Steve G.

The grease gun I got is made in the states,[well probably China, but label U.S. company]. I even had to drive across the border into Lynden, the closest U.S. town to get the optional extension. I wish I could remember the name, something like Lubramatic, Lubmatic, something like that. The thing does work well, they even come with their own labelled mini grease cartridges. Ciao, Steve G.

I do hope you recover fast. I can relate in more ways than you'd know. I work in the retail glass business, and as an installer of all manner of glass, I know the frightfull potential a sharp edge of glass can have on the soft tissue of the human body. I'm glad you are going under the knife quickly, as tendons and nerves [sorry guys] heal much better and quicker if mended soon, rather than waiting long. Three years ago I had a hernia operation with long time off work, which drove me nuts. In an effort to keep myself busy, I spent alot of time test riding bikes at bike shops. Yes, I know what you are saying. Anyways, it was an unanticipated offer to test ride an aftermarket 'hotted up' Aprilia Mille 'R' at Moto International that ended up causing, shall we say significant physical grief, to the point of a return visit to my doctor to stitch things up again. Of course the story I gave to the doctor was different from the actual. Anyways, get better soon. Ciao, Steve G.

I end up taking the rear wheels off, carefully,,,, Carefully, lowering the rear hub to a level that you can reach through, from the back, to the front grease nipple. Even then I had to buy a special mini grease gun with a swivle end to get to it. I look at it this way, it gives me a chance to grease the hub splines and clean up the rear axle. Ciao, Steve G.

Neil Hodgson is a great guy. A true ambassador for roadracing. Unfortunately he's been sent to the USA to run mostly sub par tracks compared to WSB and GP. As well, the arrogant bastard winning things for the last few years [ Matt Mladdin] shows no sign, nor does his Suzuki, from fading from view. Pitty really. It'd be great to see Neil up there on the Ducati. We'll see how he does next year now that he's used to the AMA tracks. Ciao, Steve G.

Shit Jim, I'm all over this one!!! Ciao, Steve G.

Too lean a mixture is something to be avoided, as excess combustion chamber heat has resulted [rarer than most think] in melted pistons. Too rich a mixture can have a long term problem on your engine, by actually washing the oil off of your cylinder walls, increasing piston ring/cylinder wear. Ciao, Steve G.

I will try the champagne yeast for sure. I've used wine yeast on the times I've made mead [honey beer]and barley wine, or on the occasion I want to experiment with a very high alcohol content which usually kills beer yeast. I can't remember the last time I've used a finishing sugar, or priming sugar, mainly because I havn't bottled any beer for at least 10 yrs. With the stainless keg system I've built, the finished beer is put into the keg, and co2 is used for carbonization. No bottle carbonization yeast on the bottom of the bottles, or in this case the keg, because no priming sugar used or needed. Unfortunately this is a step that can't be avoided when bottling beer, or the beer would not carbonate. It is a great amount of fun, whether simple or complex. Very nice beers are made of the simplest recipe, and simplest ingredients. Cleanliness and decent quality ingredients are very much the most important two things. Ciao, Steve G.

Welcome to the home brewing world bigbikerrick. You will enjoy this enormously. I've been a home brewer since 1980, starting out with kits, now I mostly do brewing from raw grains and whole hops, when I can find them. I have given up on cleaning/sterilizing 60 odd bottles as well, and now have a full c02 dispensing system with tap, with just 1 5 gallon container, all in a mini fridge. I'm sure our microbiologist will correct me on a thing or two, but this layman brewer has done well by advise given to my over the yearsby other laymen brewers and proffesional brewers alike. So I speak in laymans words. Home brewing can be as simple or complex as you like. Doing it simple will not decrease the quality of the beer, but being lazy or really cheap will. By lazy I mean you must be meticulously clean, sterilising parts, [and later beer bottle and caps]. A dishwasher will not do. By cheap I mean you really should use a proper steriliser from a home brewing shop. And of course, the better the raw materials, including the yeast [precultured 'live' yeast is best] will dramatically improve your beer. Substituting the white sugar in the kit [probably corn sugar as it is cheap and easy to ferment] for dry malt extract will eliminate the "tinny metallic" taste that all processed white sugars will give the beer. This kit will probably have the malt/sugar/hops in separate containers which you will mix together. In these kits, it should be pointed out that almost all of them use a dried and packaged "ale" yeast, verus a dried and packaged "lager" yeast. The main reason for this is that the ideal temperature for ale yeast to ferment the sugars in the mixture [wort] is between 65-75 deg F, about the temperature of the average house. Lager yeast prefers 45-55 deg F. As well, the ale yeast is [compared to ale or wine yeast] quite vigorous and quick in converting sugar into alcohol. Also, ale yeast is top fermenting, meaning it does all it's bubbling and activity at the top, where the home brewer can see the action, vs lager yeast being bottom fermenting, slow, lazy, difficult to check it's progress. With this in mind, these kits will always make better ales and stouts [stouts are made with ale yeast] than lagers, so large a degree the yeast is to the flavour of the beer. Also, beers with a heavier taste tend to offest the "off flavours" of the dreaded white sugars, and any of the non stainless steel or glass containers or equipment may give off. If you are happy with this, then great. If you are a lager/lite beer guy, you can still use ale yeast, but avoiding use of white sugars will really make a huge difference in taste. Any other questions, I'd be more than happy to tell you anything to make a better beer, even your own custom beer just for your palate. Ciao, Steve G.

A local bike shop is selling off their Handy unit, the model with electric motor lift, professional shop use. They have been disapointed with it, but then it has to meet a whole different level of use. They have 9 in use, and will say that the Handy electric is an option they will never look at again. Ciao, Steve G.

So someone off's himself [i think we can safely say he was on "A" bike], and a guy with a camera on scene decides to make a series of pictures, for no profit, for everyone with internet access to view. The whole scene is a deception? The body ripped into chunks a fake? Burn off part of the forest, where you then drop off this pile of human stuff? Okie-dokie! They do say many people believe to this day that man has never been on the moon, that it was all done on an elaborate movie set! Ciao, Steve G.

Handy didn't have any 'show specials' this year. While I appreciate the Handy, and others with a flat style table, the one I have still makes me have to lean over across the edge of the table to get to the bike. To me, the Kendon is the one. They are making the show route as well, worth a look. Ciao, Steve G.

Sorry for bringing up the old bar riser thread again. I went to the MPH site, and they are having issues with it, hence no pictures or prices. Anyone out there have this kit from them [i think it comes with a longer clutch line]? Any thoughts on how it's working? Ciao, Steve G.

I thought about it. Alot! Sorry! I'm with Ryan on this one. This machine you are talking about is made specifically for roads which I make a serious point of trying to avoid. STRAIGHT LINES. The only Harley you will ever see me own will be a nice old flathead 45. The rest are more or less poser fluff to me, sorry. Just my opinion. Ciao, Steve G.

Indeed the Ducati Classics are there. They are simply lovely things to look at! They were garnering all the attention in the Ducati display, leaving oddities like the Multistrada and the SS series ignored. They were both on stands so no-one was able to sit on them. Funny you should mention these bikes. I'm of the strong [and trying to be unbiased] opinion that a bike introduced in 1998, and on public sale in 1999 beat Ducati to the mark by a full 5 years. That machine was the green V11 Sport Moto Guzzi. Both Guzzi and Ducati patterned, and in some ways modernized their respective classics, Guzzi with the V7 Sport, and Ducati with the Paul Smart and 750 GT. Both with engine/mechanical traights similar to the old machines, with vastly superior brakes and hardware. This is something Ducati will do very well with, as is Triumph, and Guzzi should continue with. The very latest from Guzzi has me sort of wondering. Ciao, Steve G.

The guy driving this thing probably has trouble walking and chewing gum without hurting himself. Ciao, Steve G.

Yes I read about this. I hope it becomes an annual thing, many tourists will come. Ciao, Steve G.

I was at the show Saturday as well. Checked out the M.G. display. You can tell that Piaggio is spending more money on the whole Guzzi effort, in North America anyways. First impressions? Well I've seen the little series Breva, and they do nothing for me. The big Breva? I'm sorry, it's butt ugly. I'm sure it's a better bike than the ones we follow here, but it's not happening style wise. The body work appendages off of the tank are simply crying out to be chipped off. The fuel tank should be more flat, not the arched up from the back appearance one sees now. Now the Griso. This is a machine which I initially thought was kind of weird in the pictures. But in real view, it's not too bad. Sitting position is fine. Styling I think most could live with. It has some small issues which I think let it down. The most attention getting part of the exhaust, the very end of the muffler can, is let down by a real cheesy finish. Either polish the metal out so it does'nt look like it was sourced from the accessory dept. of Ural, or paint it flat black so it does not bring attention to itself. Either that, or most owners will rip the ugly thing off and get an aftermarket can. The oil cooler underneath the right cylinder would be moved somewhere if I got mine. It looks stupid there. Other than those nigglies, I think Guzzi will sell every one they can make. I think you will see them reskin the Breva, or keep it as a base model, as it is not an attractive bike. I stood around for quite a while, hearing many quiet opinions, most were asking where the V11/Lemans bikes were after seeing the Breva. Other makes. Of course Kawasaki has their Hyabusa killer, ZX14. Fit and finish is the same as always with them, cobby! The bike itself looks like a giant milti eyed bug coming at you from the front. Very weird looking, with the rest of the machine just boring as anything. Nothing from Honda, or Suzuki ever does much for me anymore. Hondas are boring to look at, and Suzuki uses too many "boy racer" graphics for styling rather than actually make some nice lines. On Jap bike I've always liked to look at is the Yamaha R1. Now with the limited [for a Japanese maker] edition R1 "LE" in Yamaha racer yellow and black. These are great looking bikes, and the fit and finish is the best in the business if you ask me. Oh, and Triumph had no display at all, nothing! Mega cruisers everywhere, this is obviously where the market is, and so they are making what the people want. Ciao, Steve G.

This crash happened in 2004 in North Island, New Zealand. GSXR 1000, 175mph, into the trees, and the trees spit him back out, and his bike, somewhat mixed together, shall we say. Safe to say that high quality leathers, and high quality helmet did jack shit to protect the body at these speeds. Makes you think seriously when you find a spot to really lay your head down on the tank and let her really stretch her legs. Ciao, Steve G.

Hey, fellow VME members! I've been VME for years, try to do the Vashon Tiddler Tour every year, and of course the Vashon TT. Saturday is best for me at the Cycle World Show. We'll be across the street at Pyramid sampling I.P.A.'s at noon, then walk off the dapplings at the show. I'll be looking for a new helmet there. Do you Seattle guys have any idea who's going to be selling off good helmets cheap this year? I'm looking for a flip up, like a Shoei Syncrotec. Ciao, Steve G.

106hp. Yup, at over 1550cc, I guess if you Screamin' Eagled my 25yr old Briggs & Stratton lawn mower with a wheelbarrow of money, it could cut the grass faster. Gosh it has to be over 20yrs ago, my brother and I found ourselves on my KZ750, and his LTD 750 Jappers. A big 'ol herd of Hardley Ablesons were headed our way. We were a bit cocky in those years. We both gave them the big middle finger salute, and the race was on. We zoomed around the back roads of Langley slowing down just so they thought they had a chance to gang up on us. After 1/2hr, we got bored, dropped a gear and were gone from their view in seconds. Pitifull things back then. I've had the pleasure of riding an old flathead 45, and an old Indian 4. If I was told to buy nothing but a Milwaukie Mutt, it'd have to be one of these lovely old girls. These are classy, reliable, and really not that much slower than brand new ones today. Ciao, Steve G.

I've ridden many HD, from little Sporty, to XLCR100, XR1000, FXRS Sport, nd Electra Glide. Sorry, their all fuc#^&$ trucks! And don't get me started on the penis heads that seem to find themselves on them. Getting stuck behind these guys is worse than getting stuck behind a motorhome. Smell the roses? Geez, get a car and roll the windows down! Ciao, Steve G.

I always wear leather pants with no issue. On the very rare occasion I wear jeans, yes, there are issues like you mention. Ciao, Steve G.

Guzzi models brought into Canada are usually 3-6 months after delivery/sale in the USA. Like usual, we're the last on the list. Ciao, Steve G.

I'm sure both of these bikes could be considered competitors in the same class of bikes. As for a power comparison, well I'm no Harley guy that's for sure, but the Harley would blow the Griso's doors off in acceleration/top speed. I can't comment on handling road manners of the two. Ciao, Steve G.

Gosh, that's really too bad about Richard Burns. Fantastic driver. I honestly did not know he was having such a tough time with cancer. Damn, too bad. Ciao, Steve G.