Height: 44 feet Maximum power: 108,920 hp at 102 rpm Maximum torque: 5,608,312 lb/ft at 102rpm Fuel consumption at maximum power is 0.278 lbs per hp per hour (Brake Specific Fuel Consumption). Fuel consumption at maximum economy is 0.260 lbs/hp/hour. At maximum economy the engine exceeds 50% thermal efficiency. That is, more than 50% of the energy in the fuel in converted to motion. For comparison, most automotive and small aircraft engines have BSFC figures in the 0.40-0.60 lbs/hp/hr range and 25-30% thermal efficiency range. Even at it's most efficient power setting, the big 14 consumes 1,660 gallons of heavy fuel oil per hour.

A bit harsh it would seem on first, but do they discuss metaphysical matters such as Schrodinger's Cat ,the Corolis effect and other such highbrow matters

Jason, Touch Guy!!! you're full of wind As Jaap has deviated away from the pure Joan, there is allways Joni Mitchell with her Big Yellow Taxi the nemisis of the Guzzi, with it's special U turn anti Guzzi manoeuvre.

Nice thumb Living on our little island I tend to forget just how big the US really is, and how remote some of the places are. Very spectacular. I liked the rocks and stone tag A grand tour of the US is on my must do list, but will have to wait till I retire. But I must do Europe first untill then.

love the domain name

You forgot Joan Armatrading it in for a Buell

vote cast , though can't tell you which, secret ballot

I thought I was the trouble maker. I'm going to come off the group W bench and sit on the fence (hope its's a strong one) My Lemans is my first Guzzi and my first brand new bike. It came from a multi franchise stack 'em high dealer. This dealer is the same distance to me as two other dealers as I found out when the AA collected it when the rear shock eye snapped. Other problems I've had have been the headers cracking, rear wheel bearing, oil light switch and neutral light switch. All were attended to under warranty. Oh I forgot the LHS mirror which I did myself.(all extensivly detailed on this site and I will add in the links) I had hoped that it would a trouble free experiance being new and I had percieved Guzzi to have a reliable reputation, given dodgy electrics were a thing of the past. I now know that this is not quite the case. I've done 16,000 miles before my warranty expired, so perhaps I've been lucky and exposed these whilst it was still in force. It depends as if they are recuring faults. I suspect the wheel bearing may be, noticed a very slight knock the other day hopefully will last the 2k miles left on the tyre. But thanks to this site I know what to do if the spacer is short. likewise I've had mixed results with the dealer, some he will blame on the Guzzi set up and parts supply, other aspects of his customer care and attention could have been better. So there it is. I not unnaturally expected more than I got, but I don't raise a stink about it, and just get on with it. My character defect - Stoically easy going Whats worse if I could I'd sneak a Sporti into my garage as well (some people never learn)

http://photobucket.com/albums/v93/mgblemon...nt=IMG_1111.jpg

Form a self help group with Nogbad, suggest it be chaired by UKV11 he has a Buell, but a least he has two Guzzi (V11 and Breva 1100) to compensate. You may wear glasses with smoked lenses so that we can't see your straying eyes. Though some work may be required to get them to sit tight and not sag.

differehtial equations dy/dx etc , can't get the other symbols up to describe the limits - it all comes flooding back - not much call for it in police work. Though could be used to work out the rate of change in my girth in respect of the number and rate of donut consumption. I liked the pictures of the various orbitals, much snazzier than Lewis diagrams. In the book someone had conducted the experiment, but the cat had got bored and escaped from the box. It was all about the absudity of conducting a hypotetical experiment on probabilities that wouldn't resolve untill you looked. If I were to express this in a day to day enviroment that you could understand ( ) and show that I've learnt by taking it from one enviroment and applying it in another I would compare it to that Mrs JRT is expecting a child, ignoring all the little variables in such things, we would expect 50/50 boy/girl - doesn't resolve untill the birth. But you can peep (scans etc) and know before hand. Do you the enquiring scientist, determine before hand what colour baby clothes (blue or pink) you should bring to the hospital. Do you run around like a mad thing on the day, or have nice neutral pastels ready to cover all eventualities. Or stay at home and watch the motoGP (back to bike content) Congratulations - and I must rush off and look after the motorways, hence rushed reply above

Jason, I read about this in one of Douglas Adams books, not sure if Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency or Long dark tea time of the soul Is a real theory, have you conducted the experiment? I think he used a decaying radioactive particle to release the gas? I've just realised along with my reply to Nemo's Twin Peaks ride I've just disclosed my profesional secrets away. I've just searched for it and yes it's real. but have you done it?

Triumphs of this age are worse than modern Guzzis to tell apart. Looks to have a single carb. Definatlely no bath tub, nachele, unit construction and single down tube. Post 64 and its not the TT Special. With the single carb varients I instictively say Tiger But when you look at the historic model names and what they are used for now the usages have totaly changed I defer to Steve

Probably worthy with checking with the ins co, as all models are basicly the same slightly different set of clothes and paint, with the exceptions being now the Ohlins and non Ohlins making the price differential. They may have decided to group all the V11's in to the same group and calling them lemans or sports for simplicity sake. However if they have decided that the Ohlins equiped bikes warrant a higher grouping/loading you need to have covered this. We are such a small segment of the market I would be surpised if they went to the trouble of risk assessing each model. They would rely on the dealer the bike went to to prepare an estimate, and I would have thought that any damage to forks would indicate a possiblity of a bent frame and would write the bike off anyway. Ins cos are in the buisness of making money for thier names, so have to balance admin costs amongst other things. They may look to wriggle on paying out and this could give them a loop hole. But their bigest expense isn't going to be the difference between Ohlins and non Ohlins it will be third party claims esp injury. Unless you got new for old cover I'd be surprised if they'd pay out more than 5.5K unless you've got agreed value. I could be totally wrong - but for piece of mind check. Oh I'm not sure bronze is an approved DVLA colour. I'll check tomorrow night when back at work.

My 2003 Lemans in Grigio Titanium (black) is also shown as a Tenni. I couldn't be bothered to change it. Might raise an eyebrow if it comes to selling or ins write off but is explainable. Most motorcycle records just have make and engine size, colour, engine and frame numbers You get allsorts of cock ups on the DVLA records, especially the body type. The main one to check is the frame number, if thats wrong get it sorted. The new MOTs are all computerised and a difference there should throw up alarm bells. I think you would get away with riding all your Moto Guzzis on the same number plate, ins and VEL provided that they were all the same colour.

Need to use it on Al's get the last drop of fuel out the tank thread Best I go and join Todd on the group W bench

I think we can eliminate the Coriolis Effect it seems whilst present the forces are so small (unlike Antonio's @#$$#! (alledgedly)) as to be considered non existant. I like the naughty word filter, entered the D word and it's replaced with six characters - There for I can deduce that as far as this forum is concerned, it being inteligent software - picked up on the context of being Antonio's - it is obviously longer than initaly thought - by at least 50%

I think its the physics of the bike , some of what I said above must come in to effect. I don't know if the road camber would add to or detract, would the tyre try and climb up to the crown, in effect turns the wheel left, which gyroscopicly induce the bike to fall right, and turn right (priciple of counter steer) The tyres would be about half way through their service life so could be exagerating the effect. What was it you were planning on doing having fitted the throttlemiesters so you could take both hands of the bars, Knitting? I have to ask as there is and I don't know if its true or not, the story of the chap in the winebago who set the cruise control probably called something grandeous like "autopilot" and went to the rear to make a coffee. Unsurprisingly the vehicle crashed. Surprisingly he apparently sued the manufacturers as there wasn't anything in the handbook warning against it and won. Apparently they reprinted the handbooks. How much knitting can you do in a 1/10th of a mile if we can't cure it for you. I would like a nice green,white and red scarf.