pete roper

Nowhere in the cam instructions does it state that the head or base gaskets need to be replaced. I too was wary of this as i knew there would be a *risk* of leakage after tension was taken off the head studs. For that reason I was VERY careful not to knock or jar the cylinder or head when removing or replacing the cam-boxes and obviously it was VITAL that the crank not be moved while the head and barrel weren't under tension. Mine haven't leaked. I have heard though of other ones that have but of course I have no idea of the proceedure that was followed, or not, during the cam replacement. Pete

As with all Carb Sports I strongly advise taking the box out and inspecting it. replace the input and output shaft bearings with AC3's and replace 5th gear with the helically cut set off another bike. If any other of the gears are toast get another box, it's cheaper than trying to rebuild a Sport C box. Pete

Is this bike Carb or Fuel injected? pete

Errrrr! Only it's an 1100 Sport with the sfive speed so it doesn't use a cam plate it uses a drum but other than that the principles are the same. As Ratch says it can't be earthing through the gearbox per-se. My guess is that the stock earth path through the pork chops and rear subframe is so shitty that what the poor electrons are trying to do is find an alternative path back to the battery and they are doing this by going back thgrough any part of the loom they can and that will, on occasion probably involve parts of the loom connected to the neutral light indicator prong! I've had 1100 Sports where you could turn on the ignition and everything would look fine but as soon as ou hit the starter button everything would go black and the starter wouldn't engage. When you released the starter button the indicators and tail light would glow dimly but the dash lights would stay out until you turned off the key and turned it on again. Another one you hit the starter button and the hazards flashed! How and why this happened or was even possible I've never bothered finding out. I could guess it was an earth problem and looking at the Heath Robinson earthing system, (Cable from gearbox to pork-chop. pork chop bolted to painted frame, porkchop also bolted to rear subframe,front subframe which instruments and headlight earth through bolted to painted frame, final earth strap from rear subframe to battery bolted to painted subframe, all bolts between pork-chops and frame rusty and corroded ) it was obvious why. A couple of earths from the front ub-frame to the block and then a big earth strap from a bell housing stud direct to the battery negative and 'Voila!' it all worked fine again. Pete

Sorry, but I was being provoked!

I hit a rather large road bump while 'Pressing on' a bit yesterday on the Griso and took about 20 feet of air! the CARC made a bit of a horrid noise when I landed and I bottomed everything out, (I had the throttle twisted in a 'Sportsmans-Like' manner at the time ) but it tracked straight and true and didn't feel at all put out. I have to say i was impressed. I dunno if my Scura would of been so forgiving. Incidentally that Stelvio that got wrecked by a Journo in Oz? Turns out the idiot decided to do jumps with it and just kept doing it until he eventually endo-ed! What a 'Rhymes with Runt'? who tries to go berm-bashing ona 450lb motorbike??? Pete

Nah, good idea but the 8V top end is completely different to the earlier pushrod motors. In fact the studs/castings, one especially, don't have any form of sealing on them, the special one is actually the oil delivery gallery for the cooling oil to the top end. Seal that and the whole top end'll melt in next to no time!! Pete

Dave, if it IS a leaking gasket a re-torque will achieve nothing as the gaskets, both head and base, are steel and incompressible. The good news is that this makes it unlikely that they are the culprits. HAve you had the tank off and had a really good look. Best way is to wash it down well and then when dry sprinkle some talc on it. Run it for a few minutes and watch where the talk discolours as it absorbs oil. Pete

What? You're in Australia? You have neither in Northern Ireland, although some of the West Coast of the Republic is nice and the Western Isles of Scoot-Lend have superb beaches but they usually have fat boxheads taking their clothes off on them! Pete

We disagree again. I think that is hideous. FWIW my mate John in Melbourne has bought an 1100 G and is 'Clip-on and Rearsetting' it as he is uncomfortable with the stock bike, (The bloke's a freak!). I'll see if I can dredge up some pics o what he's doing. Pete PS. Just worked out what it reminded me of, a fucking Brahman bull. Ghastly!

None that I've heard of. Things I'd check. 1.) Temp Sender is now at the base of the RH cylinder in the Valley. I don't honestly know whether this is still screwed into the block as a 'Blind' hole or if it actually goes into an oil gallery. eeither way it doesn't actually work very well, (Temerature sensing issues ) but if it does go into a gallery it is a potential leak source. 2.) Does the bloke who did the cam recall have a decent torque wrench or does he just do stuff by 'Feel'? I'm a bit dubious about the whole prospect of un-clamping gaskets for the cam re-call without replacing them but having said that I've done mine, and dropped the sump which also uses a steel and snot gasket and re-used 'em and had no problems but if the proper proceedure wasn't followed during the cam service work the head could be cracked which would cause a leak. I seem to remember that the bloke who does your bike hasn't inspired you with confidence? Did he actually read the recall notes before undertaking the work? If it ain't the sensor then I'd guess its a head and barrel job. Make sure your mech knows to order the correct thickness head gaskets, they ane now used to set squish correctly. Pete

If your forks are still in the clamps make sure the upper pinch bolts are undone otherwise the compression will tend to lock the cap. Pete

Yeah, The 1100 still uses the old pushrod donk but with twin plugs and smaller throttle bodies. The 1200 is a completely new top end with 8V and cam in head like the Daytona/Centauro but with chain drive to the cams up the back of the cylinders. Effectively liquid cooled with 'air assist' it runs twin oil pumps, one to cool and one to lubricate. Dave's is a 1200-8V. Pete

Dunno Keith, I've never been fond of Clip-ons and rearsets and have never really owned a bike with them for long. Probably because I'm not much of a rider and I'm also a great fat f@ck I've always found I can get along just as well on something that is more upright. One of the reasons I bought my Scura was because it had risers rather than the clip-ons and I still managed to fling that away completely un-neccessarily in New Mexico! . If I really wanted a SERIOUS headbanging 'Racer with lights' for the road I'd have an RGV. I can see my licence and my ability to breathe being seriously compromised by such a purchase. Yes, if I didn't drink, didn't smoke and had lived a blameless life of the upmost moral rectitude I'm sure I could probably ride something with clip-ons and rearsets and stride like a Collossus (Sp?) through the tide of turd-burglars and racetrack wannabees I come across. Thing is I do do all of the above and my morals have never been particularly rectitudinous so I expect I'm condemned to continue as some sort of bloated Marrie Celleste forever roaming the roads of NSW irritating people and collecting speeding fines (And giving the wannabees a bit of a nudge from time to time.) Pete

They are. Fit a screen and you can even cruise at grossly illegal speeds with no effort and after you've set up the suspension it will outhandle many 'superior' machines. It has got a very long wheelbase but the wide bars make it easy to fling around. Pete

Ya reckon? Marzocchi forks and shocks, delrin manfolds, aftermarket seat, aftermarket exhaust, aftermarket rearsets, aftermarket sump spacer, plate says its a CX, VC engine number, Japanese master cylinder on the bars. Not saying it isn't a nice bike but it is no more a Mk I than an Eldorado is! The only things that really say Mk I are the rearward flipping fuel cap and the rear mudguard. Pete

Interesting the comments about the 8V feeling more refined and civilized. I find that mine is far more visceral and 'organic' than any stock V11 I've ridden. In a lot of ways it is very similar in *feel* to my Scura. I dunno? Perhaps it's the pipe but Dave has the same pipe? I consider mine to be fairly well tuned as far as one can tune something with the M5.9 'pooter and an O2 sensor but it not only has the cam-chain whine so hated by some but it also rattles and clanks a fair bit, I think this is largely to do with the uneven firing intervals and maybe the backlash in the dummy-shaft gear but it certainly isn't something that i concern myself about but I'd never describe it as 'Sophisticated' . Having said that the 1100 Griso is both more sophisticated, smooth and anodyne than the V11. It is also actually less powerfull for although the motor is very nearly identical to the V11 lump it uses smaller throttle bodies and is considerably more strangled. I loved my 1100 Griso, it was my first brand new 'Quality' motorbike, but I like my 8V more. I realize I'm probably swimming against the tide here though. Pete

Lloyd? Have you adjusted the suspension at all on the Griso? Ex factory the spring is set with way too much preload, (Collar adjustment.) and both the compression and rebound damping are fat too harsh. Wind the spring off 4 or 5mm and then play with the compression and rebound damping. The forks too are adjusted too firm and their damping is stupid too. Get it right and the forks are brilliant and the shock more than adequate. I too have both a Griso, (A 1200.) and a V11, (A Scura.) and think the Ohlins forks are better by a whisker but the rising rate linkage of the Griso makes up for the less versatile nature of the Sachs shock. Just my Pete

Greg is selling his Coppa Ductapio/Labia. One of the best you could want with Ohlins/ V11 fairing, Ballabio bars and a host of other stuff. I'm completely sold on the Griso. Both the 1100 and the 1200 are superb. The Showa forks are within a spit of the Ohlins and the Sachs shock is more than adequate but I will, eventually, be looking for something else. The only way to really make your mind up is to ride both. with the W5.9AM equipped bikes it is even more important to make sure that they have been set up properly by someone who understands how they work. Out of the box they can be very good, or horrid! Pete

Just a suggestion which may not have any relevance but try running another earth wire to the battery negative, use a big, thick, wire from somewhere on the block, (Like a bell housing bolt.) to the battery. Then add another suplementary earth, (A lightweight wire for this should be fine.) from the computer and the reg/rec to the block as well. While it may not be the case 99% of all shitty problems that aren't relay related are going to be earth path related. Pete

There are no dumb-arse questions, plenty of dumb arse answers about though . Honestly, you'll find that keeping a Guzzi going is generally a very easy proposition as long as you perform regular maintenence and do a bit of preventative work, (Especially if you ride in winter where they put salt on the roads.). The biggest issues with Scuras are their exploding flywheels, (Sounds like yours has already let go. Try and find out if it was replaced with another single plater or a twin plater.) and their dreadfully inadequate springs ex-factory. Address those and they are overall a good bike. Do make sure that when the rear tyre is replaced that the shop knows the shaft needs to be aligned and have them stick a wodge of grease in the bevelbox bearing each time the wheel is out and it'll probably run like a freight train for pretty much ever. Watch your oil light under hard acceleration. Pete

There is also a hose from, somewhat appropriately, a John Deere tractor with exactly the right bends, can't remember the part # offhand though One has to remember that a lot of Poms are still very weird about dealing with 'Foreigners'. They will also accept poor service and levels of idiocy that would be considered completely unacceptable in most other nations in the world. A case in point being the statement that a train ticket cost seventy quid! I can FLY to most of the major cities in Oz from Canberra for that and go to Cairns on the train! The UK is only the size of a postage stamp yet getting anywhere costs an arm and a leg. While I don't expect everyone to be a mechanic if you are going to depend on a vehicle for transport and decide that a seven year old model from a very obscure manufacturer is going to be your vehicle of choice it *does* help if you have an expectation that occasionally you're going to have to do more than simply turn a key and press a button. Pete

I saw that in Greg's Gay-Rage. it was so rooted the bolts had broken but the rods were still soldered to the crank with melted bearing! I Imagine the only way they'll be coming out is by removing the heads, barrels and pistons and beating seven shades of shit out of them until the 'solder' gives way or just cut the creank and rods up whollus-bollus with a gas axe or angle grinder. Bleargh!!! Pete

Actually more likely is simply torched big ends rather than a snapped rod. If you want to see that have a look at the engine strip pics on Guzzitech Dk. The oil pressure relief valve fell out of that one and the results aren't pretty! Pete

If you let all the air out of the tyres that lowers 'em by about 2 inches! Sorry! Pete