pete roper

Why don't you just sell/trade it and buy the Buell 'Neckbolt' or whatever their current model is called? You're obviously not happy with the machine and don't trust it so it's not the bike for you. Get something else. As for expensive, hard to get at seals? I don't think there are any on a Guzzi but if you mean something like a rear mainseal? Well, they very, very rarely let go although they are often diagnosed as having blown when in fact it's the breather pipe weeping. If you do have one let go though dropping the engine only takes a couple of hours, it takes longer to do the valves on an RSV or Otto-Valvole Deadshit! You pays yer money and takes yer choice. Pete

For a copper he ain't 'arf smart Pete

Remove alternator cover. (4 x 5mm allen bolts.) Remove stator, (3 x 4mm allen bolts.) and hang to one side. Undo nut, (22mm?) that retains rotor and remove along with washer underneath. Remove rotor. Ducati rotors usually just slip off. Place somewhere where it can't pick up ferous crap. Pluck out old seal with seal hook or screwdriver. Install new seal. Reverse above instructions. Go ride. Do you check your oil level with the dipstick screwed in or resting on the threads? Pete

I have no idea who this woofling galah is but regardless of whether what hes says is meant to be humorous or not if he's on a television program that is shown nationally, (and it would seem internationally.) then at least some of his viewers, especially on a tappet-head show, are going to be 'Epsilon Minuses', (Thank you Mr. Huxley!). The back-to-front baseball cap and ciggies rolled up in the T-shirt arm brigade can't be trusted not to think that such an idea might be fun to try and you can bet your arse that if some poor bloke commuting to work on his CD200 Honda gets beheaded by some idiots idea of a practical joke slimeball, yuppy, hooray-henry type, so-called journalists won't be getting the blame and-or if the finger is pointed they will claim that their comments were only made in jest and that 'Nobody' could possibly take them seriously. I've experienced quite sufficient road-rage/threatening behavior in the last few years to be seriously pissed off with people like this, if ever there was a candidate for taking out the back for a good kicking this bloke sounds like it. Hopefully this program doesn't get out here by Foxtel or Sky, the last thing I need is some pimply in a warmed up Nissan Pulsar stringing barbed wire across the roads around Canberra. We already had one motorcyclist forced off the road and killed in South Canberra this year by just such a carload of youths. The coppers got 'em eventually and I think their trial is ongoing as I write. I'm hoping for a considerable custodial sentence, but I'm not holding my breath Pete

Actually you blokes don't know how far off the mark you are, but that's OK. I actually ride in a suit of medieval armour with a chain-mail codpiece and back protector combination. It works very well, even though it is a bit itchy in hot weather and my ballet tu-tu tends to ride up if the Convert gets over 30 MPH What's a bloke to do???? Pete

Chad, Keith, and anyone else who's interested. I'm NOT criticizing the product saying it's a bad product. All I'm saying is that I don't think it's enough to claim that it is a 'company saving' or 'brilliant and inovative' new product. I don't personally want a NEW Guzzi for the simple reason that my old ones do exactly what I want. That doesn't mean I don't want to see the company grow, go from strength to strength and build motorbikes as inovative and they did fifty years ago, (albeit then mainly for track use.). What I have always admired about the marque is that they design a basic, class-leading product as a flagship and then develop it, over a period of years (In some case decades.) before abandoning it and producing something entirely new. In the past the company has been able to subsidise the initial design by having a fleet of small, profitable, machines to feed the flagships. Alas, this is no longer the case, (although re-badging some Piagio scooters with the Guzzi name would I'm sure pay a healthy divident to the firm!) but at the end of the day there are a dwindling number of people who are going to be willing to shell out what are conspicuously big amounts of money on the venerable, air cooled, big twin; especially when the design has been taken to the point where the extracted power is compromising it's longevity! While I dislike the looks of the Breva and the Griso I accept that my likes and dislikes are completely irelevant, I'm not a prospective purchaser. What I do think is foolish is if Piagio or anyone else tries to claim that either of the models are 'Great White Hopes' that will re-launch Guzzi as a major player in the market place they are either kidding themselves or are incredibly poorly advised! As Keith said, although applied to me 'Move on' I'm dying for the company to do so! While the VA10 is probably a dead duck, something very similar has to be the way to go. A 750-1,000cc transverse V with water-cooling, compact, light and coupled with a shaft drive to offer performance similar to one of those 'orrible oil-head bimmers, modern suspension and a basic platform onto which various 'Styles' could be grafted and built at a green-field site somewhere on the plains, (Sorry guys, Mandello won't work!) and they'd have a sure fire winner. Add in a series of sensible, cheap, eco-friendly scooters and commuters all bearing the Falcon and I reckon the company could go gangbusters. Believe me, I'm not anti-progress, or anti-Guzzi. What I am is anti-bullshit and anti-fantasist! As long as the Breva and Griso are as well built and reliable as I, and all of us, hope they will be, then I'll be at the front of the queue cheering 'em on. But they are, as I'd hoped the V11 would be, a stop-gap and filler at best. I don't want the Falcon to sit on a twig scratching it's beak with a tallon! I want it to SHRIEK as it stoops on it's prey, (Most notably those awful bloody oil-head bimmers!!!!! How can they sell so many of those dreadful things? They're like riding a damp sponge????) Pete

Antonio, while the new bike looks different in many ways it is still very, very similar to the *old* bikes. The new drive shaft arrangement seems to be an enclosed version of the system used on the V11's and, as Will Creedon aptly described it, 'Uglied up a bit' . The new six speed box? Well, yes, it's new, but it's a gearbox, people have been making 'em for several centuries and while it will hopefully be less trouble prone than the current six speeder it's scarcely anything new???? As for the motor? Sticking an extra plug in the head and changing the rod/stroke ratio can hardly be described a an *All New* motor. Don't get me wrong, I wish the company all the best, even though I can't honestly see myself ever buying another new motorbike, (Except possibly a small-bore Ag-bike for pottering around dirt roads on.) but I hardly think that these attempts at 'New Technology' are anything outstanding. If they help Guzzi sell more bikes I'll be overjoyed but please don't try and pretend they are something they aint!!!! Pete

Gosh! Look! A whole load of art student fantasies that look jut the same as any other bloody boring motorbike on the market Isn't it wonderful to live in the modern world where we all have so much 'Choice'? NOT!!!!! Tedious, dull, unimaginative, all show, (and a bloody piss-weak show at that!) and no substance. I pray none of 'em ever see the light of day. Pete

I would very, VERY strongly recommend avoiding any friction modified, (FM) type oil in any air cooled engine. Using them runs a great risk of glazing the bores. While newer formulations *may* be better than the older types it'll be a cold day in hell before I'd use 'em in one of my bikes. Oh, and Steve, while your observations on the break down of oil in your Laverda are interesting the two machines are as different as chalk and cheese! Guzzi? low stress, all plain bearing pushrod motor with a separate gearbox. Laverda? Rolling element bottom end, plain bearing top end, shared engine and transmission lubricant and runs much hotter due to poor heat dumping ability. I hardly think the comparison is a fair one? Pete

Yes, I'm not a complete hypocrite I wouldn't mind if the boy she was shacked up with was a bit more exiting, but I've scraped more enjoyable things off the bottom of my shoes at country shows! Actually I suppose he isn't *all* bad but I reserve the right of every father to loathe his daughter's boyfriends, it sort of comes with the territory. If you want an example, soon after he started going out with her he sat down next to me on the settee and said "Mr. Roper", (Nobody but fucking policemen call me 'Mr. Roper!!!') I want you to know that my intentions towards your daughter are entirely hounourable, (I nearly hit him there and then!) and I don't believe in sex before marriage." The sad thing is he was probably speaking the truth and I thought "My God!!! My girl is going out with a pervert!" For heavens sakes, he was 17 years old! he should believe in sex before exchanging first names, never mind marriage!!!! What's wrong with young people nowadays????????? Pete

You should be ashamed of yourself, doing that horrible, dirty, thing to the poor woman! Now all you have to look forward to is 20+ years of pain and grief and having your house filled up with sharp stuff you tread on in the middle of the night! I'm lucky, mine are 20, 19 and 11 so I've got rid of the first two pretty much, (even though #2 is shacked up with the most boring boy in the world in rural NSW when she should be shagging her way around europe!). The last one is a mouth on legs, only opens it's gob to shout abuse or empty the fridge into it. I'm sure the trauma does eventually end, don't bank on it being any time within your lifetime though Congratulations mate, but don't sweat on the Guzzi Garb, lets face it, going to that extreme is really a bit nerdy Pete

Look, amen to that, but I'm afraid I'll still disagree with your suposition that brake fluid's C of E is so small as to effectively be imperceptible. Why? Well for the simple reason that i've seen MANY bikes over the years that have had all the free play adjusted out of the lever so the master cylinder piston occludes the relief port and the result, (Apart from the obvious one of damage to the braking system.) is that in service, as the brakes do become super-heated the expansion of the fluid WILL cause the pads to lock ever tighter on the discs resulting in loss of performance, (Obviously.) and driveline damage. The thing is that for this to happen the relief port MUST be shut, otherwise the excess volume of fluid caused by expansion will just bleed back through the relief port into the resevoir! Yes, certainly the other factors previously mentioned, the dust, grime and crud that causes caliper pistons to seize can, and will, give similar symptoms, especially on a non floating rotor if one or both of the pistons decides to seize and I'll wholeheartedly agree about the need to bleed early and often!!!! I don't know how many people have actually pulled calipers apart but it is quite common to find all sorts of repulsive looking stuff that seems to simply *manufacture* itself within the brake system! Oysters! False teeth! Clumps of hair! Aardvark smegma! It's disgusting!!!!! Look, I strongly advise people to follow your advice about ensuring that their brakes are well maintained and kept brim-full with nice clean fluid as I would also strongly advise not leaving a HUGE amount of slack in the linkages. As long as the piston in the master cylinder has full stroke and then there is a millimeter or two of free play between the end of the piston and the bell crank, (if fitted.) or the actuating rod that is all that is needed. The piston isn't going to expand more than a couple of mm? How hot would it need to get to do that??????? Another thing often overlooked by people is the actual positioning of the pedal itself. Quite often I've seen brakes that seemingly 'Lock on' and the problem turns out to be simply that as the pilot is riding along his foot is pressing on the pedal sufficiently to apply the brake very slightly, Often imperceptibly, but because in doing this the piston in the MC is pushed into such a position that the relief port is closed the rapid heat build up leads to a 'False seizure' which goes away when somebody else rides the bike due to different riding style/smaller feet/whatever but unfortunately it doesn't take much of this sort of abuse to glaze pads and warp rotors!!!! Anyway, I hope you understand that I was not, and never will, intentionally try to give offence or belittle other peoples' contributions. If I see something really daft and dangerous? Yes, I'll say something if nobody else does, but usually there are enough sensible souls out there I don't have to bother. All I was attempting to do here was maintain a robust debate and I hope that no serious offence was taken? Pete

My bikes are older but reduced yak fat seems to work OK in them Pete

Whoa!!!!! Firstly lets cut the crap about 'the master' OK? those who have met me, Keith Baldini for example, will, (I hope!) back me up when I say I have absolutely NO pretensions to being a 'Master' of anything, apart from maybe 'bation'. I was in no way trying to devalue your observations, in fact I thought I was agreeing with most of them! The fact remains that the CofE of brake fluid is to all intents and purposes irrelevant to braking as long as the linkages are adjusted so the relief port opens when the brake is released. If this isn't the case then, as the fluid heats up it will expand and hold the pads in contact with the disc and from there on it's a viscious circle. What will happen with repeated, hard, applications of the brake is that the pads will transfer heat to the pistons and thence to the fluid. As you pointed out an absence of H2O in the system is vital because if the temerature behind the pistons reaches a temerature higher than the boiling point of water at whatever pressure the system is running at the water turns to steam. Water is a liquid and as such is every bit as good as a hydraulic fluid as brake fluid in terms of *transporting pressure*. The problem occurs if the water mollecules become so excited they become a gas. Gasses are compressible, whereas liquids are, (to all intents an purposes!) not. Once you have a gas in the system, be it air or steam, then the pressure you exert in the system spends it's time squishing the gas rather than pressing the pads against the disc and urning the kinetic enery of the bike and rider moving forwards into heat! In real, everyday, terms the problems caused by water in the fluid are far more likely to be related to damage to seals, pistons and the accumulation of crud that looks like oysters than water vaporisation in your brake fluid. Don't believe me? Next time you've been for a good, hard, flog on your bike hop off and grab the CALIPER. Not the disc you silly boy, unless you want blisters to die for But I doubt VERY much you'll find the calipers themselves are too hot to touch. I wholeheartedly agree with your advice on the care and maintenance of the rear brake. I reckon it's a frontbottom of a design, and as I said, the newer calipers aren't designed with longevity in mind All I was trying to do was correct what I saw as an erroneous and confusing statement in an otherwise valid piece. Vis-a-vis data on brake fluid expansion? Stick some in a beaker, mark it's level, stick a thermometer in it and then heat it with a blow-torch! try not to breathe too near it You'll soon see how much it expands with heat, you don't need some bloody chart to work it out! The other thing is of course to remember that the amount of the fluid that will actually be getting hot is very small! It's not a superconductor so anything apart from the few cc's behind the calipers and in the last inch of the hose is going to be completely irrelevant. Unless it actually boils, (Unlikely.) it's not really going to have an expansion issue unless the relief port is blocked. The fact it is built to have a very high boiling point means that this too is not something that is often an issue unless there is something wrong with the braking system or you're planning on doing 140-0MPH stoppies time after time after time in a Nascar!!!! Pete

Sorry, but that's complete poppycock! Of course brake fluid will expand when heated. The reason why a brake will drag when it's not being applied is either because the pedal or linkage is adjusted in such a way that the master cylinder piston can't return to the end of it's stroke so the relief port is still closed while the brake is not in use or else the relief port is blocked by something else, although this is fairly rare as the pressures built up inside the system will be fairly high if the brake is dragging and heating the fluid and that will tend to pop out any blockage. If the brake lever/linkages are adjusted right the piston will return to the beginning of it's stroke so the port is open. That being the case the system can't pressurise as any expansion of the fluid, either by heat applied to itself or by the vaporisation of any H2O that has been absorbed into it, simply bleeds back into the reservoir via the relief port. Your other points about the accumulation of crud and the importance of bleeding the system fully are more than valid and correct but I'm afraid you've got a bit confused on that one. One of the major problems with the brakes on almost all *modern* bikes, be they Brembos or Nissin/Tocikos is that the wretched pistins don't come with dust/crud seals that work! If you look at the old O8 callipers they have a heffty and substantial dust seal and these rarely seize up if bled properly and regularly. All the newer calipers seem to have next to nothing in the way of crud-excluders and the buggers seize up at the drop of a hat, especially if you're unlucky enough to live in a place where they put salt on the roads in winter. What makes this particularly vexatious with Brembos is that the company refuses to sell rebuild kits to the great unwashed public due to concerns about litigation! This means that if your calipers seize you have to buy new ones!!!!!! Having said that I think the V11's use an O5 on the back don't they? In which case you probably can get rebuild kits and they *may* still have a decent seal. Any-which-way they still require more care than some due to their stupid location as you mention. Pete

You're 'Chopping' an SP? an offence that in my book should get you at least twenty years in a stone cell with only a fat Tongan sodomite for company, but I'm probably in the minority so I'll shut up. The thing is, if you have an old roundfin and you reckon your V11 rattles I'd have to suspect that there's something wrong! Roundfins rattle like two cheesegraters fornicating in an iron tank! If your V11 sounds worse than your old SP then there has to be something wrong with it!!!!! Pete

My advice, for what it's worth, is try a cooler plug. NGK's work the other way from the rest of the manufactures and i always get it wrong when I advise people and then they go Nyah-Nyah!!! So look at the NGK list and go one cooler Pete

OK, I'll clarify. 'CONSUMABLE PARTS'. (In my book seals are a consumable, along with gaskets, filters, fuel, oil and in decending order, rings, valves, bearings etc, etc.) At the end of the day as long as the machine has a decent parts supply and the owner is willing to rebuild EVERYTHING is a consumable. Even down to wheel spacers ! Everything will eventually wear out!!! One of the reasons I so love my old Tonti's is that you can ALWAYS et parts. At the moment there is only one new cam follower in Oz. Italy has just closed for the summer but I managed to get a set for a bike I'm rebuilding from Rick and Gordon, (I got Gordon (I think.) in the shop at 10:15 PM and he was still willing to help me out, How good is that!?). OK so I had to phone another nutter in a continent half a world away but they WERE available! Try that with your 1993 Suzuki Intruder!!!! Pete PS. Rick and Gordon are MG Cycles in Frecklepork, Wisconsin. Top blokes, give 'em your money!!!

Look, this is absurd! The seal is, maybe, a type not readily available because Guzzi in their infinite wisdom bought a load of oddballs, (Probably at a knock down price.). To the nbest of my knowledge the seal is exactly the same size as earlier seals and as such is probably available a any bearing factor for pennies. The idea that you should be advised to park your vehicle in the height of the rioding season because a seal has blown is absurd!!!!! I'll do a bit of checking, just in case I've made a boo=boo, (Which I doubt!) and if needs be I'll send you a bloody seal, although this idea strikes me as cretinous in the extreme. If your dealer is so idiotic as to prize their 30c. mark up over a happy cuustomer???? Get another dealer!!!!!!. There are very few parts in a Guzzi that are *specific*, most of them are commonly available 'Off the shelf' bits. Sorry, this enrages me more than you can possibly imagine!!!!!! It's just f*cking stupid!!!!!! Pete

ROFL!!!!! 10 out of 10!!!!!! So what's the go Keith? Is this one of those 'Lets just see how much glycerine I have to add to this pot of nitric acid to make it smoke?' Jobs. Give the man a BIG cigar. Pete

OK, so every time you think you've seen it all a new one pops it's head up. Took apart my mate's Mk IV Lemans and found that the sludge trap plug in the crank had loosened off and wound itself IN, destroying it's threads on the inward end so that it could wind past the end of the threads and block off the front gallery to the crankpin. Big ends were still fed with oil from the back but the shells were full of bits of disintegrated plug. Yeah, I know it's not a V11 but your cranks have exactly the same plug and sludge trap. Don't worry, this isn't common! In thirty years of working on the poxy things it's the first time I've seen such an odd problem. Only from Mandello Pete

Jason, the good news is that on models with the Ducati alternator all the faffing about pressing the rotor off is a thing of the past! The Ducati system uses a straight shaft and once the stator is off and the crank nut removed it, (the rotor.) usually just slips off. While I haven't done anything inside the timing chest of a V11 I've done several 1100 Sports with the same basic layout. Really all it involves is removing all the extraneous munt that hangs about in front of the chest itself, (Horns, fuel pump (?) coils (?) regulator/rectifier.) so you can get clear access to the timing chest bolts. Support the sump on something, (not because the engine will flop down or anything, simply so as not to stress the fasteners at the back of the motive unit.) then undo the bolts from the front sub-frame to the timing chest. It will probably help if you loosen the bolts that hold the sub frame to the spine too and then it can be spread a bit or swung forward. After that it's simply a matter of undoing the kazillion screws that hold on the timing chest cover, (Noting that the bottom six are longer than the top eight.) and then gently prying the cover forward and off. The two things you are thinking are oil dowels are simply locating dowels to ensure the chest cover sits correctly and to make the fitting of a new gasket easier. If you're lucky the majority of the gasket will come off with the cover and removing it will be simple. Sometimes they peel off really easily, sometimes they stick like shit to a blanket, the good thing is that they *usually* stick to the cover which makes removing 'em a whole lot easier than having to get at the front of the crankcase! If you use a scraper to remove the old gasket be careful not to gouge the surface, if you have a decent shop nearby take it in and ask if you can use their gasket whizzer, (Proper name? A 'Microfine surface preparation tool'.) which is basically an air pistol that uses small discs of Scotchbrite material to abrade off the old gasket but it's action is gentle enough to not damage the alloy, (Unless you're cretinous! It can be done but it's not easy!) an added benefit of doing it this way is that any remaining paint on the mating surface of the case will be removed helping prevent the problem from recurring. I never use any form of snot on these gaskets unless I think the surface might be dodgy. I just lightly grease the new gasket to help it stick in place and then offer up the prepared and cleaned cover and tap it home with my fist. It is worth re checking the timing cover bolts after the engine has heat cycled a few times and nipping up any loose ones but after that you should be able to forget about it for 100,000km or so. Pete

Actually, to quote the Penguin Macquarie; Gormless, adj. Colloq.(of a person.) Dull; Stupid; Senseless.-Gormlessness n. Yours has a much higher humour quotient though I'm surprised you weren't familiar with the term? I spent a whole afternoon in detention in primary school for using the word in an essay to describe my geography teacher. She was a miserable old shag-nasty though with no sense of humour at all! One of the very few women I've ever seen who's hands were covered in a thick pelt of fur and had nostrils like the entrance to the channel tunnel only filled with trees!!! Sorry, NGC. Pete

Yup, agreed, (I think I mentioned as much didn't I???) The thing is if the spacer was properly made in the first place, and really even if it isn't, I still maintain that it's common sense how tight you'd do such a thing up. I hate to think how tight you'd have to try and do it up to actually destroy the thread on the spindle!!! It would have to be 'Yard long breaker bar with a six foot bit of scaffold on it' tight though! If the spacer has sufficient compressive strength though all the other bits in the stack are made of hardened steel and will take enormous loads in compression without deforming appreciably, We aren't taking about coarse pitch threads in soft alloy like the drain plugs in bevelboxes f'rinstance. I can understand novices who don't want to strip stuff like 6mm bolts in rocker covers perhaps feeling that an inch/pound torque wrench might be a useful tool to prevent damage but having said that when I was first learning about working on motorbikes I never has the benefit of anything more than the most very basic of tool kits and I can't remember ever having stripped a small fastener, it just seems easy to judge what is sufficient in terms of torque in those situations. Maybe that's just me though.

The pants-pissing occurs when the bloody apprentice decides to light up a blowtorch next to you when you're covered in brake cleaner!!!!! Steve, I was only gently ribbing everyone. The thing is that it's a bloody MOTORBIKE, it is not some incredibly delicate, sophisticated, sensitive work of art. It is designed to be given a flogging by the keen and the ignorant, both on the road and in the garage. Stuff like wheel spindles are always massively over-engineered not only for safety reasons in terms of working loads but specifically to ensure that mongoloids can't hurt themselves and then sue the manufacturer. If we were talking about a MotoGP bike where weight has been parred off to the very limits of safelty it might well be an issue, especially if the spindles were made of something horrid like Titanium but we're talking here about a sodding great 2cm thick steel bar with a whopping great thread and a huge nut on it. as long as it's done up tight that's all that matters! When you are looking at stuff like engine parts, most specifically things made of soft alloy that have to be evenly clamped to prevent warpage then yes, a torque wrench is a VITAL tool but obsessively worrying about what torque you put on a wheel spindle nut is, I'm afraid, plain daft! unless, as I said, the spacer material is so inferior that it may deform if over torqued and that, I'm afraid, is shoddy engineering! I know that common sense isn't that common nowadays but are you really saying that the majority of people are so gormless that they can't judge when a spindle nut is tight enough? It doesn't bode well for the future of the human race if that is so. Then there is the issue of 'Is my torque wrench accurate?' when was it last re-calibrated? Against what? Were the threads on the spindle clean and lubricated so that the torque reading was correct? C'mon?!?!?! There is accuracy, then there is obsessional behavior and bone-head stupidity! Lets step back and look at this sensibly. Pete