docc

Is this really a bike shop's name? Actually "Atlanta Ducati Triumph" do sell Moto Guzzi and were selling MV Agusta. The Capuccino was really just wishful thinking on my part . They are very nice people, knowledgable and very busy.

If you're handy with spanners the spring swap shouldn't be all that bad. must remove the starter and side plate. The proper shop manual will be a help. There's always the worry that the replacement spring is no better than the munted one. I've e-mailed a guy in Oklahoma who , purportedly, has made an upgrade. No word back yet though. There is yet some mystery over the part numbers of the early, faulty and ( perhaps) replacement springs. Check with Paul at Atlanta Ducati-Triumph-Moto Guzzi -MV Agusta-and-Capuccino as they may be a good , but sllow, alternative to wrenching it yourself. You're not under warranty??

I hate to jump in on Al but he could probably spare a few posts to us lowlies: Carillo makes connecting rods as in connecting the crank to the pistons. There was an inference to a couple 'crank bolts' being recalled. Does that mean the rod cap bolts? Makes me wanna say O-m'gosh! What's my redline? 4800rpm?

Cycle World reported that the shift quality on their long term test bike degraded. I wasn't sure what this meant until, at 16,500 miles, my shift quality degraded. Lots more false neutrals and missed gears. This is likely the more common circumstance than the ' full grenade.' In my experience third gear was most affected. But , this means upshifting from 2 to 3 or , 3 to 4 as well as downshifting from 4 to 3 or 3 to 2. With the sliding sleeves, it is the gear change which is affected. And who was it who said their third did grenade?

What is the 'accessory' dipstick like? - if it's not a silly question I saw a silly question about Guzzis once, but since I'm the one who asked it i just can't repeat it again here

Guzzi offers this accessory "engine oil dipstick": 97 05 30 00 03

I originally plugged the nipples with vacuum caps. After a 'tune up' at the dealer the motor would backfire when restarted hot ( like after gassing up) and split the caps or blow the intake loosegiving a nasty vacuum leak either way. They had it way too rich. I agree that properly tuned FI won't do that but bolting the vacuum ports is sure fire and secure. Definately do not plug the nipple coming out of the tank as that is your tank vent. Blocking it will create tank vacuum (suck). You can run a line to atmosphere or 'T' it into the tank overflow line.

remove the nozzles and use a short hex drive bolt with a soft washer. Those are your access ports for throttle body balancing.

Who could ask for more? Except for maybe a sunny day in Seattle? PS ( Oh, look, I've become a "Forum-a-holic" again! I've just got to get my sport back on the road!)

Sorry to hear of it and glad you're OK. There just is no substitute for good riding gear! When I laid down the Sport the nice patrolman wrote me a "failure to maintain control" which the judge, later, felt was unnecessary ( justice, thank you). I remember that Ducati monster S4 footpegs are a fit ( rubber though). And the Buell parts are not a diract replacement but will work. I think Carl has more on that . . . . docc, The Tarmac Rub-Club

Er, let's see, the dealer got so frustrated fixing leaks that when the shifting went south he required Guzzi to replace the gearbox. Five months and 80+ e-mails later the new box is in the Sport. For an exhaustive post , go here

These are the double and single sliding sleeves of the secondary shaft, often called 'sliding dogs.' The 'Kupplungsmuffe' is the sleeve on the transmission shaft. For those who recall the Cycle World long term test bike, these are some of the parts replaced on it when its 'shift quality' degraded. This was , apparently, due to improper heat treatment of the early parts. But, but, . . . the Rosso Mandello is a 2001, yes? Wouldn't all '00 and '01 gearboxes be alike? And , perhaps, even 2002?

Gio, Have you tried fitting a new petcock to be sure there is not intermittent electrical failure with it?

$air Trying to get a little more life out of your tires, especially the front, will be false economy if the thing ever lets go.

It's interesting to know that it's the long spring which breaks. That is the spring in the diagram on the far left and engages the ratchet ( MG: preselctor hook) into the upper shift plate (MG: toothed wheels). Can anyone research changes in part numbers? Does the number change from '00/'01 to '02 and then again? I have this spring here in a liitle bag, just delivered 2 months ago: PN 04 23 8300. But can anyone say that PN precedes or supercedes the number from KB's parts book? The spring shown center (04 23 9200) is apparently the spring which returns the foot shift lever to center. The spring at right (000 04 23 8200 0) engages the shift detent pawl ( MG: neutral indicator) into notches in the upper shift plate making contact through a small follower roller ( 04 23 4700 ). Note that what MG calls a "neutral indicator" in the English translation has nothing to do with the gearbox being in neutral or the light which indicates the box is in neutral. It's function is to firmly locate the mechanism in the chosen gear. If this function fails the gearbox would be more prone to miss gears or false neutral. My theory had been that the shift detent pawl ( neutral indicator) must have been allowing my gearbox's false neutraling. This is why I ordered these parts. Guzzi, however, replaced the complete gearbox under warranty before I could test my theory. Soooo, if you get your side plate off ( the one on the left side under the starter) it is probably good medicine to replace all the springs and probably the roller follower on the detent pawl. Ckeck for excessive wear where the pawl follower engages the shift plate. Is there any chance that the parts in recall on the Rosso Mandello thread are the upper and lower shift plates (toothed wheels)??

I don't have the Italian translation in my shop manual, only the German and, I believe, Dutch. I wonder which parts and bolts these are? And, this is for the Rosso Mandello only? I can't imagine these parts would be unique to that model?

There are three springs in the shift mechanism: One to return the gear shift lever,the second to maitain contact of the preselector with the shift plate and, third, to keep the plate indexed into the proper gear.

OK, here's the technologicaly adapted version:

Goran, Now I'll never catch you on those twisty Swedish backroads!

Good point, I agree. For instance, the corner I crashed in went slightly off-camber in the middle of the lane where I lost traction. Heeled over, my suspension needed to 'reach' out over the camber break to press the tire for more available traction. The high preload, high damping, hard tires and high pressures all conspired with a noncompliant suspension to admit me to the Tarmac Rub-Club. Now, I won't say I'm a really hot rider. But at that split instant I needed everything the bike could give .

If the spring has no preload it will be fully extended. This will not allow the suspension to extend to follow road imperfections. It is critical the suspension have some 'reach' to maintain traction.

Looks like many of us are juggling the balance between fat tired bikes and fat, tired riders. docc, 46 on nov. 26, still rubbing and scrubbing

Yes, please!

So, short of disassembling the heads, what can we watch for? Were you guys having to reset the lash more than usual/ ( Usual is probably no change at all or maybe 0.001" every 6000 - 12,000 miles.). Was there increasing valve train noise, smoking on start-up or decelleration? Plug fouling or increased oil consumption?

Yeah, I looked ,too. Wasn't long ago but I don't see them either . . . It's all part of The Spring Conspiracy Jaap, where did that thread go?