belfastguzzi

Re earlier questions about the video encoding and poor quality... I came across this piece of advice. So a constantly bouncing and shaking camera on a motorbike was the big problem. "When you move the camera, every pixel in every frame changes constantly, and this is very hard to compress. The more pixels that are repeated, the smaller the size of the file. By limiting movement, you can increase the efficiency of compressing your footage, and reduce the file size for faster playback. Use a tripod and/or stabilizer to limit camera movement."

Do keep us informed of progress. The sooner Jaap opens an 'other models' Forum here, the better. Perhaps once he starts riding that Sport...?

Jaap, what time to you get in on 22nd and what time is the ferry out on 24th? Bertie – are you still thinking of coming over for the NW200 week?

*snort*

Not to worry. I've just spoken to Will at Barholm and he's away this weekend, so I'll have to leave it 'til later anyway.

It's a GT-Rx, bought from Todd at the Guzzitech site. There's an older thread on it somewhere – I'll have a look... never mind, it just points to the video here which is even more noisy as it doesn't have the pipe-end insert. You can see what it looks like in the vid. Edit very short vid here, shows pipe. Edit 2 This one has more of the high rev sound that Pete was lusting after. The end of this video shows what it looks like with the insert.

yes I need to seal a bit of a gap. Is there a particular make / brand of high temp silastic for exhausts? Do you ask for 'silastic' at the shop? A step up from Gun Gum, I take it. I also need to get the second map installed. The motor hasn't blown up yet. Funny, re the revs. I wondered the same thing on watching the video back – I thought I could have had it in lower gear and higher revs. Having said that, it felt fine at the time, on the road. Some people have argued here that these bikes don't work at down around 3,000 rpm and shouldn't be used there because it is bad for them, but as you can see, a lot of the time I was between 2k and 4k. It's not that feasible to be running above 5k/6k on those roads. They are small and you don't know what is around each corner: there can be someone walking a dog, or a Range Rover in the middle of the road. Quite often I've gone into a blind corner and there has been a car cutting into the corner towards me, on my side of the road. It's the main hazard of these narrow roads, along with loose surface – but they do make a beautiful ride. I don't know which video you watched. I've just looked at the short one, Part 1, and indeed the revs look like they're hovering around 2k - 3k on that bit of road! There's another vid here, with a few more open stretches of road http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=B4enbSpnWyw – but it still begs the same question... lower gear / higher revs? There's another aspect to this matter – what should be put on Youtube and what should not? I think you saw the video from when I originally installed the pipe. It covers a wider rev range. I haven't put the earlier videos on Youtube because it may not be wise to do so. I don't know: anyone else got thoughts on that? In fact I cut some bits out of the Portaferry videos because I thought that they may look bad to some viewers. Better to be cautious?

All Rock n Roll life is here, including 'Motorcycle Gang' "Guys too highly geared for their own good"

Diddley forget Bo

I'll see your Mersey Beat and raise you one socio-political message: Power to the Bees

You made me go runnin' for Mad Dogs and Englishmen Cry Me A River with sublime Leon Russell Back to Henry Boston to Belfast

:lol: :lol: :lol: I thought I knew the words now I don't :lol: and never will again His guitar player from those Grease Band days, local boy, the fine Henry McCullough, has weathered the years rightly. Get a listen to his recent and his latest. http://www.myspace.com/henrymccullough

Don't panic, no crisis. UPDATE There is only one of the single rooms booked directly so far (a Guzzi guy, but not a Forum member here, as far as I know). The rest of the rooms are held for us. If you phoned and were told that there are no rooms available, it was probably because the rooms are already allocated to us. Give me any updates on your requests, desires , arrival / departure times etc and I'll make/confirm the initial bookings within the week. After that, it may be a free for all. It is best that people if people are prepared to share as there are double rooms, family rooms, mini dorms (4) and dorms (8).

The list of attendees that I have on the belfastguzzi.com site is currently: Updated again Feb 2009 BelfastGuzzi – Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun nights Ballabio Bertie – Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun nights Stockportclaret & GF – Fri, Sat, Sun & poss Thurs nights Brushwarrior – Fri, Sat, Sun nights Guzzirider, Mr – Fri, Sat, Sun nights Guzzirider, Mrs – Fri, Sat, Sun nights Macguzzi – Fri, Sat, Sun nights Jaap – Fri, Sat nights Mal & GF – Fri, Sat nights Tikkanen – probably David Graham – local, will be around Marty Hanse - local, will be around, poss at accomm Tom Robb - local will probably be around Davy Russell – maybe Ferguzzi – maybe Baldini – maybe Antonio – maybe John O'Sullivan – maybe Grossohc – maybe Slavomir – maybe Wambiker – maybe Orson – is probably a no now That is 11 definites for accommodation. I had provisionally requested 20 - 25 beds. Let me know any updates to the list. Edit: site sign-in no longer required. You can view the web page at http://sites.google.com/a/belfastguzzi.com...lly-attendees-1

Seriously? I was only aware of one person who has booked directly. Have others from the Forum here booked – or is it others, outside, who have booked the rooms? I'm surprised. I had the rooms penciled-in for our meeting, so I hope that they haven't gone to people not attending the rally! Will at Barholm didn't say anything to me about that when I last emailed. I had intended to get down to see the rooms and sort out bookings with him last week, but I couldn't, due to a combination of circumstances. I have had bad flu for the past week and as I have other lung problems, that knocked me back a bit. Today was my first day up. There have been other problems over Christmas, as my mum had a minor stroke and has been in hospital, so we have been looking after my sister, who has Downs Syndrome... so anyway... I didn't get to Portaferry to get the accommodation sorted! 1) If anyone has booked a room directly, would you let me know? 2) Anyway, there shouldn't be accommodation problems. – There are dorms, as long as you are happy to share. – There is the Fiddlers Green pub with B&B just a few yards (metres) away across the road. – There are other B&B possibilities. I had hoped to check the Fiddlers Green last week too, and also the possibility of camping. I will check those things as soon as I can. Don't forget that a couple of other accommodation options are on the website http://moto.belfastguzzi.com/accommodation and don't Panic!

Thanks again FG and yes, I meant the Icycle Derby. Is that an older version of iMovie? I think there used to be that option, then it changed. In version 6 the 'web' option exports directly to iWeb. The settings there are lower than those I used. They're 12 frames per second, 320 x 240 and medium quality sound. I haven't used the newer, different Version 7, though now that there has been time to develop it, the brand new V7 upgrade, just announced, looks really good. It may not be the complete answer, but most of my problem was because I didn't realise that when a video at higher quality settings is uploaded to YouTube, it presents the video at a lower quality and the viewer has to to select the better quality picture. I was uploading the video and it appeared blocky, so I tried different settings – and it always looked the same, until I realised what was happening. The unfortunate thing is that I imagine a lot of people will only see the lower quality YouTube version.

Re Ferry Travel As well as trying MCN discounts, there may be no harm asking these people, Nutt Travel, for a quote.

Imagine moving the Royal Enfield to India! Imagine moving the Great British (Leyland / Austin / Morris) Mini to BMW Imagine moving Land Rover / Jaguar to BMW Ford.... India etc Imagine moving Moto Guzzi to.........

Ah, so from what you and Paul say, the 'Style Laboratory' was an actual project / project team. I've looked it up and there is an interesting bit of blurb on plenty of sites. I assume that it comes from a Guzzi press release. It does talk about a strategy. So the birth of the 01 Corsa and the Griso both came from that new exploratory process? "Passion as a mission. The MGS-01 Corsa is .... a machine dedicated to all riders who love and understand motorcycling, not an over-tuned mass of technology for a limited few." "Winning designs are not born by accident. Behind the sleek lines of the MGS-01 Corsa are strategic decisions, a gradual development process and above all the desire to explore the potential of the Moto Guzzi all the way, without limits. ....The "Style Laboratory" was set up at the beginning of 2002 as a training ground to put the skills and creativity of famous designers, planners and preparers such as Ghezzi & Brian to the test with the aim of designing motorcycles with modern style and technology, but unmistakably Moto Guzzi.....All the company's technological and human resources were made available for the challenge which showed all signs of being both difficult and thrilling....The deadlines were concrete: the models designed, if agreed, must be ready to go into production within two years at most. The technical starting point was the four-valve twin of the Centauro and the six speed box of the V11, for the first time working together. To say that Ghezzi & Brian had little time to "give birth" to their creature would not be wrong, given that they had less than nine months, from February to November, to present the show-bike at Intermot in Munich. The ideas were very clear. It must be simple, without frills, "pure". Go back to the very essence of the motorcycle, be easy to ride and have a number of elements such as the exposed mechanics and shaft drive which would communicate the personality of the bike immediately. From a technical point of view, attention was concentrated on ridability and handling. Short wheelbase, excellent balance and racing mechanics were the parameters on which work began immediately and with great enthusiasm. The prototype had an original and aggressive design, sleek lines and a decidedly sporting temperament in an ultra-modern interpretation of the Moto Guzzi spirit in which the lines reflect the technical characteristics of a bike able to transmit strong emotions. The use of lightweight components such as a swinging fork swingarm in box-type aluminium enabled the weight to be kept down. This lightness, together with the rigidity of the rectangular cross-section steel single spar frame and high performance Öhlins suspension, gives this bike extraordinary handling. .........The public was enthusiastic. Press reports were flattering. Articles on the bike started to flow into motorcycling sites, praising the beauty of the new Moto Guzzi to an extent that surprised even the design team. Market research commissioned by Moto Guzzi and carried out by CSM International showed that potential sports motorcycle buyers held the MGS-01’s styling in great esteem. This was the stimulus to go ahead - also because customers and dealers wanted the motorcycle to go into mass production as soon as possible. The public and motorcycling enthusiasts submerged the Mandello del Lario company with thousands of requests. All that was left was to decide the technical specifications. ..........The project is divided into two phases: • a limited series non homologated - for racing use - MGS-01 Corsa will be available during the first quarter of 2004, complete with 122 HP power kit; • the fully homologated production MGS-01 Serie will be launched in October 2004. ......The MGS-01 Corsa is a motorcycle with a sporting temperament. It is also a machine dedicated to all riders who love and understand motorcycling, not an over-tuned mass of technology for a limited few. The MGS-01 nevertheless has tremendous competition potential and could well dominate events like the American AMA Championship. A type of race which could also attract an enthusiastic following in Italy too."

More on this area: Northern Ireland – County Down coast. There are more pictures of this general area in the previous thread in this forum and on a web gallery here. ( 'Ulster Rally' site: moto.belfastguzzi.com/picturesandvideo )

I know a lot of this has been talked to death here already, but, on the engine again... The project seems to make strategic sense if there would be a direct link to street models, so why (ok, I know it can only be guess work) did they use the Daytona engine which clearly had no further life in it? Why not take a chance with the new engine – maybe they did intend that to be the next step? Should they not / could they not have started there, instead of starting with a 'kiss of death'? OK, that's all speculation unless someone has inside knowledge. The other part of the question was, what do you think has been achieved? Does anyone think that Guzzi's standing / image / reputation has actually benefitted from the appearance of the bike? Or is the teasing and lack of follow-up counter-productive? Can you see where any actual technical or even aesthetic benefits have been forthcoming? (That's where it seems to me that experiments with the new and future production motor would have brought much more benefit.)

AAAAAAARRRRGGGH!!!! The last effort didn't look much better, BUT I've realised that I needn't have bothered trying all the different settings. I now see that in YouTube, at the bottom right under the video picture, it says 'watch in high quality'. I clicked on it – and the video appeared in high quality! So the first versions have been ok all along! Groan I wish they made the good quality view as the default, with the option to select the poor quality picture if necessary. (Edit. The video with smaller dimensions doesn't have the high quality option.) Here endeth the lesson.

So, why did Guzzi do it: after the past few years, what is the result of the MGS 01 being produced? On their website, Guzzi says it gives, full attention to the sports model market segment and that for this reason it has, created a “style laboratory” where research can be carried out freely, looking for new ways to make enthusiasts dreams come true. They claim that the bike has returned Moto Guzzi to the aristocracy of world motorcycle racing. Has the MGS 01 improved Guzzi's profile? Has it resulted in any benefits to Guzzi's production model / research / technology development? Why did they not use the new engine, which would have a direct real-world relationship to the rest of the range and Guzzi's customers (even it meant waiting a while before producing the bike)? What was the strategy plan, what's the follow-up?

The action is that trials video above is quite astounding! Thanks fotoguzzi. I had been wondering what settings you used for your snowy video. I put a link in the first post here to a version of my video that is on a Mac site. The copies that I have there all look good when viewed. The problem is just that they are slow to download. I think that short clips would be ok, rather than 8 or 10 minute epics! http://web.me.com/davidboyd1/Black_Guzzi_-..._road_ride.html Google Videos doesn't look any better, in fact I thought that they had downsampled the video even more. I have also had trouble uploading to Google. Mostly, the process has just gone on forever and not resulted in an upload. Google version: http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...349258376577349 YouTube is good because of the links that it creates to similar videos, so that's why I want to persevere and find how to get a decent quality picture on there. I'm about to upload a version that is sized at 640 x 480 and I reckon that will give an improvement now, though it would be best to go back up to 25 frames p.s. as well. We'll see. Thanks again.