pete roper

And Mate, if you're so uptight and insular that you can't see Tex as one of the wittiest contributors to the Guzzi-Web-World????? It's not all black and white, imagine if there was a bit of subtlety? (Sp?) Ah. F#ck it. You're like a bunch of religious fundamentalists sometimes! Wake up and smell the bleeding coffee Pete

The nasty looking oil is mayonaise. It is caused by water getting into the oil. In the case of V11's this a particular problem with the gearbox as the breather is in a direct line with the fling from the rear tyre and there is NOTHING fitted by the factory to keep water out. Most folks who ride a bit in the rain will find the problem can essentially be cured by fitting some sort of shield between the rear tyre and the breather. Most folks do this by simply making up a triangle of plastic that will fit in he swingarm between the pivot cross-member and the two connector bars to the shock mount. It can simply be tied in there with cable ties. Once in place this stops the water being flung forward onto the breather which is where it leaks into the gearbox. Pete

Only the very best Arthritically fortified Yak Fat though!

The story is/was that i could never justify to myself buying a V11 when they were new. I simply didn't reckon they were $20,000 better than my old Tontis. So I bided my time and waited until prices became more reasonable. The long and the short of it is that one of the members here had a low mileage Scura with bar risers, an decent exhaust and a PCIII on it for sale in (New England? Can't remember?) so I bought it last year or the end of the year before for five or six grand when our $ was almost at parrity with the greenback. This was a killer deal as over here a used but good condition Scura is worth at least twice that. Thing is I knew about the explode-o-matic flywheel and wanted nothing to do with it so it had to go. The simplesty option for me was simply to ship it to one of the dealers who, by long observation of the net, I felt I could trust implicitly and simply asked them to do anything they thought neccessary to make it right like it should be. the main issues were the flywheel and the fact that Scuras are, ex factory, sprung, in the words of the sadly missed Dr.Know, for 'Bullemic Cheerleaders'. Unfortunately this is a category I have never fitted into, even when young. I really wanted the Ohlins suspension so I got MPH to get 'em re-sprung at the same time as they threw out the clutch and put in a 2nd hand Centauro item they had knocking about. It also had some tranny work done and I think the pinion tip needle roller was replaced as well. To be honest I neither know nor cared really. I got the bill, paid it and was somewhat surprised by how small it was given everything involved but that cost me about another $4,500 which put the bike up in the sort of ballpark I'd be paying for a poorly running stocker here in Oz. I flew into the US just before the National rally in Malibu. picked up the old tart from MPH and then Sean and I thrashed across the country to LA. Apart from a couple of the relays going out, (An oversight that is easy to make on a bike you work on in fits and starts over a period of months and anyway I was stupid for not carrying a couple of spares.) and the fact I tried to throw it down a ravine in New Mexico it ran faultlessly. Since I left it has been in the 'Tender' care of my mate Father Guzzi O'Brien in LA where it continues to be cared for by being giving regular thrashings while I'm otherwise engaged. Unfortunately I can't bring it back to Oz, (I won't bother trying to explain the byzantine reasoning behind this piece of government f#cktardery!) but since I'm a fairly regular visitor to the US I'm more than happy for it to live with the Father as long as he's happy with that. I can also offer it as a 'Loaner' to mates who may visit which is good. The long and the short of it is you get what you pay for. The number of people I'm willing to allow to work on my bikes can be counted on the fingers of one thumb. MPH, Micha at Moto International, Sean at Guzzi Classics in Long Beach are three that immediately spring to mind a as being people I can *Know* from either having met them or read and ingested what they have offered publicly on the net are a cut above the common herd and who actually LIKE Guzzis and that is very, very important. Guzzi owners are notoriously tight! I'm no exception. I can peel and eat an orange without taking my hands out of my pockets! But I'm always MORE than willing to pay the bill without even looking at it if I know the job is going to be done right. Shipping the Bike to MPH gave me the confidence to simply get on it and go. Last thing I wanted to do while I was on 'Holidays' was to sort out my own poxy bike! Good grief! I do that for a living! Given what I paid and the parts and labour involved in the job I think I was treated very leiniently cost wise but even if it had cost me half as much again it would of been worth it. One final item. DON'T, PLEASE, ever think that if you take a bike apart and then ask someone else to put it back together you will be doing yourself a favor or saving yourself money. NOBODY likes a 'Sugar-bag Bike' ie, one that comes in in bags and coffee jars. I personally refuse to even look at them now as they are ALWAYS trouble. Make the decision BEFORE you embark on the work whether you have the skills and tools to undertake the task. Any doubts? Take it to the workshop as a complete lump. Believe me, it will cost you less in the long run. Not only because of the time involved identifying everything and finding out what goes where but because of the 'Hassle Tax' that will ALWAYS be added to such a s#itfight and the sense of utter loathing you will have to endure even if you do find someone to take it on Pete

I got the Haven boys to gingerly take mine out and throw it in the bin and replaced it with a twin plater. The later model twin plate flywheel assembley is only a trifle heavier than the single plater and is basically bulletproof. I'll probably be shouted down here but I've never really felt that the single platers were anything more than an excercise in extravagance on a road bike. The fact they also had a predeliction for going 'BOOM!' also turned me right off. Pete

I'm told that the spigot thickness of the Nuovo 1200 is quite large enough to enable the factory to hog it out by 3 or 4 mm easily. You do the maths, I really can't be bothered. I've been riding Guzzis for 30 friggin years and their 'Grin' factor has NEVER, EVER been dependent on cubic capacity or power output. I have no doubt that the pinheads in Piagio Central w2ill do all the wrong things to make the machines 'Competitive' including making them far to big so they vibrate and don't work as well as a smaller version but this is what the great unwashed seem to want. Perhaps with the change of politicla mindset in the USA this will change as well. Perhaps Piagio will realize what a goldmine they have aquired. Perhaps also they will be glad to see an old 'Adversary' bite the dust while clucking about how sad it is. Welcome to the modern world where nobody gives a shit about history but the maximisation of profit, (Usually at the expense of the workers. Guzzi workers are now striking and all power to 'em!) is king. In a few years time you'll all be riding the two wheeled equivalent of Toyota Corollas. Have you ridden one of the new Aprilias? A Shiver or a Mana? Great bikes but blant to the point of boring. I own a Mana and its a great tool, but it is scarcely exciting or challenging. Heaven forbid we should have things like that though! They might be DANGEROUS. Aww. Bollocks!!! I'm just in a bad mood, ignore me..... Pete

Aren't there any bearing factors nearby? Just take the old one in and match it up. I don't think its anything special. If you can't find somewhere just give me the dimensions, (ID-OD-Depth) and I'll pick you up a couple in town. Pete

What is the seal for? Where does it go? Buggered if I can remember part numbers but it looks like it might be the alternator seal? Can you verify what it is and what machine it is for and I can probably get you one pretty quickly. Greg, Todd and others will probably be even quicklyer Pete

Clip ons would foul on the 'wings' and there is no space under the seat for an exhaust. Pete

Yup. I've been pissing and moaning about mine not having spoke wheels for, well, since I bought it! I've just sold my 1100 so I reckon I might just syphon off some of the money off for a set of new wires when they become available. (According to the on-line parts list the wheels for the Stelvio are hideously expensive so I expect the Griso ones will be likewise absurd but I can probably defray costs by selling the Marchessini/Brembos off the 8V.) Interestingly this model doesn't have the petal rotors my 8V does which wouldn't wory me a jot as I actually think the brakes on my 1100 are better than those on the 1200. Whether this is related to calipers, pad material, or the discs I have no idea. Pete

And your grammar is incorrect. Lupo Vecchio is 'Old Wolf. Vecchio Lupo is 'Wolf Old' which sounds like a disease (Sorry, sometimes I just can't help being a smartarse ) Pete

BAsically all the vent is is a niple with a mushroom shaped shroud over it. Take it ut, carefully, and blow through it. It should flow air freely. If the mushroom shaped cover, which is there to help keep water out, is missing then it should have a hole in it but if that is the case I'd buy a new breather. It's not as if they are super-spendy. Pete

Where the rotor is is irrelevant. It still imparts inertia to the crank be it directly or through a belt. The only thing that would change that is the ratio between the size of the pulleys and I think that on the new bikes its 1 to 1 isn't it so the effect is the same as crank mounting apart from frictional losses due to the belt and whatever the mass difference between the crank totor and the belt driven one. Pete

Yup, but that's as simple as putting a nose on the end of the forging and machining it to suit. There is no reason why they can't build a 'Sporting' version and they'd be mad if they didn't but......... Personally I wouldn't use the 'Old' six speed as the new one is infinitely better and I don't think it is heavier or longer than the old one. Pete

The alternator is the big issue in a lot of ways. On most of the *new* bikes its location puts weight up high and it radically reduces space that coud be used for a decent sized airbox. Given we are talking about a 'Sportsbike' why not, as on the Belagio, crank mount the alternator once more? one of the main points of using the location they do was to give the corn-cob pipe and suspender crowd 600W to play with so they could run their satnavs, heated seats and self warming indwelling catheters without the battery going flat! Yes it does allow the motor to be forward mounted a bit more so the weight bias is a bit better but we're still talking about a HUGE, HEAVY motor with a HUGE, HEAVY gearbox and final drive on the back. I'd think that quite cheaply you could design a frame that would work well and allow a bigger airbox and maybe even greater fuel capacity as well, (The 8V motor is quite thirsty, not something that worries me. if I was after thrift I'd be riding a Honda CT110! Once again it seems to be of concern to the pipe and 'spenders brigade though.). Use modern steering geometry and shorten up the wheelbase a bit, add some 'Praying Mantis' type styling for you blokes who like that sort of thing and Bob's yer uncle. Personally I wouldn't want one because I'm far too old and fat to be comfortable on one for more than about 30 seconds, that is true of all modern 'Sports' bikes unfortunately and I think the Griso is the best looking bike to come out of Italy for decades, (with the possible exception of the 916 but thats a Ducati so it doesn't count as its a shitheap ) its a bike that if the factory had been asked to produce a machine specifically for ME they couldn't of done a better job! I love it, but I'm not so one-eyed as to think that it is going to be everyones' cup of tea. I'm sorry, but the 1200 'Sport', with or without the 8V motor is still a mouse studying to become a rat. It's trying too hard to live up to being something it patently is not. If Piagio don't produce a 'Sporting' model with the 8V powerplant I'm afraid it will further confirm my suspicions about both the company and their motives. It would also be VERY sill of them not to as the MARKET, even in these tough times, is out there. They don't have a very good record on this sort of simple observation though.... Pete

Great! Numbers! The silly git is coming up here on Saturday. I'll see if I can pick one up tomorrow so its on hand. Pte

Apart from the gearbox! No, they don't all go tits up but the '95 carb sport gearboxes are notoriously failure prone. I've listed the reasons for this so many times that I suggest a search under my name will bring up a zillion entries! Just make sure you take a test ride and if any gear sounds louder than any other take the box ot and do a job on it. It can be made good, but better to get it early and pay medium dollars than leave it till all the shit has hit the fan and it will cost you mega $$$$$ Pete

Nige, ring me. 0417 462 440. I want to look at the trim on your bike anyway and can go through the bleeder issue at the same time. Pete

You can use them. They'll fit. Problem is they are designed for a smaller combustion chamber and your compression ratio will be well down on original, or at least only close to. In recent years (2 valve.) there have essentially the V11's and the Cali series prior to the twin-plug engines. Sorry, but you've bought the wrong slugs. Back on fleabay with 'em. Pete

Or even 'Ducati, ensuring that the pretentious and self important can make sure everyone else can see they are dickheads since pretty much forever!' No, it's not true of all Ducatisti I know several really good people who own 'em but you have to admit they attract festerheads like a bull's bum attracts flies in summer! Pete

Mate, At the moment? who knows. Last time I looked it was about 85c US to our $ but its changing by the moment. Look, gimme $155US with postage. For the UK add $5.00US more. Whateverrrrrr!!!!! As my 14 year old sez Pete

The arse has dropped out of Midget porn. The Father has nicked all my old customer base with his cheap Californian immitation crap. What's a bloke to do? Pete

Zebulon and anyone else who is interested. I have just had another batch of sheets made. $150AU plus shipping. PM me if interested my email is playing up, Pete

Hubert, somebody, (My viewing of this forum now seems to require me to scroll down a lsit of replies rather than look at 'em one under the other, probably some failing to understand somthing on my part.) stated that Gilera were a development of MV. All I was doing is pointing out that they aren't. Greg? Times change. In a lot of ways I'd love to see a small, independent Moto Guzzi based in Mandello but it just isn't viable. You think so? Explain to me a business model where you could see it working. I agree that the homegenuity of all *Motorbike Product* as with many other things is becoming tiresome but I still maintain that *a* Moto Guzzi of some form, as long as it isn't simply an excercise in badge engineering, is better than *no* Moto Guzzi. If we get Guzzi badged Aprilias, as we got Guzzi badged Benelis, (And Motobi badged Benelis.) then I would agree, the name, if not the company, is dead but at the moment I remain cautiously hopefull that all is not lost. I may be quite wrong, perhaps it is one of my few optimistic traits that I hope Guzzi will struggle on with their own identity, and I don't see that as being absolutely rusted on to Mandello del Lario.... Pete

Jesus. Everyone goes on about poor quality control, expensive bikes and parts and a host of other issues and then when someone, even though it is a huge transnational corporation, tries to drag the company kicking and screaming into the later part of the 20'th century everybody starts shrieking about how important Mandello is. HAve you ever been to the factory? It's a crumbling, tween-wars Fascist edifice right in the centre of a small town. It is quite possibly one of the WORST sites for a modern manufacturing plant possible. Its a dreadful dump! Yes of course the history is important but the museum can be kept there and there will continue to be strong links to Mandello as Gillardoni and a host of other suppliers are there. I'm sorry but I find this sort of lachrymose sentimentality a bit stomach turning. Oh and the Gilera 4's had nothing in common with and were not developments of the MV 4's. Different machines, different companies. Pete