Scud

California may have some problems these days, but we can get cool black plates for our motorbikes.

Emotional attachment to a machine? Surely you are not the only member of this site to suffer such an affliction. But if somebody wanted my Scura, I'd tell them $20,000. They'd say "I'd have to be crazy to pay that much." And I'd say, "That's right. Are you crazy?"

Thanks - So MG Cycle sells kits to rebuild the rear master, but not the clutch or front brake. Although they sell kits for clutch and front brake masters on other models, just not the V11s. I've ordered a rear kit and will leave the clutch and front master alone for now. Even the caliper kits are getting hard to find. I got them from the UK.

Thanks Phil. Just ordered one of those - better performance, and probably a lot lighter than the stock Brembo. I've also got new brake lines, pads, and caliper rebuild kits on the way. Was thinking it would be a good time to refresh all the seals in the master cylinders too. Does anybody know if there are kits for rebuilding the master cylinders? I rebuilt a set of calipers on my red LeMans and was astonished at the difference in feel. I think the rubber seals harden over time, and these V11s are about 20 years old.

It was the LH boot that burped off. I just found that the LH spark plug was loose (spun out by hand with only the socket) - and the LH exhaust valve was tight. Both intakes were at .005" RH exhaust at .007" and LH exhaust at .004" I just set both exhausts to .007" and we'll see how that does.

Separated at birth... My Scura is 375. Dang... we almost got them together that day we rode with Rox on his Scura in Santa Monica mountains. But mine was spitting oil out the timing cover that day - so I brought a red LeMans to Scura rally. Yours really needs to be moved back to the mountains so she can be ridden again in the manner to which she is accustomed. No more of this long, flat, traffic citation harvesting.

Re mirrors - I don't know anything about Valentin. But they are genuine Napoleons. And like others have said... you really need to get that bike tuned up. Don't try to cure the symptom at the bars, try to cure the problem in the engine. The Napoleon mirrors look cool and give better visibility than the stockers. Those are the only reasons to buy them. And on the down side, they somewhat limit your lane-splitting ability. Re the BMW cruisers - I rode them at a BMW demo day at my local dealer. I really wanted to like them, but they shook terribly at a reasonable mid-range RPM - and the seat vibrated (which I guess is a "feature" for some people). So you either had to lug it or wind it up. Apparently this was done intentionally so it would feel more like a Harley... so sad... they sure look pretty though. Instead of a new BMW cruiser, you could buy a low mileage Audace and a California Touring and still have money left over.

Making some progress: Disassembled and cleaned ignition and starter switches, and various other electrical connections Got a bunch of powercoated parts installed, including the top triple clamp (steering bearing had almost no grease) Noticed rear brake disc is badly worn (thanks to the sintered pads...) Plastic T lamp holder is barely holding itself together (fortunately I had a new one already tucked away) Cleaned injector and throttle bodies (god I hate those tiny screws that hold the injectors in) UFI oil filter characteristically left the O-ring stuck in the engine. There's a Wix in there now. Still waiting on some goodies... but the Speedhut gauges have shipped. Looking forward to getting those in place. Thinking about gloss black powdercoat for the wheels. Building a list of little bits needed from Harpers.

Sorry, no Kindle version of the second edition. The publisher of the first edition retained the digital rights. Here is a link to 1st edition Kindle.

Thread drift noted and approved. Continue the story...

Thanks for the rain and snow. Much obliged.

I have them on my Scura and I mounted a set on a Greenie. You will need to shave down the rubber inserts that come with the Napoleons. They are made for smooth, not threaded bar ends. It's tedious, but I like the Napoleon mirrors. As I recall, there was not much difference in feel between the weighted bars and the mirrors.

Final ride of 2021. Tried to take a run up Mount Palomar, but wet roads and low visibility turned me away. Happy New Year everyone.

^ cool. Have you ridden the Norge enough to compare it against the Ducati ST3? And the few Norges I've for sale recently seem at low prices. Deals to be had on that under-appreciated model. I also like the Zard exhaust on the picture Docc found.

Maybe get a ride on a Stelvio before you make your final decision. Otherwise, good luck with the search - that's a nice color on the Norge.

Ha - my first thought on that was "Triumph has made it easy for the aftermarket to create tail-tidy kits." I think government regulations require the license plate and lights to be at specific heights. That huge arm accomplishes it with what appears to be nothing more than four bolts and some wires. All the aftermarket suppliers need to do is match the bolt pattern and wiring scheme.

Curiosity got the best of me. I wanted to know what spring was in there, and I wanted to see the weld from the inside. It's a magnificent bit of welding. I also imagined how I would feel if the spring broke in middle of the Mojave Desert. Cover popped off easily, so should be good to go. As you can see above, the "improved" spring is already fatigued. And I have no shortage of truly improved springs. I also picked up a 20-pack of bearings that replace the detent roller. Apparently, these are a common size for skateboards so they were cheap. Next few buyers of shift springs get a free bearing till I run out. An in other news... the Bitubo damper had a bad crunchy spot in the middle of travel. But the Ohlins is butter-smooth the whole way. I have not yet removed a Bitubo that was still operating well - they all have that crunchy, sticky spot.

Here is the remote clutch bleeder, successfully installed. Good thing too, as the bleeder valve was rounded off and would have been a PITA later. This is simply the line from a CARC bike, I noticed it on my 2017 Stelvio, so that's what used to place the order with Harpers. They identify it as "Float Chamber Clutch Pipe" part # 05606630. It was $70 - but next time I flush the fluid I am going to be happy I installed it. It uses the same banjo bolt as the Brembo brake calipers (and two washers). Final routing TBD, but the Stelvio has it up under the seat near the battery. Update: final routing for the clutch bleeder hose is under the frame, then along side the big positive cable from battery to starter. It terminates near the battery tray. Should make for super-simple, one-person clutch fluid flushing.

@MartyNZ did you replace all the rubbers with drilled ones, or did you alternate. And I have a bit of that Staburags - it's like religion with the BMW K-bike guys. That's what used on the transmission output spline a couple days ago. Thanks for the tips on the drive unit. @Lucky Phil I can send the take off from this bike after I verify that the powder-coated spare fits correctly. But working sort of back-to-front on this project, so can't send it immediately. Also, USPS is not shipping to Australia right now (thank-you COVID). I'm holding a spring for another member there.

MartyNZ convinced me on the drilled cush rubbers. He sent me a set just in time for my Scura to have an electrical problem that I ignored for a couple years... I think I'm just gonna replace every other with a drilled one and see how I like it. And Phil - I think your explanation is more likely than cracking it while prying it off. And why it's so important to dry-fit the cover before applying sealing. It's gotta be fully seated before you put a single screw into it.

Oh yeah... I forgot that there were some other attempted shift spring updates. Oil is drained (looked like gear oil with a little RedLine Heavy mixed in). I didn't fill it with fresh oil yet, so I guess that means I am harboring some doubt. And I'm not any hurry right now. Broken cover at roadside would be worst case... but aren't good welds often stronger than the original material?

Those side covers can be stubborn. I can see how you could crack one in a removal attempt, especially if an extra-strong adhesive was used. And somebody who worked on this bike in the past wanted things to stay put. For example, the torx-headed bolts for the frame plates had a ton of loc-tite on them, then they used lock washers AND nylock nuts. What a bitch those were... I reverted to stock fasteners. As for the spring... this bike was owned by at least two previous forum members. And I've sent out a lot of springs to various places so one could have found it's way to this bike. I'm gonna leave it till it breaks (maybe never) since it already shifts well and it's not leaking. I don't feel like tempting fate with a previously cracked cover, and possibly super-adhesive. But I will carry a spare spring, just in case.

And here is some clean up... and installed the powder coated subframe and candy-apple red plates. Popped the tranny vent in the ultrasonic cleaner, removed drive shaft for complete service, etc. etc. etc. Good thing it's been rainy here. More rain tomorrow. More "rainy-day" projects...

Cleaning up and inspecting... and a few more "discoveries" to report: Most things are in good order, and it already had Omron relays in all 5 positions. The bolt for the top shock mount was difficult to remove - put it against a straightedge, and sure enough, it was bent. I tested the CARC-style remote clutch bleeder on a spare clutch slave cylinder and it is going to work. It uses the same banjo bolt as the brake calipers. And I found a rather unpleasant scar on the side of the transmission. I was going to open it up and do the whole shift improvement thing, but it was shifting find and the PO said an improved spring had already been installed. So I am going to leave it in place and just change the oil. I also got a good look at the flywheel. It appears to be the same aluminum disc as came stock with Rosso Mandello and Scura. But since it did not come stock with this bike, I wonder if it is safe to assume it was not part of the "bad batch" of flywheels. I have no idea when it was installed, but it's got quite a few miles on it already. Hmmmm.....

...so it actually has ONE red Moto Guzzi eagle valve stem cap. And in other news, it blew a 15 amp fuse twice, so that means it's ready for the lift and some attention to the electrical system along with all the other fun. I've been collecting bits from various stashes in the garage, and some shiny new things like Rizoma tanks and Pazzo levers. My favorites are the forum-made bits like Chuck and Phil's shift extender, and the drilled-out cush drive rubbers. Of course, I'll be popping in a new unbreakable spring when I do the shift improvement stuff. I also dug out a bunch of previously powdercoated bits from my aborted Champagne LeMans project. The candy-apple red frame plates and covers look great with the Glossy Black Nero. Speedhut says my gauges will ship next week. I got the remote clutch-bleeder line that comes on CARC bikes. Gonna try to fit that while I'm in there. '