dlaing

Good article on cleaning stainless steel http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixB-1.html

By the way, the deflector is lower than I had thought. I think it will actually work. Might also be good in the snow

Nice job I think it will lower the probabillity, but the most threatening debree might have been coming in low below the deflector. Perhaps if you extended it close to the ground with a brush or broom, and angled it it to deflect to the side rather than bounce towards the tire. And FWIW I don't think the miles will tell the tale. I am at 37,000 miles without a puncture, and I ride the same roads as you and your riding buddy. Maybe you need karma bells I think he is trying to turn his silk purse into a sow's ear But that plastic is down low and does not contribute much to that rearward weight bias.

We actually agree on alot. But agreeing on everything is boring. And maybe it is the details we disagree on. But here is the complete list of what we agree upon 1. Guzzis Rock! 2. Short framed V11 Spine Rocks! 3. Suspension is more important an investment than power (disagree about it being impossible to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, especially if you add enough silk ) 4. K&N air filters shorten engine life (disagree about how much) 5. Progressive springs for rear (disagree about front) 6. Skeeve rocks! 7. I know there must be something else

I have heard that steel wool can "seed" rust. If in doubt, that micromesh sounds like a good thing. FWIW I think the patina on the pipes is beautiful, at least where it is not all splotchy

EH???? I just spent another minute searching this thread and came up with Mr. Bean's post http://www.yoyodyneti.com/Category.aspx?CategoryID=3017 and Mike Wilson's post http://www.motomeccaspares.com/shop/browse...wse&feed=BS It seemed like you were not the only one ignoring their (and my) posts. Are their posts invisible? I am used to being ignored, but I am surprised others seemed to ignore them. Whatever! (in valley girl speak) It is interesting that most of the P32s seemed to have an X in the seal column, which seems to indicate part not supplied by Brembo. http://www.tawvehicle.com/brembo_P32B_P32F_P105_parts.htm Also, FWIW is this our front caliper? http://www.tawvehicle.com/brembo_6800_series_parts.htm It does not seem to list a seal kit and I could not find a seal kit at the other two sites. The seal even seems to get better with time. At first I had to be obscessive about cleaning it every 4000 miles, but then it seemed to break ing

Wheel balance is most likely. Or maybe when the shaft was lubed they re-aligned the alignment marks You might be able to tell by the frequency of the vibration and whether it occurred more from velocity or accelleration. I presume shaft caused vibration would be more pronounced durring various throttle loads and would be at a higher frequency than wheel vibration. Not sure how shaft vibration would compare to engine vibration in the various gears, but some gearhead might enlighten us. As far as I know wheel imbalance vibration frequency and strength (amplitude) increases with speed. Pulling in the clutch at speed of vibes is usually a good test, but you can't test now

Once again, to Skeeve! Do you suppose maybe if we switched the fuel filter with the oil filter the vapor lock issues would go away and the oil filter would no longer fall off

Well, don't be a stranger You are still welcome at all the Guzzi rides. Stay posted at http://socal-guzzi.com/PHPBB/ http://www.socal-guzzi.com/Events.html And if your buyer is interested in trading the "MY" Quat-D back for Mistrals round carbons, let them know I am willing to trade to get it back. ...You only want $4600OBO?!? That is a great bike for that price! Item number: 160112524483

I have had my Convertibars both above and below the triples. The bike seems to handle better with the ConvertiBars mounted above and the front end dropped a bit. (Note, I have Ohlins which are longer than the Marzocchi used on the 2000 Sport.) But my Corbin lets me slide forward too easily, so I raised the front and put the Convertibars below the triples. Comfort increased, but handling suffered, until I got a longer shock, now it is much closer to perfection in the handling department, so much so that if a little up in the back does it good, maybe a little down in the front will help. So, I am thinking about lowering the front more, again. But now I am sliding forward like never before, so if I lower the front, I will look into modifying the Corbin with an overlay of supportive foam holding me in position, or maybe building a subframe under the seat to hold the front end of the seat higher. Don't need no stinking aesthetics. Ergonomics is more important. But economics is most important

Can you fit a bearing in that eye? Regarding the lube, how do you get the lube into the bearing? I had lubed the eyes where the bolts goes through, but that is not where the motion is. I am sure some of my zealous lubing got to bearing point, but not as much as would be ideal. My Penske came with Teflon coated bearing, so lubing is not necessary, and the bearing should be easilly replaceable. Perhaps the Sachs eyes should be dipped in hot wax, maybe with Moly mixed in? Or sprayed with penetrating chain lube or chain wax?

That is not a pokk chap and I ain't your son

Strada's here too. Best rain tire I have ever tried. Great turn and great stability with no compromise between the two. The only shortcoming is the dry traction does not seem as great as some of the sportier tires. Durability is about same as Dragon GTS and better than every other sporttouring tire than I have tried..Conti, Avon, Dunlop, Bridgestone. The Dragon GTS was a better dry tire, but not as good when wet. Even in San Diego, lack of wet grip is more likely to contribute to crashing. Ideally I would have a sport tire in Summer and a Strada in Winter. At 5000 miles it is ready to be replaced, and has probably been technically illegal for past 1000 miles. Most of my tires become technically illegal and get replaced when center tread goes to about 1/2 a mm, and sometimes nearly to nothing at about 4000 miles. With no center tread it is a little tougher to measure.

I tried PazzoBuy, pazzobuy, pazzo buy, pazo buy, and "PazzoBuy" and they all said invalid coupon. http://www.motoworldonline.com/error.asp?error=48 Tried in Safari, Camino, and FireFox.

That makes sense....except for the part about yours being longer than mine I never noticed, but my levers only clear the mirrors by about 5mm. I had earlier moved the levers inward to give me more leverage. So, when I put the Napoleons on I never noticed such a problem. Perhaps when the mirrors are at that angle, the view clears the body. I can see the lane behind me fine in both mirrors without my body obstructing. The stock mirrors could not see the lane behind me. What mirrors did you end up with? EDIT But note that I turned the mirror 180º from how Richard has them, so the wider end stick outward. I flip the wide end up 90º for lane splitting.

How long is the long, and how short is the short, compared to stock?

You aren't supposed to mount them THERE! I can't imagine where they possibly could have given you a view your arm, nor can I imagine them getting in way of the levers. I think they could have used a better paint, but I can't see past the dead bugs, so I am not sure if there is rust under there. The one thing I don't like is that when you crash they have a potentiallity (is that a word?) of clamping down on the hands. But at the same time they kinda keep your hand from hitting the ground. EDIT just went out to the garage to look under the splatteratti of bugs and found nothing but black paint and no rust. I put a magnet to the metal. the Stem is non-magnetic, and the Back Plate to the mirror is magnetic, and presumably could rust. I do like the look of the chrome ones Steve G. mentioned. Loud Bling Saves Lives! and in moderation looks good.

I grease my U-joint every rear tire change. "water proof" or "marine" greases are probably good choices. I have just been using the Universal grease that came with my grease gun. I wish it was more pretty, like that lovely red Redline ShockProof Heavy gear oil

Condolences. Nothing childish about your post...especially not childish on a forum mostly full of grown boys talking about toys. RIP CSPAN (Wish I could say RIP FOX instead of CSPAN)

My understanding is that Ohlins can go as low as the MarzocchiSachs combo, but it can go even higher if you reduce the sag at the shock. My Ohlins are at least an inch longer than my Marzocchis, but they can certainly be lowered. The Ohlins shock has more travel and length, but the bottoming point is at the same exact low. If it is too high, just back off on the pre-load. If you bottom, get a firmer spring.

Thanks Ratchet. Here are some prices on tensioners http://www.harpermotoguzzi.com/timing.htm Valtech $48.78 US Guzzi $76.41 US About the Valtech they say, "and cost about half as much as the new spring loaded tensioner from Moto Guzzi." Exaggerated sales claims?!? But they are not trying to be dishonest as the price is posted there. Just bad math I guess Or maybe the joys of website maintainance as the prices may have been further apart when they first made that quote, and then they modified the price...clearly to the penny. Half of 76.41 is roughly 38.20 and twice 48.78 is 97.56. I suppose when you use the word "about" you get alot of leeway. I am about guilty of that myself.

when replacing the tensioner, should one also replace the chain and sprockets?

Thanks for the feedback. The oil burning did get worse when I started filling above the dipstick. The oil burning probably levels off about half way between the marks, and that is too low for the pickup. So, a sloppalage sheet it is.

From a sloppage sheet alignment thread: hmmmm? If you had post-nasal drip and used no oil then maybe I am not using as much oil as I feared to be problematic. I used 4 liters minus what I drained out from just above the full mark on the dipstick in about 5000 miles durring the last oil change cycle. So that probably means about half a liter. Is that worth new rings? I thought you were running between the high dipstick mark and the sloppage sheet with a dry airbox like Greg Field's white glove tested airbox, but you run it where I run it, and you had oil in the airbox, too, which means you were using some oil, if only an ounce or two, compared to my half liter of consumption. With the sloppage sheet you are probably only using a thimble of oil Maybe those are not the warning signs of ring failure that I had feared and I only need to get a windage plate to reduce oil consumption to a few shot glasses Sorry for the Guzzichondriacal attack. I thought my oil in the airbox was Abby-Normal Thanks

I guess I need to explain...Skeeve was very close to understanding my points. If you are going to run the oil high, it makes sense that a windage sheet would help because the oil is closer to the crank and closer to causing drag from the torrent of oil. At lower levels this is less of a problem, so there would be less benefit to gaining POWER. But run it at a LOOOooooowww level, between the high and the low of the dipstick(only safe on a dyno or flat road, rubberside down) and you will get MORE power, not the same power as Skeeve translated, because of the greater air volume creates less resistance for the reciprocating piston. It is a generally recognized FACT that engines make more power at lower oil levels (up to a point, probably the point just before the point oil starvation...) Another point is that the sheet does increase the air volume if you keep the oil at the same level above the pan, and so more power,(probably not measurable) would be gained. But if you keep the oil level the same relative to the dipstick, the only gain is from reduced friction from less torrent, which is hard to imagine being measurable....but stranger things have happened To trust dyno test of such results, I would have to see an unbiased operator test without sheet, then with sheet, then without sheet, then with sheet....with oil heated to same temp each time.