tomsp

I vote for w/o Eagle. Al, got my speed bleeders but wrong size for my front brakes-- I ordered again tonight! How many miles you got on that beautiful bike Al?

welcome to the group. Good choice in bikes. Where in CA do you live. In norcal we have kind of an active type group who ride together sometimes. I had a '75 too, but not a mg

i hate dial-up

Brought my header pipe assembly to san jose today to moto italiano, along with the broken off piece of course. Good news here- my bike's on warranty so mg replaces. I did have to leave the pieces there - hopefully for not too long -- so I can bring them back and do a tempory weld. Couple of good things about going over there too: (1) sat on Triumph 955i, Speed Tripple (!), Sprint ST ( I'm buying a lottery ticket) and (2) got a good close up look at Al's 02 le mans (Al obviously already won his lottery!). New Pirelli's looking good along with everything else on that bike! Man. Al, you got to take pics and show us in detail that thing-- impressive really

DavidB -- great. sounds good -- I will. Let you know what moto italiano says later today! DeBenGuzzi (son of guzzi?) -- you are so right! despite the fact that I wear good ear plugs, when I got home from the ride, I thought I was going deaf! my ears were ringing like crazy . Thought I was riding a H-D or something.

Thanks for spelling BALLABIO

I stand corrected on the ss gaskets. Back to the original thread title -- I did leave out a lot about the ride Saturday. I loved it! With the negative implications of my header breaking, etc., one could get a bit of an ill feeling I suppose-- but I love my goose-- nothing like that sound when cranking on hard out of corners, and the steady feel of turning in... Those roads we were on were awsome too- some of them were like pot-holed like crazy with way steep hairpins while other roads were 80-90 mph'ers. Dave Pott led most of the way and for good reason -- that guy can ride

v50man-- I believe we got them from turtle. He made a run of them and offered them to the forum. email him for more info. They are great.

do you know if I can just buy the LEFT header piece or do they only sell the whole thing (both headers pipes and crossover)! Martin -- within a few hundred miles of getting my 03 le mans, my header crossover gaskets fell completely out! I ordered those truly fine aluminum gaskets from this forum and THEY have held perfectly soldily ever since. This header pipe cracking like that has me ticked off I don't mind saying! Now I'm out of riding for who knows how long! I could start to feel like Al MG Cycle does not have the part. I'm checking tonight to see if it's still on warranty (save the humor remarks here, I already know that's funny). Tuesday (the day in the US when every motorcycle shop opens) I'll call moto italiano in San Jose.

Death Valley -- all of us... (er, when I get my bike working agian)

This is a travel-log and need for tech advice piece! It was Dave's idea: we meet in the Old Murphey's Hotel (read:bar) on Sunday -- Dave Pott's on his V11, his wife Jamaliah on her Ducati Monster (I know I probably spelled her name wrong this time too), Jack (Dave's buddy) on his H-D, and me with le mans. Had a spirited ride from Murphey's to Moke Hill (after they all rode for 3 hours plus getting to Murphey's in the first place). My bike however had been backfiring big time the whole way and was increasing in this behavior. PLus the le mans felt and sounded like it was running on one cyclender! At Moke Hill at a break, while checking my spark plug cables to see if they were indeed connected into the coils, I saw a complete crack around my left exhaust header! See the Pic. What the hey! After I got the bike home (!), I took off the header-- no gasket material at all in either side! The left exhaust right tight with the cylender head was split compete. What caused the crack? I'll call mg cycle Monday-- see if they have a part. The ride: great fun. Nor CAl has to do this again -- death valley or Mendocino. Dave and Jamaliah and Jack - great.

Lex -- those givi's look pretty good (course so do the tekno"s!) I like the small size and position of the givi's

when you take the can off -- you might want to think about leaving the plate bracket to help prevent debris from the rear tire flying up into the tranny area....

I'm thinking a good set of tekno bags for around $150.00 -- I think that's what I'm getting mine for (from this forum)

shoot too Dave. What can I say. Hang in there

well Dave, that's one way to introduce a topic thread Man, sorry about the pup. I know what that's like with two of my own (plus 2 kids!). On dogs (nice topic there) one time I spend $800.00 on emergency surgery for a Basset Hound who ate a huge dirtclod which became imbedded in his intestines! Now I'm sure it would cost twice that as that was like 10 years ago. This saturday is out for me due to daughter's science olympiad state finals in sacramento. See what davidb is up to -- haven't seen him all winter-- and all other interested riders, for a time and place.

Hey Dave, did you and your wife get over to Death Valley for the spring bloom? I took my girlfriend on a 2-up ride last weekend on the le mans. Felt ok to me (!) but her legs were in her chin I think! Nogbad- I agree about "something about the guzzi"... Sometimes I look at that bike and think "brother, is that one ugly bike!" but then I ride it for 4 hours in the mother lode and love every second of it. Something about the position, turn-in, and the sound when opened up.... and then sometimes I look at it and I really think it's beautiful/totally unique.... People ask me if it's a 80's bike.....

just wondering here because I have an exhaust pop now too -- do you hear the backfire/pop at the cylinder head or at the rear of the exhaust?

... as if you don't go over there every day and check it out! Looked like they were taking real good care of your bike. It is taking like a long time, eh. from the other thread on gear shift linkage-- thanks. My shifter was so near falling off.

no pclll. I tighened all the exhaust bolts. I'll check the intake this p.m. I'll should also balance again the TB's. thanks

checked mine right now too.-- one nut was about ready to fall off! I can't believe it! Blue locktight to the rescue.

I just had my fork oil changed today. 12,000 mi. $225.00. Good job. wish I knew I how to do that. Think I'll study that issue for next time!

Great day here. Rode over to Moto Italia in San Jose and had my fork oil changed. No big deal except I really noticed a difference riding the 1.5 hours back home. Suspension seemed way better. Noticed my rebound marks on each fork were not symetrical -- is that ok? Even though the bike seemed to handle extremely well. Second thing, not related of course, the bike has been backfiring a lot lately on letting off on the throttle. There is no exhaust leak. Is that a throttle body balance/ TPS thing? I had the tps set back in May. Do it again? Suggestions? thanks oh yeah, I saw Al's bike at the shop too!

that rally looked good - sorry I missed it (was in LA for work). Next time. Nice pics too, even the blurry ones -- looked like some of the pics were of guzzi's trying to do wheelies? Maybe I'm blurry.

you ever see the women who come to "kite day" -- I think not! Besides-- we got spring here! ----- ok ok, I'm editing this post now! Sheet. What was I thinking. Forget kite day altogether. Anyone interested in going to San Andreas on Saturday?