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Phil, I knew you were a kind soul. (but I had to read between the lines to think that)

That would send me completely over the edge I think we should all be kinder to each other and be there to comfort, console and support each other through these stressful times. Anyone want to donate me a full restored Ambassador I'd be very comforted by one of those to put around on. Ciao

Bloody hell I must be getting bad, Pete Roper is trying to pacify and settle me down, LOL. Yea I saw the front bearing solution in the BB from those training notes you sent me, not that impressed with that. What I loved about bevel drive Ducatis was there wasn't a single chain in the whole engine and every bearing was replaceable in the average blokes workshop with the exception of the big end which needed a press and some engineering expertise to do. I didn't like the transition to cams running in the head material either. Kawasaki 900's used plain replaceable cam bearing but that was abandoned as well. I know it's inevitable the way things are going and it's unstoppable, but rage,rage against the dying of the engineering light I say, You are correct in that just about anything can be saved by an engineering/ machining specialist but you know Pete those people are fading away as well. I wouldn't be at all surprised if in 20 years time they dont exist anymore. Anyway, whats this "retirement" thing I thought you were already? Ciao

GU01466434

It's for my own good, I've led a bad life. The universe is punishing me. Could be worse, I could have lived in London in 1940. Ciao

🎼🎶🥁🎸🎷

Pretty sure Moto Guzzi knows not to try and make something I'll be moving up to from mySport, which I obviously already love and won't give up. And it appears they are not at all inclined to mount a proper transverse V-twin to my follow-on . . . OTOH, it has been a fascination to watch my son adopt motorcycling and work his way from a 2014 V7 (that he caféed), then to a V85TT (that he rides "adventure-style" = creek crossings,camping, and sketch roads). Where do these kids get these crazy ideas?

Yea I don't think Pete and I would be qualified to give the "settle down" talk to anyone on a forum Both too curmudgeonly, happily so I suspect, for me anyway. Ciao

Sorry to hear about your tip over. I blamed the dog when it happened to me. I'd crimp and sleeve. Also I would slide some heat shrink tubing over the wire (before you finish crimping). Even better is the type of sleeving that has glue in it that completely seals the joint when heated.

“Progress” in the sense of big, soulless corporations using the contrived “climate” excuse falls flat on the people who critically think and have a healthy knowledge of history. ICE will always be available to the monied class imo. While the rank and file will struggle with maintaining ever diminishing quality of life. Idiots can’t even keep the power on during a bad rain storm (Texas)…. Now imagine your electric car, plugged into the matrix as it wer e..taxed by the mile, rendered inoperative for any infraction by some bureaucracy. Tracked and monitored (for the children) yeah… anyone see the movie “The Last Race”? It’s worth watching to see how this has been foretold decades ago…

Learned over on w/g that there is a new Guzzi dealer in the area: https://www.starpowersportstn.com About an hour & a half a way on back(ish) roads. Might stop in on the way down to check out the place. Bill P.S. What's left of Ida is pouring outside just now. Sure glad not riding.

IMHO, Moto Guzzi, cum Piaggio, has done an admirable job of creating product offerings that appeal to their future market. (Er, that ain't us, y'all . . . ). That the current V7/9 range and the bold V85TT has done so very well, worldwide, speaks volumes. How long this brave, new water-cooler might take to become established . . . Beta testing, anyone?

No Pete rail away, I'm stuck at home, nowhere to go or I'll get arrested:) Ciao

And, > honestly, I find these perspectives about engineering and product offerings quite revealing. As a consumer, it is impossible for me to judge the engineering competence of a product that interests me. Too often, it is more about the wrapper or the label. I feel like I got really lucky with mySport. I'm thinking about keeping her . . .

Haha, so . . . say if you and Pete were to pull me aside and say, "Yo, docc - ya need to settle down a bit there, bud." . . . . Pretty sure V11LM.com will have a Moderator opening . . .

So I need to settle down? Be honest, I've been in lockdown for 4 weeks. Ciao

I agree Pete and your point is a valid one but I'm a bit of an engineering purist plus it goes deeper as well. The modern engine is a wonderful thing as long as it's a "good one" Will give many trouble free miles without any issues. The modern mass produced philosophy falls apart though over the long term and the short term if you have a serious issue. The long term may not bother you and fair enough but here's an example. My Sunday drive car is a Focus RS 2.3 Turbo 4. The engine is as is common practice these days a friction drive camshaft system, no crank or cam keys on anything as god knows that would cost and extra $10 in machining and 3 keys. The Upshot? well now you when you need to do a simple job like change the front timing cover crank seal here's the process. Release the crank pulley bolt, the cam timing is now gone. Remove the cover and replace the seal. remove all the cam drive and oil pump drive to fit new friction drive washers behind the cam drive sprocket. Remove the HP fuel pump off the exhaust cam, remove the vacuum pump off the inlet cam remove the cam cover and then the drive end and journal off the inlet cam so you can install the cam timing tool. Install the crank TDC stop. Re fit and seal the front timing cover set the cam timing and then torque up the TTY pulley bolt without disturbing the cam timing and re assemble half the freeking engine. This is what you get to save a few pennies on some keyway machining. Now the hard part, how many Ford dealership workshop drones do you think are capable of doing this task without screwing up at least 1 of the processes. Ford had a recall on this engine to replace head gaskets and when I saw what was involved I predicted a world wide total catastrophe for owners. I was proved totally correct, it's been a nightmare for just about every one of the 27,000 owners involved. Not me fortunately. This is the modern corporate engineering philosophy in practice. personally if they offered and old style build engine at a premium cost I'd be the first to opt for that if for no other reason than a dealership mechanic would have less chance of screwing up any significant maintenance when it's required. Ciao

It's best to post photos in a motorcycle forum for complements but don't expect complements in photography forums.

KINDOY@ nailed it: Passenger saddle cover, black GU01466434 Seat cushion (the little pad) GU01461530 "Nut" (x2) GU92650006

Well, just paid over the phone. Should be here in 1-2 weeks: 5500.00 plus 650.00 shipping...https://www.ebay.com/itm/203585639958?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3D882181c5e11b4007aec3ee93a16453c0%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D265246055581%26itm%3D203585639958%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A857c35d3-0b72-11ec-9d5b-be69afc97c36|parentrq%3Aa371197817b0a36981ed12caffe77aa2|iid%3A1 I'm now a GUZZI owner! Now, I need a damned seat cowl!

Thank you, Lucky Phil! Working the deal over the phone 2000 miles from me right now...brother just needs a clean black seat cowl to complete the bike.

Geez they do look bloody good with the Magni fairing eh... Cheers Guzzler

I don't carry big cameras to concerts. I like to watch the show and not lug around a big camera. Also don't want to bother other concertgoers. But, I have a Lumix ZS100. It's a little bigger than a cigarette pack. With that little one inch sensor, the reach is full frame equivalent of 250mm. It's got 20 odd megapixels but is a little hit and miss in the results. It works OK in automode, not so much in the others (although I found some tweak settings on forum that helps). The key is to have a ready exposure compensation control which I've programmed to the lens ring. It's usually best to under expose those shots because the background is dark and subject is brightly lit, sometimes in the spot light. Not only so you get the right exposure, it also shortens the shutter speed and reduces blur. You're Fuji is a fixed lens APS-C? Much bigger sensor for higher quality photos suited for more close up and portrait stuff. It might be a challenge unless you have great seats. The little Lumix is a good travel camera that I took for a month long trip to Europe. OK, I'll look for any excuse to post photos and talk photography

Hahahaha. Wouldn't you love to ride something like this.

That bike got the discount because originally it came with a complete set of carbon fiber spare bodywork. That ended up being sold separately.

One can only imagine the days, weeks, months drafting and erasing, recalculating with a "stone-age" slide rule. Actually, it would be considered an amazingly short design period these days. In Parilla's case, the street bikes used but a single lobe of a single cam to operate both valves. IIRC, the valves were set at 110º, which was then considered to be the ideal lobe separation in a normal, two-lobe cam. As wide as they were, the valve angle worked with the deep, aircraft-type combustion chambers of the day. High cam with short pushrods and rockers. Sounds familiar...

Parilla kept it simple.

So you guys are all locked up and the feds are spending your kids future on a cold as well??? Shit......... the worlds gone mad.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

You missed your chance to see Charlie Watts one last time though...

Pressed up cranks are usually because the engine uses rolling element main or big end bearings or both so there's little choice although I think MV's may have used a split roller bearing, can't remember. The one piece slipper bearing crank is a much better design and used on virtually all performance engines these day and for many years. Rigid and along with plain/slipper bearings has no practical rev limitations. The Norton crank is a bad example, ridged as a piece of black pudding. So wobbly in fact you need to use barrel shaped (Superblend) roller bearings on the mains to stop them exploding. The crank flexed so much a standard roller bearing inner and outer ends would collapse under the strain of the angular displacement as the crank flexed and wobbled about. My main point is the continual drift towards the disposable engine. I find it offensive from an engineering and philosophical perspective. Piston engine technology isn't progressing at a break neck speed anymore like electronics and software. Modern engine design is all about the corporate profit. Make it as cheap and profitable as possible and bugger the long term owner. Ciao

Lots of Piaggio products use a pressed up crank Phil. My Mana has the same set up. I really never give it a moments thought.

It is good to know why one is crazy. Worse, lots of people are crazy and no one knows why . . .

Alfa damaged the reputation of the Busso V6 with a bad head gasket, great design, individual aluminum caps on each cylinder liner to seal compression, then cheap material for oil and coolant sealing, better material and it might have been a different story. What they did get right was maintenance, you can pull the cam shaft out without disturbing the timing belt to adjust the intake valves (bucket over shim), exhaust side was short pushrods with a rocker arm with screw and nut adjusters. The car (GTV6) was too expensive to build and the rumor is that lead to the sale to Fiat. Now for Italian vs German engineering, Alfa has 4 seals on the front of the engine, crank, 2x cam, distributor drive, the crank seal is one size, the other three are the same. Wife's 944, 4 seals, crank is one size, the other three are all different by 1mm, either ID or OD, drives me crazy.

Took 9 weeks, but Harpers came through with shiny new hoses. Good to go !

No torque arm from the bevelbox like the Spineframes or, in the case of the CARC bikes, the reactive bridge within the bevelbox. This works to separate the reactive forces of the drive, (As you accelerate/decelerate the pinion tries to climb up or down the crownwheel.) by delivering them directly to the frame. This means that to far greater degree than with a *Fixed* system the drive is separated from the suspension functions meaning a shaft drive bike will handle more like a proper motorbike. It wasn't so important when engines were only making 40-50 hp. Nowadays? Far more important. Looking at this thing there doesn't appear to be a reaction rod and the bevelbox is bolted solidly to the swingarm. The swingarm is very long which is another way of lessening torque reaction but cruder and less effective. If you look at it holistically it's an interesting package. Seems cam drive is typical Piaggio/Aprilia with a chain to an idler shaft in the head and then the cams geared to the idler, (That is to a degree speculative but the circular *Plug* in the back of the head looks like the idler shaft spindle plug on something like a Shiver or Caponord.) Throttlebodies in the valley, side exit exhausts as you would have to have with a DOHC design. Downdraft induction means modern power outputs are possible at last. It still looks like the gearbox is behind the engine but there is no recognisable bell housing so maybe a wet multi plate clutch? Where it is positioned will be interesting. Look, it's, at first glance, a lot better than I was expecting. I was genuinely afraid they were just going to throw a water jacket and an extra plug at the V85 motor which is a miserable little thing. This at least is a *Modern* engine. The styling is neither here nor there. This can be the basis for several platforms and models and Piaggio seem to be following the Aprilia lead established with the CARC bikes of launching the *New* product in a 'Plain Jane' model, (The Breva was the first CARC big block and its styling was not exactly eye catchingly beutiful!) While I would of preferred something that started the move away from fossil fuel power this is to me the next best option. Will I be buying one? Hell no! I'm very happy with my current fleet and I'll be very surprised if when it's launched here it has a price tag under $25,000. Sorry, I'm not willing to shell out that sort of coin on what I see as a dirty, outdated technology. My current dirty, outdated technology will see me out and I don't owe a penny on it! I do hope it is a raging success though and spawns many, prettier offshoots.

The photo doesn't seem to match the beauty of any of the spineframe bikes. Hopefully, we'll be pleasantly surprised when the bike is revealed. For me it's late to the party since I purchased my Ducati. But I hope to get a test ride.

Well Pete, if it doesn't have throttle bodies between the V with the headers on the opposite side and DOHC then they truly are Muppets. I don't think they're Muppets. Ciao

I think the transverse layout still makes sense today. Makes it easy to service (ie. check the valves) and you don't have the centrifugal force from the crank interfering with you handling. After being in the clutch on my V11 more times than I care, I hope the move the clutch forward for this, though it's not a deal breaker. It looks promising, and exactly the kind of bike I like (sport tourers). I really hope they make a truly modern platform, and not just a watercooled version of their small-block as Pete said.

If you go to an L twin format why keep the shaft? Of course it's doable but a transverse crank is much better suited to a chain drive layout. I couldn't really care if they do or not as I'm not in the market for a new bike. I may yet purchase a V11, a Centauro or a Griso, but nothing I've seen recently does much for me, but I'm still in the last centruy and want to stay there

There *is* a need, however, to keep the automotive type clutch, driveshaft, and rear drive. That will make it recognizably Guzzi.. IMHO.

I was able to get a standard grease gun fitting on the front nipple on my '03 Le Mans. Was not able to bend the hose successfully through the obvious direct path, but when I routed it through a crevice over the top it was easier. I had to use a pair of pliers to push it down onto the nipple once aligned. Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

When I rebuilt the Centy engine Chuck I had the option of the plastic or the brass temp sensor holder, I went with the brass. I can't remember which was the later version but read somewhere recently it was the plastic which wouldn't make sense to me as i would always go with the later updated part when I have a choice. Anyway part of my logic at the time I do remember was the plastic holder seemed to have the sensor bulb suspended in mid air within the holder which didn't seem like a good idea with regards to responsiveness so I went with the brass holder and also applied some high temp grease inside to surround the sensor bulb and transmit heat from the holder to the bulb more directly. Did it work? not sure as I have no comparative data but it runs nicely Ciao

Interesting. I tried that, also "back in the day", only discovering later that my Sport responded markedly better to the exact opposite (low mass Engine Temperature Sensor Holder modification). Differ'nt animules, we all is.

Also, Arizona heat or not, these oil cooler lines run from the frame mounted oil cooler to the engine's sump. A dramatic vibration transition. The lines tend to abut the front subframe and get abraded. Finding the contact points and insulating them is good method . . .

Fair enough. 122 rear wheel is not likely at all - or the motor was tuned to the edge thus making it a grenade. And, since the term bragadoccio is Italian, one can figure that it was at the crank, on a cool day, with avgas, on a slightly out of certification dyno and with refreshments from nearby Peroni. Never seen a dyno run of an MGS. For comparison (the same caveats apply) the 1187 liquid cooled Morini is rated at 140HP in street form. Can either figure be true? Or just true conjecture.

One in a similar state had migrated to Seattle, WA. As of last year, it was advertised for $55,000. I see that they still have it and have deeply discounted it to 50K asking. It has apparently been serviced and ridden a short distance. https://seattleusedbikes.com/motorcycle/2004-moto-guzzi-mgs-01-corsa

Sadly the 8V Hi-Cam is no more. Too dirty and too thirsty for starters and of course something so much fun wouldn't be countenanced by the droids at Piaggio who see Guzzi as their platform for hipsters and cranky old white men who think pushrods are a pinnacle of engineering excitement.....

Unsurprisingly, Harpers has the parts diagram for the MGS01 online. Check out these two links to the frame. The frame is still a spine frame, but it's very different than the V11. There is no separate front subframe; it is welded to the main frame. It has a solid piece that mounts at the front of the transmission, like the bolt-on bracket that was not installed in so many of the red-frame bikes. And the back is totally different, where it connects to transmission rear plate you mentioned. Frame 1 at Harpers Frame 2 at Harpers Transmission at Harpers What a cool bike... is it too much to ask for a next gen Moto Guzzi LeMans or Daytona? A hot rodded version of my Stelvio motor would do just fine in a package like that.

One of the most perfect bikes ever made