Chuck

Uhh, I know from hard won experience that 6 machines own you.

^^^^ I'll have to say that I can't argue.. I went to Mid Ohio on my new (left over, of course) Centauro, and Guzzi was there with a Greenie, the first one I'd seen. I thought, "Crap."

Thanks, Docc. Well.. that sucks. RIP Bruce. I never met you but wish I had..

I will give you that the ignition key is kool. Peter would be much more eloquent about what I think of the rest.

BTDT, I'll do it again if the crick don't rise..

Nice pitcher, Docc.. Back in the day when I used to go to w ww wwwork.. there was a power line from the main plant to the guard shack that had a row of Nighthawks sitting sideways on the wire. Every morning. About 60 feet long. Never did figure that one out, and too stupid to bring a camera and take a picture.

Wait. Did I miss something here??

Good call there, Docc.

There ya go. Glad I didn't watch it.

I didn't watch the video on purpose, the same as I don't watch people totally screwing up in airplanes. Why imprint bad decisions? I learned 50 some years ago that I would have to lay er down if I overused the back brake. A few years ago, Todd Egan told me that I was screwing up by getting on the brakes too hard and upsetting the chassis entering a turn. He told me, "Follow me at this distance.. (about 10 feet!!) and don't touch the brakes., you won't need them. Keep the same distance." (Gulp) We proceeded to roar around in the mountains faster than I had ever gone. By far. Let's just say it was a learning experience involving flicking into a turn, letting the motorcycle do it's thing.. it *wants* to be stable if you don't mess with it, adding throttle all the way through the turn.. etc. Wat Scud says above.

I'd like to have one to put on the test bench.. Well, it's only QC. What do we have? Is it to spec, etc.

Yeah, those plain ol silver sports are common as dirt. I saw one in Wisconsin last year..

People that come to Aridzona to escape the snow.. Flori duh has their share, too.

Pretty good eye. It's .003" out. Thanks. Obviously more a matter of screen distortion then Yeah. It looks strange in the picture..

Excellent...

I understand it was never "legal" to lane split in Ca, it just wasn't enforced. The bill actually makes is legal. Lane splitting is a wonderful thing in that traffic..

Pretty good eye. It's .003" out.

Thanks Scud..

Probably laying on it's side screaming it's heart out..

Austin is a perfect example. I told him he could work on his KLR in the shop when I was in California. I came home to this.. 2018-01-06_01-36-03 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr Now, it's no small feat for a kid to dive in to something as complicated as this. He's a *good* nuts and bolts guy. He'd seen this: 2018-01-09_02-51-39 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr And thought, "that's probably not good." Never gave a thought as to *why* that cam looked like that, and was going to swap heads with his spare engine. That's when I came home. Walked out into the shop, saw the cam and rooted cam bearings, and had an immediate look at that rod bearing. 2018-01-09_02-53-12 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr Here it is.. 2018-01-09_02-54-18 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr Texted him, "what are you going to do with that rod bearing?" He texted back, " Huh?" The next time he was in the shop, I started explaining how the oiling system worked, tolerances for bearings and why, etc. .. and this engine is junk. "Oh, by the way.. did you notice the cam bearing material galled onto the "good" head you were going to swap?" Sorry, no picture for that. Told him to cut open the oil filter of the spare engine and showed him how to squeeze the element flat between 2 clean plates. No metal in it. Told him that he *probably* had a good bottom end to swap into the bike, but he'd have to source yet another head. He said, "I'm really glad I didn't go any farther before you came back from California." That is why he will be a *good* mechanic. He suddenly realized how little he actually knows.

Yes, Docc.. that is the perfect example. I've seen it many times over the years. Yep. There are very few airplane mechanics that fly. A pilot gets in and goes, thinking, "what could possibly go wrong?" A mechanic with some experience *knows* what can go wrong..

Sorry Phil, but that's the long and short of it. Let me digress. When I was in my early 20s, I would have jumped on this problem, found the answer and been confident that this *was* the answer. I have done that.. But.. Put another almost 50 years of experience into the mix, and I have learned that I *don't* know it all. There is a learning curve in any trade, whether it is being a Guzzi mechanic,doctor, tool and die maker, or candle stick maker. It starts at the bottom and goes up at an exponential rate. At that point you think you are hot sh!t. Then, it drops almost as fast when you realize you are not. My new pup Austin is there right now. He's just realizing he is clueless. He will be good. Know what I mean? The people that end up being bad at what they do never realize there is much more to learn, and how little they know. So. I'm confident that we have the answer, but there is sill that lingering doubt, brought on by experience.

Thanks, Nick.. a little nippy up around your place, too? Now, the butterflies begin. It's much the same as when I was putting the Aero engine together at first startup. Will it actually run?.. this has never been done before..the camera is running.. (I'm *really* going to feel like a doofus if this thing doesn't work ..) That was all over, though.. as soon as I punched the starter button. I'll be worried about these springs failing for some reason I have never even considered for quite some time. Oh, well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The only way they are going to see you is if your picture is on their phone..

Thanks, Scud.. it'll be a long time before riding impressions for me. -3F as we speak with a -18 wind chill. This is the longest period of seriously cold wx in my memory.