docc

Hey, thanks! They are Speedhut. I had a great time getting the faces custom made and doing the installation. I just could not bring myself to buy a fourth Veglia speedometer . . .

I went down some "pop music" rabbit hole this evening and watched a bunch of early MTV-type videos. So overproduced, lip-synched, and with no actual musicians onscreen. Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" is one of my favorites in that genre. Yet, I ran across this awesome Sade production! Love the Film Noir narrated gangster theme with the muted horn intro (" . . . at ten past nine, the dame with the ponytail . . ."), the trains, the sirens, then the actual stage production that ensues. Have always loved this woman's smooth vocals. Plus, there is a bass solo!

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Best smart phone nav results for route building I have see so far is a combination of Kurviger and Scenic. Creative route building is time consuming and fraught with dead-ends (literally!) and surprise creek crossings.

Yeah, I know a talented software engineer that struggles with the smart phone navigation algorithms. They don't give a rat that you want your Guzzi to sing down that creekside next to the bluff, but really good at connecting us to those Cheetohs we suddenly crave . . .

I have a half dozen of these atlases of my surrounding states where I've done 95% of my riding. When I was navigating from the tankbag window, I would photocopy the needed sections in black&white and use color to highlight the route, turns, and distance between. For the roughly 40 mile radius around my house, I would tear out that page for the tankbag window. I have also made "route books;" a technique I learned from a UH-1 MediVac pilot I knew. These feature a detail map of the tricky or key turns with some distance indicators with a "distinctive" picture adjacent. (That pilot was known for his flight plan books using, er, attractive models in scant attire/ if any). I've done 200-250 mile routes that I largely memorize and have maybe six tricky junctions in the route book. The adjacent image helps me memorize the turn and keep it distinct from the others. Drawback is having to reposition the route book in the window after each noted turn. DeLorme has a long history with electronic navigation and was acquired by Garmin a few years ago. They still produce the atlases that overlay the roads onto the topography. They are still part of my electronic route building by offering a big-picture perspective of road selection through (and over) desirable terrain and along water courses while avoiding cities, towns and awkward intersections

I recall motorcycle navigating with a page from the DeLorme Atlas and Gazetteer in the tankbag window. It took a lot of focus and some considerable time with eyes away from the road. I still use the DeLorme as an intricate part of doing Sat-Nav route planning. Perhaps the biggest advantage to Sat-Nav is the dot that says, "You Are Here (Not Where You Thought You Were)."

Seems one might be more inclined to got the other way round and fit the narrower early rim to the later Longframes. Less unsprung weight and such . . . I've long wondered if the change to the 5.5 rim, in addition to footgoose's observation about the marketing of the day, was Moto Guzzi's extensive redesign that may have been in response to reports of the early bike being less "stable" than expected. So, we got a longer wheelbase, frame and subframe bracing, bigger rear rim/tire, bigger forks. @gstallons is an a unique position to compare the changes with an '03 Sport and a RedFrame Sport . . .

Pretty recently, @Cabernet started a thread about using the BeeLine for navigation. He made numerous great observations about motorcycle navigation, devices, and techniques. Lately, my riding buddies have been suggesting I update my maps. Shoot, they're only a year older than the bike I bought new!

I don't see why not. But I also don't see you would . . .

So, early RedFrames (and the 2001 Rosso Mandello) have 4.5 inch rear rim width and were delivered with 170 tires. My 2000 came with really soft, 'pointy' Pirelli Dragon Corsa that were gone in a flash. The 170 is a little bit of a "pinch" onto that rim which then looses some "roundness" in the profile. I have found the 160 on the 4.5" rim much nicer on the turn-in, especially with a more "sport-touring" tire (currently Bridgestone Battlax T31). Beginning with the 2002 LongFrames, rim width increased to 5.5" and came with a 180 tire. Lots of folks, similarly, have gone with a 170 on the wider rim of the later V11. YMMV!!

Also, @voycie posted his black 2003 LeMans last July. Not sure if it sold . . .

This is deserving of a topic of its own!

The very first post in Jaap's popular "What do you listen to?" thread is Earthshine-Rush:

Yessir, the cam bung can leak. One of eight places in that space that can leak . . .

What with snow on the ground, and my Sport on the battery conditioner, I've been hoping for more enticing views of our brothers riding in the Summer Hemisphere . . .

Pretty quiet from @p6x for a couple weeks . . . I can only fathom that, 1) He's got the LeMans on the way back to Texas, 2) He gave up on our sorry selves, or 3) (worst case scenario): the "Jimmy Choo high heels and pricey purse" didn't work .

To return the liquid portion of the crankcase ventilation back to the sump. Instead of into an old Castrol® fork oil can or Coors® can. The V11 crankcase ventilates from a fitting (#14, first diagram) on the rear, upper right of the block inside the clutch housing, through the nefarious, shaped flexible hose (#18 in the first diagram) under the spine frame that connects to the bottom of the spine just behind the headstock. From there, the vapor portion is extracted (more or less) from the banjo fitting on top of the spine at the headstock into the airbox (#16/17 in the second diagram) while the liquid portion drizzles down inside the spine to the return line which dribbles back into the sump.

It is a vestigial structure left over from earlier wide sump models that had two oil return lines from the spine frame (one on each side of the spine).

Truth and wisdom.

Nice SpineFrames are the New Tonti, bud. Ya sure you wanna bail on that nice Sport?