Pierre

Only if he high sides. The forces that keep a bike on two wheels are the forces that keep the oil firmly centered (left to right) in the sump. There IS momentary side loading induced at turn initiation (counter steering input), but it is truly momentary so not relevant to this discussion.

Truth perhaps, but in the context of this discussion you've managed to nimbly sidestep the sublime and jump straight to the absurd. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. Just sayin'. Sheesh. You'd think it was the first of April around here.

Pete, banking has zero effect on oil position in the sump. His question regarded a grade steep enough to expose the oil pick up. You guys are waaaay out in left field encouraging his paranoia.

If you find a grade that steep, you'd better have knobbies mounted.

I like that ... a lot. Much elbow grease, I'm sure. Paid off. Nice.

Soooo ... looks like it's Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Rossi as class of the field right now. Next group is Dovisioso, Hayden and Hopkins. wrt Hopkins, he's getting faster as he heals and with Kawasaki "screamer" engine due to arrive soon (fwiw Honda's pneumatic delayed again) - Hopkins could move into that top three grouping making it a 4 rider, 3 manufacturer dance. A little early to rule out Stoner, but with his recent spate of problems, and no one else on the Ducati able to run any kind of competitive lap, I suspect the Ducati is no longer the premier bike out there. Remains to be seen if Stoner can be competitive on a lesser bike. I've got to believe Ant West is soon out as Kawasaki #2 rider. Melandri may be fired by Ducati as well. Thought it was interesting listening to the announcers opine De Puniet may also be done if he doesn't stop crashing. He is an unguided missile at times. I suspect the announcer chatter wrt De Puniet reflects talk in the pits. Here's how they stacked up in post-Estoril testing. Lorenzo did not participate. Post-bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal test, best lap times 1. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team - 1´36.455 2. Valentino ROSSI, Fiat Yamaha Team - 1´36.707 3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, JiR Team Scot MotoGP - 1´36.791 4. John HOPKINS, Kawasaki Racing Team - 1´36.872 5. Nicky HAYDEN, Repsol Honda Team - 1´36.928 6. Colin EDWARDS, Tech 3 Yamaha - 1´37.145 7. Randy DE PUNIET, LCR Honda MotoGP - 1´37.146 8. Casey STONER, Ducati Marlboro Team - 1´37.330 9. Chris VERMEULEN, Rizla Suzuki MotoGP - 1´37.617 10. Shinya NAKANO, San Carlo Honda Gresini - 1´37.725 11. James TOSELAND, Tech 3 Yamaha - 1´37.767 12. Loris CAPIROSSI, Rizla Suzuki MotoGP - 1´37.781 13. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Carlo Honda Gresini - 1´37.782 14. Toni ELIAS, Alice Team - 1´38.695 15. Sylvain GUINTOLI, Alice Team - 1´39.010 16. Anthony WEST, Kawasaki Racing Team - 1´39.065 17. Marco MELANDRI, Ducati Marlboro Team - 1´39.725

Rossi, Pedrosa, Hayden. Why are Kawasaki and Suzuki so far off the pace.

Ah - you can transverse it, in line it, cross ways it and counter rotate it - but you ain't gonna' top this! The X! http://tinyurl.com/2olsos

Wouldn't Jethro Tull's "Locomotive Breath" be a candidate here? Name of the song alone should give it honorable mention, at the very least, in any Guzzi song list, no? http://tinyurl.com/28fja9

Absolutely priceless stuff. Thanks so much for that clip. It's a keeper. Oh, and what a tone he surely must have struck with the ladies with that "finger vibrato!"

I think it is interesting that this bike (offered as new) is still the sexiest and best performing street Guzzi ever produced. It's 15 years old, but it is exactly what those on this thread pine for. Think what the last 15 years of Guzzi evolution COULD have produced. http://tinyurl.com/2epmfy

Skin tight leather wrapped diminutive nancy boyz on tiny bikes, eh? Little more than monkeys in a space capsule. It'll never play in America, home of the oval. Ah yes - I remember back when men were men and bikes were ... well ... not. On a more serious note - Euro style racing has now moved up from 125 and 250 to reign supreme at the Moto GP level. Is that a good thing? Yes if you've always loved watching swarms of little wheezers flitting about lap afer lap. No longer does one "graduate" to moto gp. Rather, moto gp has been dumbed down to let anyone who could ride a wee bike fast climb aboard and go whee! Ah, I'm just kidding. Maybe. Maybe not.

Whatever happened to Jim? Does he still have his MGS-01?

Will do. Worst case, may have to sip whiskey a little longer - I start at 3:00, racing or no racing. Whoa! Check out the grid for tomorrow's race! three Yams on front row, and Rossi not aboard any of 'em. http://www.motogp.com/en/motogp/motogp_res...tm?menu=results Let the season begin!

Moto GP is on Speed tomorrow (Sunday) at 3:00 PM pacific. Speed is Cox cable 56 in San Diego. Speed schedule here: http://www.speedtv.com/schedule/filter/dat...3-9/timezone/pt

Got it back. Filter very plugged. Pump running extremely loud - so replaced it. On exmination, internal of pump filled with reddish "crud". Certainly appears the "crud" not only strangled fuel flow, but led to the death of the pump. This is the symptom I'd hoped to find, easy diagnosis and easy fix - though $260 for a new pump isn't exactly "easy" on the wallet. Scheduling another dyno date as soon as I can. Will post charts when I have 'em.

Stelvio will probably be the ticket for most. My buddy loves his multistrada. Still, for making the V 11 more civil - the parabellum looks like a nice option. Frank Wedge did a lot more than jsut bars and add-on screen. the pegs are lower and more forward as well. A real "gentleman's" sport tourer - but a very nice ride from all accounts. I like seeing people use the spine for a touring platform. I think it's still their best handling - and certainly lightest - big bore Guzzi ever.

I always though Frank Wedge's interpretation of a Le Mans sport tourer was the way Guzzi should have gone. Here it is at the 2004 national: That said, I really like the look of whast you've done with the Parabellum. Just not sure I want all that hanging on the forks.

Not all the banking. They've taken the F1 layout and rearranged / rebuilt it. Here's a map:

Yes, in large measure I agree - right rider, right bike, right time. Sometimes a rider comes along who throws that into a cocked hat - Rossi of a few years back the most recent - but by and large I agree. I'm going to the GP in Indy. Will fly into Chicago and rent Sportster for the ride to / from Indy. My tix http://tinyurl.com/2m2p8c include a parade lap - though not on race day.

Well, enjoy your ride Jaap. I do hope you don't hammer your drive line into submission before this cush thingie gets sorted.

I could see this upgrade becoming popular ... popular enough that MG would bring it in-house like they did with the Ghezzi-Brian MGS ... where it would languish ... and die ... like the MGS. Here's hoping MG keeps their incompetent hands off it.

That's the motor Guareschi used to kick ass at Daytona. It would spank a V-rod. You could probably buy a used V-Rod for what it wold cost to retrofit your bike with that kit. Just guessing.

None initially. I got three full-throttle power pulls (1 for each chip I'd brought along) in, and no evidence of issues. Thereafter began mapping and the injectors (both) began going into 100% duty cycle (and a/f would go to max) as RPM's increased. Thought maybe it was heat related, so let the bike cool. Tried again but the issue was still there, but at even lower RPM. Concluded it was a plugged fuel filter, or that both injectors had gotten plugged. Bike did sit for a considerable period of time and I didn't flush the system before taking it to the dyno. Sean at MGC is looking at it now to see what he can find. I hope the filter is filthy with crud - easy fix. If not, then will need to look at fuel pressure, dying pump or bad injectors. FWIW - the injectors are upgraded from stock so according to the supplier should handle anticipated flow no problem. That's why, when they went to 100% at modest RPM, we concluded it was fuel delivery, not undersized injectors. That, and the fact the symptom didn't show up until the bike had been run hard for several minutes. Sean was racing this past weekend, so he'll be swamped with work for a few days. Hopefully he'll have an answer and a fix for it later this week. Then I''ll go run it again.

I'm so lost.