belfastguzzi Posted April 24, 2005 Posted April 24, 2005 What's this? It's related to an awkward area that gives people a lot of trouble, near the back wheel. Size clue – It's beside a socket T-bar, for scale (and it's not a maggot or caterpillar).
belfastguzzi Posted April 24, 2005 Author Posted April 24, 2005 Here's the give-away clue: You know that forward grease nipple on the transmission shaft, that's so hard to get at? Well even with the wheel off I was having trouble. The grease just didn't want to go in. When I looked closer at the grease nipple I saw a little bit of yellow spongey foam stuff sitting in the hole. I couldn't make sense of that. I pulled it out a bit and there was obviously more inside. Was this a new/different type of grease valve? I decided that it wasn't and pulled it all out. How did this get in there? This is the first time that I have greased this joint. Do Guzzi clean and polish every grease nipple by hand, outside and inside, and in this instance a bit of the cleaning sponge got left behind? Did the factory run out of little ball-bearings for the grease nipple one day and so they improvised with a bit of foam instead? In 2002 did they experiment with sponge-foam balls in the rear wheel bearings as well? It could explain a lot. GuzziWorld
Guest davidb Posted April 24, 2005 Posted April 24, 2005 I wonder what other surprises you will find after the warranty runs out? I have lost all confidence on riding my guzzi more than a 100 mile radius. I will most likely trade it in on a jap bike or take it COMPLETELY apart and reassemble it.
big J Posted April 24, 2005 Posted April 24, 2005 This is of course the M.G. grease filter to ensure that only the very cleanest grease gets into the joint. Jeez,bfg s'obvious innit.
jrt Posted April 25, 2005 Posted April 25, 2005 What's this?It's related to an awkward area that gives people a lot of trouble, near the back 49648[/snapback] Oh, you're talking about motorcycle parts...my guess was going to be waay off base.
belfastguzzi Posted April 25, 2005 Author Posted April 25, 2005 This is of course the M.G. grease filter to ensure that only the very cleanest grease gets into the joint. Jeez,bfg s'obvious innit. 49654[/snapback] For a minute, I actually considered the possibility that it might be. Davidb "I wonder what other surprises you will find after the warranty runs out? I have lost all confidence on riding my guzzi more than a 100 mile radius. I will most likely trade it in on a jap bike or take it COMPLETELY apart and reassemble it." Db, don't lose confidence: as people keep saying, anything mechanical and anything assembled by human beings is going to wear, break and be put together wrong. Some of the 'wrong things' sure are surprising though – so far, on my bike the problems have been because of parts produced to the wrong spec. i.e. too short, too small, too big...no grease... That's bad, as well as surprising, but fixable and hopefully when these things are fixed, the bike will be pretty well sorted for a long life. The V.11 is a good bike, mechanically, because it is fixable and generally over-engineered in the first place. We all know that most modern bikes and cars are just far, far too complex and are made to be scrap in less than 10 years. It's not that modern stuff isn't better made, it's their complexity and their dependence on electronics. I think that would be the weakest spot of the V.11 – its nod to modernity in the form of an ECU: but I can live with that, its not like everything is controlled by it. My wife's car stopped starting (if you know what I mean) last week. I could see that it wasn't getting petrol and it wasn't getting a spark – and there was nothing else that I could do about the situation. It turned out that a sensor on the flywheel was faulty. If any of the dozens of sensors on a modern vehicle can stop it dead and you are a hundred miles from home – there's nothing you can do, except get out the credit card and mobile phone. My cars have generally been around 20 years old and no matter what has happened to them out on the road, I have never had to leave one, there's always been a way to fix or bodge it to get home. For me, that's part of the 'fun' (sort of). Calling up a recovery service isn't. And, for me, the MG Warranty doesn't mean a great amount as there isn't any local dealer here to sort the 'wee' things. The last bit of your post is attractive. The best thing would definitely be to take the bike apart and reassemble it, lovingly. Most of us don't have the time or space to do that. I reckon I will end up doing that over time, in bits and pieces. Probably a lot of other people here have done that too. Then there'll be a really nice machine that you can be confident in and that will run and run. I should add that if I was using my bike or car for business and knocking up a BIG mileage every week, like Brian R, then a 'modern' efficient car/bike would probably be best. Its 'disposability' wouldn't be such an issue then either.
belfastguzzi Posted April 25, 2005 Author Posted April 25, 2005 Oh, you're talking about motorcycle parts...my guess was going to be waay off base. 49655[/snapback] I can tell (by your photo) that your immediate guess was an educated (and personal) one.
GuzzTim Posted April 25, 2005 Posted April 25, 2005 Oh, you're talking about motorcycle parts...my guess was going to be waay off base. JRT that explains the ointment comment in your aerostitch post, Cover Boy !
Baldini Posted April 25, 2005 Posted April 25, 2005 ...Db, don't lose confidence...etc belfastguzzi, well put ....I hope you're right. Sounds like you're well on the way towards a rebuild...just keep taking the bits off as you come to them... ...pretty soon you'll need to get another one, a cheaper, oldish one, just to ride while you put this one back together, it'll be useful for spares too...but then one day you'll think - !....& then you'll need another one...it'll be useful to have more parts.... Look, it's not too late for you...just put the spanners down... Cheers, KB
belfastguzzi Posted April 25, 2005 Author Posted April 25, 2005 Modern Rubbish!! I've been using sandpaper all my life and it hasn't let me down yet. Some time ago I bought a Black&Decker 'mouse' sander and tonight I plugged it in and put it to work (yes, I'm attacking the V.11). Two minutes later and there's a huge bang with flying sparks and my thumb feels burnt. So that's the end of that. Even quicker built-in obsolescence than a piece of sandpaper! Modern Rubbish!!
DeBenGuzzi Posted April 25, 2005 Posted April 25, 2005 Maybe you should get some of these b4 you hurt yourself
belfastguzzi Posted April 25, 2005 Author Posted April 25, 2005 Maybe you should get some of these b4 you hurt yourself 49721[/snapback] Rub it in , why don't you!
DeBenGuzzi Posted April 25, 2005 Posted April 25, 2005 Rub it in , why don't you! 49726[/snapback] I joke cause I love
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