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I machined the oil pump mounting faces on some spare Daytona crankcases I have and fitted some new foot pegs. Phil From this To this times 2. Foot pegs

This anecdote comes to mind. I may have first read on this forum: A fellow pulls into his shop with his car barely idling and stalling repeatedly. The mechanic pops the hood for a look and walks back into the shop emmerging with a small screwdriver. Deftly turning one screw the motor smooths out and idles stably. The driver says, "That's amazing! What do I owe you? " The mechanic replies, "$100. " D: "A hundred dollars to turn one screw ?!?" M: "No, just a dollar to turn the screw. The other ninety-nine is for knowing which screw to turn. "

It appears that this is no longer the prime objective. Possibly because large dealerships are impersonal. The sales' assistant you are dealing with has no skin in the game, other than getting his bonus if he closes the deal. Besides, there seem to be a lot of turnaround in the staff. There is another big question mark: as we are progessing in this A.I. powered world, modern vehicles require less skills as they have integrated diagnostic firmware. The mechanics no longer need to have the same skills as before. Nothing is being fixed any longer, but replaced. We are the witnesses of the end of an era. Electric Motors are very reliable and can run for decades. Once they get the batteries and the recharge sorted, reasonable pricing, the EV market will really take off. ICE mechanics will slowly wane.

Yes, I read that topic. It was a couple of years ago, so I don't remember the details really. I think it was ABS from a Norge or Breva 1100 on a Griso. If I think of it and find time, I try and find it. Just had a quick look, and it looks like it will be a bit of a search.

Well, perhaps I didn't express myself well. Karsten was setting TPS with a multimeter, and synchronising/balancing with one of those "pressure difference" devices, and Beard was looking at the things that Guzzi Diag displays.

I think it's a silly blanket policy. They are passing up a lot of good work and alienating potential good customers. The worry of people not wanting to pay current prices is easily handled right up front by charging a diagnostic fee, or getting a deposit. If the customer has some skin in the game via a deposit, they are more likely to be serious about fixing the bike. A policy of charging a storage fee X number of days after the work is completed is also a good motivator to get vehicles picked up and paid. You soon find out the the trouble is the person, not the vehicle. A better policy would be "we don't work for assholes" rather than we don't work on old vehicles. During my career in the repair business (cars & trucks), we strived to keep customers for life. I can't imagine telling long term customers, many who we had for decades along with their entire families that their vehicle became too old for us. It's just poor business practice.

I have seen many a Norge private sales going for over 1k less, or even more. Dealers always have them at a premium...but you know that. How many Stelvios have we seen at dealers sitting for well over a year with price tags around 8k. As with most bikes, if you are patient, the right one will come along.

Pre-Makita.

My guess was based on what I see in France, where I return regularly. So maybe I should not have made a blanket statement for the rest of Europe. But in Paris, and I was there last in November last year, throughout the day of the week, you see a lot of motorcycles and scooters. My son lives in the Western part of Paris suburbs, commutes to his job by motorcycle every day. Uses his car only in the week-ends. Maybe it has to do with that in Paris, motorcycles can split lanes. My son says it saves him 40 minutes each way compared to commuting with a car. I have to realize that times have changed, maybe. Even here, it is -1 degC this morning (30 degF), and I still went to get the Epiphany "Galette des Rois" with the Quota....

I completely concur with @gstallons. NZ has imported V11 Guzzi, so the regulations should not require any specific that did not exist when the motorcycles were certified there. Besides, if the motorcycle in question is the 2000 V11 Guzzi in your profile, it is 25 years old. In most countries, including in the US, it means the vehicle is considered "antic", and should not be subjected to the same regulations. For example, in the US, any vehicle 25 years old or more can be imported, even if it was never sold here before. I did a quick search on importing a vehicle in NZ, and it seems that one of the requirement is for the vehicle to not have been modified. Installing ABS on a vehicle that did not have it would be considered a modification. Depending on the circumstances under which you are moving to NZ, you are authorized to bring your personal possessions, including vehicles. It is also based on the import type: temporary or permanent, and of course your citizenship. I read a bit about the formalities required, and I must say it would seem easier to purchase a V11 there, than importing yours. With all the inspections and even quarantine for a vehicle?! that have to be done by third party providers, it is a very expensive endeavor!

From a member on WG I believe?

@docc, my guess on the metal frame and end is only a guess mind you. Years ago the only screw available was a slotted type. Old hinges, both butt and strap, plus many other pieces of hardware could be painted or rusted over for years. The perfect tool for plowing out the slot would be the screwdriver tip, but tapping it over the years would damage the wood end. Putting that metal cap at the end of the tang would prevent that. I have had to clean out hundreds of paint filled slots over my 53 years as a carpenter. I would normally use the tip of a Stanley knife, but back in those days this might have been the way. I still have one old Stanley chisel made the same way...metal end, wood handle.

What with marching lasses sporting squeeze-boxes and the dismay of modern life, something to assuage the discomforts and align the misaligned . . .

I've been trying to educate my kids to this very concept Bill, "deferred gratification". Sacrifice now for a better tomorrow. So while we sit at the barbeque my son complains about the difficulty of getting a deposit together for his first house and the rank unfairness of it all these days I'm looking at his 20 grand (and counting) worth of tattoos, omega watch and 8 grand guitar. A Private school education doesn't make you smart that's for sure. Sorry, thread drift. You last line struck a chord. Phil

The ‘Changing on the fly’ problem is that the transmission is not a ‘Shifting’ transmission in the traditional sense. It is really just a torque converter drive with a two ratio gearbox behind it. The difference between high and low ratios is so great that if you pull in the clutch and try to ‘Change Gear’ as you would in a conventional constant mesh box the speed differential between the dog clutch and the pinions is enormous! It will engage, either up or down, but with an almighty crunch as the dogs engage and this ends up rounding them off so, if you are just using high range say, and you whack the throttle open at low speed it may spit itself out of high and into low which can cause rear wheel lock-up and loss of control. I’ve ridden ‘Verts that have done it and it’s f*cking dangerous! There is also the issue of the clutch itself. Because it was never meant to be used as a moving gear-change clutch it won’t handle the load for long. It’s a small, dry multi plate unit that was originally designed and used for something like the Stornello or Lodola as a wet unit. It’s not supposed to cope with large sliding friction torque as it is only on the transmission to enable the swap from low to high or visa-versa, at a standstill. If you use it ‘On the fly’ the considerably greater sliding frictional loads and power pulses ensure that both the clutch hub and clutch basket get notched very quickly and after that the plates won’t separate so the clutch ceases to function! Back in the day the owners handbook covered this quite forcefully but because no bugger ever reads the owners handbook or they ‘Know better’ an awful lot of ‘Verts ended up with rooted clutches and transmissions. There are several other ‘Vert’ specific oddities as well I can list if you like? And if I can remember them!

I seem to be on to something here: The "Perfect Handle " https://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-perfect-handle-screwdriver.html edit: A bit more reading online (some call that "research", but reading online can be accomplished without all the screaming monkeys common to actual "research"), I found a reference to early "Perfect Handle"-style screwdrivers having a numerical size number in a triangle on the blade. I have never noticed this on this little tool in the fifty years I have been its steward! Thanks, again, to @activpop for asking!

Finally changed the speedo cable, then rode it slow and fast to make sure it was ok 👍

Probably because people that own bikes over 15 years old won't pay the going service rates and the work will usually be major and parts availability almost non existent. Then they will need to put too many hours into sourcing parts and probably have the bike taking up workshop space for months on end. A close friend of mine that ran a specialist motorcycle marching and race bike building business for 40 years had a customer leave him an Triumph twin aluminium head for a full rebuild. This was only a few years after he started his business in his garage. New valves, guides and seats, the whole 9 yards. The old guy came to collect the head and when he was presented with the bill told my mate that for that sort of money he could keep it, he wasn't going to pay that. My friend advised him of the hours he's put into the work but this guy was refusing to pay, obviously trying to negotiate the cost down. My friend confirmed that he wasn't interested in paying the bill and the customer then watched as he went to the bandsaw and cut the head in two. Apparently the look on the guys face was worth it. People don't like paying for the complex stuff old bikes often require to make them run well again. Phil

Well, off the top of my head…….. They used a very tall final drive. Enormously tall. Compensated for by lower internal ratios in the gearbox. The driveshaft and universal joint are a ‘One piece’ unit and they use the 20 tooth spline form used on the V11 and later bikes rather than the ‘Standard’ 10 spline system. It is critical to keep the ignition timing spot on as if the motor ‘Kicks Back’ while starting it has a tendency to round off the hexagonal key that drives the torque converter fluid pump. Drive is then lost as the fluid overheats. They are also very touchy about what type of ATF to use. Early ‘Verts had a lightweight, pressed steel, flywheel that tended to rip its centre out. Later ones have an enormous forged steel item that weighs about as much as a neutron star! As well as the standard ‘Vert, which closely resembled a T3/G5 with cow-horn bars and a weird tail light, the engine and transmission were also used in an automatic version of the California II. All their owners are strange, hump-backed midgets, usually with a withered arm, buck teeth and rickets. They tend not to bathe often and may or may not have communicable diseases so it’s best not to touch them. In fact try and keep them at arm’s length and stand upwind of them if possible. I am, obviously, the exception that proves the rule……….

It did. I didn't get all the housework done that I was planning, but did get out for an hour each on the V35 Imola (running again after lurking in the garage for more than 18 months with oil leaks and things...) and the Breva 750 (needs to be ridden regularly to keep the battery up). I didn't get very far, really only doodling around the outskirts and just outside of town, but it really did me good. I reckon I'll be able to ride the Breva the couple of km's to work tomorrow, but then it looks like it is all going to go bad towards the end of the week. More snow, and stuff like that. The worst of it is, it looks like it might snow and then stay cold and dry for a week or ten days. That means, in the worst case, salt on the roads and no rain to wash it off again for a long time.

It is correct that a multi-meter should be used to measure the voltage across the fully closed TPS, and that is what was happening in the photo further up. Beard was using Guzzi Diag to monitor other trivialities like CO trim, real r.p.m. (as opposed to what the tacho was claiming) engine temperature and so on. It is not correct that Guzzi Diag is "not accurate enough" to measure the fully closed TPS value. Guzzi Diag "only" shows the values being used by the ECU for engine management, and does that absolutely accurately and reliably. The point is, the ECU is not set up and programmed to process a value for "fully closed TPS". The resolution is not particularly high for the TPS values, I think only 8-bit, and the first step that registers as "not closed anymore" is several degrees open. Therefore, Guzzi Diag cannot receive an accurate value from the ECU for the fully closed TPS position because the ECU is not discriminating between 0° and some several degrees open, and what Guzzi DIag doesn't receive, it can't display.

Yes Jaap, we see mainly the Dutch roads (and whether), but the more southern European countries use motorcycles a lot more. In many cases big scooters (this is not a universal term) like the Piaggio's, Yamaha T-max, Suzuki Burgman and the likes, with CVT automatic gearbox. But still I do not estimate this very high. BTW: I commute on my Cali 2 when temperatures go up again.

I have to say I also thought that figure was most likely a ‘Pulled out of my arse’ statement rather than one that has any statistical veracity. I’m sure some people commute on two wheels but the numbers would probably be small percentage wise. It’s also important to realise that an awful lot of European countries have much, much more effective public/mass transport systems than most cities in the US or Australia. Even the UK which generally lags behind and has shit public transport due to decades of ‘Privatisation’ and lack of investment coupled with high fare prices still offers services that mean that old friends who live there, while they may own a car for personal transport, only use it occasionally and if travelling between towns of any size will generally take the train and then taxi or Uber it at their destination. For an awful lot of travel one’s own personal vehicle simply isn’t a necessity.

Mate The weather here is nuts, whilst you're getting snow, we had 40 degrees yesterday and today (back to work arghhh) it's 18 and lots o rain....! Hope that wee weather window works out for you eh. I'm hoping my New Years ride might be Friday to the office or Sat to see Dad but if the heat arcs up again might have to wait till we get more stable weather. If that ever happens ha ha. Cheers

There was also a run of them, that we didn’t get in Oz, that were white and, wait for it, BROWN! It’s a very dark coffee coloured brown and although I usually think ‘Brown’ anything is awful, (When Australia still had an automotive industry all the really shitty looking cars were always painted a sort of ‘Squittery Brown’ colour! Puke!) I actually really, really like the brown and white Norges.

I was under the impression that setting the TPS via Guzzidiag was not a good idea? Not accurate enough. Use a multimeter. I thought that was the view of Beard and Pauldaytona themselves or was it Meinolf. Has something changed.

I like that formulation. It indicates that "proper" tools last a long time, and have a kind of life of their own. Whatever, I know that good tools "talk" to me the same way good musical instruments do, even if I can't play them.

My first long tour of the US was done on a 1980 ‘Vert. I bought it back from the US to Oz and kept it until a couple of years ago. I’d stopped riding it by then, not because I didn’t love it, but because I simply love the CARC bikes more and by then I’d got my Mana for my ‘Auto’ fix and I was totally ‘Over’ using 40 year old bikes as daily riders. I got to know them pretty well, including their quirks, they are a great machine but you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. There’s really no in between with a ‘Vert!

This one is for sale in Colorado; 1976 Moto Guzzi Convert. This is a Pittsburgh Penguin themed Guzzi. All graphics and stripes hand painted. No decals. Bike is located in Littleton, Colorado. Full price offer includes shipping to your door. Bike is a 1000cc Convert which has an automatic transmission. Just give it gas to go. No shifting gears. Runs fine, no issues.

This is good advice... Any shop likes to get the easy jobs, not exclusively the ones that nobody else can do, which are rarer even if they earn more. The shop needs to continuously be busy to survive, it will welcome any kind of sustaining activity. Being a returning customer is what helps. I go to Sealy, 50 miles away, to change oil on my 911. I could do it around the corner from where I live. I have built a solid relation with Rennsport Porsche Works there, they are family owned, they are very reasonable price wise, and accomodating in any other way. MPH has done all the heavy lifting on my two Guzzis; but these guys are unique, and they have more work they can handle. So they would rather not do oil changes. Every time I go there, their atelier is full of motorcycles waiting their turn on the elevator tables.

We have a kind of act together. Every question I ask turns out to be a dumb question. He starts with, " Did you touch it yourself, then we charge double, hahaha". I just like to go there for my cars. 🤣🤣 For Guzzis we are blessed in the Netherlands with several top guzzi specialised workshops that embrace the old ones as wel. The old V7-range is still rather popular and in good condition also worth dealing through the bigger Guzzi workshops.

I'm feeling cautiously optimistic. Snow last night and this morning here, with Temp. around 1°c. The warm front is coming through right now ( 3:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon). In the next couple of hours the temperature is expected to go up about 5°C, bringing rain through the night. By tommorow midday it is expected to be around 13°C with 20% likelihood of rain. Here's hoping.... Tuesday night it is supposed to snow again.

The other edge of the sword . YouTube can show a video of a complete R60/5 rebuild in 3 20 min. videos. A customer then becomes an expert on time and skills required to do the job ! They get the impression "anyone can do this" or just look under the hood and a flashing red LED will show the defective part. Things are not as easy as they used to be. No intelligence , knowledge , experience , skill or any unseen abilities or $75k worth of tools / shop equipment are considered when you start to bill for your labor. Now , would you rather do a valve adjust on a 20 yr old V11 or a new anything else ? These dealerships don't know and don't care to even look at anything else to see . Now , this does leave an opening for someone to do repairs on these "vintage" bikes.

The screwdriver is from one of my dad's toolboxes; a carpenter by trade and EOD by profession. I have a newer version of that screwdriver style made by Irwin The feeler gauge is from my high school days. It has set many a lash!

I remember fiddling with them when I was about 6 or 7 working with him in the basement of our first house in NJ. I still use them today for intricate work. Brings back memories when I use them.

Wow, that's oldie! From your Dad? I have a bunch of hand tools from my Dad's box. Old Utica dikes, needle nose and pliers, plus other stuff from his days at Western Union after WWII. Who made that screwdriver! Stanley?

Viva Analog!

It's the same with everything these days. I needed all the guttering replace on my single story flat block small house a few months ago. 50 linier metres of guttering. No down pipes just gettering. Going rate 100-110/LM! So $5000 for a simple guttering job. Materials? $800. So $4200 labour for 10 man hours of work for a pro doing it day in day out that involves about $500 worth of tooling/equipment. About the rate a heavy jet commercial pilot earns for stick time with 500 lives in his hands. Solution? I bought the materials online delivered and the wife and I spent 25 hours taking our time 4-5 hours a day being super cautious to eliminate any serious errors and doing a first rate better than a pro job on it. I've never done guttering before but I know how to string line the required fall and fit the support clips and I have good quality tin snips and a pop rivet gun. The corners are all done with cast fittings these days so they are a doddle. So that's $4200 net in my pocket. I think a lot of the issues with getting work done these days on anything, houses, cars, bikes is that the average person totally lacks any sort of basic hand and mechanical skills and is at the mercy of anyone in a trade. The value system then becomes distorted. The ultimate degradation of our forbears ability to carve out a life from the wilderness by hand, swearing and sweat. My single biggest fear getting older is losing the ability to do things like this myself. It's just fundamental to who I am and the foundation of my independence. Not looking forward to losing that. Phil

There was recently an open house at one of the dealership which I like to go to as a ride reason. I asked and got permission to visit their workshop. All the mechanics are very young. But since they are an Indian dealership, I would expect that they could work on my Guzzis. They said they would, providing I bring whatever spares required, so they don't have to spend time they would not know how to charge. I found that going to places in person, and speaking face to face may break the ice. I know, business is business. But you don't know who you spoke to over the phone. Maybe a bored clerk that will just repeat over and over what he has been told to say: If "Bike" = > 15 years age Then "No" When you get some time, go to these shops and maybe speak to the owner directly. When I was on the verge to purchase a Honda CBX 1000, we have a shop here in Houston that does restauration. The guy was very friendly, and honest. He told me that he had no experience on the CBX 1000, but he did not see it as a problem. He said that he knew where to get information from people that he knew that had that experience. This guy: https://wolfsmithsheights.com/ Now he said right away that his hourly rate was $175. You ought to find someone that is going to accept to work on your bike. Just don't take no for an answer.

The "we do not work on old motorcycles" is something I discovered when I came here. In Europe, generally, a Moto Guzzi dealer will work on your vintage motorcycle, as long as you are not asking for restoration works. There are specialized (plenty) shops that do that. So what is different? for instance, if you have an old bike, the dealer may pre warn you about compensating the search for parts, and other difficulties that he may encounter and may need to charge you extra for. The Mechanic which will be assigned to your bike may not be familiar, and may need to spend time documenting himself. All that will need some working for a final price. But what I found, because I asked while in France, they only refuse if the owner does not want to cover the costs that I stated above. Now, we need to factor in, that in Europe, motorcyclists use their bikes to commute and not only for leisure. Having older motorcycles is not rare, and getting the spares is usually easier, faster, cheaper.

These look to be for 2001 V11 Sport Rosso Mandello Limited Edition • 070 •

Agree with all of this^ On the RE forum a couple of years ago a guy have a very new one that started running on one cylinder only. No nasty noises or vibration just dropped a cylinder. The workshop at the RE dealer couldn't figure it out so RE gave him a new bike and he still winged about it every post he could! Got the equivalent of a lottery win from the manufacturer and still winged. Anyway the point is the 650 is a basic air cooled twin, how hard can it be to diagnose a dropped cylinder? Phil

Sadly, this is very true. Even newer bikes can be a problem. I had some real doozeys when I was an official service agent in the Noughties. On more than one occasion I was threatened with physical violence by disgruntled customers who thought their bikes should be fixed for nothing after they’d done stupid shit to them. As for the folks who own 1970’s and ‘80’s Guzzis? Well they expect ‘70’s prices for parts and labour! In my last twenty years or so I just had a policy of refusing to work on any bike not built this century. That was after I had one arsehole dispute the cost for some clutch parts and a gearbox rebuild on his Eldo. While I was off dealing with another customer he went through my toolbox and stole a whole load of my Guzzi special tools! Then he had the temerity to phone me up and get shitty with me because I dobbed him in to the police! With something like a Gen 1 Hi-Cam things are much, much worse. They were never made in large numbers and were built at a time when quality control was in the toilet and many of Guzzi’s suppliers had cut them off for non payment of outstanding bills! This led to some, errrr? ‘Creative’ assembly at Mandello. As Chuck said of the Centauros of that period the only reason the factory bothered assembling them was to ensure the owner got all, or at least the majority, of the parts! Parts for them are generally very hard to get and things like belts have long been available only as NOS which means even your ‘New’ belt is probably thirty years old! Then there’s also the fact that many workshops don’t employ skilled labour and those that do have clever, qualified shop staff can basically name their price! I certainly wouldn’t buy a new Guzzi if I couldn’t service it myself and wouldn’t trust any ‘Official’ shop to do it properly. A thirty year old orphan is orders of magnitude more difficult!

If you owned a shop you would want to get at least 50% up front before you start . If not you would have a lot full of $$$ converted into bikes no one would want . AND trying to get ownership of a bike from a mechanic's lien is absurd . Phil , I do like the magic trick w/the triumph head !

I left out the most important dimension, sorry about that. The conical face at the tip of the plunger is the fuel seal face, so it shouldn't be touched. The slot can be the length 1mm from the edge of the cone to at least 5mm from the o-ring groove. The slot width should be wide enough to allow the anti-rotation screw to slide freely.

That is very good. I watched some experts setting up bikes with Guzzi Diag at the forum rally last year. The bloke on the computer is Beard (Bernd) who programmed Guzzi Diag (the computer is inside the cardboard box that he is looking into). Karsten, orange t-shirt and overalls, was doing the adjustments. Going by what he was satisfied with for the TPS on various bikes, within 2 mV of the target is excellent.

I got the TPS as close to 157 mv as I could, after much fiddling finally tightened up at 155 and I called it "good". The CO trim was already set at zero so that's where I left it.

No reply from SD and being impatient just went ahead and ordered one to see if it works (I doubt it). With other odds and ends to do on the bikes it would be nice just to get something that's plug & play I'll post up on the forum on viability when I receive it Trying to mod the fuel taps looks difficult enough Thanks @docc & @Lucky Phil

nother 3, hope ya not bored...