belfastguzzi

You meant, polluted?

Enclosure isn't necessary for either lubrication or protection! How many off-road vehicles – that are dragged through sand, swamp, gravel, trees, water and rocks – have enclosed drive shafts? Even chromed ball joints don't get protection. Sometimes gaiters are used, but the downside is that muck and water still finds its way in and then it stays in. Half-shafts would tend to be enclosed, of course; diffs are enclosed; but propshafts and UJs just hang out in the open and take what's coming. All that road bikes have to put up with is a bit of road spray.

Fab. At least the guys from Northern England will understand now. I was tempted to do the same with the Robert Peel speech last week, but wasn't sure what language to use

It's weird, it's weird fashion. That's why the Griso isn't 100% totally convincing. It makes a show of being a mechanical brute, but it's visually a bit like a big toy version of a machine, rather than real mechanics being the soul of the thing – the big can, the big, blocky driveline casings and so on. In reality it might be better than that. Need to see one. And smell one. Does nobody think that the engines and of course the so-important cylinders are becoming more artificial looking, going in the direction of looking like they are just there for show? There was a comment a while ago about why old, old Triumphs look better than later old Triumphs – the engine construction.

Don't think so. I studied the pic. and you don't look like identical twins. Seems like Brother-in-law and friend's wife must be twins and you and Brother-in-law's friend are twins. Have I got that right? Did friend marry his sister, so the three of you are twins? No, there's something wrong there. Think I'll draw a diagram.

This particular issue is just about warm-up time and the fact (it seems) that a-c warm-up quicker (they're not dumping their heat into water first) than l-c and so are coping better with the changed, tighter regulations. They're putting out less emmissions at the early cold to warm period – and the noise issue isn't so bad because they're measured at lower rpm.

Ha. didn't I tell you? I've been stuffing all the wasted space in the tubes with firelighters, waxing the supercharger and drying out the sump.

Is nobody going to talk about how long it takes an air-cooled engine to warm-up?

Oh yeah, it's the petrol tank – it combats vapor lock. If it's JR's bike, just go straight for the rider, in which case it helps with 'the vapours'.

Try here: alt.philosophy

Big Balm? No, you must be thinking of the 'Big Medicine' thread, where Fatboy tells us about his Yamaha Bike Club tour up some mountain. This thread is about Vitamin C

Questions, questions. You need an answer? Try here: alt.philosophy

You asked that question in the right place, Baldini. – A motorbike Forum. So the answer's easy. Here you go: Now if you had asked in, say, alt.philosophy, you could have been in a bit of bother.

It's unfortunate, but this re-affirms why owner maintenance can be a better way to go than dealer maintenance. If things are checked and tackled from the start, there's a good chance of avoiding bigger issues arising a few years down the line. We're talking basic stuff like greasing and lubrication, waterproofing, tightening and adjusting. Doing something yourself, even taking a wheel out, gives additional opportunities for looking around and improving things. Most dealer workshops, understandably, won't do this – they'll go straight to the one job and that's it. Worse, in my experience stuff can be reassembled wrongly and carelessly by garage 'mechanics'. Waxing that sort of stuff doesn't do much good in the long run! PS bad luck Ryan, but you'll get it going ? Sometimes when things are stripped and momentum is lost, it can be really hard to pick-up again. The good thing is that it's only a motorbike, so there are a limited number of parts to sort out. Hmm. Not very convincing, eh?

While looking for the Euro3 piece, I see that the 1000 Sport is being produced at the rate of 50 per day. What would MG production rate be? –––––––––––––––––––––––found it––––––––––––––––––––––– Back to AIR-COOLED motors, proving easier to pass the latest emissions regulations. Euro 3 is "not the beginning of the end for air-cooled motors – it could be securing their place in motorcycles for some time yet" It's the fact that Euro 3 regs are measured at cold as well as fully warmed-up that makes them much tougher, but also means that air cooled motors are coping better than water-cooled. **Air-cooled engines get up to full operating temperature much faster, so although their emissions might be poorer, they are running at less efficient colder temperatures for a shorter time – and under Euro 3, this compensates. A second advantage: noise emmissions are measured at a fixed percentage of maximum rpm – so air-cooled engines are measured at a lower rpm where the volume is easier for engineers to control. The article also claims that it is this warm-up issue that is, "putting pressure on manufacturers to fit stubby, under-belly exhaust systems, so the catalytic converters can be positioned as close as possible to the exhaust valve, ensuring the fastest possible warm-up. The benefit of centralising mass is just another bonus." **You may not agree: thinking of the debate re moisture in the oil and the spine-frame condensor where there was a view that the air-cooled motor is slow to warm-up and water-cooled is faster/more controlled.

Do you think I could pass it off as an original Guzzi wiring diagram? The fact that the description is probably all wrong can only enhance its credibility. I could flog it on Ebay to new Guzzistas, sucked in by the Breva and now looking for some memorabilia from the good old days.

Although much has been made of that, apparently it is not proving to be the case and air cooled lumps are doing fine. I'll see if I can find the piece about that. Liquid cooled MG: as per other thread, it seems that it's all signed, sealed and delivered technically. Now the bikes just need to be designed. They've been promised, er, ...soon

Well said sir. It may have all been a bad dream.

Could be. They were saying that there would only be a choice of red or black with the first batch. Now it is "only black". Maybe one black pig has been made and it's doing the rounds, raking in the deposits. When enough finance has been gathered from what's left of the deposits, after the dosh has got back to Italy and been, ahem, checked and accounted, then they'll make another one – and so on. And Pete Roper was getting all excited about collecting a nice new bike!

With luck you will only be better off. There is no downside to having a look – and with what you described, I think that you should look without hesitation. Maybe something wasn't lined up right, seated properly or tightened when the dealer put it back together. Toothed seeger rings lined up properly? Cover put on with selector forks in correct position? Circlips on, or missing? etc etc. No need to replace springs, unless damaged. Better to be down for a day or two and get it fixed, than to keep using it if it's getting wrecked.

So when The Infamous SPRING breaks, the preselector arm (pawl arm) is not held in tension against the seeger ring and so can't turn it: hence the box remains stuck in one gear. Anyone feeling yet?

– See picture below & enlarge it – Crikey. Hours of fun here. 10 quiz points to anyone who can figure this spaghetti out. It started off with a picture showing the inside, business end of the adjuster already referred to. As these pics are already floating about cyberspace, I thought I would use them again to let people, who haven't opened the box yet, see how the various bits relate. like Topsey, It sort of grew. Let's see: Top left shows the gearbox and the 2 shafts with the 4 selector forks. Beside it is the complete transmission cover pre-selector assembly. The green arrows show where the fork dogs locate in the toothed seeger rings when the cover is in place. (The short red line indicates that it is important to have these rings lined up properly. This has been talked about in other threads.) The gearshift lever turns the plate (black/yellow arrow). The slot in this plate (middle pictures and red arrows) is where the eccentric adjuster works. This adjuster is the bit that Pete fiddled with, from the outside. It is shown in the black circle, middle right. This plate is where the infamous SPRING and pawl arm are attached. The movement of the plate (turned by the gearlever) pulls the pawl arm backwards and forwards. The SPRING keeps the double-hooked far end of the arm engaged with the far seeger ring. So movement of the gearlever keeps pulling the seeger ring one way, or pushes it the other way. The cut-outs in the rings move the selector forks to change gears. That must be about right. I'm going by memory. The little wheel on the other arm and spring, bottom right, runs against an indented ring on the toothed seeger ring. It presses into detents, which 'snicks' everything neatly into gear, or not. It also finds neutral. Because there is a lot of space between the higher gears, it can sit betwen gear detents (false neutral) if the change is not positive enough. There is also 'A Third Spring'. But enough is enough... In sideways view you can see: hooked pawl arm; the ring it acts against and far right, middle, the gearshift lever shaft through the housing.

Not sure. I think if they had a real one they'd be screaming about it a bit more. I had assumed that was 'the press bike' from a while ago. You're talking about the small print, news item? Maybe I missed something else.

Those bits – and then the only other pain is getting at the difficult-to-access bottom left corner Allen bolt on the tranny cover. As it probably hasn't been opened before, I'll be interested to hear what you find in the bottom of the box. Lots of metallic sludge, I'd say. Must be normal but what do you think? If you find ten bob, it's mine.

and the V.11s won