VA Sean

Dang- Big Brother sure has a firm grip on the UK. So acquiesce, and accept the 186 mph limit on all factory street bikes. It would be a shame if this ever became a law, but the 186 mph limit is a figure that should be acceptable by most.

Total bummer Foxy. Sorry to see that. Heal up well and fast. With regard to the fairing -- they are a rather rare commodity - especially if in pristine shape (used). Last I heard they went for $1,500-$2,000 or so new -- if you can find them... and in the USA they are pretty much unobtanium. I have been looking for one for QUITE SOME TIME... trying to convert my Coppa Italia into a Coppa LeMans. I've seen one posted here... One other member of this forum, Greg Field, is planning to do the same thing to his Ballabio/Coppa - and rumor has it he has finally found a used fairing to do it. The finished product -- I hope -- will look like this:

Crooz- 60 miles to a competent dealer is actually CLOSE in relative terms. There are a lot of states that don't have ANY dealers, competent or not. I bought my V11 from the closest dealer in VA -- 85 miles away -- but they are not competent to do anything mechanical on the bike. I now take it to Speeds in Maryland -- they are competent, but just about as far away. I agree with what has been said - buy the parts (heck, when you find them, order 2 so you always have a spare "just in case") and do a preemptive fix. 4,500 miles is barely broken in. Ride it to your heart's content!

We don't yet have nearly as many cameras to enforce speeding and red-light running as you do (let alone just having cameras on every corner watching everything we do!), but more and more jurisdictions are beginning to implement them these days. I hadn't thought about situation you are raising: since the police force is relying on automation to deal with ordinary traffic offenders, the citizenry could be at greater risk of harm due to there being increased numbers of persons who would be willing to drive drunk because they are betting that a cop won't be around to stop them. That is interesting... and rather scary. :!:

That sounds kinda high to me. I think mine probably idles around 800-900 RPM. I'll check tonight (have to cage it to work). Is you fast idle lever pinned down?

v50man- I had just read your post yesterday and should have known better- Here's my story of yesterday: First "nice day" ride of the year was yesterday. I had ridden in on Saturday but it was raining, so that doesn't count. But yesterday was was in the high 60s and sunny, so I got out of the office a little past 3:00 and decided to take a romp north on the GW parkway then head up to Seneca, MD... met up with a guy at a stoplight in Old Town who was riding a bright yeller R6, asked him where he was heading, "just up the Parkway to 495." Figured that was good enough, since the GW Parkway gets some nice sweepers heading up hill towards Maryland -- right where I was headed. Once we past the Memorial Bridge, I past a bunch of slow moving cages and cranked up to about 80, the R6 passed the same cars and came up on my tail... I switched into 5 gear and cruised in the 80-95 range up the hill heading North towards Maryland - the Coppa loves that speed in 5th gear... by some miracle, the cars were all sticking in the right lane, so I upped it to 100, then 110 -- guy began to fade a little behind me, but then caught up... after about a minute or so at triple digits, I backed off, and damned if at that moment I didn't hear, "Woop woop" -- unmarked dark green Crown Vic that I just past blipped me with his siren. FARGGIN! US Park Police -- this ain't gonna be good. I was thinking to myself, "my license is history." I had a ticket on the other end of the GW Parkway doing 62 in a 35 about 18 months ago, or so -- that was a mess because you have to go to Federal Court and fight against US Attorneys. So I pull over, take off my gloves and helmet and dismount. Young cop -- maybe 30 gets out of the car. Cop: You couldn't resist, could you? Me: Nope - first nice day of the year. Cop: Do you know how fast you were going when you passed me? Me: No. I wasn't looking down. [Thinking to myself -- probably 100, maybe 95] Cop: Well, we were all doing about 60 and you and your buddy came up pretty fast. I figure about 74 or so. Me: Yeah - okay. Cop: May I see your license please? Me: Yes, sir. Cop: You have a seat, I'll be right back. Me: Yes, sir. Cop comes back after a few minutes. Cop: You aren't going to find many cops like me - I appreciate a good ride. Just try to keep it down around here. [Hands me back my license.] Me: Thank you. I will. I really appreciate that. Before I had my gear on and the bike started, he had doubled back across the divide and headed south on the Parkway. Thanks, Officer!

hideous 'nuf said.

Bastard! J/K Good on ya, Greg. Actually, I am trying to score a fairing from Todd as well - I hope you didn't get the one I was negotiating with him for! PS: If you get the paint thing figured out, and it comes out to your satisfaction, let me know because I'll likely send my fairing to the same guys!

A follow-up aired on NBC last night... showing what some of the sentences were of a lot of these characters who were busted in the stings over the past 3 years.

Ditto

Hey Rich! Good to see ya! Rumor had it that you were not working on V11 seats AT ALL anymore. Glad you've dispelled that. I still owe you my wife's V50III seat... I almost have that little thing up and running, and she is anxious to put some miles on this year. Got 1" shorter shocks, but she still isn't comfortable with the seat height... so next step is sending it to you. If I don't see you sooner, I'll see you at some rallies this year. Sean

never exceeded the speed limit for 160 miles? Is that even possible? you are a better man than I

No offense, but I'd say that 165 is stretching it... unless you've made some mods to your bike that are giving you mpg beyond what the rest of us are getting. My idiot light generally comes on around 100-110 miles per tank, regardless of the way I've been riding. Just figure on low 30s for mpg. So if you hit 150 - definitely time to fill up... Not very convenient when you are in the middle of a ride with guys who can get 200 on their tanks, but they just need to "get it" and understand. Sorry it fell over too -- that is just insult to injury!

Yep, just call us 'Muricans easily entertained! Seriously though - it blows me away that this guy has been doing this show for quite a while now (has to be a couple years, anyway)... and it is broadcast on the #1 channel (most watched) in America and it gets good ratings... yet each sting they do, there are Pedophiles lining up around the block to nail some 12 year old boy or 13 year old girl. They've caught cops, a district attorney (who actually blew his brains out rather than going to jail) a Rabbi, special education teachers (don't know what you call them in Europe -- they teach kids with mental handicaps), you name it... and a lot of these pervs even admit to the "bait" that they've seen this show on TV, but damned if they don't show up with a bag of pot, a bottle booze, a gallon of lube and a box condoms. Mind boggling.

Lee- Hopefully Rocker59 reads this thread... he mounted them on his Nero and did a really good job. My recollection is that he had to take out a notch under the tail (can't remember why). If you find the instructions in English, let me know -- that is the next purchase for my bike.

I second what Joe has said about the VA Rally -- you are going to be in the area, and it is a great rally. I hit it for the first time last year with my wife and we really enjoyed ourselves. They regularly get over 100 participants, and a wide range of folks come... the longest mile (male) had started in Wisconsin, went out to the West coast, then hit the rally. Longest ride for a female came down from Newfoundland. Lots of fun, great folks and great roads -- 10 minutes to Blue Ridge Parkway.

Re - the full bags and gear... I have a tank bag at all times -- but it does not hold nearly enough for more than a simple day trip... especially if my wife is riding with me. Additionally, rally season is a relatively big deal in the States. And because our states are so large, getting to and from rallies in other states to mix and mingle with new and old friends means needing to carry a good bit of gear. If you want to bring clothes, rain gear, sleeping bag, tent, light shoes (so you don't have to wear your motorsickle boots all the time), a towel and shower gear for a 3-4 day trip, having the capacity to carry most or all of that stuff becomes obvious fairly quickly.

Whole thread on V11 Sport bags going on the front page at wildguzzi right now. http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=9491.0

Bummer, Doug.

Well done! I am glad somebody from here got it. Quite a bargain on the price too -- I knew he wasn't pulling my leg when he said he was willing to make a deal on it.

If you do choose to give a test ride... make sure the test bike has no more than 1 gallon of gas in it... and use your other bike (with a FULL tank of gas) of equal speed and agility to follow the rider on a predetermined course. I also like the idea of a security deposit of 100%. If he dumps the bike, you keep the money. If he likes the bike, you hand over the pink slip. If he doesn't like the bike, you hand back the money. Best to have a short contract written up in very unambiguous terms.

here you go:

I'm looking for the base silver and the red and green used for pin striping on the Coppa Italia.

Umm-- Yeah. I think that just means I don't bother spell checking... all the correct letters were there... Just not in the right order!

Well -- If this thread wasn't offending anyone before, how about now... Thread came up on Wildguzzi about the ship that recently crashed and spilled fuel and cargo in to the sea... some items washed on shore (including some 50 BMW motorcycles) which were taken away by looters. It was noted in that thread by a UK citizen that The Crown is the rightful own of these "lost" goods due to where they've washed up. I ask -- in all seriousness, because I am an ingorant American and just don't know -- what does the Royal Family do in/for the United Kingdom these days? Aren't politics handled by the Prime Minister and Parliament? Aren't the members of the Royal Family just figureheads and land owners at this point?