belfastguzzi

Don't want to be alarmist, but MG's rack, which is the same size and locates at same points (as far as I can see from your photos) has a weight limit warning on it. I need to check what it is – it's very low though. It might be on their web site.

I'm so glad that mine broke a couple of weeks ago, just a couple of miles from home (forcing me to address the issue) and not in a couple of weeks time when I'll be travelling to England. The point that I have learnt about this is that the problem can be sorted beforehand or at least can be sorted on the road if you are prepared for it – you don't need to abandon trip and get trailered home (and then maybe wait weeks for a dealer to fix it). Let's hope that this is the complete answer. We're still interested to hear if there have been any/many problems with springs in boxes that have the correct sized 15mm boss???? – and what year/time period the bad part is found in???

Mike, I think that the best way to reassure yourself is to take the cover plate off and measure that boss. If it is over 16mm I would say you can count on the spring breaking, if it is 15mm you should be ok (as per Baldini's original detective work). If it is oversize, get a new one under warranty, or file it down. I think it is good to take the sharp, rough edge off the shift plate where the spring bend contacts it too. Pictures of that job were in this thread. Re false neutrals. As Baldini says, there is a relatively big physical shift needed to move the selector mechanisms between gear positions, except for first, neutral and second which are right beside each other– so there is potential for mechanism to sit between selections. The roller on this little chap can sit on the landing between selections (gears 3 to 6) if not shifted positively enough.

If disaster strikes when far from home, a roadside repair to the stuck-in-gear box can be done. No special tools are needed and you just need to lean the bike to save the gear oil. The biggest problem is difficult access to the lower allen screws in the side case. I cut down an Allen key to fit. I have seen 'ball-end' keys but haven't looked at them closely. I presume that they are designed to drive at an angle, so one of these might be the best answer. If you have a suspect (2002) bike and haven't changed parts, then checking that you can access the Allen screws and carrying a spare spring in addition to the tools would be a good idea. Otherwise, a broken spring can be repaired if you carry a pair of grips to bend it. Once home, a new ratchet arm with correct size boss can be fitted; unless you carry a spare one of those, or a file to cut down the original one. Pawl arm oe part number: 04235101 Spring oe part number: 04238300 Tools are easily carried. Gear oil saved in leaned-over box. Broken spring, repaired and a new spring. Oversized boss that seems to be the cause of spring breaking. New boss is correct 15mm. Also, repaired, filed down oversize boss. The three gearbox selector springs. Ready for the road again. The full pictures are here. Also see here

'nuff said

Does it not vent into the air box? I'm not sure, the bike isn't here to look at. Maybe you don't have the airbox anymore. You will find vented oil in the airbox and I think it is from this top line. Anyway, re oil leaks up front, while it is better to disassemble and fix things properly, it's maybe worth saying that I have found external repair using sealant over a major leak has worked 100%. This was the timing case leak problem common on the wrinkly 2002s, but it should work elsewhere too. http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?...indpost&p=17921 When covered with black stuff it's not noticeable.

How does that work then? Does the whole lot come off with a key?

TX likes that stuff too.

If you have a screen, you can undo the top two fastenings and pivot the screen on the headlight bracket, out of the way. If you are taking the speedo out, then you need to remove the tripmeter reset shaft at the side by screwing it out (clockwise?). It sounds like you want to remove everything though. As far as I remember, take off the 4no. 8mm nuts and the pod will come away so that you can swap the bracket (undo 3 screws, watch out for spring washers). If you are only replacing the tacho don't take the speedo clock out – save the pain of reconnecting the cable – unless you want to take the opportunity to lube the cable. Speedo case with gear housing removed. Check that the electrical connectors on the back of the metal tacho case are still good, including the scewed ground connection. If you are lucky your problem might only be with the easily fixed external connections.

– interesting – I've just noticed that.

As I said: DON"T PANIC – things weren't as bad as they seemed. The intake tube: showed signs of ripping right round – presumably because of pressure from metal band plus vibration. It's these tubes that hold the weight of the throttle assemblies. • The wall is actually quite thick and the cracking is nowhere near penetrating through. Rubbed in sealant and replaced, trying to tighten the bands 'just enough' and not 'too much'. The speedometer. Yes, the gear housing had come apart. • I thoroughly greased everything and reassembled, tieing the case to hopefully hold it together. The same parts are at the speedometer end. While up there, I considered • the tachometer fogging problem again. The main difference between the two clocks is the BIG hole in the metal speedo case where the shaft for the tripmeter goes through. I still can't see that drilling a hole only in the plastic case can make any difference. Air can get in anyway and the plastic housing is exactly the same on both sides. So I drilled a 6mm hole in the metal tacho case, up beside the bulb location. Maybe it will work. • Re the sooty plug on one side. Don't know about that yet... but while I was doing the work, I took the lid off the airbox just for fun. Who's that making all the noise with the jackhammer when I start the bike? A couple more pictures of speedo gear parts here

Is it just coincidence in this thread, or is this another problem that is particularly associated with 2002 bikes?

Re. the plugs – I haven't delved into the tps setting thing as yet. Re. the other problems – DON'T PANIC, don't panic, should perhaps be engraved on the headstock somewhere. Things aren't so bad after all. Need to go back outside as it's getting dark: will report later. I still think that there are some faults that are 99% guaranteed on particular models. The better news is that it looks like they can be fixed if caught in time or can be addressed with preventitive work. (It's just a pity that the factory doesn't do this before selling the bikes on.)

It is seeming to me there are a number of faults that are prety well guaranteed to be built into these bikes. The ones that I have seen reported here and have experienced myself are:– • The spring thing • Today my speedometer has stopped working • and I have looked closely at the throttle body rubber tubes and sure enough, they are cracked right round. Like so many others, all this on a very low mileage bike (1,350 miles). In the last few days I have noticed that the right side exhaust has a distinct smell, while the left doesn't. Pulling the spark plugs a few times has shown that the right plug is completely black while the left is a more healthy grey. Is this another well-known problem with new bikes? It could be a number of things, but any ideas from experience? (I don't think that the intake tubes are cracked right through yet.)

(preferrably in fourth gear) preferably in white ruffle shirt, bow-tie, Robin Hood tights and a porkpie hat

I've got around that problem now. Fitted tiny, tucked in, micro indicators. Nobody will see me indicating, but at least I'll not break the things again.

I believe that the oversize boss causing spring to become coilbound in use would cause the spring to break. Yes, must be. Certainly not to do with how it is installed. I have just received a new spring and 'ratchet arm' in the post*. Sure enough, the boss on this one is markedly smaller than the original one fitted. It is 15mm. Maybe at the weekend I will whip off the selector plate and see how the repaired parts are doing – and maybe put the new bits in. * I claimed the new parts under warranty, but as I got no response from the dealer to my e-mails and fax I thought they weren't coming – so I ordered and bought a new spring from elsewhere in England. Now I've gone from one broken spring to having 3 new springs. One is to be returned to John O'Sullivan though: cheers John.

After the investigations, the bigger spring coil seemed to be the way for Guzzi to go. I called at a spring manufacturer today to see if they would either sell me a length of spring steel or form a new spring for me. Unfortunately they only made giant leaf springs for lorries, so no luck there. If Guzzi are now saying that this is where the problem lies, then hopefully those who have sorted the spring/boss relationship will be ok in the future..... ...or was it Sweep who said he did this and the spring still broke again? PS Docc so what you're saying is, you're still a god it's the bike that's the dog?

YES I really do want to visit Norway. Was in Sweden a couple of weeks ago It was extremely clean extremely comfortable cobbled streets almost no cars one cruiser motorbike and millions and millions of bicycles - everywhere, yes, millions of them. But that was the soft south I believe that the wild men are all up north. ______________ I photographed an old (German) speedometer that was in a shop window. It was the size of a saucepan. Fantastic. Every Guzzi should have one of those.

I saw an AGV helmet yesterday with a plain matt black finish. I fancied one to go with the flat black of the Scura. Trying various helmets, the AGV fit was very good for me too. They do a ML size, not just a M and a L. The matt/flat black was the wrong size for me unfortunately. Seems it is also end-of line: apparently there are new models now and no plain, flat black. I would have liked that helmet.

Bill, how's your hearing? Did they say god, or dog? What's a TY? Did you try to send a message and couldn't ? I'll have to investigate. Another week – commiserations. At least you've got a dealer though. I have just come home, dead tired, splitting headache, stopped the bike and I'm sure I kicked my foot out and I thought I put the sidestand down but you've guessed it... I got off the bike and... there was no sidestand and over she went. Now I've got to try glueing all the little bits of indicator back together again, 'cos there's no shop to buy a new one from.

Have you any idea when it will be looked at, Bill? Definitely get them to measure the diameter of that boss for the spring coil and let us know. Edit: *another thought – can you get them to measure the inside diameter of the coil too? > Has EVERY year of bike been affected by this spring break problem? *-> Another thought – could there be a variation in the diameter of the spring coils? This would be worth checking as a smaller, tighter coil on 15mm boss will give the same binding problem as 'normal' coil on big boss. There could be more variations, e.g. with boss size: if there was one period of bad production when 16+mm bosses were made, couldn't there have been others? It would be useful to build up data on the size variations of these parts. It may sound obsessive, but this really is a serious problem as it potentailly means that a bike becomes disabled every 600 or 1,200 or 1,500 miles and creates a mood of uncertainty when contemplating traveling away from home. Until we have definitive sizes for these items, I think I'll take the view that the boss is better smaller than bigger and there's no harm in making it smaller, to give some peace of mind.

mmm.. can't wait til mine breaks again so that I can try this * * Thanks for the note about the adjuster, Docc. I've been wishing that I had looked closer at it when the cover was off. Going by what you say, I'll leave it alone, as, so far, the thing is changing ok.

Re Martin's comments – Tools: yeah, that's the problem about roadside repair, I don't usually carry those particular tools (as illustrated) with me. Baldini – I cut into the 'shift plate' partly because of the short spring, but I thought it would be a better shape anyway: and I still want it to work with a normal spring. Although the spring is harder than the plate and so cuts into it, by doing that, it does create rough, jagged edges. It seems better to start with a good shape that both locates the spring and lets it slide smoothly, rather than make the spring wear its channel through a chisel point. The objective is to spread the load on the spring bend instead of stress being on a very small point of the bent spring section. However I can't give any measure of how important this is. It must have some importance as this is the exact point where the spring breaks. Are springs heat treated after forming? I wondered about that and of course, if needed, it could be done as part of the repair. I don't think so. I would say they are just bent up. *It would be good if someone who knows could tell us.* I don't think that this repair will pull out, but it might break again. As well as reshaping the plate, I reshaped the whole spring slightly so that it would sit in a better position and the hook would keep in a good position. Put a pin in plate? Do you mean that that the spring would then have a hook or eyelet bent into the end to locate around the pin? It's worth thinking about, next time the bits are out again. However, if that's what you mean, the spring would still need a sharp bend in it. The current factory design should be fine. It does look like the oversize boss was the main problem as it did stop full spring movement and caused an abnormal pull on the bend when down shifting. There's not much in it, it's only a small movement. **Do we know if springs are breaking on 15mm bosses anyway?** It would be easier to thrash these things out and come up with ideas and solutions if it was possible to get together. As we can't, the internet/forum is a fantastic second best. If this had happened and I hadn't seen the info on here, I wouldn't have had a clue about what had gone wrong. [stupidly, I didn't measure the dimensions of my repaired spring. A new, normal spring is in the post from John O'S in Cork.]

The gearbox pre-selector arm spring broke at 1,200 miles. After disassembling, I measured the boss that spring coil locates on. Sure enough, it was over 16mm. Baldini reckons it should be 15mm. I confirm that the coil does bind on the oversize boss. The spring hook bend pulls against a sharp edge. This makes a rough gouge. The two stresses probably both contribute to the spring's early demise. I re-profiled this edge where the spring bend seats, to make it a better, more positive, less stressed fit for the spring hook. Now the spring:– I bent the broken end to make a new hook and slightly reshaped the rest of the spring. . The ratchet boss was filed down to just under 15mm and offset so it is shorter to the rear. (I forgot to photograph this.) The spring coil now moves freely on this. More pictures on here. When disassembling, the box was still in gear: when it was apart I worked out that it was fourth. I don't think that the gear number has any significance to the break happening. Neutral was then selected by sliding the forks. For re-assembly, toothed wheels were set in neutral position and the cover then fitted easily back on to gearbox. On a short test run, the spring has worked fine – gear change works. Changing could possibly be improved by re-setting the adjustment screw (given the different size & tension of my repaired spring). Has anyone used this adjustment screw to good effect? Could a spring change be done at the roadside? I think it could but you would need to have the right tools and of course lack of tools is a likely problem. Better to check this out and make modifications before a break happens. Update on roadside repair: see website page here