Puzzling questions

[Guest ratchethack]

here you go, checked the front tyre SEVERAL times for all it is branded to it: always found just this - VLK1606. 16th week of 2006? That would count the tire out, no?

Thanks, Pavel. NOW we're getting somewhere. . . well, it's a start, anyway. . .

 

By my read, it's getting a little long in the tooth for a Sport or Sport/Touring tire, at 2 3/4 yrs. old, but at this age, assuming wear is acceptable, the tire can't be considered a high probability culprit -- BY AGE ITSELF.

 

NOW THEN -- If we ALSO had the mfgr. (that's manufacturer) and MODEL of the tire, and while we're at it, the SIZE of the tire and the AIR PRESSURE at the time of the crash(es), as requested previously by Yours Truly since these could ALSO be significant, we could more'n likely rule the front tire OUT -- OR NOT -- and we could get on with the investigation!

 

Not trying to bust y'er chops, my friend. Just trying to help.

I remember now last year back home I hit a tram track with my XT660X yamaha (a supermotard want-to-be, not for sale in us, one single huge brembo disc in front) under heavy breaking resulting in a wheel lock and some 3 meter slide (measured post-partum). I had no problem with the bike, absolutely not effect on steering. What the hell is my problem with guzzi then? The second accident happened in perfectly calm situation, no heavy breaking at all.

Nice moto, the XT660X. I've had a XT600E for 7 years, a rare bird indeed here in the US. Weighing 370 lbs., and derived from a motocross chassis, these bikes are built for mastery of partial traction conditions, with geometries and balance developed for off-road, and as you no doubt understand very well, even the "supermotarded" variants are light years away from the big road Guzzi (at 550 lbs.) in terms of ability to slide either end (or both) under braking with minimal loss of control on marginal/variable traction surfaces. Apples & oranges. This is just me, but I find the contrast of riding both regularly makes for a 1 + 1 = >2 moto experience.

 

Yamaha XT660X

 

There might be somebody who can slide a Guzzi Sport 1100i like a flat tracker. . . somewhere.

[Dan M]

NOW THEN -- If we ALSO had the mfgr. (that's manufacturer) and MODEL of the tire, and while we're at it, the SIZE of the tire and the AIR PRESSURE at the time of the crash(es), since these could ALSO be significant, as requested previously by Yours Truly we could more'n likely rule the front tire OUT -- OR NOT -- and we could get on with the investigation!

 

 

We sure are beating this one to death. Get used to it Pavel, that is what we do here, especially during the winter.

 

The planets were in proper alignment for all the loss of traction gremlins to conspire. Usually there is more than one reason for traction loss.

Be it an aging tire, improper pressure, heavy braking, contaminated road surface or more likely, some combination of the above. The Pav man lost front grip. A quick inspection of the mechanical players like calipers, rotors, pads, wheel and steering head bearings will either condemn or more likely rule out that stuff.

As we've been leaning, I still think it was just a loss of traction.

[Guest ratchethack]

We sure are beating this one to death. Get used to it Pavel, that is what we do here, especially during the winter.

Yes indeed!

 

No Forum Tech Topic should ever be allowed to escape the utter savagery of a mortal bludgeoning in winter.

 

Not gonna happen.

[Dan M]

There might be somebody who can slide a Guzzi Sport 1100i like a flat tracker. . . somewhere.

 

 

Only if it has Pavel's front tire...on the rear.

[raz]

There might be somebody who can slide a Guzzi Sport 1100i like a flat tracker. . . somewhere.

Been there, done that, got the T-shirt ... by accident.

 

My oil cooler hose (cooler mounted low on the sporti) snapped from its banjo in Nürnberg last summer. In a matter of seconds, it drained the sump from all oil in a hard jet straight down, and it ended up on my rear tyre.

 

Normally there is no way in hell I would see the idiot light behind the fairing, but like a miracle I just happened to look down at my GPS and actually saw the oil light turn on. Clutch in, engine off, and I thought "I have no idea what's up but I may have oil on my tyre". Turned out I had. To add to my luck I had just left the Autobahn and was going some 70 km/h on a main road in the city. I braked with front only and gently turn right at an exit. And hooooly cow where is my rear. That was some serious drifting. But I did not bite the tarmac. Bike was packed with full gear and I was very impressed with how it acted. This is my excuse for the off-topic trip: the Sporti is not a bad bike, it's just heavy.

 

Scaringly, the day before I was doing serpentine roads over the Alps in rain and a couple of days before that I was trashing it on Nürburg Ring

 

That hose had a recall in several parts of the world. I don't know if that was applicable in Sweden but I know (now) my hose had not been replaced.

[2or4strokes]

Hi

 

How is it that you can lose it at lowspeed and not at higher speed. if there is a serious problem this should be amplified as speed increases amI correct to say?

 

I owned a sports 1100i as well and the WP suspension works fine or maybe as good as my ohlins on the copa italia abielt with less adjustments.

 

I think it takes a lot of effort to lock the front wheels and the fact that you said it was not an emergency ,it is strange that you can lock up a wheel just like that. Do you mean to say that you can simulate this behaviour as and when you want to?