audiomick

Don't overdo it. It's a tractor motor, and it has to rattle a bit.

I'm for "F".

I'm a bit surprised that those tyres don't have nails sticking out of them. Snow like that, and all....

Will mean that the speedo over-estimates, so legal. But a meticulous owner would of course regularly check the wear on the tyres, and correct the calibration of the speedo as needed. Or maybe just consider the idea, and have a beer instead.

I had to go and look for those to curb my surprise. Apparently modern tyres indeed. My first thought was these, which I ran on my z900 in the '80s because there was practically no alternative for the 19" front wheel. Dunlop TT 100 Would look kind of on strange on a V11, I think.

Of course. The law in Australia and in Germany, and probably most other countries, stipulates that the speedo must not show less than the actual speed. Over-estimating is fully legal, and the norm. One can assume that up to 10% over-estimation is normal. The only speedo that I have experienced that is almost accurate, i.e. almost no over-estimation, is the one on my Breva 750. It is only a km or so over at 60 km/h, and maybe 3 at 100 km/h. Why go to the trouble? Calibrating against the GPS is the logical solution. Easy, and easy to remember for multiple vehicles. But if one is installing a new speedo and wants to calibrate it, one must measure something to get a "base value". The method described is the best way to establish the real rolling diameter of the tyre, and therefore the base-value to calibrate the speedo. I've done it a couple of times with push-bike speedos. Takes all of 3 minutes.

A word to the wise: I don't like that dealer. Not that I have directly had a bad experience; I had already decided to avoid him before it could come to that. In the course of looking for parts, I have looked at quite a number of his adverts. The general impression is that he is anything other than cheap, and that he doesn't particularly seem to care how bad the condition of the parts is. He still puts a premium price on them, and often describes something as "good condition" when it is obvious from the photos that the part is, in fact, in a very shabby state. So if anyone is thinking of buying there, have a really close look at the photos first. Twice.

Both.

What I don't get about "bar-end mirrors": It is fairly inevitable that a motorcycle will fall over at some point. An experienced rider can avoid this for a very long time, but said experienced rider must know that this can happen. If he doesn't know this, then he is, in my opinion, not really experienced. So why would one, as an experienced motorcyclist, mount mirrors that will be the first thing to hit the ground when the bike falls over and definitely be destroyed? Further, I don't know how it is elsewhere, but the fashion amongst "really cool bikers" here is to mount the bar-end mirrors such that they hang downwards from the handlebars. Result: you have to look past your arms to see them, and they very definitely hit the ground first. Super idea. Besides that, bar-end mirrors are not really attractive, I reckon.

Really? I never would have thought. The beer I have been drinking for the last 40 odd years was pulled out of my arse. Seriously, it was very interesting to see how it is done. Brewing a batch takes at least 8 hours, and the nuances are not less intersting and not less comlicated than fettling a Guzzi. I won't be trying it myself. I have neither the room to set up a "micro-brewery", nor the time to do it. But seeing how it is done was very interesting.

Yeah, ok. And a #2 Philips screwdriver, maybe.

same as "decko" or "gander", obviously...

My emergency tool kit: Credit card Debit card for my bank account Membership card for the auto club "rescue" service. Did I forget something?

Seems to have happened. I was in Heilbronn the last couple of days (no, you I don't expect you to know where that is...). The idea was, a mate of mine thought it would be a great idea as a birthday present to take me to another friend's place and have him brew me a batch of home-brew. All well and good, except that Heilbron (where I used to live) is 440 km. away from Leipzig (where I currently live). Anyway, despite doubts on Sunday last whether the cold was cured enough, I went. Yesterday I spent more that 8 hours in a basement laundry at about 14°c with the windows open learning how to brew beer. All very interesting, but by the end of it I was freezing my arse off. Despite all that, I woke up today apparently almost completely over it. Whatever, I started this thread to "vent" about something that irritated me. Sometimes one needs to, and I would be happy if others use the thread to the same effect as needed.

Thought I might be able to ride the Breva to work tomorrow. There's been some rain, the salt should be gone, and it is expected to by dry tomorrow. At the time I have to go to work it is expected to be 0°C, when I come home all the way up to 4°C. I'm nursing a cold at the moment, so I think I'll be on the tram (again).

Not me. Can't get the time off work.

Silly question here. We're all "converted". The V11 Models have various issues, mostly minor. You can find very extensive information on all of them here. It is possible to iron them all out. Go for a ride on it. You'll either love it immediately, or not. If you don't love it, don't buy it. If you do, buy it. It is really as simple as that. My V11 Le Mans has a number of problems, all solvable. My problem is finding the time to get onto them. Even so, every time I ride it, I come home with a smile on my face.

Did I mention the books? And the 4 metres or so of vinyl records?

Firstly, I couldn't watch that video. The running text parallel to the audio drives me mad. Can't do that. Nevertheless, the theme is very current in my household. We moved my girlfriend's father from the house that she grew up in, at least from her early teens, to a "senior residence" in the city that we now live in. He went from over 200 m² to about 65m². Lots of stuff had to go, but the girlfriend had to "save" some stuff. Now we have got more cartons in the flat. Ok, it's not like we can't move in here, but it is too much stuff. There are cartons here that have "survived" two moves without being opened. That means about 16 years. And now some more... I have to admit, I have a bit of stuff that needs reducing too. I haven't played my trumpet or my flugel horn for years, so one could think about them. I have a fairly extensive collection of Pentax Spotmatic (Honeywell) camera equipment that I haven't used for years. One could definitely think about that. But it's hard... EDIT: I could note that I have already done a radical reduction. In 1996 I moved from Australia to Germany with a backpack, a briefcase, and two cartons that I sent on ahead. I was about 33 years old at the time, so a fair bit of stuff got sorted out then. And I am fully aware of the advantages that it brought. Still, I like my stuff.

What I use, too. I bought the vernier calipers because I wanted one, and the thread gauges came with the tap and die set, one of the best buys amongst my tools. I've had so much use out of it. Anyway, @Lucky Phil how does the 3-wire and micrometer method work?

I'm sure it was. Look: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Zephyr#Zephyr_Zodiac_(or_Zodiac_Mark_I) I have it on good authority that Bruce Wayne did indeed drive one of those on his visits to the UK and the Continent.

Could well mean they are in the middle of negotiations.

This? Johannes Maximilian, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons Lowered and with fat wheels, stylish. I never had one, but the thing to have in that direction in Australia was one of these By Sicnag - 1980 Holden HZ Sandman Panel Van, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40645741

Get GIMP.