Shunt!

[mdude]

Well, so I got my first shunt. Fantastic day, driving slowly (60 kmh) in brilliant weather on dry B-roads with my wife in tow on the Laverda. On this nice strech through the woods I suddenly see a brown shadow in the ditch. Its a weasel who first races across the road right in front of me, then suddenly decides otherwise and comes back under my front wheel. I brake hard, hit the weasel, slides on it for about a meter and gets the mother of all tankslappers that nearly tears my thumb off.

 

At that time a quote by the amazing Stirling Moss goes through my head; "drawing on my years of experience as a racing driver, I froze at the controls..."

 

And down we go..... Luckily i managed to get the speed down to about 30 kmh (I guess). So the old girl slammed down on the right, broke the indicator, scraped the carbon flyscreen, grinded down the barend weight, scraped the mirror, cracked the brakelever in front, smashed and grinded the cylinder guard, scraped the valve cover, smashed the sparkplug cover AND spark plug (luckily only the top of it), broke the rear brake lever, bent the foot peg and worst of all: reduced the right side titan can to a heap of grinded and bent metal. Its hanging there and probably works but its f....ed.

 

I have several holes in my pants and jacket and I have grinded the front and side of my helmet righ down to the weave. Had I worn a classic retro helmet I'd been looking at extensive facial surgery.... Just think about that for a minute... My right hand is the size of New Foundland and my left knee hurts otherwise Im fine; no doubt thanks to riding in full protective gear.

 

So.... The bike looks straight to me. It tracks straight and nothing is visually out of order except what I mentioned above. The front wheel might be out of alignment, otherwise dont see much damage. What should I check before I try to start it with a new plug and spark plug cover?

 

Didnt someone try to sell a right Ti-can some time ago? I'll pay the UPS charge if someone has got one.

I'll check TLM and Rebootguzzi on the other items.

 

Now off to Xray... I just luuuurve springtime.....

[dhansen]

Glad you are basically OK mdude and that the bike isn't badly damaged.

 

Look at the bright side.......... Your wife didn't give you what the weasel got!

[stogieBill]

Jeeze Martin, how big are those norwegian weasels anyway?

 

Glad it wasn't worse than it was.

[Guest Nogbad]

Hmm. ABS would have saved your sorry ass.

[Guest ratchethack]

So.... The bike looks straight to me. It tracks straight and nothing is visually out of order except what I mentioned above. The front wheel might be out of alignment, otherwise dont see much damage. What should I check before I try to start it with a new plug and spark plug cover?

Martin, glad you weren't hurt any worse.

 

Having just been thru much the same kinda crash, couple o' quick n' easy things to check for peace of mind:

 

First thing I did after getting the Guzzi home (sounds like about the same damage) was to check for wheel alignment, which would be an indicator of a possible frame tweak. Use y'er favorite method, but I used my tried & true laser alignment technique (posted a couple of years back here http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?...&hl=laser#). Spot on = safe to assume frame's intact, followed by BIG sigh o' relief.

 

Then I put a straightedge thru the front wheel spokes, held in place against the fork lower assemblies, clamped by a wheel spoke. Then sighted from the top of the fork in seated position across the top triple clamp, aligning top triple clamp visually with the straightedge. No fork twist = no need to re-align fork.

 

Now this is just me, but given the choice, I'll take on a 4-legged weasel every time. It's the 2-legged weasels that're the ones you've gotta watch out for on the road. They tend to operate machinery lots more massive than a Guzzi and can be every bit as unpredictable....

 

Sorry but I just gotta ask: At any point in the ordeal, did you hear, "POP goes the weasel?"

[Guzzirider]

Sounds scary- glad you are still in one piece!!

 

Guy

[Orson]

...with my wife in tow on the Laverda.

I read this as you were riding the Laverda with your wife as a passenger.

 

I didn't think it was too out of place that you reported your bike's damage and failed to mention your wife's injuries

 

then I re-read it and figured she was riding her own bike <_>

 

anyways...sorry about your bike. Hoping for a quick recovery for both you and the bike.

[mdude]

Martin, glad you weren't hurt any worse.

 

Having just been thru much the same kinda crash, couple o' quick n' easy things to check for peace of mind:

 

First thing I did after getting the Guzzi home (sounds like about the same damage) was to check for wheel alignment, which would be an indicator of a possible frame tweak. Use y'er favorite method, but I used my tried & true laser alignment technique (posted a couple of years back here http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?...&hl=laser#). Spot on = safe to assume frame's intact, followed by BIG sigh o' relief.

 

Then I put a straightedge thru the front wheel spokes, held in place against the fork lower assemblies, clamped by a wheel spoke. Then sighted from the top of the fork in seated position across the top triple clamp, aligning top triple clamp visually with the straightedge. No fork twist = no need to re-align fork.

 

Now this is just me, but given the choice, I'll take on a 4-legged weasel every time. It's the 2-legged weasels that're the ones you've gotta watch out for on the road. They tend to operate machinery lots more massive than a Guzzi and can be every bit as unpredictable....

 

Sorry but I just gotta ask: At any point in the ordeal, did you hear, "POP goes the weasel?"

 

thanks ratchet, that was what I was looking for. It will be awhile till I actually can perform these tests since I've got a small fracture in my wrist...

 

I get it that that the cylinders are able to withstand a small sized shunt like this?

 

And no, it went more like "Martin, you have pooped!"......

 

I really dont know if weasel is the right word, I actually thinkthis was the weasels bigger sibling (up her its called MÅR) about 60-100cms long. Just to excuse myself

 

the positive thing about this that I have the perfect excuse for loading up with Rossopuro goodies now.

[g.forrest]

glad your not too bad martin injury wise! be thankfull you's don't have kangaroos.they're much bigger than weasels.

[Martin Barrett]

Unlucky

But glad you're not too badly hurt.

Sounds like the bike will fix okay.

 

A long time ago I low sided my Yamaha XJ550 in to the kerb, where it stood up smacked the armco and somersaulted and the slid down the road on the other side. Had to replace everything above the rocker box gasket. When back together it still steered straighter than a friends. You've a good chance your frame still being true.

[Richard Z]

Its not the weasels you have to look out for around here. Its the Jackalope(aka. white tail deer).... Large rabbits with antlers. The damn things will just jump out in front of you. Just like the one at 3:30 am this morning that jumped out in front of me on the Triumph.On my way to work. Missed it by about 15 feet.

There are skid marks, but just in my shorts.

 

Glad to hear that for the most part you are fine. I too endured a broken wrist from my accident last September. It still bothers me. I don't heel as fast as I used to. Make the repairs to the bike. Don't make any shortcuts that you will regret. Fix it right.

 

Good Luck

Richard Z.

[mike wilson]

I really dont know if weasel is the right word, I actually thinkthis was the weasels bigger sibling (up her its called MÅR) about 60-100cms long. Just to excuse myself

 

Pine Marten, Mustela martes. Generally about 50cm. 100cm would be an Arnie amongst Martens.....

[dlaing]

Pine Marten

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_marten

So Martin got taken out by a Marten ...sorry

But I assume the Marten got the worst of it.

I hope you heal quickly, before the riding season ends

[Guest ratchethack]

I get it that that the cylinders are able to withstand a small sized shunt like this?

Martin, this might be a bit of an unintentionally loaded question. I reckon it depends exactly on wot "like this" means.

 

A few thoughts that might be of encouragement and help ease your concerns:

 

Even though the heads would seem to be vulnerable stuck out in the breeze, the Guzzi donk seems to be pretty resilient in a crash, and it seems to me that it's either broke or not, cosmetic damage notwithstanding.

 

I reckon it would take a walloping big impact to actually crack a Guzzi cylinder or cylinder head beyond cosmetic damage. Has it happened? Undoubtedly, but I've never even heard about one. Just my observation, but the head guards (stock ones and beefier aftermarket ones) and rocker covers would seem to absorb lots of force, as would anything that would come in contact with them, including road surfaces. I saw a photo of a gouge in the tarmac from a Guzzi cylinder head a couple years back. QUITE IMPRESSIVE! As I recall, the rider was able to save both the head and cylinder, even though the rocker cover, head guard and spark plug hadn't survived.

 

I JB Welded a small corner that had broken off my rocker cover and filled in and repainted some semi-serious road rash and fairly deep gouges in the cover. It's pretty hard to tell it ever happened now, and of course she runs like a Champ, as always.

 

Best wishes for a rapid recovery -- for both your wrist and your Guzzi.

 

BTW -- Special thanks, kudo's and accolades again to Richard Z, who happened to post a generous offer of a head guard for the cost of shipping at the time I needed one! As I promised Richard, I will extend the same courtesy to this board at the next opportunity.

[mike wilson]

I reckon it would take a walloping big impact to actually crack a Guzzi cylinder or cylinder head beyond cosmetic damage. Has it happened? Undoubtedly, but I've never even heard about one. Just my observation, but the head guards (stock ones and beefier aftermarket ones) and rocker covers would seem to absorb lots of force, as would anything that would come in contact with them, including road surfaces. I saw a photo of a gouge in the tarmac from a Guzzi cylinder head a couple years back. QUITE IMPRESSIVE! As I recall, the rider was able to save both the head and cylinder, even though the rocker cover, head guard and spark plug hadn't survived.

 

Having had the dubious pleasure of removing the left hand cylinder from a BMW (can't remember the model but it was a sidevalve - cast iron, none of this namby-pamby aluminium) by applying it with some effort to a mountainside, I can attest to the extreme force needed to do this sort of thing.

 

I do wonder, however, about the effort needed to displace the cylinder at its joint with the crankcase. It is located by a combination of the hole bored into the case and the head studs. It could be possible to slightly twist the cylinder/head combination about the longitudinal axis. The giveaway would be a leak from the base gasket, I suppose.