Weegie

Can't tell from the dimensions but the mounting holes angles look right. Voltage, power and number of teeth are the correct spec.

Is he not the Cycle World Tech Gnu? Ton of videos out on YouTube where there's a conversation between him and the Editor about various aspects of Motor Cycles I watched the thread on oil as with my HiCam travails I've a passing interest and didn't find any "light bulb" moments. Found the rambling nature of the discussions hard going, but that's just me I guess

I agree and an oil analysis will, most likely, highlight problems sooner than a mechanical issue than a noise or vibration. I thought I said as much in my first post. I don't do it, because it's more expensive in the UK and I very much doubt I'd have the requisite skills to accurately diagnose the exact cause. The cam to valve transmission train as suggested by Phil, the bearing caps, me no clue? All it would tell me is my engine might be developing a problem. Personally I doubt I'd tear an engine down to investigate based on that alone If it was going Dogga Dogga then I would and yes all engines can suddenly go bang, it's all down to known faults and probabilities. All an analysis would do for me is worry and ruin every run out I had.............BUT THAT'S JUST ME If your skills diagnositc skills are better than mine, which honestly would not be hard, great it will then save you time and expense in the long run.+

Generally agree Phil and had similar experience with large gas turbine machines, but power generation, for the majority, in my case. Oil sampling may have a valid application for race engines or if you do Winter maintenance yourself and like tinkering. Perhaps a particular anomally might lead to an investigative tear down to check. After all Guzzis are easy to work on generally and acess good. Better checked in the Winter than tearing down an engine when you could be riding in the summer. Thing is though generally something like our engines will usually give you plenty of other warnings before going ballistic. As for borescopes, these can be had for relatively little money these days too and IMHO also have their uses, even if that is just for peace of mind. Just saying it's horses for courses, I'm probably a little OCD, but I've never been tempted to go down that rabbit hole (yet).

I replaced the OEM alloy gears in my HiCam engine with steel versions from Joe The OEM crank driving gear is steel, but the oil pump and cam were allo I just thought it was prudent, the amount of effort to turn an engine and compress the valve springs said to me that it might not be prudent to have alloy as a suitable material

I know nothing of the systems you're referring to or the V85, I just chimed in response to @ScuRoo comment on the O2 sensor and I've no clue what's on a V85 Most OEM lambdas fitted are narrow band, meaning they only "see" close to Stoichiometric conditions, so they can only sense rich/perfect/lean conditions. AFAIK that then causes a short term fuel trim to start adjusting towards target, but the sensor can only tell the ECU I'm to rich/lean and then an iteration process begins until the sensor detects a different condition. More expensive wide band sensors can tell the ECU the value over a wider range (or band) so the ECU can react to the O2 value, so it's faster and fuel values can be more accurately targeted. No clue with the Guzzis as mine are all ancient open mapped, but some of the Beemers use RpidBike Modules which piggyback the ECU and adjust mapping on the fly. Some modules can use wideband sensors to adjust fuelling to a chosen A/F ratio which can even be seen (if desired) by another add on and targets adjusted on the fly. https://www.dimsport.it/en/rapid-bike/youtune/ Probably of no relevance whatsoever, but thought I'd mention it, apologies if I'm way off topic

I prefer this guy, he's a good bit easier on the ear https://www.youtube.com/@LubricationExplained

I watch "Driving 4 answers" content too Phil and although I knew some of the story, I found that video quite shocking. As for "Stuart Fillingham" the YouTuber on the first post, he's forever posting grossly over exaggerated vids on nefarious beaurocrats coming after yer bikes. Of his videos I've watched they're exagerated and misinformed. I cannot stand his accent nor narration and think he does it to up his views, which I class as duplicitous. One quote from Pete that always made me smile and I'm paraphrasing, ........."If anybody complains, just tell them the bike runs on very old sunshine"

That's a real pity, I'll bet it was beautifully made. Perhaps me getting older, but I just find machines nowadays not nearly so well made

After a few cheaper machines, eventually ended up with a lever unit, which was obscenely expensive and stupidly simple in construction. Its just a boiler, or pressure vessel if you prefer the technical jargon, with tubing to the group head, the group head has a large lever and a take off to the steam wand. You raise the lever to charge the group head with water then a slow steady downward pull forces the water through the basket (and coffee) and into the cup. The boiler runs between 1-1.5 bar and it can only really make one cup at a time and using it takes a bit of practice. The most important point, in my experience, is getting the grinder settings right. I also weigh the beans, for a weaker cup use 12 grams and 15 for a stronger one. When steaming the boiler pressure will drop to around 0.5 bar but for even a larger cup it will happily steam sufficient milk straight out the fridge (4C or so) to 60-65C very quickly and when finished be back up to full pressure in 15-30 seconds. From what I've seen water temp has to be around 85C or thereabouts and extraction pressure of 9bar, although it varies from roast to roast. The reason it can be a bit hit and miss, is you only know the boiler pressure and not the group head, although the machine can be modified to install one. I like a strong cup and dilute it with milk something between a machiato and a cappuchino, makes a cup as good or better than many commercial cafes around here Coffee I currently enjoy is Ueshima, a Japanese brand, my wife likes the lighter roasts from Africa both of which we get from our local supermarket. I spent around 2 years frequently travelling to Italy, both in north and south and can't remember ever having a bad cup of coffee, even though many of them were made on small home sized machines. In every other country I went to, including the UK it was usually the opposite.

I didn't mean the comment to be particularly relevant to your problem, I merely raised it for anybody, perhaps searching for solutions with a similar problem. Anectodally I find copper leads deteriorate over a long period of time, same goes for battery to starter motor cable, of course a lot depends on the quality of the leads/cable. Anyways glad you got sorted and the bikes going well again I wonder how many people these days have analogue meters, I still have an AVO and love it, a beautiful piece of kit

Agree with everything you said In the past though I've had carbon and copper core HT leads return low resistance values, leading me to believe they were good, when hunting misfires and poor running. Eventually after checking everything else and in desperation replacing the HT leads to find that they were the culprit all along. The carbon cores are fragile and I reckon copper ages (oxidation or perhaps the high voltage degrades them in some way?............no idea) reducing the ability of the leads to transmit the high voltage. Just saying if everything else checks out and the leads are old replacing them is worth a shot

Good idea, another mod I've seen is to dimple the stick metal or plastic. Can't help think a flat metal stick would be better, like you used to get on older cars. I purchased the flashlight after losing 3 pints of oil when an oil cooler hose started to leak (you see now why I prefer to overfill). The subsequent Motorcycle Accident Invetigation Team report cited "user ineptitude" as the root cause of the failure. In accordance with the mandatory recommendations both lines were replaced. My main worry was too little oil, as if you're obeying the stick marks waaaaay overfilling isn't an issue with a "Roper Plate" installed One more thing the Australia with its solid belly pan, collects all the oil at the front which then blows rearwards and exits in the vicinity of the rear tyre. Coating the rear tyre with engine lube provides early fault warning, preventing premature engine failure by potentially trashing the whole bike insted.

Not sure if I'm just inept (highly probable) but I've never been able to asses with any confidence the oil level in my 1100 or HiCam engine (both broadsump engines) I've tried the plastic standard dipstick and a metal one, the metal one being slightly better, but I still find it hit and miss. Not that it is really so critical, as now with Pete's sloppage plates in I way overfill the sump past the "high" mark, until the oil is just below the level of the plate (thank you @Lucky Phil for the advice) and never had any problems. Even seeing that though is a little tricky, I usually asses it with the help of a small torch and barbecue stick to see when it touches the oil. Anyway I suppose this is stupidly obvious but I purchased an LED flexi torch and it's great I can put it into the dipstick hole and get a good view of the plate and the oil sitting below it. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00008BFS6?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

Really? You are familiar with the "In the vicinity of Neutral" warning light on the dash? Perhaps I've been doing it wrong all these years but my hand is always on the clutch prior to starting and I slowly release once the engine is running. Her other hand appears to be close to the starter. I see your point though and I never start a bike on the stand, center or side.