Pressureangle

But the 'park' is below the 'lock' position, available only after the fork lock is activated. So, stuck in place. Talked with Nic about the lights- he's humble about it but he's the youngest Certified Naval Nuclear Powerplant Operator the Navy ever graduated, so knows electronics to the atomic level. He suggested that the debris in the ignition switch actually created a capacitor, which I'd considered but don't have the depth of knowledge to more than imagine. He says capacitors are nothing more than basically dielectric grease with some current-carrying stuff mixed in it, which is precisely what was in the switch. <shrug> We'll know soon enough, I guess.

Verified, the instrument lamps light as well as the taillight.

On the way home from the SSR, I had to give up the tunes to Nic; of course everyone likes what they heard when they were a teenager so, here you go; I know every word on the album because I used to travel with the kids a lot...

SO much better than the original. I hate the original.

The 'park' position does, but not 'lock'. Is my scheme, or switch, the same as your V11? from L bottom clockwise, park-lock-push-off-run I mean to say, I never tried turning the key from 'off' to 'lock' while the offending lights were illuminated to see if they went out.

I wish now that we'd made a test of the parking state; I never turned it to the 'lock' position to discover whether that would turn the lights off, or prevent them coming on. Oh well, we'll know soon enough.

I don't know that the V11 is the same, but the fork lock is an entirely separate housing riveted to the top fork clamp, to which the switch screws into the bottom of. I did not explore how the key cylinder itself comes out.

Yes! I should have made mention. The first came easily, then the whole thing rotated out easily while I was working on the second retainer. Still to note, the pick must be thin, and pointed enough to penetrate your finger when you slip. No blood, no glory

So the Spine Raiders will remember this year's Ghost in the Machine- shut my key off, then some time between 5 minutes and infinity, the instrument lamps and tail lamp would come on... Eventually, the wiggle test pointed to the ignition switch or wires, and the following morning after the ride home I simply unplugged the switch at the connector and all went dark. SO. I'm not certain I'm happy about it, but sort of, that I could remove the switch with 2 phillips screws without touching anything else like the fairing. The bottom of the switch housing has 3 small snaps to carefully push in and pry loose, easy enough. The switch itself was a little more challenging, also with 3 snap retaining lips. The trouble is, the switch with the ramp retainers is not compressible, so one must use a thin pick to wiggle in between the switch contact plate and outer housing, and raise the flexible housing enough to get the retainer past it. It seems this would be the part where the housing usually gets broken, but not so today. Fortunately the switch contacts, springs, and detent balls are all captive so no church dancing or expletives. Nothing obvious presented itself but a small defect in the insulation of the green wire, rubbed through by the plastic post of the rotating switch plate which protrudes through the contact plate. The copper switch contacts on the rotating plate had a little green on them, in whatever sort of grease the Italians used, very sparingly, on the switchgear. This green was also spread around the contacts of the stationary plate; the money shot here is that I think the green stuff is oxidized copper from the contact shoes and may have some capacitance, though I could not discover any circuit faults with a multimeter. One notable point is that 2 of the switch shoes have detent balls below them and share the spring with the detent balls; if the housing itself with the detent ramps is contaminated with something conductive (like grease, brake dust, road grime, contact corrosion etc) it could conceivably create a circuit and cause these symptoms, but I could detect no circuit at all with the meter. So the only thing left to do, is route the rubbed wire away from contact with the moving part, clean everything up and reassemble. I use laundry soap and nail brush for this sort of degreasing, and balsamic vinegar with table salt to clean any oxidation and corrosion. Squeaky clean with dielectric grease and hopefully it will be back in normal service.

My first thought is that your throttles are out of synch, and/or your injectors need cleaning.

But the *good* kind of tired. Monday, Nic and I went up 360 through the Dragon and took 28 all the way to the end in Georgia, cutting off at Walhalla. That's the best piece of road I've seen in the East and rivals anything I've seen out West either, one section of about 10 miles you could literally set your cruise control at 35mph and enjoy it.

Can't slow down when you got no brakes... lol There were places I did not care to try to keep up behind Josh- on the Sport.

*Doc* is the Hammer. He's behind the camera.

Given the exponential increase in the price of used motorcycles over the past couple years, I'd expect to see a similar curve in motorcycle tire sales. If Goodyear has them, it means they're staying. Good thing too, if I ever get this Norton finished. Or started.

I think I can find the remaining 8 from the bag of 10 I had to buy...lol Let me know and I'll drop some in the mailbox.

Excellent! If you knew about my pistachio addiction... We'll be west of the Franklin Range, White Sands/Pistachioland is actually a little closer but both are going to be awesome day trips. Not sure what bikes will end up where, The Himalayan is staying in Texas and I'll probably add another one or something similar for backroading/cow trailing but of course I've always been a pavement hound so who knows. I did spend 7 years in Miami so my Spanish is marginal but improving. For those of you who may follow Itchy Boots on YouTube, I've also been following one of her mentors, Charly Sinewan. He's in all Spanish and given that everything is in context, easy to understand.

https://butlermaps.com/motorcycle-road-maps/southern-appalachia-map-al-tn-nc-sc-ga/

We stay at my kid's place in Martin, GA. The ride to Tellico is pretty amazing itself. Map out the roads between Tellico and Helen, Georgia- there is some great stuff in between.

Yeah, the oil thread. lol. Ok. I have never seen anyone point to a Guzzi gear failure and say "I always used X brand oil in it". I have no idea what sort of testing regime Guzzi uses, or ever used in the past. So really I (we) are left to their recommendations and our own research and the anecdotal experience of others. My own research went so far down the rabbit hole that I spent a couple days researching industrial lubricants, separate from 'automotive' lubricants. Industrial gears come in every conceivable design and purpose, and are lubricated by everything from pressure to sprayed to bathed. Typically, industrial gears are loaded to their design intent far more often than automotive gears, so the demand on lubricants is higher. The short end of the long story is that I've chosen Chevron Delo ESI 75-140 for all my non-friction gears, whether straight or hypoid. In the 'Sport's straight-cut gearbox, there was a surprising reduction in noise over RedLine heavy shockproof, and a notable but unmeasured reduction in bevel drive temperature. The one consideration that I have not yet seen is the warning against water contamination and subsequent acidic corrosion. My vents are well-attended and I'll simply change the lube every season or two, this lube is not available in any local stores here but is not on the high end of expensive boutique oils to order. Does it matter? I don't know, I went 10,000 miles on RedLine heavy and came home with only about 100cc in the box after blowing it all out the vent with no damage to the gears, so not it my case. Would it matter with a loaded sidecar running the freeway at the speed limit? Who can say? Guzzi, BMW, Honda, Kawi- they all have different recommended lubes, and none of them are famous for drive gear failures. I think it's generally overthunk.

Sooo.... Looks like I'll be spending time periodically in El Paso. I imagine the mountains of New Mexico are within day-tripping distance. Who's got commentary?

I have to say I'm generally low-rpm. I adjust RPM and throttle in a matrix of load and speed- if I'm drifting through 35mph traffic, I'm around 2500-3000rpm but at a very light throttle. As MPH goes up, RPM goes up. I loaf but I don't lug. On the other end, I don't think I've ever seen 8k on this engine, I have a psychological limit at 7k. I don't think that last thousand gives me anything extra anyway but stress.

It *is* barbaric. But what's that quote, 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.' - Sherlock Holmes

Funny thing with valve adjustments; there's a fine line between 'ok' and 'too tight' but a long spread of what's 'ok' on the loose side. Some race car stuff runs anywhere between .008" and .028", with guys fine tuning their throttle response and 60-foot times (drag strip stuff) with the small differences in valve timing. So the difference in felt drivability between *2-4 and *4-6 is astonishing, but the difference between *4-6 and *6-8 is probably barely noticeable. I keep mine at ~4-6. Ish.

That's going to depend on the entire process. Given that we'll run these on idle machinery, the internal cost is pretty cheap. Can't give any numbers until the first piece comes off the mill.

Just as an update, we're evaluating the costs of restocking these plates; We had them cut at a local laser shop last time, which requires a minimum order (if the material comes in 4x8 sheets like many, that's ~36 pieces) vs. buying cut squares and machining them on our own equipment (much less up-front costs) as we can set up and run one or a hundred as required with only the raw material as overhead. It took 3 years to find homes for 50 pieces, I don't expect demand to increase so unless cost or quantity discount go down, we'll probably take route 2. That comes with a different set of problems, primarily edge finish as Stainless doesn't cut as cleanly as normal steel. Truly, sharp edges don't much matter once installed, but there can be no burrs or bits to interfere with sealing or become loose debris.