twhitaker

Did you remove the caliper from its mount first? Also remove the screw in the swingarm that secures the caliper bracket in place. Watch out for that spacer sleeve that goes on the right side.

My God! That socket looks expensive. Let me guess. You work in a maintenance department and you made the wrench in your spare time. You should be making handlebar riser kits.

Mobil M1-102 fits fine. It's about $10 and one of the highest rated. The M1-103 fits shallow sump bikes like the Covert and G5. There is a socket that fits the filter available at most auto parts stores for under $5

I sent out the pipes from my California for the ceramic treatment. The material looks a little frosty compared to the new LaFranconi muffler. The clamp is what the pipes looked like before they were plated. Both pipes, both exhaust flanges, and the crossover cost me a total of $160. www.afipowder.com is the company and they are located in Piqua Ohio.

There is a thread in guzzi-tech about cutting some 2x4s to fit the shape of the pan and spread out the load. It clears the man hole cover.

You don't need a stand to change your oil. The pan comes off without removing the side stand. I only removed the pan for my first oil change. At that time I swapped the filter over to a Mobil 1 filter for which I had a socket that fits. By the way an M18 hex nut fits that little manhole cover. You should have one of those on your rear axle. I'm thinking about buying that Craftsman lift Bob Villa has been advertising.

I bought some fat grips from MG Cycle. They're the same as you would see on an Eldorado. See my picture in 24/7 under the Krauser bags topic. I cut off the ends to install the bar end weights. I then wrapped brown electrical tape around them to smooth over the ridges. The grips are a lot fatter but not any softer.

During the summer of '02 while riding back from a rally on the Interstate in 100 degree weather my Bridgestone cupped badly. I guess it was from the hot road combined with underinflation. Though not nearly as severe as Pauls' I quickly replaced it with a Michelin.

Your flasher unit should be available at most auto parts stores for a mere pittance. www.signaldynamics.com sells modules like self canceling flashers, headlight modulators, and taillight modulators.

Gustaffsen provides a specially ground bit for this purpose plus a piece of plastic with which to practice. The cutting lips on the drill are ground for a negative rake. This causes the drill to burn through instead of grabbing as it breaks through.

Take a look at the nut that fits on the front brake lever pivot shaft. I THINK they are the same.

No comprehensive Italian motorcycle spare parts kit would be complete without a.....corkscrew.

What would you recommend for spare parts for a trip with that thing?

Not sure if that's a DOT 4 or a DOT 5 clutch cable. Should not take up too much space.

This sounds like one of Fords better ideas. Used to be you could replace a rotor or a wheel bearing separately. Now adays the front wheel is a sealed system. In order to replace a worn rotor you have to buy a complete spindle assembly. An over $300 per side fix. Sure the wheel bearings last a long time. They are made foolproof and expensive. Darn pads are no good. Guzzis better idea is to just replace the whole fuel tank assembly every 12000 miles instead of just the filter. Makes sense to me.

This topic was discussed in the "How To" section under Brake/Clutch Bleeding. www.speedbleeder.com has a picture of all the bleeders they make. Yours would be the SB6100 nipple.

Response to: THE BEAST RIDER You could take the part the o-rings fit on to a bearing distributor with the damaged o-rings. They would match them up for just a few schillings.

For a while I thought my timing chain cover gasket was leaking. A closer inspection revealed it was actually the ignition timing pickup.

Oops! My eyes may be deceiving me but the clutch bleeder looks like it might be an M8. Hard to tell by just looking in the cramped quarters. I assumed the rocket scientists in Mandello would standardize. Give the folks a call. They might know. It's an 800 number.

The speed bleeder should be a very good substitute for the third hand.

You might try www.mgnoc.com This is a subscription monthly newsletter. If you don't belong, you should. Maybe you know someone who subscribes he can give you a copy. This lift is essentially a parallelegram frame that is powered by a floor jack or a scissors jack. You just roll the bike onto the lift, strap the bike down, operate the jack and up the bike goes. I second his recommendation of using jackstands to support the lift for safety sake. The designer of the lift, Russ Rasmussen, can be contacted at rrasmuss@mail.crk.umn.edu I would dearly love to have a centerstand for my bike but money is tight right now.

There is a way cool do it yourself motorcycle lift write up in the Feb Guzzi newsletter.

I bought the skinny Vista Cruise unit as I could tell the large unit from my California would not fit. I took the little sheetmetal bracket and deformed it to fit on one of the throttle mounting screws. I filled in the recess below the screw head with a couple of lock washers. (reduced picture size, docc)

Oh well. I thought I may not have represented Moto Guzzi in the greatest light. I was pretty enthusiastic though. Alfred seems to eat, sleep, drink, etc Ducati. When I was there he had over a dozen of them for reference. Looks like I'll be contacting Cyclops at www.convertibar.com I heard they make a post that will accept our bars. Has there been any feedback on that item?

I went to Cycle Kat last summer to provide a donor bike. They said they would call me in a couple weeks. Haven't heard a word from them. Al R. mentioned they put it off as a winter project. Well, there is only 6 more weeks of winter and no word yet. I've got the cold weather gear for the trip but 90 miles in 20 degree weather is still 90 miles. For what it's worth Alfred can contact me at work at 937-222-6444 or at home at 937-859-3322 or twhitaker6 at woh dot rr dot com