Pressureangle

I've found that Dunlop has the only U.S. motorcycle tire manufacturing facility, if owned by Sumitomo. So given the state of affairs in the world and my choice between sending cash to Cooper stockholders or Dunlop employees, I'll eat my words and support the workers in Tonawanda. Not, of course, that I'm making any sacrifice with regards to the tires. Except my 30-year-old promise never to own Dunlops. I suppose the people responsible for that promise are long since retired or otherwise uninvolved. I'll chalk this up to growth, and to having read 20 reviews over time and distance and finding zero negative feedback. So, Black and Dunlop it is. Gee this was a short thread, should I go back and add oil to the title?

Dunlop makes great tires. That said, I'd pay extra to run an other brand.

I searched 'Tires' in thread titles only, and was surprised to find nothing newer than 2017 so I figured it's time for an update. I have the front end off the Sport, and the front wheel is absolutely shameful. I'm having it refinished, and I'll get to the rear when the front's back on. Let's have opinions on whether to keep the wheels battleship gray, or have them made black; the bike is yellow. So to the tires, I had Bridgestone T30s (?) a couple years ago. Solid tires, 7500 miles and wore them near bare front and rear without ever slipping. However the front never had good feedback, and tight hard corners were acts of faith. To be fair, in 80mph+ sweepers they were rock-steady. The rear was just invisible and excellent, with a large circumference for the size. I swapped on a set of Pirelli Angel GTII for the SoCal twisties- the front had great feedback, razor sharp handling in the tight stuff, but just a bit nervous on the highway and fast sweepers. The rear, though the same numeric size, was of significantly smaller circumference- enough to leave me 6 miles short of the fuel exit in New Mexico. Now, these Pirellis will be 4 years old at the 2022 spine raid, the rear has squared off in the center, and I'm having the wheels off anyway; so it doesn't make much sense to put them back on. Looking around at the choices, I discovered that Avon is owned by Cooper, which is American (though the tires are made in the UK) and their 3D SuperSport tires have good wet-road reports, as well as overall happy sounding owners. Mileage isn't really a consideration anymore as I'm 12 hours from any roads with curves so I don't ride much at home. Thoughts, opinions, or experiences?

No. It's the reluctance to deal with people disparaging the seller because 'his price is unrealistic' and 'Ah hain't never see'd one sell that high, bought one fifteen years ago for less than half that'. If you can't make an offer, you can't be expected to pay the asked price. People aren't what they were 20 years ago, especially not online.

There is no asking price, only offers to hear.

So there's an official WP service center about 20 minutes from home- the local KTM/Husqvarna/GasGas dealer. I was going to call, but drove over instead; asked 'hey can you do these old WP forks?' he says, 'sure, what are they from? Bring them in' So I bring them in to the counter, he looks weirdly at them and asks again what they're from. I tell him, '97 Moto Guzzi. He says, 'you won't believe this but I have forks and shock apart on the bench in back from a '97 Moto Guzzi.' So is there a forum member from Miami who brought their stuff up to Stuart? $125 plus parts for the forks, $150 plus parts for the shock (later) He asks, 'You want these cleaned up? We can vapor blast the feet and they'll look like new' Well, surely. Glad I didn't fool with them on my own, anyway. ...and while waiting, the kid fell for and bought a Svartpilen 401 lol

Quite out-of-round. Still I could spray-weld the race OD and make it round with the hammer. But that's no more a true fix than the loctite, and a lot more work and cost.

FWIW, the fork trees are something like ~45mm offset, and equal top & bottom. Give me a mm or so for accuracy.

There's no evidence of a crash, I've measured the alignment best possible with straights and levels and it all appears to be square. It tracks perfectly, not as if it's had it's rake reduced. Without any specific reason, I'll attribute it to Italian tolerances; the major diameter of the bottom race bore is *not* along the frame axis. As you said, I'll take up what space I can with some shimming, and add bearing mount to perfectly clean surfaces. With the clunk identified and corrected, and the brakes working properly, perhaps I can keep up with Docc at the Spine Raid.

In a perfect world, I'd completely disassemble the frame, clean it, spray weld the bores and resize them in the machine shop. In this world, I've put ~15k miles on it as it is and I'm not ready for a complete restoration yet. So the options are *all* sorta backyard shadetree answers. I'll clean it up and play around with the bearing races and feeler gauges, to see how much clearance I have in what areas; then I'll average out the clearance, use feeler gauge blades to bring the size back to a reasonable tight fit, put everything back together with a hard bearing bore adhesive loctite product and run with it until the day comes when it gets ripped to the last fastener. I'll take the forks to the local KTM/WP center and have them give a look, but these forks may be older than their technicians...nothing wrong with them really so if they can't or the price is too high, I'll renew the fork oil and clean them up myself. The springs as is are good for my weight, and they don't leak so...meh. On to the brake caliper rebuild.

Sew... Today the front end came apart, and I found what I suspected but didn't want- the steering head bearings are 52mm, and the holes in the frame are between 52.20 and 52.65mm. This thing's had a clunk under braking since I bought it that I couldn't reproduce by hand or rocking, only shows under braking. I guess I'll clean it up and see if I can drive it all back together with some shim stock or a speedi-sleeve, or I'll have to use heavy loctite bearing retainer and deal with the results.

Front end day

Yes, it's a Tonti frame and handles just like the LeMans but easy around town. I didn't measure the valves, but I would call them 'Medium' compared to the LM heads. It's actually a good fun bike, really nice for day rides to the flea and cafe. I just have too many other projects to give this one what it needs cosmetically, and somebody has to sleep outside for space in the garage.

My 1989 Mille GT.I bought it on a whim as a spare for visiting friends, who never appeared.Fresh tune-up, top end disassembled and inspected-rings, seats and guides in great shape.New spring cam chain tensionerNew points & condensersNew OdysseyCarbs completely cleaned and reconditioned, synced properlyAll fluids serviced with premium synthetic, including forksCharging system works greatIntegrated brakes work great, new EBC or Brembo pads (don't recall)Instrument cluster replaced with NOS, not disintegratedMistral mufflers, stock alsoSpoke wheels, have a set of Red LM III wheels & Michelins to go with if the price is rightCustom touring seatNeeds a proper detailing, not as pretty as it could be. Looks like every other 5 owner 'Guzzi with 3 different keys.Rides great, needs nothing. I just don't use it and need the garage space.Stuart, Florida. I can facilitate shipping, or you can ride it home.Best offer, won't bother with eBay. I know I won't get close to my cost, but please don't insult me. Ask for more pictures if you like.

1989 Mille GT Details on WG https://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=114357.0

Wasn't me, I put new dampers in the '85 LM but I'm only now ashamedly addressing the front end of the Sport, which has a number of troubles I've never mentioned but would probably shock anyone else riding it. Before the Spine Raid it'll get fork rebuild, steering head rebuild, brake caliper rebuild and a bit of clean-and-refinish. Who's got the WP service book for the forks?

I had an intermittent fuel problem recently, always beginning with the fuel pump being 'noisy' or 'buzzy'. The short story is, I had a high resistance connection somewhere that caused the fuel pump relay to drop out when everything got warm- then as soon as it dropped the pump load, the voltage went back up and reconnected the relay. Rinse and repeat, at high frequency. A simple but thorough cleaning and maintenance of all the relays and connections ended it. The pump went silent again.

I attended Keith Code's Superbike school twice, in 1985 and 1986. Though it was a long time ago and their methods have probably evolved, I highly recommend it; any tracktime school is probably money well spent. You will learn techniques and science you can't really apply elsewhere, and you will expand your limitations beyond your efforts on the street- meaning that you'll not make sophomore mistakes that crash you when it's avoidable. I watch crash videos a lot, and it's my studied opinion that 90% of all street crashes are totally and easily avoidable. I also watch travel videos, and adventure riders suffer from the same lack of pertinent practice offroad, leading to unnecessary damage, injury, and inconvenience easily avoidable.

A fun anecdote; I was the parts manager at H-D Miami in the '90s. While moving into our new building, I discovered an old box of leather jackets. H-D had a program in the '70s where you could trade in your old jacket for 1/2 off a new one, or somesuch; nobody had ever returned the old jackets to the factory. I sold those jackets at a 20% premium over the new jackets, and sold them all. Most were $500+. You just can't buy the credibility of age very often. I laughed under my breath as these customers wore the jackets as if they'd been riding for 30 years and teased their buddies about their shiny new leather. So the high price on the fedora lounge items doesn't surprise me.

'Guzzi released the LeMans 1 when I was 15. I fell in love with the cans, as all 15 year olds do. My family owns Dyna/Reno motorcycles, and I visited when I was 18; my Uncle's friend left the shop on his souped-up Eldorado with Continental mufflers, winding it out pretty hard. It only took me another 22 years to come up with both an opportunity and enough money to own one, the '85 LM1000. I'd been lusting after the 1100 Sport since the introduction of the Daytona, and was friends with Ron McGill who rode Dr. John's development bikes on track. It was inevitable.

Here in Florida where the morning dew is salty, I use silicone spray on the bare aluminum to eliminate white dusty corrosion and protect it.

Er, my envy of 6 speed boxes just relaxed a little bit.

*I* wouldn't shy away. There's no reliability issue with genuine Honda parts. A long time ago I got to ride Ted Boody's ex-TT racer, a C&J framed XR600 with ALL the goodies. We had a 1/2 mile track on a Michigan lake. The thing would carry the front wheel at 80mph while sideways through the entire corner. Awesome.

I just requested 2 rooms and 4 garage spaces. we'll see how it plays out. Lost year I stayed up the road at the Mountain View cabins. As nice, better view, same price. No garage tho so you'll have to ride back...safely http://www.tellicologcabins.com/

That crack quite visibly runs along the hard machined corner. Poor machining practice in a stressed area. It should have a radius in the fillet.