Pressureangle

Soooo... Pulled into the kid's place in Martin, GA about 11:30. Brought the Mille GT for him to ride. Seat's missing, probably somewhere in the Atlanta construction. Who brought a spare? :/

Yeah they don't count if they've never been struck

Looks like I'm taking a direct hit from Dorian for Labor Day weekend. But hey, the bike's already up in Georgia.

I don't even play with those plugs anymore. I have Snap-On 1/2" drive socket keys and a 24" breaker bar. Scary but it's as good as it can get.

Never liked the rotors on my '97 Sporti- pulse, inconsistent, etc. I know this was a problem, and I've done all the power wash/hammer hitting to loosen them up but they're just not very good. What's the EBC/Braking option for replacement? I've found fitment on the EBC website, but from vendors it's never clear about "X-type" "Left-Right-Both" WTF ever. Who's got a clear answer and quick source? Southern Spine Raid is coming up and I can't leave Docc in front of me all the time. 'Specially if he's riding a Duck.

Centauro is different. I have no idea if this fits others, it's listed only as Centauro. https://www.harpermoto.com/harpers-6061-billet-aluminum-shift-lever-for-centauro.html

https://www.harpermoto.com/harpers-6061-billet-alum.-shift-lever-0110831.html

I did 10k miles on mine with stock airbox/K&N filter. It was pretty well dialed in. I wrung my hands and cut the top off the lid. Without changing anything on the map, it feels...brighter. This of course says nothing about the performance of pods, but I rode my '85 LM1000 35,000 miles with pods and the maintenance just sucks nails. Dirty all the time, squash after being off 30 times, and the worst thing was when it rained hard (South Florida- once got 8 inches in 10 hours) the water interfered with airflow enough to richen the thing into nearly fouling plugs. So I never considered them on the Sport, since none of my bikes are "Fair weather only".

I found the bolts on my '97 to be f***ing TIGHT. But both ends still slid on the shafts. After <insert u-joint horror story> I cleaned everything and tightened the bolts until I felt the yoke clamp the shafts, then torqued. In the end it was to about book spec for that fastener/thread, which escapes me at the moment. My conclusion is that the fit and finish at the factory, coupled with inadequate initial torque allows a bit of wear- or 'smoothing' and goes slack in the splines. Has anyone read the factory maintenance documents, to find if they recommend periodic retorquing?

That's what I mean by old 25; I remember taking that down from Michigan to Florida as a yout. Quite an adventure for a 5 year old in a '64 Oldsmobile. I didn't recommend that on the way down precisely because it's such good riding that I would either get lost in it and be late to the raid, or remiss that I didn't spend more time in it. That stretch is actually on my bucket list and has been for a very long time. Perhaps I'll accompany Mikko after the raid.

Unfortunately, there's nothing but corn between him and the Raid. Corn or traffic. Bleah. Might could catch a little of old 25 on the way home tho.

Wonderful. Yes, from USA. It's my intention to attend the TT at the Isle of Man in the next couple years, and I thought that rather than shipping directly there, I'd land in Italy a month early and ride off to IoM to finish the trip. The paperwork doesn't seem unbearable for the reward. Thanks!

Remo, I'm planning a riding trip to Italy/Europe someday in the... future. What's the requirement for bringing my own motorcycle into Italy? Registration, insurance, etc.? Or is it so much a problem I should rent or purchase there?

I knew that header would suck you in like an oil thread. My '89 Mille GT is my third big block. I've done little with it since I bought it save install Mistral mufflers, replace the busted up instrument cluster, and give it a basic tune up; timing, valve adjust, carb balance. It seems to run quite well. But it has a lot more noise at idle than the others. It's quiet as soon as you get a few revs in it. Seems worse on the right side. Timing chain adjuster? It's showing just under 37k miles, and looks about right for that age and mileage. The previous owner quite obviously had no clue, as the carbs were wacked and the clutch was so tight it slipped above half throttle. Hopefully it won't need a new one, but I have to put some miles on it to know. Of course, I'll not be able to stay out of it but there's plenty stacked in front of it, and the forum's been pretty quiet so I'm volleying the shuttlecock.

I have peeps around Mt. Pleasant. Dad's west of Clare on Coleman Rd., and Ron Hamp (RHC racing) is on 46 a couple miles west of 127. I may get up there this fall for some riding and visiting through there and Traverse City.

Try that... Duh

Liquid cooled engines are far quieter overall. The fact that Honda used backlash gears proves my point.

Odd, they appear in your response to me

Gears are better than chains in every way but one- noise. Gears are noisy, chains are quiet. So any bike that has to pass any sort of noise test (EPA here) benefits from using a cam chain instead of gears. Even HD went to chains in their big twins, because they trade the cam noise for exhaust/intake noise. Functionally? Probably not noticeable, if the chain is good and the tensioner is adequate. Still, I'll have a set in mine eventually, because riding an Italian motorcycle and asking why something makes sense is a silly thing.

...finally got around to installing the RAM mount I bought before last year's trip. Kudos to whoever it was that sorted this out before, took the FOFIU out of it. Simple enough; cut the stand off the bottom bracket, follow the instructions for stem mount, but you have to hold the bottom nut assembly against the screw from the bottom. I used a piece of 3/8" fuel line. Nuthin' like close-ups to show you where you need to clean and polish.

I reserved garage space, but likely won't bring more than one bike. So I'll have extra. Unless H-D gives me a boner back for the Livewire.

I hadn't ridden (nor washed, nor pulled maintenance) on the Sporti since my trip last fall. Changed fluids a bit ago, engine oil a couple days ago and rode to the car wash. Forgot that eating it in the parking lot 4 times on that trip led to a stripped valve cover bolt and gasket leak. So, todays project was installing Time-Serts in the lower 4 bolt holes. I'd have done them all, but it really wasn't necessary and I didn't want to pull the fairing.

Reserved my spot at the Lodge yesterday.