audiomick

That's never happened to me.

For the sake of completeness, also in Europe. Wendel in Berlin https://wendelmotorraeder.de/ansauggummi-sp1100iv11brgr_gu01114390-p-1034021.html?ref=expl Stein-Dinse https://www.stein-dinse.com/de/item-1-1020293.html I'm pretty sure that in both cases they are not original parts, so apparently someone is making "after-market" replacements. PS: in my opinion, the best lubricant for fitting rubber bits is silicone spray. Works wonders. A judicious application of a hot-air gun is also often a good thing.

Have a good look at all the rubber bits under the tank whilst it is off. That is, of course, a good idea for any bike that is a bit older and has been standing for a couple of years. On the V11, a particularly close look at the breather hose that goes from under the frame up near the steering head down to the back end of the motor is to be recommended.

Thanks for the link, Joe. There was something in there that said that they are "going back to the roots". Jaguar was traditionally a brand that offered interesting vehicles just under the luxury market. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_Cars Maybe the brand is getting back on track.

I'd be very suprised if they weren't. Owning a successful soccer team, for instance, brings in quite a bit. The air races, too. Cost a lot to stage them, but earn a lot selling TV rignts etc. .

Fair enough, and actually good marketing, and even fair, to let people try the features out and then decide if they want to keep them or not. Fair because the customer gets a chance to try before buying, and good marketing because I reckon the majority of owners would have a hard time giving up on something they have had the use of, even if they never really noticed the full benefits of it. A motorcycle is, after all and if we're really honest with ourselves, a bit of a status object, and everyone wants his or her motorcycle to be the best one of all.

I can't comment on KTM, because I haven't paid attention to them. I find their bikes very ugly, so I don't look in that direction. As far as Red Bull goes, that is a success story. There is lots of money in the company. This bloke was co-founder: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Mateschitz A colleague had dealings with him, ended up working in his TV Station in Austria, I believe. He said Mateschitz is a nice enough bloke, and told the following anecdote: As Mateschitz was setting up the company, he got a good deal on a company car from a particular Opel dealer (used to be GM subsidiary in Europe). Because he was pleased with the deal and thought the handler was a good bloke, he continued buying all of the Red Bull company vehicles from that handler, even after Red Bull had grown beyond a multi-million dollar company. Looking at these two articles, I'm also impressed that Mateschitz went into business with the bloke from Thailand, instead of just pinching his idea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull_GmbH In the first of those two links, you can find an explanation as to why the company spends so much money on sports events And it works. Everyone here knows what Red Bull is. Particularly in Leipzig. Red Bull bought a minor league soccer team here, and pumped money into it until it got into and was consistently winning in the first league. That annoys me a bit actually. The stadium that the team uses is about 4 km from me, and the most prominent feature in an otherwise rather nice view out my kitchen window is the Red Bull advertising on top of it. PS: I can't stand Red Bull myself. Tastes like liquid jelly babies.

Of course it is. Silly question.

Well said @docc. The 350 Guzzis were created to cover a market created by the Italian registration or insurance laws (I don't remember which, exactly). Same as 400 in Japan (motorcycle licence regulations) and 250 in Australia back in the day when I started riding (Learner Permit and Probationary licence). These days, motors have got bigger, and at least some of those criteria don't apply anymore (in Victoria, Australia, it is now a power-to-weight regulation, as far as I know). Even in Europe, where "small capacity" motorcycles is a relatively dynamic market, I think Moto Guzzi is well served catering to the market that buys a V7 850. There is a market for smaller capacity motorcyles, but it is already well served, including products from Korea and China. Moto Guzzi is no longer an "Einzelkämpfer". DeepL.com says that means "Lone Fighter", which is pretty close. It is now part of a large concern with a number of brands, and does not need to try and cover the whole market. Better said, the mother concern would be making serious marketing mistakes in trying to cover the entire market spectrum with each and every brand in its porfolio. So I'm expecting Piaggio to develope the lines that it has been working on for Moto Guzzi for the last, at least, 6 or 7 years, i.e. the V7 range and the V100 range, and probably not make any radical new steps that no-one saw coming.

Interesting question. I'd reckon it shouldn't be too hard to scale down the developments in the newer V7 850 engine to a 500 or so, since the V7 850 engine derives from the old V50. Still, I'm not a motor engineer. Maybe it would be harder than I think. A relevant question is, I think, what is available from other brands in the Piaggio group? Not in terms of whether there is an engine somewhere that could be re-badged as a Guzzi, but rather in terms of watering down the brand image. Piaggio seems to be doing "this brand for this, that brand for the other". Have they got a bike somewhere in the 450 range that is doing well, and do they want to tempt buyers away from that brand with a competing Guzzi?

Way off topic, I know, but.... I heard some years ago that about 60% of the literature in the entire world about tax laws deals with German tax laws. There have been some attempts to simplifiy the tax laws, but there is a profession called "Steuerberater" (tax advisor) which is very well organised, and doesn't want the laws to get simpler.

Getting back to the video, why is a place with "Vintage Motorcycles" written in big letters on the wall selling new bikes? Just asking.... Apart from that, I've read any number of posts from owners of various V85 models. all of whom where and are very happy with their bikes. I reckon they must be good. If you like chook chasers, which I don't. I'd like to see that motor in a "retro sport" chassis, including clip-ons and a bikini fairing.

Good question, and quite possible. Your comparison with the "rise" of Japanese vehicles is very appropriate, I reckon. I see two factors that may well influence further developements, in my opinion. One the one hand is China's authoritarian government, effectively a dictatorship. If that government decides that their motorcycle industry needs to dominate the world, the will just shovel in resources until the goal is achieved. On the other hand is the slowing of economic growth that has been apparent in China for the last several years. The economy was able to grow very rapidly for a couple of decades, because the starting point was way behind the rest of the world. In the meantime, a lot of catching up has been done. It remains to be seen how much more growth potential is there, and how long the government can keep forcing things through without taking economic and finacial realities into consideration.

Quite apart from the fact that I find the Imola very pretty, and the riding position is pretty much perfect for me: I rode a Suzuki GSX 250 E, similar to this but silver and red, during my L and P plate times (for non-Australians: Learner and Probationary. At the time, a 250 was the largest capacity bike those licence categories was allowed to ride) By Mark247nz at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Off2riorob using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6916719 A good little bike, but as an up-and-coming motorcycle legend, one always wishes for more. The Imola has quite similar power and weight figures to the GSX 250, but is just better. The motor has more character, the handling is tighter, and so on. It is, more or less, the bike I was wishing the GSX were. After I got off my P plates, I bought a Z 900. These days, as an established and experienced motorcycle legend who has been there, done that, got the t-shirt, and has nothing more to prove, the Imola is just really good fun.

No mate, get a bigger garage.

I hope you find something, but it might be easier to have the existing seat re-covered.

That'd be it, I reckon. From what I have read here, I have the impression that US registration laws record the year of manufacture. I don't know how the UK handles that. Here in Germany, the date of first registration is recorded. That means, if the vehicle sat in the showroom for two years, it may have been manufactured in 2003, but will have 2005 in the papers. Anyway, nice that it all seems to be falling into place.

Yeah, I'd have one of those in a pinch.

You mean how many wires need to be re-connected when the battery was out, don't you? I assume the original state is only one (fat) wire to each terminal, like most vehicles. The thing is, one never knows, on a bike one isn't familiar with, what may have been added to or altered in the wiring loom. For instance, my Breva 750 has only one additional wire to +, the modification to get battery plus direct to the starter solenoid. From memory, my V11 has 2 wires on minus and 3 on plus, but the wiring loom has obviously been modified, so that is nothing to go by. It looks like it was only the two fat ones originally. My V35 Imola is the clear winner: 3 (or 4?) on minus, and 4 (or 5?) on plus. It also originally only had the two, I believe. However, it has acquired a mount for the navigation device, a different alternator and electronic ignition, all of which brought additional connectors to the battery with them. I really should build some sort of "connector busbar" so there are only the two wires on the battery. PS: I've gotten into the habit of binding the connectors from each pole together when I disconnect them. Experience shows that is too easy to miss one out when reconnecting if I don't do that.

Finally found the "proper" Fat Bottomed Girls photo. I think it is an ad for the item, so the link might break at some point... https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images1/1/1213/09/queens-album-jazz-1978-fat-bottomed_1_1bf9954ed9f478f2a6381cf6da0f5cc1.jpg

Yes.

It's not my fault, Davey started it Great to hear that the old girl is up and running again.

I mentioned further up that I got to ride a TZ 350, a pure race bike on slicks. That was on a closed circuit, of course, and I had done a number of laps on my Z900 before I rode the Yamaha. That was here: https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/11692249#map=17/-37.216168/145.083636 The first time round going down the longer straight, I braked for the right-hander at the end of the straight where I had been braking on the Kawasaki, and actually accelerated again to get up to the curve. Even then, the bike could have no doubt got through the curve a good bit faster than I was able to ride it.

From the ad: I wonder where that came from...

I want one. Not the only reason I like the XJS, but one of the reasons, is the TWR car that competed in the Australian Touring Cars races for a couple of years. The thing went really well... Incidentally, this is the circuit shown in the video. https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/172987017#map=15/-33.44861/149.55710 It has been used as a race track for ages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Panorama_Circuit Apart from race meetings, it is public roads, and I have driven around it. When you drive around it with the pictures of the race broadcasts in your head, you think they must all be completely insane. Really steep, and really tight, and then that really long straight. The bit on the long straight labelled "the chase" was put in in the '80s to slow them down a bit. One too many cars got airborne over the humps. EDIT: just watched the video again. "The Chase" was apparently not yet implemented at the time of the video. The "in-car" camera towards the end shows how it was: the steep and tight descent down the mountain, and then this really long straight with a couple of humps in it.