Kane

docc, when ever I see pictures of your bike’s engine I am always impressed by how clean it is! Not one trace of oil seepage, road grime……nothing! So, in addition to the Barry White to go along with your sexy bike lift lighting, here’s one for your oh-so-clean engine:

That looks like a great stand. I am guessing that they are no longer made and are hard to find, like the other accessories made for the bikes. Thanks for the pics!

Sounds good. What / where is the factory stand? Have not heard of this before.

So what can be done about the Mistral whistle? I never noticed it until I removed the Db killers.

Wow, that looks amazing! With crepes? Is that traditional?

Yeah, I think is better. Thanks

Wonder why the Mistral make that noise. Never really heard anything like that before.

Wow, sounds like a busy and productive day! That’s a Mistral crossover. Still running the stock head pipes. I took out the Db killers when I changed the crossover. She runs and sounds great, but I do now get that metallic whistle thing when coming off the gas.

I recently removed the rear wheel and swing arm plastic shroud, and today followed-up by removing and painting the battery tray that had suffered corrosion, and installing a Ghezzi-Brian CF rear mudguard. Ghezzi-Brian is still in business, and Bruno (Brian) is a very nice person to deal with.

I had to lift the bike a bit to take pressure off of the shock/swing arm bolt to remove it and install a new rear mudguard. Front wheel chock, floor jack with a piece of 2”x4” under the sump, and a tie down strap from the subframe to a rafter in the garage for backup in case the bike went sideways. I don’t know how kosher this approach is, but it did the trick.

As great and hot as these pics are, I keep coming back to Ann-Margret as the ultimate Guzzi girl. I know these pics have been posted before, but look in her eyes, and the lines of her body on the bike. She’s one with the bike, the power of the bike is coming through her. She really knew how to work a camera. And she really loved riding motorcycles. Mmmmmm.

I know what you mean by having the sensation of going fast. I was thinking about that yesterday when I was on a familiar moderately curvy road with my Greenie. It was quite exhilarating at 50 mph — controlled and planted, but fun as hell! — whereas my Duc Hypermotard (a fun as hell bike, too!) on the same road and at the same speed the feeling is, for lack of a better word, tamer, or maybe it’s being more upright that has less speed impressed. Totally different rides, power-to-weight ratios, riding position, etc. I guess that’s a compliment to both of those bikes, but the V11 is a more visceral ride. The weight and mass of the bike seems to want more body English and weight shifting. On the V11 one feels more “in” the bike, and with the Hyper one feels more “on” the bike. Tuono V4 is a a whole other beast! That’s a nice stablemate for the V11, for sure!

Wow. Awesome!

“Good and bad, I define these terms Quite clear, no doubt, somehow Ah, but I was so much older then I’m younger than that now”

Very nice collection of V11s, Guzzimax! Does each one serve a different riding purpose for you, or are you obsessed and just can’t help yourself? How about of a nice family pic or two? Your silver Sport looks fabulous. Cheers!

Enter at your own risk!: https://www.cyclegarden.com/guzzi_girls.php He also does some nice loop frames.

I envy you for being there to see those blues greats back in their prime days. I really love the blues, from the southern roots to Chicago where it nurtured and matured. I can only imagine what great stuff was going down there in the day. The first wave of electric blues!

I was wondering how long it was going to be until Moe’s handiwork would show up here!

I don’t personally know Aero, but if that jacket is horse hide, as stated, that may have something to do with its high price. It’s usually an up-charge in a jacket and no longer very common. I don’t think you can get a Vanson jacket made today with horse hide. Both of my Cals are horse and I bought them off of that site for around $300 each. Horse hide is supposed to be tougher than cow hide, and it creaks when you squeeze or smoosh it.

I think young Jimi got a lot of influence from Buddy. When I was in Chicago for a conference in the late '90's I went to his Legends blues club. Buddy was hanging at the bar, very low key but enjoying himself and putting off a good vibe. That was cool.

A lot of the people there buy and sell expensive jackets, and are collectors and fashionistas. But there are some good deals some times and they seem more trustworthy and informative than most eBay sellers. You shouldn't have to pay more than $400 for an awesome jacket. You could even get into a new Vanson for that ballpark.

A good source for a pre-owned leather jacket is the Fedora Lounge Internet forum. Those folks are really into quality jackets, some for riding and some for pedestrian use, but they put up nice stuff and good deals. I have bought a couple of great vintage Cal Leather jackets there and all worked out great. Even took them to the Cal Leather factory in Ventura for a tune up. If I had an extra $1200 that I needed to spend I would have Gwen and crew at Cal Leather make me one of their cafe racer style jackets. They do beautiful work. To add to the mix about riding gear: about 6 months ago I bought an Alpinestars Tech Air 5 airbag vest. I had been putting off getting one for a while because of the price, but I will never go back to riding without this. Once it’s on you don’t notice it. It also made my back and shoulder armor redundant, so my jackets all fit better now, even with the vest under them. A brilliant piece for gear, and the most essential, IMHO, after a helmet.

Someone told me that the Ducati bikes were getting beat up by the course, part being the low exhaust getting bashed by the bumps and coming off from the rises in the road.

That's awesome. Great that the race is back on. I guess they worked around what ever problem they had in the past with the Duc's exhaust hitting after catching air on the course. Btw, there's lots of footage of Joey racing Isle of Man in the Duke vintage video series. Cheers!

Thank you very much for the info and links. Much appreciated! I think doing the conversion for the whole bike would be great. One question: if the LED that is replacing a 3w speedo bulb is equivalent in brightness to a 5-10w incandescent (as the bulb's specs show), will it run as cool as a 3w incandescent? I know the big LED headlamp bulbs can get hot, don't know about the small ones.