Leaderboard

Well, as far as bums on a bike go, this is a Honda, not a Guzzi, but do you all remember the movie, “Vanishing Point”? It may not be “Citizen Kane”, but that movie, along with “Easy Rider”, and “Electra Glide in Blue”, had as much to do with anything to put me in the saddle. As a very wee lad, me and my pals would jump the chain link fence at the local drive-in and appropriate a speaker where we would sit at the very back of the lot watching these motoplotation movies. It wasn’t long after seeing “Easy Rider” and wearing out the soundtrack LP, that I was able to get my hands on a Briggs and Stratton powered mini bike.....and here I am, still looking at bums on a bike.

Kudos to author Robert Smith for getting the origins of the Moto Guzzi big twin right in this December, 2020, article on an interesting Eldorado for Motorcycle Classics magazine: https://www.motorcycleclassics.com/classic-italian-motorcycles/zm0z21jfzols/ "(That the V7 engine was developed from Guzzi’s “mechanical mule” military project is now refuted by most authoritative sources, including marque specialist Greg Field in his book Moto Guzzi Big Twins.)"

At least she has the good sense to wear a helmet.

This happens more often than you need to know . Check the old filter when you remove it and check the surface where the filter mounts .

Looks more like a glimpse of the promised land.

(200 kb only sucks with these sorts of topics) My wife thinks I’m on another oil thread... 🥸 Now, do you reckon that’s about 5W30 weight? Yes Darling, coming... Phwoarrr! That’s one well lubed Italian Nevada right there!!

Weird. Dorcia and I have sat in stop and go traffic at the Daytona bike week and clown show with the Centauro for extended periods without any heat related issues at all. I dunno..

So finally our esteemed leader lifted our local down last Friday and the weather aligned, so on Monday I could go for a ride after not leaving the city in over 9 months, probably closer to year. The first thing, science experiment (101), was to determine how the HiCam would behave on the open road in clean air. Since putting in the Griso spring I also added a bit over a litre of oil to bring the level up closer to the underside of the Roper Plate, prior to this I'd been running at around 1/2 on the dipstick. Trawling through 40 pages of posts on the COG forum looking at oil threads specifically. I discovered the sumps should be filled up to the underside of the Roper Plate, around 10mm higher than the high point on the dipstick (COG quoted figures of 17mm above the high mark on the stick approx equal to the underside of the plate). Yet another lesson learned (thanks @Lucky Phil for posting about this earlier which initially drew my attenion to it). TBH I'm still a bit sceptical about the broadsump design, my Sporti has the same setup and it tends to run on the hot side as well (not in the same league as the HiCam though). Anyway, I found with the addtional oil it's a bit slower to heat in traffic, but still too fast for comfort. Completed over 150miles, ambients in the low 20C. Once running in clear air my pressure varied, typically around 55psi 4k rpm in the 40-50mph region and 60-65psi when running 60mph and above again around 4k rpm. After running in clear air if I did get held up the pressure would drop into the mid 50s or thereabouts, but once back into clear air recover pretty quickly to 55-60 and if extended running I'd get back up close to 65psi. I'm relieved that on the open road the bike runs well and the pressures are high enough for it not to be a concern. Had a lot of fun getting it out into the bargain what a hoot that bike is to ride. Idling after a clear air run pressure around 15psi at 1200 rpm. I never got the chance to get data on the temps, but I'd hazard a guess (from experience with pressure and temps) in clear air oil temp is somewhere between 105-115C, high but not excessive enough to cause damage to the engine. Once back into the city in a 30mph zone for 7 miles (or a bit more) with quite a few traffic lights, but no horrendous snarl ups, the bike was back to its old evil ways and about 2 miles from home was stalling at idle, the heat coming from the engine was obvious. Literally yards from the house the low pressure light came on at idle and revving a little showed the system was struggling to maintain pressure around 20psi as I recall at a little over 2k rpm. Checking the sump temp when I got it in showed 130 C on the gauge. Going to check tappet clearances and open them up to 0.15 and 0.20 as recommended by Karsten per Lucky Phil's post (page #1) and recheck oil level. I still can't see oil at the base of the Roper Plate, pretty sure it can't be far off though. I just cannot understand why it runs so hot, I'd heard that these engines have a reputation for it, but searching the COG and on here, all the evidence points to the opposite being true. Over the Winter I'll be looking at a larger cooler and changing the 15/50 in her at present to a 10/60. The 10/60 will probably do very little but if it lowers the starting pressure and raises the running pressures even a little its all going in the right direction. Hopefully I'll get it out again this summer to confirm the data

The Nero Corsa I just imported from Germany ended up with import tax [ $ 2400 ] close to $ 10800 I didn't buy the bike to sell, so to me she is worth it. Any time is a good time to buy a V11,, The prices will raise, but that doesn't matter if,, not for sale. Saw the other day, first MK Le Mans i 2010 was in the price range 2-2.5000£ - 2019 climbed to 15000£. Cheers tom.

Hmmm....looks like Paris.

Many of the small towns in our region were built along the railroads. Quite a few have an old caboose on display honoring that heritage. I put together a day ride that took in five cabooses (plus the BBQ Caboose Café ), 215 miles, 8 counties. . . . and 2 happy Guzzisti on their romping Sports . . .

Water? It could well have been intended for use as a beer pump. As to Hondas, here is the nicest CX cafe I have seen. 53 Motorcycles in the UK.