Blast to the Mountains

[GraeV11]

In 2 hours time I am booked on the channel tunnel. It is then down to the Alps, France, Italy and Switzerland and back in 5 days. 2,000 miles in all. Will report back with film from my GoPro. Should be epic.

[grossohc]

Have fun

[docc]

I'm having trouble feeling sorry for you . . .

[AndyH]

Sounds awesome. Having to use my leave this year for a house move, otherwise I would have been doing the same this year.

[Orson]

In 2 hours time I am booked on the channel tunnel. It is then down to the Alps, France, Italy and Switzerland and back in 5 days. 2,000 miles in all. Will report back with film from my GoPro. Should be epic.

I'm currently in Courmayeur, Italy after a week of splendid weather in the Maritime Alps however, it all seems ready to go pear shaped tomorrow with an 80% chance of rain.

 

Hopefully, I won't get rained on all day!

[GraeV11]

Here is a summary of my trip . . .

 

Day 1 - speedo and mileometer stopped working.

Day 2 - massive brake fade before a very hairy corner on a mountain pass (I had been riding hard for a few hours). Nearly lost it over the edge. Stopped for deep breaths. Maybe should have fixed the speedo !

Day 2 - the pawl spring snapped late afternoon (second time in my ownership of this bike).

Day 3 - spent the morning replacing the pawl spring (missed some great riding). Lucky I was carrying a spare (take note all).

Day 4 - Charging circuit fuse melted.

Day 5 - finally got home, parked up the Guzzi and will not go near it for a few weeks now.

 

When it is working it is a mighty fine bike, but too much spanner time is needed to keep it there. I also ache like hell. Losing the faith again. . Will post the GoPro footage when I calm down (the good bits were very good). You may see a v11 in the small ads soon . . . 

 

At least it didn't rain . . . hope you had a great trip Orson.

[GraeV11]

Nice place

[GraeV11]

Not so nice place

[grossohc]

Thats a fair selection of tools you took with you.

[Paradiso]

That's bad luck.  I've just bought a V11 Tenni and I'm planning a trip to Spain.  Your post has filled me with trepidation.  Can I ask what spares and tools you did take with you? 

[luhbo]

Spain? On an Italian bike? I'd say this needs different spanners. Consider this:

Proteggimi

 

Hubert

 

[Paradiso]

 If only it was that simple!  Maybe my lack of faith was the reason my Ducati single went bang?  If it saves me money and keeps my hands clean, I'm in. 

[luhbo]

Besides that you need the typical mishaps parts: plugs, caps, a hand brake lever maybe, tape, tape and cable ties. And fuses, of course.

Tools depend on what you can do with them, or in other words, you would know wich tools you may need on the road. A small socket set, a long screw driver and some decent universal pliers (water pump) for instance can always come handy and still are not to heavy.
 

Hubert

[Orson]

Here is a summary of my trip . . .

 

Day 1 - speedo and mileometer stopped working.

Day 2 - massive brake fade before a very hairy corner on a mountain pass (I had been riding hard for a few hours). Nearly lost it over the edge. Stopped for deep breaths. Maybe should have fixed the speedo !

Day 2 - the pawl spring snapped late afternoon (second time in my ownership of this bike).

Day 3 - spent the morning replacing the pawl spring (missed some great riding). Lucky I was carrying a spare (take note all).

Day 4 - Charging circuit fuse melted.

Day 5 - finally got home, parked up the Guzzi and will not go near it for a few weeks now.

 

When it is working it is a mighty fine bike, but too much spanner time is needed to keep it there. I also ache like hell. Losing the faith again. . Will post the GoPro footage when I calm down (the good bits were very good). You may see a v11 in the small ads soon . . . 

 

At least it didn't rain . . . hope you had a great trip Orson.

Wow!

 

The brake failure sounds pretty scary! I saw some car skid marks going off a steep edge with no guard rail.

 

I also suffered a breakdown but, not nearly as thorough as yours. My regulator fried itself on the second to the last day. Luckily I had a reservation at a hotel and called them. They were able to sort out a tow truck to come rescue me. The bike shop sent a truck for it the next day and I took a cab to the airport.

[GraeV11]

The tools were provided by the hotel I was booked in and managed to limp to. Deserves a mention here . . The Belvedere Hotel up in the mountains on Little St Bernard Pass. Biker friendly, decent beer, loads of tools, oils and other fluids plus much needed encouragement and advice. Great mountain views. You can also sit outside with said beer and watch bikers take the challenging corner the hotel sits on and admire the sparks from their side stands. 

 

For the tools and parts to take I would add;

 

A pawl spring of course.

A couple of relays.

All shapes and sizes of allen keys for those hard to get to bolts.

A junior hacksaw for tailoring your allen keys to the job, plus altering the heads of those bolts you manage to round off.

A selection of spare bolts and washers.

A set of spanners - adjustable spanners will not do the job in those 'hard to get at' places.

a couple of decent screwdrivers.

Long nose pliers.

circlip pliers . . . unless you enjoy looking for circlips in the undergrowth as you ping them off with a screwdriver.

A tube of plastic gasket.

A decent smartphone to look up the sage like advice of the good people of this forum.

A spot of homework understanding the more frequent repairs - such as the pawl spring replacement.

Said smartphone for taking pictures of the parts you are fixing as you dismantle them (as reference when you put them back together)

A box of band-aids for those knuckles you are going to rip to pieces.

A pair of disposable rubber gloves,

European Recovery membership for those catastrophic failures.

A load of patience.

 

There are plenty more suggested toolkits on this forum

 

Seriously though, I was very unlucky and these bikes should take you anywhere in a very unstressed fashion.What I haven't mentioned here was one of my friends was on a Triumph ST1050 and his bike died the same day and needed a new stator. Top marks to the local bike shop that fixed it next day before 12 noon after it was dropped off at 6pm the evening before on a truck. I couldn't imagine the same service here in the UK.

 

Have a great trip !