Cosmetic surgery or graceful ageing

[Guest Nogbad]

Got the V11 out and gave it a spring clean. Can recommend the various gunks in the Yoshimoto "De Dirt Box". They do a brilliant foaming wheel cleaner that gets all the brake crap off with just a rinse. The degreaser and general flysquash solvent made short work of the rest of the bike, and it was all followed up with a dose of wax polish and linkage lubing.

 

The old Spark battery still had good charge after my rudimentary recharging activity of a few weeks ago, so I guess I'm getting another season out of it!

 

Just need to do the 12000 service now.

 

The silver paint is the downside. Frame red is ok, green is ok, but the silver is coming off all the alloy.

[big J]

Rat it?Ah,I dimly remember a young Nogette,flushed with the first burst of spring and his mighty new steed.

 

How far have we fallen?Is this what we have become?

 

My belief in the goodness of mankind has indeed been shaken.

[Guest Nogbad]

Rat it?Ah,I dimly remember a young Nogette,flushed with the first burst of spring and his mighty new steed.

 

How far have we fallen?Is this what we have become?

 

My belief in the goodness of mankind has indeed been shaken.

 

So far I am caring for it, but accepting the natural loss of paint.

 

On the Buell I am fighting a desperate and losing battle against the worst corroding fasteners ever put on a bike. I have even resorted to painting individual screw heads with waxoyl, and still the plating is going white....

 

If you are losing faith in mankind, I blame that Barrett fellow and his ratbike V11.

[guzzi jon]

My friends V11 was previously owned by a gent who lived at the beach,virtually all the steel fasteners are a rusty mess, he's slowly replacing all of them with stainless steel. As for the Rat approach, I have one Guzzi that I went this route with, it is releiving to never worry about cleaning it, just knock the bigger chunks of bug guts off...

[Martin Barrett]

If you are losing faith in mankind, I blame that Barrett fellow and his ratbike V11.

 

Humph - mine is growing old gracefully rather like myself.

I voted for option 3, though tend to follow option 1. I never got around to doing my rocker covers or bevel box this winter, there's always next year.

[Guest Nogbad]

Humph - mine is growing old gracefully rather like myself.

I voted for option 3, though tend to follow option 1. I never got around to doing my rocker covers or bevel box this winter, there's always next year.

 

 

Well Martin, I'm an option 2 man no doubt about it, although I'm a lot more anal with the Buell as I bought it new.... I guess once I lose the battle against the fastener plating coming off I might just enjoy that bike in the same way I enjoy the V11. I don't like stainless fasteners as they encourage corrosion of their mating parts. The best you can get for the purpose is in my opinion MIL spec passivated cadmium plated steel. These look olive drab in colour but retain the properties of the original screws whilst resisting anything the environment can throw at them.

[big J]

Havent they stopped using the Cad plating?

 

For the Buell,might be an idea to check US military surplus suppliers for the unc/unf stuff.

[Guest Nogbad]

I am intrigued that three Guzzisti have voted for full restoration....... Come on, who are you?

[Ballabio Bertie]

I voted for option 3 but to be honest I'd rather just ride it. Living on a small windswept island makes for a very salty atmosphere (you can taste the salt most days),so keeping anything pristine is an uphill task....

[Guest Nogbad]

I voted for option 3 but to be honest I'd rather just ride it. Living on a small windswept island makes for a very salty atmosphere (you can taste the salt most days),so keeping anything pristine is an uphill task....

 

What it is going to get in reality is option 2. I might option 3 some parts if they need to be stripped off anyway. What it will never get in my hands is a full restoration!

[Ouiji Veck]

Voted #3 myself...and such is my intention.

Put off painting it this year...hate that soft beige paint.

@ 30K mi + - I'm still waiting to see if my confidence factor comes up to

where it needs to be to keep the bike. Bearings, electrics, tranny bits, self unscrewing

oil filters...not a good thing to contemplate while packing for multi thousand mile trips

where the objective is to get as far away from civilization as possible.

It was pretty painful to go from wrenching my '94 Ducati to my '02 Guzzi and back again

while I still had the Duc. Not a rusty nut or bolt on it..let alone the frame

or mounting brackets...while the new Guzzi has square inches of paint just flaking off..

WTF? ..

Good thing I just love that friggin' motor...and the big fat old guy handling.

 

So...I'll keep after it...improve as I go. This ain't a club for wimps.

[FuelCooler]

I voted for #3.

From my experience if you do a full restoration you will be afraid to ride it as much or as hard as you used to. As proof (to myself at least) there is a pristine restored bike in my computer room right now as I type this! I ride it less than 500 miles a year. Perhaps others have more courage. Good on ya!

What ever you do, enjoy the bike and ride it. They are meant to be ridden!

Steve

[g.forrest]

yeah rat it! so i voted 1. rat the buell thing to. just do the correct thing of maitenance, and ride the basterds..as the end is nigh.

[Guzzirider]

I've gone for option 2- Guzzis always look better when they are a little tatty.

 

Guy

[Greg Field]

Well Martin, I'm an option 2 man no doubt about it, although I'm a lot more anal with the Buell as I bought it new.... I guess once I lose the battle against the fastener plating coming off I might just enjoy that bike in the same way I enjoy the V11. I don't like stainless fasteners as they encourage corrosion of their mating parts. The best you can get for the purpose is in my opinion MIL spec passivated cadmium plated steel. These look olive drab in colour but retain the properties of the original screws whilst resisting anything the environment can throw at them.

 

Noggers:

 

I work on a lot of old bikes that have endured years of Seattle weather (9 months of rain) and have horribly rusted fasteners. Sometimes, these guys'll have me tear it completely down to powdercoat the frame but balk at the reltively small extra cost of having linkages and rods and fasteners replated in zinc. I should give 'em what they deserve, which is a crappy looking bike with a pretty frame, but that goes against my grain.

 

With head bowed in shame, I hereby admit what I do to "restore" these cad- or zinc-plated rusty parts:

 

1) Clean them of all grease and dirt

 

2) Scale off any loose rust with steel wool

 

3) Heat them with a torch until you start to see just a hint of smoke. You want them very warm but not even approaching red hot.

 

4) While the part is still hot, I brush on silver anti-sieze

 

The anti-sieze'll melt and get sucked into any remaining rust and all the irregularities in the surface metal. I'm not talking about burning the stuff in, so don't get it too hot. After the part cools, I lightly brush off the big chunks of anti-sieze, leaveing a very thin coat that gives the part a satiny silver finish. Yes, the finish can rub off and can silver your hands, but it generally keeps the part looking good for at least a year or so and is easily re-touched.

 

Perhaps this would work on your V11?