dlapierre

Thx for the feedback. I appreciate the positive review. One comment about the stretchy bands. On my next one, I'm going to use a type of anchor that will allow for some adjustment so the bands can be tightened a bit more easily. Having some stretchiness in the bands is, I think, better than having a tightly tied down sort of way of anchoring the pad to the seat. It needs to be able to move a bit without stressing the anchor points too much.

Here's an update for anyone who may be interested in having me make them a pad. What I did for r...hack is make a 17" x 17" pad, 1 1/2" thick, with three 1" wide elasticized straps affixed so that it could just be slipped over the seat into place. The one I made for him, I made fairly dense, the result being that it raised his sitting position a bit up and forward. For me, with the one I made myself, that was great. I needed the added height and I liked the feel of being a slight bit more forward sitting. What I've learned from the way I built the second one I sent him is that I should consider building them slightly less dense, if added height is an issue for anyone. No loss of comfort in making the pad less dense. I think that otherwise, the dimension was just about right for a standard seat. No question about the added comfort, especially for those wanting to avoid "monkey bum" from riding on hot days. I expect he'll now follow-up with his own comments. In the meantime, if anyone else would like to order one, pm me. I'm ready to make a few more now.

I don't mind trying to improve a bit on the one I made, especially if is useful to someone. I see little sense in making improvements to the kind I made and just accumulating them. What I'll need is a finished dimension from you. When I did mine, I measured the length of the seat, taking account of the curve, and the width of the seat both at the front and the back. My seat is lower than the standard, so the dimension is probably different. Gimme your dimensions, I'll get around to making it and if it looks decent, we can go from there. Howzat? Mebbe dlaing can do the same.

Here's the tutorial. http://www3.telus.net/Habitat_Farm/tutframe.html I wrote it for those wanting to make their own saddlepads. I made my seat pad using a machine I invented for making saddlepads. Once you've figured out the technique, you should be able to make a pad with a latch-hook in a couple of hours or so.

OK. Now that I've impressed at least one of you with my make-do skills. Here is another little thing I made. See it at http://www3.telus.net/Habitat_Farm/bikeseat.htm It is basically a latch-hooked wool pad, made by copying an old wool-craft. Once upon a time, it was not uncommon for people to use the craft to make wool saddlepads for horses. That is, if there were sheep nearby. I used elasticised bands underneath to keep in it place. I found it works fine as a seat pad and is quite comfortable. And it is washable. I make saddlepads for the horsey set, so it was easy for me to make. If I made another, I'd adjust the dimensions just a bit. I'll probably make another one, longer this time, to provide a cushion for a pack I like to carry when I make overnight trips. There is a little more to this pad than there is to the make-do "O" ring cruise control. If anyone wants to know how to make one of these pads, I'll send them a little tutorial.

I'm sure this has been done by others. Especially by frugal people, like me. Not having found a cruise control I (a) was willing to pay the price for or, ( seemed worth the money, I made my own. Have a look: http://www3.telus.net/Habitat_Farm/Cruisecontrol.htm Basically, an "0" ring and a piece of shoelace. All I have to do to activate it is roll my hand along the grip to put the ring in place while I'm riding. I can still accellerate/decelerate easily with it in place. And to release it, I only need to give the string a tug. Whaddyathink?

Yes, I saw that. But I was hoping to find something common and locally available. By the way, the best way to view a key blank to determine if it will work or not is by viewing it from the end in addition to looking at it from the side. From the end, my key has an "S" shape to it, more or less. Different keys will have different groove configurations that will make them look different when viewed from the ends.

Has anyone found a substitute for the ignition/tank key? I have only one key for my bike and should get a spare cut. I know I can probably get a dealer somewhere to mail me one and then get it cut, but I'm wondering if there is a common, cross-referenced substitute I could use.

I'm confused, Ian. It looks to me, from the graphs, that over the same distance and timeframe your mileage generally improved in MPG's, but worsened when you calculated it in K/100ml. Howzat? Or, am I not reading them right.

Another exception. I mentioned to my 15 year old son that one of my literary heroes, Vonnegut, died. I asked if he had heard of him. He told me they studied one of Vonneguts essays last year, in grade 9 in his English class. I looked by my boy's bedside. In the messy stack is some Vonnegut novels, and also some of my old Tom Robbins novels. This kid will turn out fine.

These last two answers/suggestions make sense. Having become acutely aware of the sound, danged if I didn't hear the same thing from a Suzuki Savage I keep around to discourage my kids from stealing my good bikes. I putted around the snowpiles remaining in my yard the other day, just to make sure the bikes still runs well, and heard the same thing. I'm no longer worried. I'm pretty sure your JD backhoe sounds better than my old Case tractor.

It's not the clutch. I found the differences in those sounds right away. Am I the only guy with a diesel tractor?

That break-in article helps. One thing I forgot to mention was that the plugs were both quite fouled with carbon.

I have an '01 Sport, and had a locksmith create a new key from a broken one, it works in the ignition, but I can't get it to work for the fuel cap! Any Idears? This won't be a problem for the locksmith to address. It likely means you key isn't cut exactly right. I know that's the obvious answer, but there's a way of checking to at least see if one of the key cuts isn't deep enough. Wiggle the key in the fuel cap a few times then look closely at the key cuts. If you see a slight dimple on one of the cuts, that will be one that is not cut deep enough. A slight buff with a file will fix that. The other way is to measure the key cuts with a micrometer to see which cut might be too deep. These locks have either 5 or 6 pins, from the looks of them.

So I bought this project. An 03' v11 Sport with some visible cosmetic damage. Since, I've been going through the bike checking everything. Seeing how black the oil was, I removed the sump and found a bit of grey sludge under the screen filter. The oil also looked like it had a wee bit of water in it. A couple of small, milky-like streaks. So, new oil, filter, cleaned sump. Didn't surprise me to see what appeared to be water. The bike has some rust on it and looked like it had been left in the rain more than once. Yesterday I retorqued the heads and adjusted the valves. Nothing too out of adjustment, but it clearly needed it all done. But I'm puzzled by the appearance again of some of the grey sludge appearing on only one of the valve covers. All clean and adjusted, I fired up the bike, heard the nice even ticking sounds of the valves as they should be, but am also hearing a bit of a knocking sound, only at low idle. It goes away as I rev up, and doesn't appear during the wind-down. Just at idle. Same sound as my diesel tractor makes when I start it on a cold day. I put a piece of metal pipe against different parts of the engine, make-shift stethascope style, and the sound is most apparent towards the rear of the engine. What's the diagnosis? The bike only has a few over 7,000 miles showing on the odometer.

I just bought an 03' V11 Sport that had the seat custom altered by Rich Maund to fit a 5'6" fellow. It's too low for me. I'm 6' tall. I'll trade it for one that is normal or, preferably, has been raised to suit a longer leg. The seat is in perfect shape. I'd like the same in return.

I finally found the bike I wanted. I bought an '03 V11 Sport in need of a bit of work, but not serious work. I bought, hopefully, a "light" project. I blame these MG discussion sites for this. After following them for, what, couple of years maybe, I had to get a Guzzi so I could put at least some of what I had been reading to work. This is my first Guzzi. It's also my first shot at exporting a bike from the US to Canada. It wasn't so bad, except for having to tolerate the crappy manners of the demi-god-like border personnel. As far as I can tell, the only problems with the bike are cosmetic. The bike was tipped over a couple of times. The engine guards are both nicked, the tail pipes are scratched a bit. Stuff like that. There's still snow in the yard, so it'l be a bit of a wait to learn how well it rides, but it seems to run fine. It already is occupying a main spaced in my workshop, just waiting for me to build a bike stand and a lift. I can do both. Just needed the excuse to do it. As well, I'm 6'. The original owner was 5'6" and had the seat lowered to accommodate his height. So, I'll need to address that, too. Looking forward to making good use of this discussion board.