1998 EV ...new to me

[Bill Hagan]

I'm cheap (he says, snapping suspenders  ).

Pledge works just fine.   

Bill

[audiomick]

4 hours ago, al_roethlisberger said:

 to freshen up the exterior of the Hepco Becker hard cases.

I like Armorall for that sort of thing.

[al_roethlisberger]

1 hour ago, Bill Hagan said:

I'm cheap (he says, snapping suspenders  ).

Pledge works just fine.   

Bill

 

BTW Bill, I checked and the throttle does have the dual cables, so either it came from the factory with the correct setup or the recall you mentioned was performed.

It was great meeting you in-person today!

[Bill Hagan]

I tried pasting the whole post I put into the ADV V7 sub-thread here rather than the link, but failed in several ways to get that to work.

Given the Al Rothlesberger content , it's worth your trouble to go elswhere momentarily.

Actually, as I mention in that post, I failed to get Al's pic.  Well, I thought I took it, but it disappeared from my phone.  Maybe he's in a witness-protection program?  

A great fellow.

Here's the link: ADV Post about "Meeting Famous Al"

Bill

[80CX100]

18 hours ago, docc said:

I bet the Shin Etsu will be perfect for that!

Docc,      I've read you rave about this stuff before, I'm not familiar with it at all.

     Any experience with it on a more porous surface? ie like the Cordura? material on soft bags like my Nelson-Riggs or Cor-Tek saddle & tank bags?

[80CX100]

On 4/15/2023 at 10:24 AM, al_roethlisberger said:

 

Love that color combo 

I'd read about the HDM Hot Dog Mustard color scheme but had never seen one;If you love it do NOT look at the sidecar rig on this link

I love the blue on your EV,I agree the lines of the seat don't work,but what a super comfy looking lounge seat.

If you're looking for any stock EV replacement parts, Mark at Moto Guzzi Classics in California(Contact info in link below) is stripping lots of those bikes and making beautiful retro standards out of them;so he has a ton of EV take off parts cheap,fyi.

There is a sweet,very well done, EV Side Car rig on this link in that HDM color scheme,if it was in Canadian funds,close by,it would already be in my garage just on principle

http://www.motoguzziclassics.com/MGCClassic2bikes.asp seat

[al_roethlisberger]

4 hours ago, Bill Hagan said:

I tried pasting the whole post I put into the ADV V7 sub-thread here rather than the link, but failed in several ways to get that to work.

Given the Al Rothlesberger content , it's worth your trouble to go elswhere momentarily.

Actually, as I mention in that post, I failed to get Al's pic.  Well, I thought I took it, but it disappeared from my phone.  Maybe he's in a witness-protection program?  

A great fellow.

Here's the link: ADV Post about "Meeting Famous Al"

Bill

 

Well, I had no idea I was famous, but then again...  

(See below, me with "Al" from "Tool Time".  I actually met him sneaking out the back of a home improvement expo back in California)

 

Yeah, I don't know how you missed getting my photo, as I clearly remember your trying to get a photo of the Pik-N-Pig sign without my big head in the way 

But I know at least one of the ADV guys was snapping "proof of life" photos, and I think took a few shots of the length of the tables, so you and I should be in some of those.

[al_roethlisberger]

1 hour ago, 80CX100 said:

I'd read about the HDM Hot Dog Mustard color scheme but had never seen one;If you love it do NOT look at the sidecar rig on this link

I love the blue on your EV,I agree the lines of the seat don't work,but what a super comfy looking lounge seat.

If you're looking for any stock EV replacement parts, Mark at Moto Guzzi Classics in California(Contact info in link below) is stripping lots of those bikes and making beautiful retro standards out of them;so he has a ton of EV take off parts cheap,fyi.

There is a sweet,very well done, EV Side Car rig on this link in that HDM color scheme,if it was in Canadian funds,close by,it would already be in my garage just on principle

http://www.motoguzziclassics.com/MGCClassic2bikes.asp seat

 

Yeah, I really like the HDM livery quite a bit.  I love 70s color schemes, and my favorite colors are in the orange family usually, so an HDM set would be awesome.

 

Maybe I'll run across some HDM fenders, side covers, and a tank one day in great condition and just change out the Blue/Azure for HDM, and back, depending on the season... you know, keep things interesting 

 

...probably not.  It's probably cheaper to buy an entire bike!   But it would take up a lot less space in the garage rafters 

 

But yep, I've been on the phone with Mark since earlier this week.  Really nice and funny guy.  He has a few seats that he's going to mock-up and send photos of for me to choose.  He was very interested in my height, inseam, and weight to try to help pick out the best seat he has for a good comfortable fit.  I thought that was going above-and-beyond for someone just selling used parts.  I really appreciate the extra effort and clear interest he has in trying to help me out 

 

He says he has a matching BMS (Bill Mayer Saddle) main and pillion he wants to show me that he thinks would be a good fit for my height and is a bit better than OEM based upon the previous owner, who is a friend of his.  I'm not, well wasn't, familiar with BMS seats, but after doing some reading about them I'm very interested to see that seat 

 

Other than getting it registered next week, a seat is really all the bike needs for it to be ready for me to ride.  I could ride it with the Corbin, but I don't really want to since it really is too tall for me with that seat.

 

The bike has non-OEM, I think Harley Davidson?, turn signals, and I asked Mark if he had some OEM spares.  But he echoed what some others have said, which was that the OEM are junk and even if in good condition or new will likely have to be replaced again in a year or two when the "rubber" stalks crack apart.  So he said the HD ones on the EV are honestly probably much better and recommended I just stick with them.  I prefer OEM, but with that advice I'll probably just leave them alone then.  They don't look wrong, but I do wish they were a little more torpedo/teardrop shaped like OEM.  But that's a really minor thing after all.

 

On another note, I wonder if these generations of California/EVs are eventually going to end up a bit rare in totally stock form due to just normal attrition over time and with people converting them to "retro" bikes?  I've heard of, and now have seen, quite a few people doing that.  Like many things that become classics or collectible about 25-50 years after they've fallen out fashion, people often look back on when those things weren't being preserved or saved and say "wow, if we only knew".  Hard to say if this generation of California will be that case, but on the other hand, it wouldn't surprise me.

 

Here are the HD (I think) turn signals that were adapted to the bike two owners ago.  He apparently made an adapter plate for the fronts, and chopped off the base of the OEM signals to mount the rears.  There are also some non-OEM mirrors installed, but I haven't yet looked closely to see who they are made by.  I like the oblong OEM mirrors that are used on the California Vintage, but I'll give these a try and see how they grow on me, and most importantly how well they actually work as functional mirrors 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[al_roethlisberger]

Front "HD" turn signals shown below.  They sag and are twisted just a little bit, but I'm sure I can bend the adapter plate just a bit that the previous owner made to get them straightened out again.  

 

 

[al_roethlisberger]

Rear "HD" turn signals.  You can see where the previous owner chopped off the rotten OEM stalks, and used the special clip-in/bolt-on base to mount the replacement signals.  Even these bases are starting to disintegrate though, so I'll probably have to come up with some sort of new adapter or somehow use the internal metal of the OEM to make it work.  We'll see over time.

 

 

[al_roethlisberger]

Here are few, admittedly poor, photos of the non-OEM mirrors.  I'll try to remember to see if I can see some information on the rear of them when I'm out in the garage later.  But at the moment I have no idea what brand of mirrors they are, if they came from a particular model of bike, or are just generic aftermarket.  They seem to be all metal though versus plastic, which is nice.

 

 

 

 

[al_roethlisberger]

On 4/15/2023 at 9:57 AM, docc said:

Twelfth South'n SpineRaid, Tellico Plains, Tennessee

 

And oh BTW, if anyone runs across on of these genuine MG "Sport" windscreens like Bill has on his EV, let me know.  

The MG part number for the smaller "Sport" windscreen is:  GU03575102

 

I'll try to remember to ask Mark about that too.  

[docc]

7 hours ago, 80CX100 said:

Docc,      I've read you rave about this stuff before, I'm not familiar with it at all.

     Any experience with it on a more porous surface? ie like the Cordura? material on soft bags like my Nelson-Riggs or Cor-Tek saddle & tank bags?

For textile restoration, like the V11 Tekno bags, I have found nothing better than professional grade SEM Color Coat flexible color coating. I use their aerosol Landau Black for the Tekno. I learned about this, and the 210 plastics restorer, from a member here that has used these products professionally.

Before the 210 I have used Pledge, Plexus, and the Honda polish (also sold as "Original" cleaner/polish). The 210 has more of a restoration capability. They also formulate "210 Plus" for non-abrasive scratch removal.

https://www.semproducts.com/products/refinish/flexible-coatings

[p6x]

57 minutes ago, al_roethlisberger said:

Rear "HD" turn signals.  You can see where the previous owner chopped off the rotten OEM stalks, and used the special clip-in/bolt-on base to mount the replacement signals.  Even these bases are starting to disintegrate though, so I'll probably have to come up with some sort of new adapter or somehow use the internal metal of the OEM to make it work.  We'll see over time.

 

 

Hard plastic aging under UVs is relentless over the years. Especially older types. They become brittle and simply transform to dust.

The lens of my speedometer is now fissured from sun exposition.

[al_roethlisberger]

OK, found out what the make/model of the mirrors are:

https://www.ken-sean.com/product-display.html?id=961010

https://www.ken-sean.com/product-display.html?id=961020