When (good) luck has you have your Quota!

[p6x]

@Speedfrog the Red Quota from Arizona transmitted his phone number via Facebook Messenger.

I was already setting up to travel to see the Black one. I guess I am going to have to see them both.

[p6x]

Help me with inquisitive eyes....

The Red appears to have the four turn indicators broken? bent? or is it my imagination?

The Black:

The owner has many bikes, and he seems to be more interested. He sent me all the pictures below. That bike only has 4700 miles. He originally purchased it for his son, but the bike is too tall for him to ride comfortably. He replaced the rear rotor and brake and the rear-wheel bearing. He is the second owner. The original owner brought the bike from UK. The ask price is 5100 USD.

 

[Chuck]

The red's turnsignal stalks have failed.. a common malady with them. Failing memory says they are the same as the V11S. My MZ Skorpion had em too.. replaced with some generics from Amazon. Cheap. (Guzzi content)

The low mileage black one may have bad wheels? Exhaust cracks? I don't remember the issues exactly. I'm old The single throttle body is a PITA to tune, I think. Mine had dual throttle bodies, so I never had to fool with it.

Edit: Almost forgot. One of the things you *really* have to look out for is the 4 screws that mount the fairing to the tank. If they have been over tightened, the inserts inside the tank will break loose and the tank will leak.

[p6x]

@Chuck

Quote

The red's turnsignal stalks have failed.. a common malady with them. Failing memory says they are the same as the V11S. My MZ Skorpion had em too.. replaced with some generics from Amazon. Cheap. (Guzzi content)

Thanks for the tip; this is an issue because I only have thirty days to pass the State's inspection, and working turn indicators is compulsory. But the main issue is that my plan was to bring the bike riding it. With the failed stalks, I have to fix them before. I see they are available from MG Cycle at $30 each.

Quote

The low mileage black one may have bad wheels? Exhaust cracks? I don't remember the issues exactly. I'm old The single throttle body is a PITA to tune, I think. Mine had dual throttle bodies, so I never had to fool with it.

I don't know if it has a bad wheel. The owner said it was imported from UK by its owner. The current owner has several motorcycles, and seemed to be proactive with me. I can easily ask him if his has single or dual throttle. But I would think that all the 1100 ES Quota of year 2000 had dual throttles? I am going to check in any case.

Quote

Edit: Almost forgot. One of the things you *really* have to look out for is the 4 screws that mount the fairing to the tank. If they have been over tightened, the inserts inside the tank will break loose and the tank will leak.

This is going to be hard to check. The seller of the Red one is only flipping it. That is my understanding. He purchased it from an estate, and has no personal knowledge of the bike, other than his previous owner was taking good care of it. I think the photos show that too.

 

If you look at the Red Arizona tag, the sticker seems to indicate "20"; meaning that the bike has been off the roads for 4 years.

I am going to speak to the seller later on today. I will ask him if there is a place where the bike can be serviced before I bring it back to Houston.

The Red is the first one I am going to go check. It is in Peoria Arizona. About 57 minutes away from Phoenix by bus.

[Chuck]

Yes, all stock Qs had the single throttle body. Mine was pretty highly modified..it was the infamous "Darth Quota".. the Guzzitech commuter in SoCal. If the tank is full of gas and it's not leaking, it's ok.  Mark at MG Classics had *several* for me to choose from when I was going to attempt a repair. It was a common issue, obviously.

I made a semi permanent repair of the turnsignals on the MZ using popsickle sticks as a splint and wrapping them with self sticking silicon tape. They were still ok if ugly after a year. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do..

[p6x]

6 minutes ago, Chuck said:

Yes, all stock Qs had the single throttle body. Mine was pretty highly modified..it was the infamous "Darth Quota".. the Guzzitech commuter in SoCal. If the tank is full of gas and it's not leaking, it's ok.  Mark at MG Classics had *several* for me to choose from when I was going to attempt a repair. It was a common issue, obviously.

I made a semi permanent repair of the turnsignals on the MZ using popsickle sticks as a splint and wrapping them with self sticking silicon tape. They were still ok if ugly after a year. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do..

Thanks; Correct re the single throttle body, unfortunately; this is from the workshop manual...

Quote

ALIMENTAZIONE
Iniezione elettronica indiretta, sequenziale fasata MA-
GNETI MARELLI IAW 15 M sistema “Alfa-N”, gruppo
farfallato unico, iniettori Weber IW031, pompa elettrica
con regolatore di pressione, gestione digitale dei tempi
di iniezione ottimizzata.

Unique throttle group;

The turn signals are not a dealbreaker "per se", however I can't risk being stopped by a trooper because my turn indicators don't work or dangle.

Quote

Mark at MG Classics had *several* for me to choose from when I was going to attempt a repair.

You mean the tank inserts? I have not yet gone through the workshop manual. Am I to understand the fairing screws go through the tank and are held from the inside?

[p6x]

@Chuck how many miles could you do on a single tank?

[p6x]

@Chuck I saw the four screws you mentioned on the diagram of the workshop manual.

They are at the front of the tank. Must be very hard to put inserts behind....

[audiomick]

I don't know if it has been mentioned here, so for the record: I reckon I've read somewhere that the frame on the earlier Quota version was prone to cracking down near the swing-arm / shock mount. Don't know exactly where.

Can anyone confirm the rumour?

[Chuck]

56 minutes ago, p6x said:

@Chuck I saw the four screws you mentioned on the diagram of the workshop manual.

They are at the front of the tank. Must be very hard to put inserts behind....

Yeah, that's the issue. They are molded in, and if torqued too much break the tank. I used a full kit of Caswell's epoxy tank liner and spent a lot of time making sure it was heavily applied on those areas. It worked, and repaired the "unrepairable" tank.

Darth was capable of 50 mpg.. but I have heard of very poor mileage with the Quotas.. even as low as the 20s. (!!)

[Chuck]

5 minutes ago, audiomick said:

I don't know if it has been mentioned here, so for the record: I reckon I've read somewhere that the frame on the earlier Quota version was prone to cracking down near the swing-arm / shock mount. Don't know exactly where.

Can anyone confirm the rumour?

I don't remember that one. Wheels, crossover, but don't remember frame cracks. Oh, one other thing.. the original ECU totally sucked. That may have been the low mileage issues. Just the same, It's one of Guzzi's very best touring bikes ever.

[audiomick]

I found a couple of pictures in the german forum. I'll risk linking them here, as on of the posters would certainly permit it, and the other is no longer active.

From the first bloke with the comment "the frame has the usual cracks", it is a Quota 1000. He also commented that the 1100 frame is "immune" to the problem. This bloke is a vehicle engineer, and very knowledgable in Guzzi lore.

Not very good photos, but one can see what is meant.

 

And this from the second bloke, apparently a Quota 1100

 

So I would be having a very good look at the frame in those areas.

 

Edit PS: further reading indicates that the second bloke's problem with the 1100 may have been a one-off, but the cracks in the 1000 frame seem to be a known problem.

[p6x]

1 hour ago, Chuck said:

the original ECU totally sucked. That may have been the low mileage issues. Just the same, It's one of Guzzi's very best touring bikes ever.

That I have read throughout the many forums Bard nicely compiled for me. It is amazing how AI can actually help, as long as you verify everything compiled.

However, what I read that the problem happened on the 92/93 1000 Quota, after the switch from Carburetor to EFI. So much, that some owners reverted to carburetors. But as far as I could read, the 1100ES 2000 was not perfect, but not as bad as the earlier models.

[p6x]

@audiomick thanks for sharing.

If there isn't some real structural damage, I can see that a weld would most likely fix it permanently.

Also, you need to factor in how the bike was ridden, such as strictly asphalt or terrain. With such a heavy power plant, top-heavy, it actually makes sense the frame may not have been conceived to endure big shocks.

One concern was that Mike of MPH Cycle Houston was very negative about the Quota, without being specific on what.

Once I get more details from the current seller, I will go to MPH and find out what he thinks; at the same time, I hope he had enough of six weeks to install my new Michelin Road 6... Duh!

[audiomick]

11 minutes ago, p6x said:

If there isn't some real structural damage, I can see that a weld would most likely fix it permanently.

Yes, most likely. That would be a bit of an issue here, as the inspectors for the bi-annual roadworthy inspection tend to get a bit allergic when it is apparent that there has been welding done on a frame. If that isn't an issue, I have no doubt that a competent welder could sort out the cracks.