belfastguzzi

Hi Stefano thanks for adding your comment. I think that he likes this type of course: it is like the sort that he started on – and I guess he chose the bike because it suits the course. There are not many natural courses like this left here, mostly they are artificially created now. I'm not an expert, I know little about this racing – but it was a great day and having the (fierce) older bike there, battling the modern 450s added special interest There was a '91 250 also. The Ulster Grand Prix (the 'fastest road race in the world') was on yesterday too. In some ways this scramble was better spectator value, I reckon. Now, time to get back to the video editing while watching the Olympics closing ceremony. David

It was great to see Gordon Crockard taking his 1991 CR500 (No.7) out front in every race at the Bell's Hill Scramble yesterday. This is just the start of / first stab at a movie that I'll have to finish later some time. The video and audio was captured on a compact camera that I brought only intending to take a few stills. At the races, I thought that the nature of the event really needed the video, rather than photos. To be continued – the rest will actually have the motorbike action

Fantastic. You wouldn't need to go out of your tent all day. The things you could do with that stuff!

...it's there in Monkey's photo. Spare underwear?

Dave, if you are thinking of a 2011/12 bike then I'd be confident that it will be good. As for asking a dealer what they do and whether they follow procedure, or even PDIs, I think that any such verbal assurance is useless, unless that dealer is a close relative or you know and trust them very well. I've been told those things and it just wasn't true, or procedures were only partially done. Pete, mine ate its tappets to disaster at less than 2,500 miles. They must have been shedding metal from day one. The parts must have been bad, though I can also believe that set-up was bad too and that, for example, the valve / tappet gaps could have been out. I subsequently found them to be badly out when I checked following later dealer work. As a matter of interest, when you get bikes in with the sacred screw messed up, do you have a procedure to get it back to ballpark, or what do you do, if anything? Though I understand that it can never be completely right again, I'm definitely happy that I got mine much better after doing all the work with the Axone and a balancer. I do not understand why Guzzi don't cap it so that it can't be fiddled with. Yellow paint just isn't adequate.

So far none of you mentioned the prime necessity, the you-know-what. ping/snap

JB, I just remembered when replying in another thread that the 'new' spring is made with a wider coil diameter to work on the incorrect pawl arm without binding. Therefore, in theory, the pawl arm should not matter – just fit a new spring. In practise, you will probably feel safer with the new 'big' spring and a pawl arm with the original 'small' spring boss. Whatever you do, make sure you look carefully at how the parts work together and measure the diameters.

Stu, the 'new' springs were made with wider diameter spring coils, presumably so that they would work with the variety of sizes that the MG pawl arm comes in! Therefore you should be ok to just fit the spring. The best thing would be to measure the parts when you do the job, to be sure that they do work freely together. If you do find that you have the oversized part and that you do need or want to get the original 'proper' spec (because the spring looks tight when fitted on it and operated) then you can either file down the part that you have, when you are doing the job, or put together the bits that you have, order a new pawl arm and then fit it later.

Yes, that was what I did in the temporary repair period, before getting new parts. I filed down the oversized boss and I bent a new hook on the broken spring. This was fitted and worked fine, but I put new parts in when they arrived at a later stage. The pictures should be in the FAQ topic.

Some Italian Detective you are! I deduce from the original postings that the original spring broke in 2011, having survived for 13k Km. I declare, by the postmark, that it was August-September 2011, or thereabouts. It was replaced at a dealers, while the owner was not looking. Subsequently, after the passage of another 13k, there has been a second ping-tinkle. The owner surmises that the spring has again expired or been assassinated. On that basis he has ordered a full investigation (on here) and replacement parts (from there) – but he will not disassemble and look until the new parts arrive. Due to the fiendish ways of the Italianos, said parts may not arrive until... September! So, what do you make of those deductions?

Naively Miraculously

Baldi, I can send you a great catalogue. It has jigsaws of all the Town Halls of Britain and all sorts of lovely pipes and slippers to drool over. The offers on Horlicks are irresistible. Uh oh it's nearly 3pm: bedtime!

Have measured the diameter of the post on the pawl arm you have now? KB Baldi, that's what I was asking but he doesn't have the measurements. JB, if you are not sure which bit to measure, you can see in the photos, but post back here when you have the new parts and are doing the work. MZ, I sort of thought that as well: might as well just put a new arm in anyway. On the other hand, if it is the correct pawl arm, I can't see that it should need replaced in the normal life of the bike. Also, if somehow there is variation in the size of later arm dimensions (such as 2004) then you might get another bad one and fit it. Best thing is to know what is in the box and if it's good, then let it be – but keep changing the danged spring! ?

By 2004, I should think the bike would have the correct pawl arm? Sorry I can't remember the various details now. Did you measure the size of the boss on the arm when you changed the spring before? Unfortunately the springs do seem to just keep breaking and there is no guarantee that a changed spring will last for any particular time. Mine did not survive for anything like the miles that yours did.

Hopefully

I have never heard of any of those places that you mention, therefore in the flying over the head spirit of V11 Quizzes, I am awarding you 3 points for those excellent answers. I can tell that you want them. Just let De Ben try to take them away. Just let him try. Oh, you're just sucking up. It's not like you posted a 1953 Quintax Rotary to win a stump point. Well you're only saying that because you know that no one on here can possibly remember back to then, so you can claim anything. All I remember is that there were dirty deeds done. Dirty deeds wot denied rightful pointers their rightful points and stumpers their stumps.

I have never heard of any of those places that you mention, therefore in the flying over the head spirit of V11 Quizzes, I am awarding you 3 points for those excellent answers. Please accept them above. I can tell that you want them. Just let De Ben try to take them away. Just let him try.

Actually, I kinda like it. A far superior alternative to the selling of craptastic Brit bikes under the Indian brand back in the 50's that spelled doom for the marque due to the execrable QC on the imports. And, lest we forget, Indian does have a history of making longitudinal air-cooled shaft drive V-twins [under a WWII US military test contract; Do you think it's maybe true??? What you're saying could make a sort of sense, Skeeve. I've no idea if Piaggio/Guzzi would do such a thing. The funny thing is that contrarily, people have said the Guzzi badge should be slapped on other makes of bike e.g. a 'Guzzi' branded Aprilia sports bike, or a scooter....

Good call. Is the gauge accurate ? Thanks. Yep. It's not connected to anything so that reading would be about right.

Well, it was a designer's pitch for new Indian branding – but why didn't he use an Indian or did he not know what he was designing for? Anyway, it's a bit bizarre.

Indian Scout:

Great, thanks for that.

Aye, but I bet you've got sunshine. Weather forecast here is on just now: rain, showery rain, windy rain and showers. I don't understand my bike. Anyway, you shoulda been at home watching Hairy Bikers tonight. They've been riding on floppy rears too, but they're swapping the pies for lettuce and whatnot. Piaggio doesn't love me. "Overtaken by Vespa. Right angle adapters just ordered on Ebay." Weird: there's folks on here will never understand you. I've got an inkling.

Hi Jaap, would you post this for me on the Dutch Forum please? > ----------------------------------------------------- Re: Op V11lemans.com heeft David Boyd uit Belfast het volgende probleem. Aangezien er geen goede dealers in zijn buurt zijn heeft ie de vraag online gesteld. Hello friends thanks to Jaap for posting my query and I want to thank you for taking time to give responses. To let you know what has happened: I went through all the wiring, checked connectors etc and I added a direct feed from the battery to the start relay. I found an intermittent fault and fixed it. • The ECU error warning stayed on the display, even after working on the bike and putting it back together. • However it went away once the bike was moving on the road. The 56 error code also went away. That is a relief! The wiring fault that I found, was in the rear left indicator light. The wire was broken at the spade connector, but must have been touching enough to keep the connection good most of the time. I have been bothered for a long time by the indicator fault icon and the red triangle light appearing intermittently in the dash display, but I did not believe what it said and thought there must be another strange problem, maybe in the display unit itself (the display has the bad condensation issue). I did not believe the warning was due to the indicator lamp unit, because the indicator bulb always worked when I switched it on. I have never once had the indicator bulb not work during the long time when the warning has been appearing, so I thought obviously it is ok. Now I know that I should believe the ECU! The wiring problem suddenly become worse at the start of my recent holiday trip when I was on the way to meet with other Guzzis in the South of Ireland. The wire must have moved, shorted and for the first time a fuse blew. This coincided with the bike stalling and not restarting when I stopped at a motorway toll booth. Because I have also had the bad 'non-start' problem (push the start button and nothing happens) I immediately assumed that was what was happening again. I certainly did not think of the indicator. Eventually I started the bike by putting a wire from the battery directly to the starter solenoid and I returned home without stopping. After 2 days checking through everything, at last I looked in the rear indicator unit – and found the broken connection! That is why the fuse kept blowing after the toll-booth incident and that must be the reason that the bike would not start. It also must be the reason for the serious ECU error message and 'might' possibly also be what caused the 56 code alert. So remember: the ECU knows best! Thank you again for your advice and interest. Best wishes from Belfast.