Miscellaneous Cool Italian Bikes

[FIFO]

 Spotted this Guzzi in Napoli a few weeks ago

[1.21GW]

Motto Guzzi from Rno Cycles, via BikeEXIF.  I like the sleek look.   But check out that swing arm.

[118811]

Wow
That thing is awesome!!

[Fergus]

  But check out that swing arm.

Looks kind of like Truckinduc's rebel's swing arm...

[jaxduc]

I know the sbk lovers hate the size of the back tire... but I like it. it fits the bike

[Pedro-bot]

I really like it.

Only thing I'm trying to reconcile is:
1. Rake is too long for aggressive riding.
2. Despite the long rake, the riding position places rider in a very aggressive position.

So unless I missed something, the bike places rider in a riding position that contradicts the design. 

Is that about right? I'm no bike builder.

[1.21GW]

Yeah, I agree.  If only the rear wheel was moved in about 3-4 inches.

[brimo]

I know the sbk lovers hate the size of the back tire... but I like it. it fits the bike

True. It's not as if the V50 motor puts out mega horsepower.

[Travman]

[stopintime]

^^^
T A S T E F U L

[junior varsity]

that really looks nice, but with the oil cooler mounted low (looks great, risks lots of debris in the fins) it seems that the pods would be getting very turbulent air - not conveniently directed like ram-air - a possible performance detriment... thoughts?

[MadDuck]

that really looks nice, but with the oil cooler mounted low (looks great, risks lots of debris in the fins) it seems that the pods would be getting very turbulent air - not conveniently directed like ram-air - a possible performance detriment... thoughts?

It's exactly in the same place on all the liquid cooled Ducati superbikes.

[junior varsity]

yeah, i think you missed the point.  People move them below on the air-cooled bikes to either (a) look neato or (b) increase air-flow to the vertical cylinder.

It has nothing to do with the liquid-cooled bikes:  Their's are mounted on the bottom out of necessity—there's nowhere else to put one.  Of the liquid-cooled Ducatis, the superbikes forego even more basic protection of the radiator/oil-cooler fins and ditch the rear end of the mudguard. Bad for stone/chip/debris protection, good for clearance distance to radiator/oil-cooler on an L-Twin, with its inherent geometry limitations.

What I was getting at is: If you are running pods, the nature of the air coming to the pods greatly affects performance characteristics. For this reason, equipping pods on machines with intakes on the 'rear' of the cylinders is do-able (see the gooses, above).

[Fergus]

What I was getting at is: If you are running pods, the nature of the air coming to the pods greatly affects performance characteristics. For this reason, equipping pods on machines with intakes on the 'rear' of the cylinders is do-able (see the gooses, above).

I wish I had a dyno, a big assed fan, and a couple of days to compare pods vs airbox vs open airbox in more realistic running airflow conditions. I'd also look at velocity stacks. Any of you guys seen anything like that?

I've got some pods sitting on my shelf. I think they'd look neato, but don't am afraid of sticking them on and making my girl bike (620) even slower.

[memper]

I installed a pair of alum velocity stacks from Velocity of Sound (AUS) with a pair of "booty" filters (made specifically for stacks). I have also run k&n pod filters. My bike with slightly baffled pipes really didn't like the pods but loves the stacks. They look cooler too which adds 3 horsepower...