jrt

The old loopframes vented almost straight to atmosphere- they went through a (useless) recovery box, so the idea has possibilities. That won't fix your root problem, though, which is that your bike runs too cold to evaporate off the condensate. I'd think about restricting airflow around the cylinders to keep the bike warmer.

Sounds like a loose wire connector to me. I'd check the sidestand and clutch failsafe connectors first (under the tank) and any large mulit-wire connector I could.

See, this is the difference between quality and a good bodging. If you look at my earlier post (#36), you can see a red flap above the edge guard. That's a piece of gasket material that does the job of Edge's part "B", only bodged.

Glad to hear you are ok- heal up and ride again soon

Doh! I didn't even notice he had a Rosso, Bruce. Good call. J

Could you elaborate on the 'shudder' part? Does the engine stutter the bike forward (grab-loose-grab-loose) and make it sound like the transmission is banging? If so, you might need new clutch plates. Another symptom of a bad clutch plate is excessive vibration at speed. The engine itself is hard bolted to the frame- no rubber mounts to squeak (when I think of squeaks, I think of rubber on metal). There's the rear shock which mounts about where the seat is- you could take a look at that, maybe bounce up and down on the bike to extend/compress the shocks and eliminate them as a possibility. Check up front around the headlight, the oil cooler and the horns for any loose or missing bolts. Check the alternator cover as well. The other possibility that comes to mind is the throwout bearing, but again- this is at the rear of the transmission. Does the bike run ok other than squealing? J

Damn, I thought that was a joke when I first saw it. Sigh. There's a very nice collection of 'Social Realism', Stalin-era art and posters, in Finland at the old funet.fi. http://www.funet.fi/pub/culture/russian/ht...s/posters1.html Cool stuff to browse through.

Check the rubber bushing on the 'reactive rod' on the rear drive box?

you can call it that if you want....

Weird- mine just doesn't seem to ping. I'll open her up above 5K and she's just fine. What kind of gas mileage do you get? I'm averaging about 36 mpg (15.3 Km/L) which seems very low to me. Maybe I'm running way rich, but the plugs look nice and tan.

I have a spare fuse, spare relay, multimeter, cell phone, crappy MG tool kit (with some extra allen keys), whisky flask, aspirin and the US MGNOC contact list. Wouldn't want to be stuck without a glass of whisky.

Some of it is gas, some of it is tuning, some of it is the bike's design. I don't have problems with pinging, but I don't do WFO in low rpms (what's the point?). 6th speed is just fine for cruising- often I do leave it in 5th to avoid getting tickets, though. How's the gas in Jersey? I know it's poor in SoCal. Here in Iowa, it seems pretty good. MikeC- I would encourage you to consider getting a Stucchi Xover as well. Fitment issues aside, it really helped my bike out in the 3-5K rpm range.

The zipper is standard YKK brand, I think. Why not take the bag to an upholstery shop or seamstress (seamster?) shop and have a purpose-built laptop bag that would zip onto the Guzzi tank bra? My ibook fits inside my tankbag with enough room to wrap it in a tshirt.

I recall from an article on the Breva that the engine was purposfully designed to rev higher- as you said 'like a Jap bike'. I've forgotten what changes they did to accomplish this- shorter stroke I guess, along with a lighter flywheel. Not sure how I'll feel about that when I test ride one. Personally- I look forward to the Ural-style alternator. I think the silly alt. on the main shaft was a mistake- it never put out the kind of juice that Guzzi needed to have (I'm thinking mostly of touring folks and their heated clothing, amphitheater sound systems and aircraft search lights). Big J- nice imagery there

Good luck! J

Here's one on my bike:

Older Guzzi's tended to find their own oil level. There are Eldo's that run fine while full up on oil, and others that pump oil out until they are half full. Fill the latter up again and it will pump it right back out. This is particularly exacerbated by high speed runs. I wonder if something like that is going on here. If so, let it find it's own oil level- it'll be fine. Second (more expensive) thought is that your valve stems are wearing prematurely. Carl posted awhile back about having soft stems (don't take it personally Carl) in his Sporti, so you might be seeing something of that.

From a certain "TxTodd" in a certain US town "Houston" Crossposted from Guzzitech-

Check that the contacts (battery, relay and starter) are clean.

My favorite series of reviews for a CD

I see you favor the same packing system as this gent. It's affectionately called 'the wad'

I hear ya'. I thought it was cool idea and I was thinking 'yeah- that'd be great- I'll order a pair, it'll be $20 but it'll make life easier on me'. So's I click on the link and my eyeballs fall out of their sockets.

That kind of sh** is illegal and there are some very specific penalties outlined in the USA Patriot act.

It's not horrible- it's just not as pretty as the Stucchi or the MG racks. It is more functional, though. My Ventura rack is still on my bike, so I guess I like it. I sure use it when I go camping.

Rather than carry a load (in the wind) on your back, consider a tank bag. Easy to remove, infinitely useful might cover up some of that nice paintwork.