big J

You two have been at the drink again,havent you. If you're having trouble with the keys, use the spellchecker. Or a handy smartarse teenager.

From- Mucho Grunty inc Dear Mr Edge,received one of your guards today. A few recommendations- 1/Mucho Grunty motorcycles are of course perfect and dont need add-ons 2/Item despatched and arrived within a few days.Most disappointing, arent you aware how much the wait sharpens the sense of relief when the item finally arrives?Many of our customers wait absolute ages for parts and you should see the look on their little faces after a couple of months,fair bings a tear to the eye. 3/Instructions- never send english written instructions to an english speaking country. How are they going to learn a new language? 4/Packaging-all present and correct. Oh dear. May we suggest that out of every 10,most should be ok,2 or 3 broken before despatch,1 should be for a different bike entirely and send a couple empty except for foamy bits. 5/Fits first time-what's that all about?How are the customers to do our development work if you've done it for them? 6/Guarantee or refund-are you nuts?If we'd given guarantees out with every bike,we'd have gone bust years ago!Leave the customer to their own devices,they'll figure out how to fix it. They're not as daft as they look. Well, not all of them. Although,you've tried hard,you obviously have a lot to learn about Mucho Grunty motorcycle spares. Please feel free to contact us, tho the phones are only usually answered when we're out. Regards, Luigi.

Prbably picking yet anther bloody midge out of my lug.

Excellent pics, Martin. Dunno what happened with mine,but they're only suitable for the kids to draw on.And yeah,I'm glad the only copper we ran into with a camera was yourself.

You had the farthest of all to go,when did you get home?

Had a check,and you are of course completely right. Screw it all the way in. I have too much oil in my engine

Yep, back through Cork(Jo wanted to go shopping,but all the shops were shut-yahoo!). Stopped a couple of times for a smoke,passed (I think) Martin and Baldini's bikes parked up on a bridge somewhere. Had to get back fairly rapid to rendezvous with the teenage kids social lives,but fair play,they taped the TT and Moto gp for us.Didnt hang about, took us about 3 1/2 hours. Was thinking about you,that couldn't have been easy. Bet your sphincter is now the strongest muscle in your whole body.

Standing straight up,although you're allowed to lean at any angle you like. Just let the dipstick dangle in the hole.That's how I do it anyway. You cant beat a good dangle.

Dont usually bother with luggage,thats what pockets are for, or if it's bulky, stick it down yer jumper.When travelling with the better half,she wears a Richa backpack that takes all she needs for a weekend, and is totally waterproof. Very expandable too,you could almost fit a Pan European riders' head inside.

Probably a stupid question,but how do you check the oil level? I run the bike for a few minutes and check it then,with the oil pumped round. If it's low, I top it up. I'd rather buy oil than rings and shells.

Back safe from the Erin rally,hope everyone made it home without bother. BFG, how did you get on? 300 miles with a leaky box(the bike) would be interesting. It was great to meet up with you all,you werent nearly as bad as I thought you'd be! A sincere thanks must goto the incomparable Mr John O Sullivan who took a few of us on a rare wee tour round some great( and not so great- 2 miles of crushed limestone surfacing ! ) roads, a fine host indeed.Did anyone get any pics? Martin? Ferguzzi? Mine are crap. Aint getting back to the daily grind after a wonderful weekend the biggest downer ever? I'm off to drop-kick the cat into the neighbours garden-2 jack russels. It wont do the dogs much good, but it'll cheer me up!

Just a pity it's uglier than a bulldog chewing a wasp

Older AND wiser??? That's a trick I'll have to learn. The older I get,the more I seem to have forgotten.

These things seem to me to handle pretty well,do you really need compression adjusters? If you feel it diving on the brakes, just put thicker oil in. Suspension adjustment a lot of the time, I feel, is just a selling gimmick.For a bike used purely on the road,rear damper/spring changes to cover solo or pillion use would probably suit almost everyone. I do like twiddling the twirly bits myself tho

We might run into one another if I can get away early enough. I'll be on a 02 sport with a Scotland flag on the number plate. I'm 4'6" tall,with a bad limp from a mangled leg and I have a cutlass tattoo on each cheek. I'll wear a carnation so you can recognise me

Whatcha got?

Be working on Friday, gonna try to get away soon as I can, leave from Drogheda around 6 ish,should be there before closing time.Booked into a b&b about a mile from Inchigeela.

Is the rocker arm drilled/tapped square to working axis? Is the machined face where the locknut tightens square to threaded adjuster bore?

Go for it,BFG, a problem shared and all that.

To quote Michael Palin in "The life of Brian"; "You lucky bastard, you lucky,lucky bastard."If that was me, not only would the damper be knackered,so would the rose joint,and undoing it I'd pull the bike on top of me and break my foot. And bust the tank. Probably not,but I've had a crap day. Well done anyway, it's aye good to hear of good news.

Try commutin through Dublin,guys. It's a minute by minute occurance. Been squeezed into a lorry by a suit in a Saab,almost wiped out by women doing their hair/make up on the M50 by-pass,nearly t-boned several times,tractors pull out of fields and leave a ton of muck all the way up the road,drunks weave all over,no one uses mirrors except to see who they just cut up,learner drivers allowed to drive,absolutely clueless,cause they failed their last test or havent bothered to sit one in 20 years but they're still allowed on the road,a road surface worse than darkest Africa,etc,etc.Keeps you alert,anyway!

A mate bought one, says it's awesome round twisty roads, but can sometimes need fuel in as little as 85 miles. No use to me with that range.

Doesn't matter a fig if they can see a bracket or not, if the damper isn't there, they cant fail you.Wee story; when I used to prepare trucks for test, I was in the test station when an English guy came in with a Renault space cab, one of those ones that looks like a block of flats on wheels. He failed on a windscreen crack that was too big, in a big panic he asked what could be done,he had a load to pick up later that day. I kicked out the windscreen and put it back in for test. If it wasn't there, they couldn't fail it. He had a breezy 20 mile run to the screen place after to get a replacement,but he passed the test and he got his load. Dont let the bastards intimidate you, you can get a copy of the regs book for about £30 and it can be worth its weight in gold. Most testers seem to work more on opinion than fact I've had plenty of experience with them f*ckers, if you have the book,they'll squirm like an eel in hot pants, but you'll get your ticket.

Excellent! I now hae the inspiration for my winter makeover. I can see it now, replace the shock with a steel strut,36" apes,paint so loud I wont need a headlight. Anybody got a spare skeleton? And some streamers?

Get rid of it before it blows to bits,these Moto Guzzi's are such awful old sheds. Find yerself a nice wee Honda. You meet the nicest people on a Honda.