audiomick

Today's programme: On the way to the garage, I went past a local ironmonger shop and picked up a 14 mm Hex key 1/2" drive socket. When I got to the garage, I discovered that it didn't fit into the end of the axle. Closer inspection revealed that some ham-fisted moron had belted the end of the axle so hard with a steel hammer that the socket was deformed inwards, and the head of the axle was deformed outwards so much that it was stuck in the swing arm. A bit of controlled violence on my part with a copper hammer and a block of wood got it out, hopefully without bending anything. Incidentally, the nut on the other end of the axle was definately no where near 120 NM tightening torque. Further: one of the wheel bearings is pretty grotty, and both the swingarm bearings. The front uni-joint doesn't feel good. It has a "stop" in the middle in one direction, sort of like what happens to head-stem bearings when they start going west. And the rear shock looks like it is leaking. On the good side, the front torque arm bolt was nicely greased and looks good as new, and the "hidden" roller bearing in the final drive also looks good. I was worried about the swing-arm bolts as I took them out; they both felt 'orrible. However, a bit of patience and working the threads back and forth with liberal applications of Ballistol got them cleaned up. Does anyone happen to know a manufacturer and part number for the uni-joints?

@docc I ended up taking mine off today. 2002 Le Mans, long frame. The front collar has the same dimensions as what you have quoted here for yours.

Yes, I'm aware of that. One has to be absolutely sure that the bolt lines up with the thin spot on the shaft.

Yesterday I read through two very long threads here. What I noticed is that practically no-one stipulates whether they had or have the bike on the side-stand or on some kind of lift. For the record: my V11 Le Mans, built in 2002, long tank, wrinkle paint on the motor, black gauges, was on a Becker lifter when I was looking at the front grease nipple situation. So the back wheel was off the ground, and the angle of the front uni-joint was as "open" as it can get without undoing screws. I had the feeling that I maybe could have got onto the front nipple. Grease gun has a straight connector, but a flexible hose. In the end, I decided not to pursue it. Taking out the wheel is a good idea anyway, as there are a couple of other things that would benefit from being looked at. @docc, the collar in your photo doesn't seem to have any holes in the sides of it. Mine does, such that I could probably undo the pinch bolts without removing the collar. I'll be in the garage later, and will try and measure the collar in situ, but don't really expect to see numbers different from what has already been quoted here. A thought came to me: maybe the collar is the same, but Guzzi used a different nipple on earlier models compared to the later ones. I.e. they figured out it was a bastard to get to, and changed to a different nipple.

Yes, I will. I noticed there is also not much room around the front tank mounts, and lots of big fat plugs right there. Ah, so it is a 14mm. I measured it as best I could with a vernier gauge, but I was probably not that accurate. Thanks.

Today: Got the new hose in for the engine ventilation. Surprisingly awkward to change it, but I'm cautiously optimistic that this was really the reason for the oil on the bottom of the motor. We'll see... Started sorting through the wiring loom. The way it was laid in looked like an experiment in macrame. In the process of doing that I established that, firstly, I didn't have enough long, black cable ties to finish the job and, secondly, the throttle cable needs renewing, so there is no point in binding it all up again anyway. I'd most likely need to undo at least some of it to get that done. Started to take out the rear wheel so I could have a better look in around the swingarm and drive-shaft. Established that I need a 13mm Allen key to get the axle out, which I don't have. Tried out the new grease gun on the two grease nipple that one can get to. I'll be looking around the forum this evening for the posts about getting on to the nipple at the front. I know they are here, I've seen them.... Tomorrow is an new day with exciting possibilities and endless potential ...

I'm not in the garage yet today, but on the way, so today I've not done anything yet. Yesterday I started in on the rubber pipe directly under the frame rail for the motor ventilation. Currently, the Le Mans is on the lift with all the bodywork removed, and the tank and airbox, and I'm thinking about what else I should be having a look at while I'm in there. The "wheels off" and "tank off" topics from here are both available on the old laptop that I have designated as the "garage computer" for Guzzidiag, so I suppose I'll be working through them, more or less. Good is, I've got a couple of weeks more holidays, and the weather here is fairly ordinary at the moment.

The prince of darkness.

"Vampire" power draw is not that hard. Just hang a multi-meter that can do amps between one of the battery cables and its pole. This is ok, because mult-meters that can measure current can generally (I believe...) handle around 10 amps, and anything sneaky that is draining your battery is likely to be much less than that. Measuring higher currents is a little more difficult. There are measuring devices that clip around the cable to be measured. I believe they use induction, but I don't have one so the knowledge is sketchy. I stumbled over this post a while back: It describes how to build a "shunt" which allows one to measure current by measuring the voltage drop along a piece of wire. Good for measuring high currents. As far as the grips go, if you have any documentation on them or can find any markings on them, you can calculate the current draw from the power rating, if you can find a number for it. The formula is hier: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_power#Definition specifically: power rating of the device / 12 volts = current draw

You are keeping track of how many amps are being drawn there, aren't you? Also, where does the speedo get the power for its internal memory for the GPS position? Pemanent 12V from the bike (in which case it will be slowly draining the battery much like a clock or the dashboard on the Breva 750 models...) or does it have a battery or condensor or something inside for that?

Thinking about that, it is probably more accurate to see it the other way around. If something obviously wont work well because of its design, I find it very difficult to see any beauty in it. Prime example: the extended forks on an extreme chopper, and the associated combination of a very skinny tyre at the front and a ridiculously wide one at the back.

The really important thing to keep in mind is that there is such a thing as bad art. Just because someone calls something art doesn't give it any intrinsic value, just a name. I can't say it isn't art, but I can say it is crap. PS: not form over function, form is important. But I find if something is cleverly designed for good function, it often also has a pleasing form.

I am reminded of a "rule" that I learned very early on at University: The question was posed "when does noise become music?", and we were taught that the correct answer is "when the composer says it is music". Perhaps I should note that the course of study was music theory with a focus on 20th. century composition. Anyway, the idea behind the "correct answer" can be applied to anything. When the creator maintains it is art, then it is art. One can express one's own opinion of the object as art, but not deny that it is art. Therefore, if someone puts a heap of bits together to make something that resembles a motorcycle and says it is art, then it is. It may very well be bad art, and equally likely a bad motorcycle, but it is art because the person who made it says it is. Christo comes to mind: very successful, very popular, but what a wank. Having said all that, I personally tend to land in the court with Phil and Pete. A motorcycle must, first and foremost, work properly. Modifications should primarily be aimed at improving the function. Generally, the form of a functional improvment is pleasing to my eye. Things like titanium fasteners and well finished machining are the final touches that make a bike beautiful and not just pretty.

Well, I hope the manufacturer of the tank bag knew that. Four screws holding the ring, and two of them in the short holes. It's one of these.... https://www.hepco-becker.de/tankring-lock-it-inkl-tankrucksackgegenhalter-fuer-moto-guzzi-scura-le-mans-ballabio-coppa-italia-cafe-sport-sport-naked-sport.html Incidentally, the kit includes spacers that put the ring high enough to clear the chin pad. That means, on mine, no chin pad, there is nearly a half an inch breezeway between the bracket and the top of the tank. When I get the lengths of the spacers and screws worked out so that it sits down close to a tank without a chin pad, I'll post it here. PS: I have absolutely no doubt that blackening bits on a Scura is the single most important thing in the entire universe.

I always think, if I'm looking at having to buy a new part, it can't hurt to try and fix the broken one. It is, after all, already broken. What can go wrong? Do keep us informed of your progress.

I'm in the process of fitting a ring on the filler cap to hold a tank bag. In the process, I've become aware that the original screws are apparently alternately long and short, i.e. 3 of them are M5 x 16 and 3 are M5 x 25. Does anyone know why? There is probably a perfectly sensible reason, but it just seems a bit weird at first glance...

Yes, I had a very similar thought whilst reading that.

Clear as mud. I still reckon they're talking about RON.

Is that still the same bike as this one?

That's very nice of it.

Would you be mad at me if I did? Chris, from my Australian point of view, Pete is light hearted and tolerant. Narrow-minded reactionary arseholes is a bit of an Australian speciality, at least in the time of my youth and in the countryside where I grew up. Going by what he writes here, Pete isn't one of them.

Can't do that here anymore. The lowest availabel is 95.

The funny thing is, the motivation for bobbers was origionally the same as for cafe racers: cut off everything that is not necessary for function to make the thing lighter and therefore faster and more agile. It's just that the "bobber style" somehow got hung up on tyres that look like they were manufactured in 1938 and various other more or less ludicrous "features".

Without the "more desireable", rather "bearable": The current retro Z900 Kawasaki is pretty enough, but I would have to change the bars immediately. The are too reminiscent of the absurd street fighter asthetic for my taste, and ergonomically pretty senseless in my opinion. The Thruxton is pretty, but I don't like parallel twin motors. Otherwise, the list is very, very short. There is a modern design Kawasaki that I would be interested to ride, the H2 SX SE. A technically interesting package that would be ideal if it had a shaft drive. Unfortunately not really pretty, but a bit less ugly than some others. In the Guzzi stable: the V7 850 is quite pretty, but I'd like one with clip-ons. The V85 TT is not my cup of tea; I don't like chook-chasers. The V100 is a lot prettier in person than in the photos, I reckon. It would be ok, although the styling is a little too "general use motorcycle" to get me excited.

That would be the same one as is required for the V11 for Guzzidiag operations. Here is a supplier: https://www.lonelec.com/product/moto-guzzi-ducati-3-pin-to-16-pin-obd-adaptor/ Here is a wiring diagramme, along with quite a lot of info about Guzzidiag and links to it and other useful stuff. The wiring diagramme for the adaptor is quite a long way down the page. https://www.von-der-salierburg.de/download/GuzziDiag/ Without knowing for sure, I reckon Guzzidiag is probably your best bet, anyway, to read out the error messages and generally have a look at what the motor management is doing. As I said, info on that page....