Greg Field

Yes, the 0508-series plates will fit all the Guzzi 2-plate clutches.

Yes, Richard Thompson. Awesome guitar player. Haven't seen him play since the late 1980s, but I bet he's gotten even better with age.

The latest Guzzi plate that was designed for the Breva 1100, number 05084430, is the best of the Guzzi plates that I've used so far, and I've used them from every series. They are riveted, and there have been reports of rivets coming lose on all series of riveted plates. I've only personally seen it once, though, and I sell a lot of clutch plates (at Moto Intl.) and have personally changed out at least 50 clutches on my own. Second best is plates from a previous series, 29084450, which are nearly identical to the later plate but start out 0.2mm thicker and cost slightly less. If your local dealer does not have them, we have plenty in stock.

OK, thanks!

Thanks!

I knew I could count on you.

The deep sump replaces all the stuff below the bottom of the engine block, including the overhead pickup and cooler and filter plumbing. It sucks oil from the floor of the pan, just like the older Guzzi sumps, so the chance of exposing the pickup under acceleration is minimal.

Hey, Slugster: Some folks have expressed interest in and extended fender. Maybe you'll be expanding your CF empire by making a mold and going into production?

The Irish shove mints up their ass to cure 'rhoids? Wonders never cease.

Sounds good-looking, but more than I can afford.

I've already got rock dings on my Ohlins forks. Has anyone found a paint that's a reasonable match?

Sorry, Alex, but I don't know of anyone selling carbon airboxes. The sidecovers shown are from Moto Guzzi. Any dealer can get those.

We've been having wrath-of-God (maybe wrath-of-Gary?) rains and flooding here in Seattle lately—something more than an inch a day average over the 13 days so far. Even the slugs are crying, "Enough!" Riding through this has sure revealed the limitations of the stock front fender. For one, it leaves those expensive Ohlins sliders fully exposed to all the grit and crap, as shown below: For two, it's so truncated at the rear that it allows the tire to sling spray all over the front of the bike and even up onto me when it's really pouring. Then, the damn thing started to crack, so I got a new fender from an Aprilia Mille because the Mille's fender design offers much more protection to the sliders, as shown below: It bolts right up and actualy is pretty effective in reducing the sandblasting those sliders were getting. Unfortunately, it's even more bobbed in the rear than the Guzzi fender. Here's how ineffective it is, showing the leaves and shite thrown up over the oil cooler after one short ride in the rain. What the pic doesn't show is how much spray it threw all over me and up under the instrument and into a lot of electrical connections. I'm really glad it protects the forks, but I'm the one paying the bills, so I deserve some protection, too. Time to bodge . . . So, I took the old cracked fender and did some measuring to see if I could use it to fashion an acceptable looking extender for the abysmal Aprilia fender. The measurements showed it could work, so I got out the Marks-A-Lot pen and started drawing lines. Then I got out the hacksaw and started cutting. The hacksaw goes through that carbon like the cliched hot knife through warm butter. (Sorry for the clutter on the bench; I like chaos.) And, it leaves a cleanish edge that requires very little file work to clean up. Then, I lapped the extender under the fender, alligned it, drilled five holes, bolted it together with tiny stainless buttonheads, and installed it on the bike. There's what it looks like: Not seamless, but not horrifically ugly either. Sure works well, too. A ride in the third wave of downpours today revealed that direct spray off the wheel reaches no higher on the machine than the sump. The rain's supposed to let up tomorrow and then be back with a vengeance on Wednesday. Billy Bob's as ready as I can make it for this next round . . .

A customer returned a carbon hugger 'cause it had a small crack and didn't fit his bike to his satisfaction. Since it was damaged, I couldn't very well sell it to someone else, could I? So, I just put it on Billy Bob to replace the huge factory hugger, which despite it's three-acre size by itself does an abysmal job of water control. First, I fixed the crack with some JB Weld and bolted it on. It fit my bike well enough to look OK. Here it is. I think its looks are a vast improvement over the stocker. I like being able to see more of the swingarm, too. It reduces the visual mass of the rear end noticably. Then, I took it for a ride in the rain. In conjunction with the bodged forward protector made earlier from a cut-up inner tube, it kept the water off the rear end at least as well as the stocker. I love happy endings . . .

Deep sump also means losing your oil cooler. I believe, based on the temps I see on my thermostat dipstick, that you're better off with an oil cooler than without one.

They must've done some retooling 'cause they tell us the RXV and SXV Aprilia engines are made at the Guzzi factory. Sure, the R/SXV engine's a twin, too, but it's a hot, high-tech twin.

Dave: Trust your own eyes. Hold that BMC up to a strong light. Do you see pinhead-sized holes? I have in all the K&Ns and BMCs I've examined. Dirt sees 'em, too. Will it matter? Probably not in the short run. Over the long run, I believe it will, though no one to my knowledge has performed the scientific test to conclusively prove this one way or another. Your motor's bores will likely last to 100,000 miles either way. Not all 100,000-mile motors are equal, however. Some have 7 percent leakdown and function like a new motor, while others have far serious leakdown, and others are totally clapped-out piles. I want the former, and I believe paper filters are more likely to net me that result than are guaze filters. I also believe any power gain you get from gauze filters diminishes to indistinguishable after a few tens of thousand miles as ring seal is slowly degraded and piston skirts are worn by the dirt these fiters let in. By snorkels, do you mean those little rubber spigots? If so, why did you put those back on? Or do you mean the airbox lid with its twin snorkels? If the latter, try Phil A.'s rick of heating and enlarging the i.d. of the snorkels and drilling a few holes in the lid. I did this a few weeks back. Works great and does not noticably increase induction roar over the stock level.

That's priceless. I used to wonder how a man so obviously ineloquent and so apparently stupid could be vice president. Take the "vice" away and you have what I wonder now.

Jeez; I guess you really told me, Gary. Always pleasant hearing your thoughts. They remind me a lot of those of another character who used to hang here: Capt. Nemo/Enzo. Let me hear your Cobra pipes . . .

Maybe we should just JB Weld the filter in place. The sumbitch is big enough that it doesn't really need changing that often, unless you're running shitty air filters or the engine suddenly starts shedding particles.

I didn't realize that you were discussing a possible cause. My take was that you were doubting that there could be any other cause excepting operator error. My error. As others have already pointed out, other objects that rely on threads to keep them in place (bolts, nuts, etc.) loosen all the time under vibration. Why is it so inconcievable that something mounted with low torque values for the size of fastener involved, that's hanging down from a boss mount that's not well-supported for all the vibrations going on and the weight of boss and full filter, that hangs down in a hot, greasy, vibratory environment, can in rare instances spontaneously loosen under all these forces? I'm not surprised that they could, although I do not know this to be the cause. If you want to believe incompetence is the sole cause of loosening filters, be my guest. If you want to drastically reduce the liklelihood of a filter backing off, no matter if the real cause is incompetence or something else, see the photo below: Note that the screw housing on the clamp butts against the boss on the filter mount assembly. Tighten the clamp, and the filter's not coming off without your blessing. Just as it may be possible that the filter spontaneously loosens, it may be possible that the clamp could spontaneously loosen. I've never heard of that happening, however, whereas I have heard of four filters loosening in the last month. Good luck, whichever approach you decide to take . . .

Hey, horsies; there's the water . . .

I need me one of those precision garbage cans so I can take measurements down to the tenth of a degree. Where'd'ya get it? Home Depot?

Could be anything really. What they show doesn't have to run or be economically producable or even possible. They show it one year and maybe it hits the market three years later. The best thing they could do would be to show NOTHING that is not ready for market that very day. Any other strategy runs counter to the company's and customer's best interests.

Perhaps I shoulda used smileys. Of course I don't think you're both idjits. I was exercising my irony muscles. Apparently they have atrophied beyond all recovery. I'm hoping no offense was taken. RLSH is a fine choice to lube speedo cables, as is any lube thicker than WD-40 and thinner than axle grease, in my opinion.