GuzziMoto

First off, that post was way to long to bother reading in its entirety. But I will assume it went on and on in support of your view. There are two parts of the 2nd amendment. The first part references a militia, the second part is the part gun rights people always quote. To me it says you have the right to bear arms in a militia in defence of your coutry, and you do. To you it says you have the right to own guns. But the reality of the amendment is there has been some control of arms for a long time in this country and you would have to be very far out of the norm to think that is wrong. The question for most is where do you draw the line? Are hand guns to be regulated? Are automatic assult rifles? Are 50 caliber machine guns? What about rocket launchers, cannons, or bombs? The line is drawn somewhere, exactly where depends on the individual. If you think all modern arms should be unregulated, then this is a waste of time and you are never going to listen to anyone elses opinion on this.

I have read the 2nd amendment many times, but have never noticed it forbiding any federal firearms laws. In fact, it is a very vague amendment that without interpretation says very little. Thus, the debate. Your interpretation of it may not be the same as someone elses.

I don't have the measurement for you, but I would bet that any modern Italian bike with a Brembo clutch master would use the same size res.

I have seen F1 and MotoGP in person (I saw WSB in person but that was back in the early '90's). Both are spectacular, MotoGP because the racing is good and the bikes are fast, F1 because the cars are the fastest things around a roadcourse and the drivers talent to drive the cars that fast is amazing. The big problem for me with WSB is they went the route of slowing the racing down so that more riders could run the pace. To some this is good, it makes for closer racing. But I would rather see faster bikes and fewer guys able to run the pace. Don't get me wrong, I would go watch a WSB race if it were near me, but I would not ride for two days each way to see it (unless it was a sweet ride, then I might do it for any excuse) like I do for F1 and MotoGP.

I met him at Daytona back in '94 I believe. We were racing in the AHRMA BOTT races together (he as an owner/creator, me as a racer). What impressed me the most was that while he was clearly brilliant and much smarter then I, he talked to me about his bike and what he had planned for the future with it in a manner that made you feel like an equal part of the conversation. He did not talk down to you as some smart people do. You felt like an equal, even though you knew you weren't. Going through the tri-oval on my 750, Andrew Stroud came by on the Britten. I thought it was going to be cool to watch it go through the infield (since I was on the track at the same time most of the time, I did not get to see much of it in action that year), but by time I got through turn one it was gone. Amazing.

Not only did we not recover under Reagan, but we suffered for four more years under Bush senior. There was no ray of sunshine at the end of Reagans terms, the only people who did well under him and B.S. (Bush senior) were people who already had money. The lower and middle classes suffered until Clinton. Don't get me wrong, I am not a left wing liberal nut. I am somewhere in the middle of the road. But I come from lower middle class roots and still live there. My family suffered under Reagan. My wifes family suffered under Reagan. Things were good under Clinton. Politics and indescretions (I don't care who is f*ing the president, as long as he isn't screwing us)aside,under Reagan and B.S., debt went up and GNP went down. Under Clinton, the debt went down and the GNP went up. Now we're back in debt and out of work. Will the new president be able to turn things around like Clinton did? I doubt it but I hope so.

"Success" as in at the start of his 8 years, we were in a deep hole, with record national debt and unemployment. After 8 years of the Clinton way, we had successfully paid off most of the debt aquired in the previous 12 years and unemployment was down to a low level. "Is" as in after 8 years of the Bush way we is in a deep hole again. If you don't like the Democratic moral philosophy I can understand. But clearly on a well being of the country philosophy the country has done better under Clinton then it did under Reagan, Bush, or Bush. I don't understand how the Republicans are supposed to be the party of smaller goverment and fiscal responsibility, yet under them the national debt goes up?

As said before, I don't have much hope for Obama changing/fixing things. But getting help from Clintons administration, one of the most successful Presidents we've had in a long time, can't be a bad thing. He'll need all the help he can get. On a different note V For Vendetta is one of my favorite movies. There was so much truth in that movie. I do agree that if you think the most important thing about Obama is the color of his skin, you are a racist.

I thought he was the better choice, and I voted for him. But I have no faith that he will do anything substantially different then the rest. He is a politician just like the others. He makes pretty speaches. But so far he has continued to support the status quo. I hoped he might make a stand on the increase in the finanial bailout, or speak up on the auto maker loan package (unlike the financial bailout, they would pay us back). He seems more concerned with his image then with substance. I don't think anything will really change. Tomorrow I will be in the same amount of debt I am today (actually slightly deeper due to interest), the banks will likely be in less debt tomorrow (thanks in part to my tax dollars). The american public will continue to get screwed.

Most brake fade is the brake fluid getting too hot. But that does not mean the pads aren't a factor. Some pads generate a lot more heat then other pads and will be more likely to have the problem. There are racing brake fluids that can take the heat better then the standard stuff, in the US the best fluid I have found is Wilwood. It does not last but it can take the heat well. So many pads nowdays are made for stainless discs and are not suited for cast iron. They generate too much heat and wear the discs out too fast. But they are geared for supersport racing where they have to run the stock discs.

Brilliant!!!

It has not finished in Dakar four times since the rally started. It has not started in Paris more then that. It makes no difference to me where it starts or where it ends. It is the toughest race in motorsports and to even compete in it is an accomplishment, to finish is a victory.

It has not gone too Dakar many times, this is nothing new. The name Dakar has become a brand. Whether it ends in Dakar or not no longer is important. Get over it. The name Dakar has come to stand for the longest and most gruelling race in motorsports. It has not refered to where the rally ends for a while.

As I understand it, a bunch of gear shift shafts were machined too large in diameter. That causes the spring to break. Replace the shaft of have it turned down to the correct size.

I think if you want to push your mumbo jumbo on others, that's fine. Please start another thread in the correct place. This is a thread on V11 cush drives.

Ahhh... Good to have ya back, Ratchet (I think). I missed The Ministry of Information (MisInfo for short).

The "motorcycling's not for you" line was funny. But the weight transfer happens the moment the rear tire tries to slow the bike down, which is a fraction of a second before the rear tire locks up. If you want to compare the two with your scenario, that's fine. But a more comparable version of the acceleration side would be the opposite of your deceleration example. So, start off slow (or better yet from a stand still), rev the motor up with the bike in first or second gear (depending on how fast your going or if your standing still). You never said what gear you are atarting in, I'll assume you did not start in top gear. Now dump the clutch. If you don't wreck right then and there the rear tire will be "breaking traction" so much that there is smoke coming off it. Now, unless you know how to do a burn out already I would not suggest you try to do this based on what I have posted because that was an example to make a point and not meant as a tutorial on doing burnouts. But what it comes down to is this, a Guzzi motor makes something to the tune of 70 ft/lbs of torque in acceleration. It makes a fraction of that in deceleration. Ham fisted clutch work in either direction is a bad thing, and it may be more common in deceleration, but the possible loads in acceleration are many times higher then the possible loads in deceleration due to the many times greater availability of torque and traction.

Right before the wheel locks up. Look at it this way, the rear brake can lock the rear tire much easier then the front brake can lock the front tire. Does this mean that the rear brake has more power then the front brake?

No, I have to agree with dlang. The rear tire is easier to break traction during decel not because the engine can develop more force on compression braking then acceleration (if that were true it would be sad) but because the rear tire unloads during decel and has less grip (further reducing the loads on the drive train).

This past summer my wifes V11 had a leak from the front of the gear box. There was a small drain hole for the clutch housing that would drip a little. At first I thought it was from the back of the sump, but after taking the sump off and replacing the gasket I realized it was from the bottom of the clutch bell. I figured it was the rear main seal. I road her bike (doesn't get to happen often, she doesn't share well) and found that the clutch would occasionally slip, further confirming in my mind that it was the rear main seal. I thought it was leaking from the seal and getting on the clutch. Took it to a shop south of Harrisburg Pa (I live on the south side of Baltimore). There is a shop right near me (and you if you your moving to the DC area) but I hope to never take my bikes there again. Nothing personal, just don't like the way they work. The shop in Pa is a wild place. Their main income is from old Porsches, they do Guzzis for fun. They took the bike apart and found the breather hoseabove the clutch was not secured to the spigot (the bike just had the trans recall work done at the other shop, hmmm...) and that was mostif not all the leak. They changed the rear main seal and replaced the clutch friction plates because of the mileage and that I asked them to. They also were very thorough and found some other issues that had been missed. I hope all this sheds some light on your situation. Michael

On my wifes V11 we have an LED tail light made for a Suzuki DRZ 400. It happened because I have a DRZ and could see that the taillight I got for it woul fit the RossoPuro bracket on the bike. Just drill two holes and it's there. It is plenty bright, I think brighter then the stock unit. It even has a tag light and comes in red or clear. It's called the Edge taillight (not Edge2) from Wheeling Cycle Supply. http://www.wheelingcyclesupply.com/shop?ac...y&cat_id=72 It unbolts from the bracket it comes with and uses two bolts to attach to the bracket. I plan on trying to get one from them without the bracket but don't know yet if they will sell it that way.

One last time. The forks hitting the left steering stop is a pretty normal thing when the front brakes lock. It doesn't have to be the left steering stop. That's either coincedence or a result of you weighting the bars heavier on one side then the other (or something else, it doesn'y matter). The issue is the brakes locking up. And that could be caused by one of the calipers binding or unevenly worn pads (possibly relating to the fact that you put used pads on new disks). If one caliper binds and doesn't work, not only do you only have one caliper doing the actual braking (which has NOTHING to do with the forks hitting the steering stop) but the master cylinder is sized for two calipers so the ration between it and just the one caliper is all wrong. The result is brakes that may have a fair bit of power but, more importantly, no feel. That could cause you to lock the front without getting any warning or feel from the bike. This is only one of many possibilities and may not be what's wrong with your bike. But either something is wrong with your brakes or your tires if your front is locking up for no reason.

I'm no "Boy Racer" either. Just an old racer who was smart enough to live long enough to become an old racer.

Sorry Ratch. It's a racing term. Did not mean to confuse. As said it means the forks turned all the way to the stop.

The OP was about the front brake locking up, followed by the forks going full lock. Others may have speculated on the cause of the forks going full lock but, I'm sorry to say, I'm confident in saying the forks went full lock due to the front tire locking up. It is a normal part of crashing when the front tire locks. It doesn't have to happen but it often does. I don't think the forks going full lock is the root of his problem but merely an after-effect of the forks locking. The question in my opinion, is why are the forks locking. The part about one caliper sticking or binding has more to do with causing a problem with the brakes and nothing to do with the forks going full lock after the front tire locks up.