belfastguzzi

I think that I had difficult shifts IMMEDIATELY before it broke and I have a feeling that it was downshifts that were problematic. It's not great as far as scientific evidence is concerned.

yes, no need to worry, you are quite correct. It's is indeed the proper spelling of it's. Unless you meant it, in which case leave off the 's.

Hey, Bill, you're what Mr. President Bush calls a 'stand-up-kinda-guy'! No messin' about, just do it (whether right or wrong) I'm just wondering if those were signs, or whether it might have been just a new big boot thing? Or you needed the benefit of a gearbox oil change? Did the feel of the up-shifts change as soon as the new spring went in, boots or no boots? You would have had a gear oil change at the same time as the spring went in of course. The thing is that the spring is stressed on the down shifts, rather than the upshifts (as I remember it). I'm trying to picture the bits and pieces of gubbinsmahoobie in my weary mind. Someone whose brain is clearer at the moment might have a better observation on this. I'm not convinced that there would be a long period of poor changes, especially on the upshift, due to the spring working itself towards breaking point. I know your boss was found to be 15mm, surprisingly and disappointingly. Was there any information on the state of the shift plate along the edge where the spring hook locates?

haven't you been following the copious correspondence, Bento! Choose from: A - we have been trying to gather information in order to determine the answer to this very question B - the answer is well known, but we're not telling you and perhaps there is a third – C - Guzzi know but aren't telling any of us

Well of course yes – until a break occurs. And as I have said elsewhere, everything breaks in the end. That, you can count upon.

No. (Besides, if you get in there, you'll just block it up solid and neither it nor you will breathe at all.) But seriously no – it's only a decorative end piece. You would have to cut your way in. With the carbon looky-likey sleeve, if you take the end off, it's a real pig to get back on into the sleeve because of the angle of the end pipe.

Well, decide for yourself, but I would go so far as to say that the 'V.11 Spring' is a mis-judged hoax by Moto Guzzi intended to draw attention to the decline in the standards of intellectual rigour in certain precincts of the Italian moto-academic humanities. Certain scrupulous and intellectually competent elements within Moto Guzzi had seen the deliberate inclusion of this 'piece' in the overall v.11 machine as a subversive attack on the 'Woodstock generation' dogma imposed by the long post-Enlightenment Americanised hegemony over the Old Italian intellectual outlook. Ultimately this inspired and masterful approach proved to be out of tune with modern times and the point was entirely lost during the take-over by Aprillia. Aprillia merely saw the spring as 'the way things are' in an external world governed by laws of nature which we can understand imperfectly using the scientific method. It is thought that rather than address this matter along with all the greater imperfections such as petrol injected by electricty, fat tyres and so on, Aprillia simply put their energies into convincing Ducati that physical 'reality', as demonstrated by springs and so on, is at bottom a social and linguistic construct. A similar and last-ditch attempt, to reinforce their point, was made by the old-guard Moto Guzzi intellectuals when they altered the temperature at which water would boil out of oil in different models of V.11. With the change to Aprillia, this was missed completely and has only recently been picked up on among the esoteric fringes of post-Woodstock pseudo-scientific motorcycling communities. The only result is that Moto Guzzi seem to be on the back foot and so far this is no agreement on where this will all end.

– the of itself unknown and unknowable rational object, or thing in itself, which is distinguished from the phenomenon through which it is apprehended by the senses, and by which it is interpreted and understood; - so used in the philosophy of Kant Rideabyke and his pedestrian followers. I prefer to call it the Stick, or sometimes the oily stick (usually when I put oil in).

.. for now, but just wait...eventually...you'll see...

Are you referring to the previous post? But anyway Docc, I think that you are clutching at straws now. After all, this is the technical diagram of what MG are careful to recommend be used in their motors:–

eventually, everything breaks

Excellent instructions JRT. I have just persevered and got this working. It has to be worth a bit of time folks, as I paid £90 for just the printed service manual section of this.

The last 4 words are redundant.

The sharp edge of the shift plate gets chewed up straight away and certainly there is a groove by 1,000 miles The biggest problem in relacing the spring is access to those lower screws. That's why I suggested modifying an allen key and carrying it in the toolkit. Not everyone will want to replace the spring themselves anyway and not everyone will want to do the job on the road, but it is what I will do if there is a 'next time'. If it happens out in the country you can have the thing repaired and be off on your way again, instead of the event turning into a long drawn out and perhaps expensive crisis. Did you bend the new spring around the boss to check that it does not bind? It probably doesn't as the coil is now being made so much bigger. I think someone else posted that this bigger-coil spring is now being supplied as Guzzi's latest fix? And you say the wire is thicker too.

Why? Have you broken mine too?

Pipes Yeah, he's strictly a cigar guy I believe.

That is a question that I have wanted to ask as well. On a related issue, I did ask before about what exactly the additive is that is meant to be put in the final drive box. Just moly? One of the proprietary gearbox additives - what's in them? Perhaps Pete knows?

Even Newry people don't go to Newry. And luckily, it has a by-pass now. About TIME too.

And Castrol's too, as per other thread, for first 5,000 miles at least – then after that running-in period use synth if you desire.

With the correct size of boss and spring coil, there shouldn't be any great amount of friction. The coil should just tighten itself up but not so much that it squeezes on the boss. When the boss is too big, it does squeeze and bind, so stopping movement at the hook-end to boss length of the spring wire. That would happen the same way even with a 'frictionless' boss/bush if its diameter was too big. The wear won't happen at the big boss/pivot but at the spring hook where a very much smaller area of wire is under stress. Has anyone else had a look at the parts (including he shift plate) to see what sort of wear is on them? Mike S and Al R were talking about having a check a while ago.

So that's Jaap! He's kinda cute, for a Dutchman.

You really are a bad, bad motogoozer, but these ass guys can kick badder

Now you're talking! It's time for an extensive thread on the best oils for leathers. What time is it, by the way?

Bad news, but easy enough fixed – are you looking for the dealer so that you can get a new spring or to do the repair work? As a matter of interest, what mileage had you done? As your bike is almost the same number as mine, it will be interesting to see if the pawl arm boss is also the bigger 16mm+ size. You should be able to get both parts under warranty. As your bike is recently bought, I suppose that you got it second-hand? If so, do you know its service history (has the spring ever been replaced before) and where was the bike bought? Mine was from On Yer Bike (maybe yours was too) and they changed the spring from new to the supposedly improved spring, which then broke anyway. For what it's worth, the response to the poll indicates that there may not actually have been a lot of breakages??????????

Just as I opened and read this thread, there is a most appropriate commentary on tv. Today, the house of Orange marches. The Belfast march is on tv at the moment. It has just been reported that one of the worthies marches with a wooden leg. He says that it is ok as he gives it a good oiling the night before. (fact) In this case, I can't conceive that a son of William would use anything other than dino oil. (second fact, in one thread – is this a record for a thresd on V.11.com?)