pete roper

Sadly, this is very true. Even newer bikes can be a problem. I had some real doozeys when I was an official service agent in the Noughties. On more than one occasion I was threatened with physical violence by disgruntled customers who thought their bikes should be fixed for nothing after they’d done stupid shit to them. As for the folks who own 1970’s and ‘80’s Guzzis? Well they expect ‘70’s prices for parts and labour! In my last twenty years or so I just had a policy of refusing to work on any bike not built this century. That was after I had one arsehole dispute the cost for some clutch parts and a gearbox rebuild on his Eldo. While I was off dealing with another customer he went through my toolbox and stole a whole load of my Guzzi special tools! Then he had the temerity to phone me up and get shitty with me because I dobbed him in to the police! With something like a Gen 1 Hi-Cam things are much, much worse. They were never made in large numbers and were built at a time when quality control was in the toilet and many of Guzzi’s suppliers had cut them off for non payment of outstanding bills! This led to some, errrr? ‘Creative’ assembly at Mandello. As Chuck said of the Centauros of that period the only reason the factory bothered assembling them was to ensure the owner got all, or at least the majority, of the parts! Parts for them are generally very hard to get and things like belts have long been available only as NOS which means even your ‘New’ belt is probably thirty years old! Then there’s also the fact that many workshops don’t employ skilled labour and those that do have clever, qualified shop staff can basically name their price! I certainly wouldn’t buy a new Guzzi if I couldn’t service it myself and wouldn’t trust any ‘Official’ shop to do it properly. A thirty year old orphan is orders of magnitude more difficult!

Oh yes, if a belt lets go they are definitely a collision motor. The fact it’s cracked a head would indicate it was probably motoring hard when it let go so chances are that everything above the crankcase apart from cam and rocker gear and the rocker cover will be junk. The rod may well be damaged as well and it will need big end shells on at least the side the damage occurred. I’d suggest buying it would be a ‘For parts’ exercise rather than a rebuild option, but that’s me.

Correction. It’s an ATS sensor fooler that stops the system going closed loop. Temp has to register >20*C before it does that so it just makes the bike run on the base map, which despite what people think, is usually rich. Once again, why would anyone use such a thing when you can remap easily and cheaply?

I don’t need to read the company blurb. I know what it is, I know how these things are supposed to work, they are utter bollocks and I’m afraid you obviously don’t understand how the product you are selling works which probably doesn’t bode well for its efficacy. Oh, and the person who has done the most thorough research on these things and has debunked their abilities to do what they say accurately has done work for Mistral and is saddened that they are selling such junk. The fact that in the list of models it’s suitable for it lists Californias with lambda probe suggests it’s, as I thought, a lambda signal fooler. In which case it won’t *Work* on pre-2003 V11’s so that’s incorrect for starters and further, as I think I explained, it can cause monstrous overfuelling on machines running a closed loop map. Do you understand how the closed loop system works and at what point lambda input is relevant? If not I would strongly suggest you don’t try and sell products that interfere with the signal. You’re opening yourself up to a legal minefield.

Opening a spin on filter is really easy. Just use an old school, (Only type I possess.) can opener, (As that’s basically what the filter is, a can for the filtering medium.) whizz the flange off, lift off the ‘Dome’ of the container and ‘Voila’! There is the filtering medium. You can also see and work out how the bypass system works which for a lot of people is an eye, rather than can, opener! (F’nar, F’nar! I slay myself sometimes!)

Here’s the reason you don’t use Phil’s machine. https://www.self.com/story/how-to-clean-your-sex-toys-so-you-can-use-them-safely

Nah, I wash my dildos by hand…..

Looks like a steam punk dildo washing machine!

I’ve asked him to email me. I’ll give the full skinny that way. It’s a nice looking machine but it has a few issues that make it less than desirable.

I’m out. I’ve shared the sum total of my knowledge.

I had a customer a couple of decades ago who had imported a CX1000 (?), the American market MkII LeMans with the SP1000 motor. It had the speedo with a light that came on at 55 and amazingly it still worked! So a light was a *Thing* at least on some bikes. Very odd. I would of disabled the irritating thing immediately but he’d grown quite fond of it.

I’m not certain of any of this but I know there was a period in the US when speedometers had to have a light that came on when you exceeded a certain speed, 50 mph or some such nonsense? I would have thought that that predated the early Daytonas but I really have no idea. All I do know is that speedo seems to be equipped with such a light. Whether that means the speedo is non genuine? Whether I’m completely wrong? Or whether when building that run of bikes, (And it was one of Guzzi’s ‘Cash Crisis’ periods.) and they just found a box of speedometers under the bench and said “They’ll do!” I have no idea. Anyway, Mike Haven is both honest and very talented, as is Davey, his offsider. As such you can be sure that any old bike they’ve revived will be as well sorted as it’s sensible to be. Would I own an early Hi-Cam? F*ck off! I’m not that mad! But they are a lovely thing in their own special way………

Also Guzzis don’t make a noise like a parson farting in the bath! They may make a cacophony of other odd noises, (Especially the Hi-Cams.) but no priestly flatulence!

Compared to the Guzzis I was used to riding at the time they were terrifying at speed. Mind you they were also nearly twice as powerful! So it’s hardly surprising I found them a handful! I’ve never been a speed demon or super-skilled rider so I was probably out of my league. If memory serves me it was the same sort of terror I’d feel nowadays getting off my 8V Griso and spooling up an RSV-4!

It’s a shitty sensor fooler. Not sure if it’s one of the ones that goes between the lambda sensor and the ecu or the air temperature sensor and the ecu. The first is dangerous because it can cause monstrous overfuelling in certain situations. The second type is particularly pointless because the ecu will, in short order, trim around it using the lambda input. Both are simply a variable resistor that costs pennies. Why would you use such junk when the 15M, W5AM and 7SM are all accessible and you can simply build or buy a map and upload it? No idea if it would *Work* with the MP11 but my guess is it will throw a CEL at the very least if it does anything at all because it will be interfering with sensor input and will push them out of the ‘Acceptable’ service range. If it’s a lambda fooler you’d need one for each probe so double the money wastage! Run Away!