Scud

I'm probably going to buy some tiny boxes from U-Line. I was concerned about the 90-degree bend poking through an envelope. Kind of busy with work and other stuff around the house. Will get this organized as soon as possible. If anybody has a tranny open or breaks a spring, let me a know - I can ship a few immediately if needed.

We have springs. I measured everything against Chuck's drawing and they seem to be correct. The cut edges are a bit rough, but a few strokes on a mill file will take care of that. Now I need to figure out a little package to ship them in and come up with some final prices for you guys. I'll work on that, and install one in my spare pre-selector as a final check.

Two of my daughters thought the leather bibs were so funny that they went and put on some bib-overalls of their own and "made" me pose for a photo with them. You won't be seeing it.

Uhh, I know from hard won experience that 6 machines own you. ...and what if some of those machines can fly?

Ha - guilty as charged. I've been hanging around the MEBC (Moto Euro Breakfast Club) in San Diego. It meets clandestinely at remote cafes near twisty backroads. The "average" member is a retired guy with more European-made motorcycles than his significant other knows about. Some even have one (or more) stashed in Europe for use when visiting. A bunch of real-life heroes. Very aspirational. If my Beemer sells, the remaining bikes will not just be all-Euro, they'll be all-Italia, because my Husky is from the MV era. I took the wee-brick to MEBC breakfast last week and found to my pleasant surprise that I could still fit in my 30-year-old BMW factory leathers (which have bib-overall style pants and brilliant red satin lining). I was the epitome of retro 90s BMW snobbery with my period correct blue bike (with all three factory hard cases) and blue and grey leathers. What was this thread about again?

I don't go out of my way to watch this type of thing. But when I do, I like to "imprint" where I would have made a different decision. There is (almost) ALWAYS a moment where a different decision would have prevented the crash.

Haha... the Greenie is cool in person, especially in bright sun when that candy apple green really shines. When my greenie wandered into my garage she took over the Red LeMans' spot. But she knows not to try to compete with the Scura. But gosh... I like almost all kinds of motorcycles.

There's low speed steering, such as U-turns, where you do turn the bars in the direction of travel. Then there's high-speed steering, where you "push right to go right." And there's an inflection point where the bike changes which input works better. For grins, go ride your bike slowly and try to figure out what speed that is. I think it's somewhere around 10-15 mph on a V11. A scooter rider who is used to going slow all the time could get confused on high-speed corners when a different kind of input to the bars is required. Interesting chat we are having about steering in general - but I agree that the video is just highlighting inexperience.

I'm assuming Ken has a spare wheel with no bearings or spacer - and has a complete wheel on the bike, which he prefers to leave intact. I say go ahead and powder coat the spare, knock a bearing out of the wheel that's on the bike now, and put the spacer and new bearings in the powder coated wheel. Then you'll know for sure what the spacer looks like - and if mine is a match. You can also put new bearings in the original front wheel.

I have this spacer, which I think came out of a 2002 LeMans. ID=20mm, OD=25.5mm, Length=133.75mm It looks different than the part in the diagram - but the one in the diagram seems familiar too, so I am a bit uncertain if I have the right part for you. It's not hard to remove the spacer in your current wheel. Just knock out one wheel bearing - then you'll know for sure.

I didn't notice that this was an ad at first. I was wondering what your question was. There's a chance that I have one of those... will go take a look.

I think it's all playful, sort of an inside-joke, and nobody takes the paint-color identity seriously. Though I will say that my Greenie tends to draw more looks than most bikes I've had. It's such a bold and unusual color - one of those love it or hate designs.

My neighbor gave me a motorcycle dolly today. It had a leaky Harley on it for a few years. It cleaned up like new. So the Champagne LeMans has a new, space-saving parking spot while it waits for me to have time to work on it again.

A flat washer might work, but I think the cupped one is meant to reduce potential interference - so just be sure the washer is not hitting anywhere and restricting movement.

Nice to see her out and about again. Docc. I rode 120 miles to retrieve a "Freshly Baked Almond Coffee Ring" from Dudley's bakery in Santa Ysabel. Totally worth it. Anyone who attended the recent San Diego Guzzi (not a) Rally probably stopped by Dudley's. I've been getting coffee and pasty here for close to 30 years. Almost every bike I've ever owned has been here. And for giggles, while doing other maintenance on my ST3 yesterday, I installed green vents as a tip-of-the-hat to Benelli's silver and green bikes. Sort of like Docc's zinc-chromate green as tribute to Guzzi's colors as applied by Carcano.

Looks like fun. The bracket and studs on the spine are for an external fuel filter - they serve no purpose if you have an internal fuel pump and filter. I don't know what the extra wire harness connector is (was) for.

I think there will be plenty of springs to go around - and we can always have another batch made. I suppose they should be arriving next week or so.

Unfortunate accident - but totally avoidable. That is pure operator error, starting with riding in the middle of two-way road that has no divider line. In the slow-mo, you can see that he was not covering the front brake. He goes for the front brake right after the bike is unsettled - which could have been a consequence of locking the rear brake. Too many riders use the rear brake as the primary brake. Counter-steering on a motorcycle is called steering - that's just how bikes turn (along with weight transfer on seat and footpegs). Counter-steering on a motorcycle can be seen when the rear wheel is sliding way out on purpose - as in dirt track racing.

Most states have a law prohibiting the double-occupancy of a lane. California had no such prohibition, therefore what we called lane splitting for a long time was technically considered double-occupancy of a lane - or lane sharing. Making it legal in AZ would be great progress, and maybe encourage more people to ride because they get through commuter traffic. But it's going to take a concerted effort to educate the riders - and to change the attitudes of the car drivers.

You know I think this was an "engineering" topic as much as anything that has now taken on a extra philosophical element which I kind of enjoy:)Some of the best threads end up this way. You learn about the engineering and get the life lessons for free. Ciao I'm enjoying the philosophy too. But ya gotta admit... this is expert-level thread-drift.

Very nice Chuck. Eager to hear your riding impressions and if you notice any difference.

Great bike - obviously well cared for and lots of nice upgrades/additions.

I like the look of that build (although I still prefer the original design). As a rider, I would like to at least have a rear fender and air filters. I suppose that's not needed if you only go to cafes on nice days. On the weight savings, they said it was a top priority, but didn't report the net weight savings... so it looks lighter, but what is the actual weight? Also interesting that they didn't try to cut weight on the rear wheel and drive, with the possible exception of the reaction rod that goes from frame to top of final drive. No lightweight brake rotors... no lightweight wheels. I wonder how much weight carburetion saves vs fuel injection? The bike no longer has the fuel pump, ecu, some sensors, the airbox, and there would be less fuel line and less wiring.

@dangerous - I only bought the tranny from e-bay. Seller said it was from a Nero Corsa. That's all I know.