docc

The Seal Whisperer

I see a nice southerly loop by Suches to the Guzzi dealer at Rider's Hill in Dahlonega returning by Wolf Pen Gap road and, eventually, the Cherohala (late in the day into the sun as usual). 234 miles versus our usual 226.

It is the first complete restoration of a V11!

The third Guzzi specialist that had mine finally took care of it. And that was just seals. Not all Guzzi Specialists are created equal. At last count, there is only one Andy York and one Pete Roper!

September 12-14, 2014 on the edge of Tennessee, USA with North Carolina and north Georgia. Very likely to hole up at the Lodge at Tellico, but try for a route that doesn't ride into the sun all day. Anxious to hear what the hopes and wishes of the Spine Raiders are! :oldgit: (You know which one you are!)

My crystal ball says September 12-14. Time for a fresh new thread!

D'ben: if you would give up that babe in your avatar that keeps crashing your Ferraris, you wouldn't be aging so much! Send her over. I'll help you out here, buddy.

Clever, those Bavarians! "R-nine-T" I'd like to hook a ride on one and get the feel. Biggest difference in specification is the 12:1 compression. Should make the boxer really *pop*, but well see. I really wanted to like the R1100S, but couldn't wait to get back on the Sport. Maybe this Bavarian is different . . .

I was really wanting the hammer to work. This threatens the axiom: "If it can't be fixed with a hammer, it must be an electrical problem." Hang in there, Bjorn! There must be an explanation that you can address!

Heh: yeah, I used to want a "vintage" motorcycle. Now the ones I bought new have arrived! "Works of Art" they are! BTW, I don't think "mass produced" applies to any of these models. "Hand built in small batches" maybe . . .

I love this phrase : "collector grade" being applied to V11 !

It was an Italian second!

So, there is some Piaggio-Fiat connection that would land the Moto Guzzi in such a precious second of air time?

footgoose, I inserted the MG Cycle link. You should be able to copy and paste the web address from the target to the link icon in the menu above the reply box (ninth from the left). Simply highlight the text you want linked, open the link window and paste in the address. Try the one for the Harper's part. Let me know if it keeps giving you trouble.

So, this just in from chamberlin's review of Moto Guzzi - The Complete Story, Greg Pullen: (chamberlin's post): OK! So I read the birth of the V-Twin section, and it seems that Greg Pullen has it correctly. "Brief" bullet point recap of Pullen's text: Carcano had been working on a powerful and simple V-twin since the demise of the V8 in 1957 Carcano had dreamed of building a road going V-twin but his original designs in the 50's never made it off the drawing board after the V8 project was dropped, he re-visted the idea of the V-twin, hoping it would find a place in farm water pumps and be a utilitarian motor, but Moto Guzzi ignored and concentrated on the 2-stroke designs Carcano kept the V-twin idea for a motorcycle in the background, but in the meantime dropped his prototype into a Fiat Nuova 500 for fun (causing a few rumors in the auto journalism world) Moto Guzzi did employ a 90 Deg. V-twin in the attempted replacement for the Ercole/Ercolino Motocarri trikes: a military vehicle called the 3x3...only about 200 were built, but this 754cc V-twin motor was penned by Micucci, not Carcano the Micucci motor was related to the Carcano engine only by the most basic layout and had little else in common with Carcano's design Guzzi finally entertained Carcano's idea to power a Fiat, but Fiat showed no interest...and as we all know now, Abarth became Fiat's tuning house instead a bidding for a new government motorcycle contract was offered up to Guzzi, Gilera, Laverda and Benelli in 1963 Carcano and Todero re-fit the V-twin intended for the Fiat into a motorcycle chassis and won the contract 1965 Milan show debuted the 704cc robust engine as a commercial offering while police and army contracts were also being filled Carcano was focused on squeezing power for racing in his previous designs, but this time he was focused on longevity for this new V7 motor big end bearings which were easily accessible like a car sump unbolted like a car electric start only like a car (big battery and generator) produced until 1976 with USA buying the bulk of the production run So, looks like Pullen has put another nail in the coffin of Mick Walker's mis-informed storyline.

Yeah, cool: here it is on Jalopnik. The Guzzi motor is at second :51. ã propos with Maserati's early involvement with the spine fame!

Oh, man! I missed all that tonight installing PIAA lights on the son's MiniCooperS. The commercials are the best!

I was thinking to take the back cover off first. Silly, though, what would be the cover "behind" the lights is toward the front of the bike.

"Brief" synopsis from the thread Origins of the Guzzi V-twin: (From post#1): While it is widely known that the V7 introduced by Moto Guzzi in the 1960s was designed by engineer Guilio Carcano (along with Umberto Todero), the myth that it was derived from "a tractor" ( the 3x3 Mulo, or military mule) has been so often repeated to have become (wrongly) accepted as fact. Many thanks to Greg Field, Moto Guzzi Big Twins, MBI publishing, 1998, for his outstanding research on this. (Post#7: Field interviewed and quoted both Guilio Carcano and Umberto Todero who designed and executed the V7 engine for the original police specification trials. They both gave clear responses that the V7 had nothing to do with the Mulo V-twin which was designed primarily by Micucci. (And post#19): Having reviewed also the works of Mario Colombo (1977, translated to English in 1990), Ian Falloon, David Styles, and Greg Field, I would be comfortable holding the opinion that it is, in fact, Mick Walker who started this whole misconception that the Guzzi motorcycle V-twin started in a tractor. It becomes a story line that he repeated in print for at least thirteen years, and was repeated by others, so as to be repeated today as if it were true and well founded.

I set a new topic in How To and linked back to the main post. Hope that helps with searches later. Swing arm bearing removal in How To

Link to the removal post in Technical Topics "Rear drive needle bearing and swing arm restoration" by Bjorn.

Dude! How long have you been hiding that edition of National Geographic under your bed?

Hu, is that you standing back behind the chorus line??