Lucky Phil

I remembered something today and re visited the Dayton workshop manual. if you look at the servicing schedule it says for the "shaft with drive joints" "In the event of sporting use or regular high speed travel" REPLACE every 15,000 klms. So lube every 5000klms and replace every 15,000. Less regular lubing but more replacing than an O ring chain. Ciao

As an aside docc my Focus reservior cap was leaking slightly a few months back and long story short I was surprised to find a lot of the modern automotive reserviors aren't a totally sealed unit as you might expect from the past or the motorcycle world. I checked carefully the rubber bellows and found a very small slit in the centre and thought I had found the culprit. Turns out the Escape cap seal/bellows was the same! Did some research including a patent search and found this is typical of systems these days on cars with small reserviors. Its a deliberate slit to allow for expansion and contraction that the small reservior bellows cant always accomodate. So there is an avenue for water ingress it seems. Issue on the Focus turned out to be due to over filling and in these non totally sealed systems that can cause annoying leakage around the cap. Ciao

The Daytona / Centauro motors are the ones with "high wear"? Are you sure? Pretty sure the 8 valve Griso motor design was so F'd up they had to retro-fit roller lifters as the valve train was trashing itself. It seems they did not get the original design right. Perhaps the roller version will last, we don't know yet. But I would not call the 8 valve motor a better designed motor. But for me, the main thing that puts the Daytona / Centauro motor ahead of the 8 valve motor is I prefer the feel, the raw character, of the old 4 valve motor. The new 8 valve motor is too boring for me. The 8 valve motor had a history of lifter failure due to using DLC coated lifters which wasnt appropriate for the application and oil "mayo" that used to effect engines esp in cool climates. There was also a cam shimming mod. Once they got those items sorted with the roller conversions and included into production they were a great engine from all reports. Oil cooling to the heads another benifit. I have a Daytona/Centauro engine apart in my workshop for rebuilding plus a spare set of cases and 6 cylinder heads. I've never seen such bad guide wear as the original heads displayed. Guide wear on several were 0.030" or 0.80mm!!!! thats not stem wobble thats actual guide to stem clearance. All the lifters are gone on the faces along with the rocker feet where they ride on the lifters, and serious valve seat recession on at least 2 seats which will require replacement of the seats. The other second hand heads aren't much better. I investigated the valve geometery and its not good at all which is part of the reason for the heavy guide wear. So the fix will be new gas nitrided valves along with K-line of the guides although the really bad ones will need guide replacement and then K-lining, new lifters, cams have escaped damage, new seats on the bad head plus all the usual. May convert to the later MGS roller bearings on the cams, dont know. The valve coating and K-lining should help the guide wear esp since I dont do a lot of klms. parts are either non existant or maga expensive if you can get them. I'm embarrased to say this engine has been awaiting the heads rebuilt for quite some time now as the rest of it is ready to go back together, re nikasiled bores and new pistons, refurbished carrillo rods ( done by Carrillo) all new bearings, Caruso steel cam and oil pump drive gears and German oil pump.Must get onto this:) The Dayton/Centauro engines are beautiful looking engines but as I said a bit fragile and wear prone in std form even before hotting up. The 8 valve motors have been around in their final roller form for about 5 or 6 years now and by all acounts bullitproof. Pete Roper would be in a better position to comment but I think I can garantee he would back me up on this. Ciao

Its an interesting question and since water is heavier than oil I'd assume it would work its way to the bottom of the system eventually. Data would be interesting for sure. Ciao

You just made my point. Recommended replacement is every 2 years, not that I've been particular about doing it this often. The dealer called the other day during the service of my wifes 2 year old Ford Escape saying the brake fluid needed changing out as it was +4%. Being the scepticle type I said dont bother as it was and added cost and It sounded over the phone like a extra work generating thing. As I said I am aware that the recommendation is change every 2 years but this car gets an easy life in benign weather conditions so I let it slide but thought I'd invest in the tool. I was thinking it should go well past 2 years, but I was wrong, it was over 4%. I actually checked the calibration of the tool before I started as well to be sure. I also checked my 1 year old Focus and it was under 1%. The V11 was over 4% as well and I changed the fluid out. The V11 didnt surprise me but the wifes car did and based on the Focus being under 1 % I can only assume the Escape probably left the factory with suspect fluid. So I've got a lot of brakes to bleed now. I've had a vacuum bleeder for years and not been impressed with it to be honest so I also invested in one of these. Makes brake bleeding super simple on cars esp, dirt cheap and adaptors available for just about everything made including bikes. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Motive-Products-0100-Pressure-Brake-Bleeder-Wilwood-Master-Cylinder/131499801918?epid=1128155773&hash=item1e9dffbd3e:g:BjkAAOSwMl9aXVVA Ciao

I would say the 4Valve Grisso motor with the roller lifters is a far better unit than the Daytona or Centauro engines which have less than ideal valve geometery and high wear on everthing head related really. Guides, rocker pins, lifters, rocker feet, cracking at the guide bores, the list goes on.Top end engine parts are now almost non existent as well but if you can find them you will need to sell your first born to afford them. Maybe not so dear after all:) Ciao

Thats commitment right there:) BTW I've owned 3 RSV Aprilia's, 2 R models and a stocker, very underated sports bike. Ciao

Mine arrived today, everyone needs one. Same as the image in the post below. Ten bucks on fleabay. I checked the accuracy and its spot on. Ciao

Yep docc that'l do it. You can use it on the tank as well or anywhere else for that matter. You can install it by wetting the surface( and the the film) with water with a tiny little bit of Johnson baby shampoo and applying and sliding around till you have it where you want it then squeegy out the water and its on there. Quite amazing really. Its very stretchy and will form around a 3D surface. Plenty of youtube stuff on it. You might have to compromise on the metal mount inserts docc simply due to the scarcity of sellers for Guzzi stuff, but you could ask them I guess. You can afford to be picky about the Ducati stuff as there is a ton of it out there. I'm surprised about the first post supplier as the mounts look like they are around 6mm or so in depth which would seem to indicate its a replacement for the original cover. If it was designed to go over the original alloy one the mount tabs would only be a mm or 2 thick. Translation issue maybe? Ciao

I tell you docc the 3M pro clear car bra stuff is mega for this. It obviously wont help if a big rock hits your cover but for everthing else its great. I just fitted some to my car front and hood to help with stone chips. These days the tech is impressive, self healing so if it gets damaged you can either leave it in the sun and it will heal or hit it with a heat gun and watch the damage disappear. I believe you can also get it in a non gloss finish and its also available in small quantaties on flebay. With it fitted it also protects your car from keying scumbags, truly impressive stuff. Ciao

Sound good. Ciao

Yes docc add it to the faint clunking/rattle feel through the footpeg on floating throttle when your rear wheel bearing is totally shot with about 500klms left in it. Ciao

Gee Chuck beers expensive in your parts. Ciao

As Chuck said OEM and VERY hard to come by these days. Grab one if you see one for sale, they are by far the best looking rack out there and aluminium to boot. Ciao

Not really docc, not specifically, there's just so much of it out there. I've bought a LOT of CF stuff over the years for Ducati's mainly, including genuine factory WSB stuff including fuel tanks and the quality is massivly variable. Its mostly ok these days the major difference being wet lay CF verses the proper Autoclaved pre preg stuff. The later is a lot more expensive and aimed more at genuine weight reduction and strength. CF has become 21st century chrome now and deviated a lot from its origin of purpose but as long as you accept it as predominently modern bling then its all good. This cover looks wet lay to me not prepreg, probably polyester resin, room cured and vacuum bagged but you need to see the non finished side to tell for sure. 'The main reason I havent bought one of these for the V11 in the past is because this cover cops a fair amount of road debris damage and the CF one will look pretty tatty in fairly short order unless you put something like 3M Pro clear over it. You can buy this in small amounts and its self healing as well. That should protect it. Ciao

One of my touchstones for quality CF docc is the mounts. Do they have alluminium inserts at the mount points? Generally speaking the quality stuff makes the extra effort to have the inserts to prevent overtightening of the mount screws and cracking the CF. These dont but it doesnt disqualify them altogether as it is an almost purely decorative cover for the most part. You just need to be very carefull when mounting and use loctite on the screws without much torque. The cost isnt outrageous. Ciao

I think you need to add a zero to that number. 100,000US is about 10 billion Kiwi dollars remember:) Ciao

Series C Rapides are such a nice looking bike, they seem to have the right proportions. Engine designed by and Australian as well:) Funny story I read in a bike mag a few years ago. This Journo reccons there is a world wide Vincent owners conspiracy. Says no Vincent owner will let you ride their bike, not because they are afraid you will crash it but because if they do other riders will find out just how very ordinary they actually are,lol. Once you buy one and find out you then need to keep the secret, which apparently isnt hard to do after shelling out silly money. PS........ I've know someone for many years thats owned one for as long as I've known him and he would never let me ride it. Ciao I think you might be right about Vincent owners not wanting folks to touch their bikes. He was totally gassed when let me finally try to kick start it. And then he had no choice but to have me help him push it up to his house. He mentioned to an inquiring onlooker driving a new Corvette that the bike cost him $60k. He and I went riding a few days later, he on his Multi 1200 and me on the Greenie. He didn't leave me but we did kick it over 100. He told me he got the Vincent running but I've not seen it run personally. I'd be interested to ride one and I love the look of them and the engineering. Quality engineering is timeless even just to admire. When I see the cost of some of these bikes I reflect upon the fact that for the same money or in some cases even considerably less you can buy a garanteed future classic new or almost new right now. Ducati 1098R for example, sand cast crankcases, Titanium rods, limited production Ohlins suspension plus other bespoke stuff. A future classic for a fraction of the price right now. Second hand of course. I bet for a $100,000US you could get a Britten V1000 built for you by the Britten guys in NZ as well. Ciao

Nice. Ciao

After 200kph you switch over to Mach Number for speed:) Whats the mach speed indicator showing? Ciao

Here's what you need docc for that professional aviation look, pick any colour you like. Cheap for you guys but prohibitive shipping wise for us Aussies. I used to use a plain white one at work on jets which we refered to simply as "Bird Shit" Chucks probably got a draw full of the stuff:) https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dykem-Cross-Check-Torque-Seal-Tamper-Proof-Torque-Marker-Orange/273028836767?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649 Ciao

Sounds logical:) thanks. Ciao

Amazing stuff. This year Aussie Rennie Scaysbrook ( son of Aussie journo Jim Scaysbrook great friend and race partner of Mike Hailwood in a few Australian endurance rides as warmups to his 78 IOM return) finished 2nd to Carlin Dunne on a Ducati by some 0.06 seconds in the heavyweigh class. This run by Chris Filmore was only around 5 second slower despite the capacity deficit. Ciao

The u joint itself is toast docc, I noticed the flattened rollers in the first post and the hard face missing off the male spigots confirms but not enough to cause whats happened here I believe. Maybe one of those things with a combination of causes leading to the yoke failure. Ciao

Yes docc looks like it has the classic "beach marks" that define a progressive fatigue failure. Ciao