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They seem to have followers. Also, European media have reviewed the bikes participating. Most likely a commercial effort to draw some attention to the brand. Last race in Atlanta, a former MotoGP racer won one of the races: Loris Baz.

Dorna has signed a deal with Harley Davidson. There will be Bagger's races at six MotoGP Grand Prix from 2026. Exclusive to Harley Davidson, apparently. It will not be the current baggers' series that see Harley and Indians racing. https://www.motogp.com/en/news/2025/05/10/harley-davidson-and-motop-announce-new-global-racing-series-launching-in-2026/748744

This is how it is supposed to look when new....

I am going to open that pont arrière. I think this is the next step. I would like to avoid installing used spares with missing history.

I did 10 miles on I-10 following yesterday's oil change. Here's the oil drain plug; I am going to have to open le pont arrière.

Listen to the original, in a beautiful scenic context, and then the cover by the Graystones... both are... breathtaking in their own respect;

Me too.... I always loved military marches...

1) no strikingly alarming noise so far 2) to be ascertained 3) the Quota transmission was always extremely clunky and noisy. In fact, the gear box noise covers just about everything else. At the beginning, I was worried that something could be wrong. 4) No blueish color, but I could only check the ring gear. Unless I purchase an endoscope with light. I think the oil is going to be the tattle tell. Even if I am optimistic, since I did not feel anything wrong with the gear ring teeth, and they were still greasy.

So, I installed the new drain plug, torqued it at 29.5 Nm. I removed the level and filler plugs. The filler port diameter allows seeing the ring gear. I felt with the finger while spinning the wheel. No burr, no indentation. The teeth were still greasy. I spun the wheel and listened for noises. I filled in with Motul specific for transmission (Pont), and spun the wheel again, listening for a difference. I could not detect any. I re-installed the level and filler plugs, torqued at 24.5 Nm; Tomorrow, I will ride about 5 miles, and drain the oil. I will check the plug for metal burrs, and I will send the oil to the Blackstone lab for analysis. If I was looking for damage on the ring gear, how could I identify it?

I did not know I had no oil. I thought this was an overflow. Because the road between Atlanta and Gladewater was empty, I rode fast. The first Quota I looked at, in Boise, did not have a filler plug. Instead, it had a breather plug, with a hose to for overflow. This is what made me think that it happened to me. I should have checked for the drain plug, but I looked for a rag to clean up the oil. After I removed the oil, I observed no more leakage. If I had found out the plug was missing, I don't know what I would have done. Most likely work out a temporary plug, duct tape comes to mind, and bought some oil from the local auto-shop.

I emailed Mike Haven; no reply. This morning, I picked up the oil drain plug from them in Hempstead. I was surprised to get an invoice. Since there was one other customer, and I was on a clock, I did not say anything. I took the invoice. Thereafter, I sent a scan of the MPH invoice that clearly detailed they changed that oil. We shall see what happens.

This is likely the parts that have worn out: you need to replace them as a set too. Besides, I do not have a vice nor a bench. Removing the drive pinion is going to be challenging, if I needed to.

There is no way I am going to find that plug. The only clue I can offer, is that in Gladewater, when I noticed the leak, I cleaned the transmission, the rim, the tire. I waited a moment, and there were any further leakage. Which reinforced my thinking that it was maybe overpressure oil that leaked, and it stopped. It only stopped because there were no more oil! if you think about it, the rear drive contains 0.230 liter of oil... next to nothing.

I completely agree. You are transforming an axial force from the driving pinion to rotate the ring gear. It is clear that without any lubricant, you are wearing down the teeth. More than the bearings, this is likely the weak point in the movement transmission.

Probably; but then you now have to add the unreliable shipping because they have removed the "de minimis" that exempted packages to go through customs below 800 USD. I would have gotten that plug one month from ordering it. But there is solace; MPH has the plug, so I am going to go get it today.

@guzzigary Thinking about it after the fact, in one of my previous posts, I think the drain plug dropped shortly before I stopped in Gladewater. I probably not have rode much with the oil wet tire. I cleaned it while in Gladewater, and I checked there wasn't any fresh oil after that. I regret to not have checked the oil drain plug was in place at that time. It simply never occurred to me that I could have lost it. This is a first. The only incident I had was at a dealership oil change for a car, they had not tightened the new oil filter, and I noticed the oil patch in my garage and rectified the situation.

On a side note, the same bearings sell for $65 plus tax and shipping in the USA, using the Guzzi part number. The German outfit sells it for 19.99 EUR VAT included, which would be discounted for an order outside of Europe. If I want to purchase the Timken equivalent here, it is $101.00.

As soon as I get that oil drain plug, I will fill the rear transmission with oil and ride for a few miles, drain the oil and send it for analysis to Blackstone lab. I will also check for metal burrs on the plug. I have contacted Mike Haven to get his opinion. There may have been enough residual lubrication so nothing got irremediably damaged; but this is speculation. I will take it one step at a time. Opening the transmission seems to be easy enough. The difficult part is to extract the bearings, since it requires a hub puller and some other specific extraction tools which I do not have, and am not looking to purchase for a one time use. I found the part https://www.partsandparts.de/en/spare-part-for-moto-guzzi-gu92201070-deep-groove-ball-bearing-70x110x13mm_8604_9522/

Back in these days, the motorcycle races did not interest much people.

The rumor is that Jorge Martin is said to want out of Aprilia at the end of this year. He has a clause in his contract, according to Motorsport.com, that if he is not able to compete for the championship top positions, he can leave the team. There is a lot written about it on crash.net.

It was still a great race in my opinion, not because it was full of spectacular passes, for other reasons. There were still a lot of events that prevented the race to become a Marc Marquez at the front from lap 1 to lap 27. Let's not forget that Fabio Quartararo made pole. Which also was a surprise. Marc Marquez did it with Honda. He seemed to be the only one able to make the RCV perform, then the GP23 last year, and the GP25 this year. Would it be possible that Marquez is better at adapting his racing to match the perks of the bike? Bagnaia has said that he was going to forget about some of the old ways, to find a new path. But with both GP24 continuously challenging at the front with Alex and Fermin Aldeguer. Fabio DiGiannantonio has the other GP25 and then Franco Morbidelli had some showing on the GP24. Ducati is confusing the issue by releasing conflicting statements regarding Francesco Bagnaia's difficulties. We will see what happens in Silverstone. I think I would have described the situation as chaos! I think they need to come up with something better.

They did; this was the complete bike overhaul and review after I purchased it. See that purple marker? it is a Motorcycle tour stop at a point where Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana touch. Since my camera is in my Rimowa case, there weren't any oil droplets on it when I did that stop. Then I drove to the next stop, the one in red on the map: Gladewater. Because the 155 snakes in the forest, with barely any traffic, I drove very fast. Then I got to Gladewater, and going behind my bike to get the camera, I discovered the oil. Since it was still dripping, and retrospectively, it must have happened very close to the moment when I stopped. If it had during the trip, then there would have been no fresh oil dripping. No. I would have never imagined that I had lost the oil drain plug. When I saw the oil, I thought that because I had pushed very fast between Altanta and Gladewater, somehow, I developed a leak at a seal somewhere. The first Quota I went to see in Boise was equipped with an oil breather instead of the filler plug. Now, if I had checked for the drain plug at Gladewater, I don't know what I would have done. Finding a M10 x 1.5 oil drain plug there would have been challenging. Only yesterday, at home, I inspected the final transmission properly, and I found the oil drain plug missing, then I realized that I had driven 220 miles with a dry drive.

I was planning to do what Phil suggested. Get the new plug, fill up, do a quick run, drain and check what comes out. I really feel bad, because this plug was only touched by MPH, and I was planning the oil change after this run. I would have discovered it before too late. There wasn't any oil spilled underneath, it all happened in the 500 miles prior. I am probably going to have that transmission opened, because it will always be in the back of my mind. Plus, I can't sell the bike like this now. It would be unfair. I also realized that I was lucky to not fall... see how oil wet is the right-hand side of the rear tire? Even worse, instead of overnighting, I rode back home, in the night, with the Quota non-existent lights, I arrived at 2:00 because I was going slow. But now that I know there was no oil in the final transmission, I don't think it made much difference.

I am planning to do that, as soon as I get the plug. Like in your photo, the plug I purchased can be secured with a wire. But you need a fixed point to attached it to. But I would feel better if I could take a look inside.

If you want to watch an epic MotoGP, one for the books, then watch the replay of the French GP today! I do not want to spoil it; however, the attendance record was smashed for the first time since the number of spectators was divulged. They blew through the 300k ceiling of last year, which was already the record attendance, for all GPs. But today's race will remain in history for multiple reasons. I leave you to watch it...