pete roper

I can't write and they don't allow me anything sharp, like pens. Pete PS. I've sent out plates to all those who ordered them apart I think from Howard Reinhart. Unfortunately I've run out of the first batch so I've ordered another run of 'em which should be ready next week. Now, IF people have sent money and the plates don't arrive in a week or so then PLEASE get in ouch and I'll make sure you get another one from the next batch. Todd. You only got 4 'cos that wa sthe end of the run. I'll get some more out to you ASAP.

Yup, it's John. Silly me . I'll try and tee them up with some good places to visit, we've got a few of those Pete

That'd be him! Scura owner, also has a Centauro. Blew the Scura up last year! Sorry, by the time I wrote that it had been a long night Anyway I'm escorting 'em to the beach house tomorrow where I'll give 'em some instructions on where to eat and drink and leave it up to them how long they stay. They're over here for only two weeks and then off to NZ for a fortnight. I'll try and tee 'em up with someone over there. Pete

So there I am sitting in the pub, sticking $20 through the pokies and what happens? Some silly Irish bastard turns up, taps me on the shoulder and says "Are you Pete Roper?". Now normally the only people who ask me such things are coppers, he looked like a copper so I got ready to hit him and do a bolt, but then he sez he's conversed with me on the forum and has just recieved two sloppage sheets just before he and his much better looking wife flew out to Oz. No I was a *wee bit squiffy* and can't remember his name so I've been playing guessing games. I reckon it's Big J. (I admit to being more squiffy now!) but we'll find out tommorow as I've told them to ring me when I'm sober and I'll escort them down to the beach house where they can frolic and cavort for as long as they wish. Pete PS if any of you other silly f@ckers decide to drop in? a couple of days notice will enable me to do all the fatted calf slaying and all that sorry business. A tap on the shoulder in the pub is fine, but I can do better .

Dave, there are a couple of things that need to be taken into the equation. As the pistons move up and down the bores the volume of the crancase changes. Not by the full 1064cc's of swept volume but by a substantial part of it. The maximum volume will be achieved when the crankpin is at twelve o'clock and the minimum when it is at 6 o'clock. This means that as the crank spins the crankcase effectively 'Pants', this, along with the fact there will always be a bit of blow-by past the rings etc. means that there will always be a bit of pressure being relieved through the PCV ball valve, especially as revs rise. Inside the case there is a lot of oil flying about! Great streamers of it will be coming off the crank webs and the gas inside the case will be saturated with little globules of oil formed mainly when the streamers splash against the walls of the case, the surface of the oil in the sump and anything else inside there. The more saturated the gas that is expelled from the case the harder it is fo the condensor system, in the case of V11's the frame spine, to catch it all, condense it and return it to the sump via the return pipe. The further the oil in the sump is away from the crank the less chance there is of the vorticeese (sp) behind the crank webs drawing up oil from the sump into themselves as the streamers from the crank splash into the surface of the aerated oil in the sump. The plate therefore has several benefits. 1.) The obvious one that it will help prevent the oil slopping rearwards under hard acceleration and exposing the pick up. To do this most effectively the oil should be as close to it as possible underneath but NOT have any residual above it because.... 2.) If there is residual above it then the crank vorticees will pick it up and hold it in suspension in the gas within the case so it will be pumped out of the breather and start to tax the condensor. 3.) Surface tension will encourage oil coming off the crank to stick to the walls of the crankcase and the top of the plate hastening it's return to the sump. It will also help de-aerate it as bubbles of gas within the oil will be less likely to remain intact and because the plate is between the oil in the sump and the streamers of spray there will be less chance of the oil being frothed up as the streamers smash into the surface of the oil in the sump. 4.) Because of this there will be less oil in suspension in the gas in the case. This means that although the difference in between the greatest volume of the case and it's minimum more gas will *probably* be being expelled through the breather with each revolution of the engine the fact is it will be less saturated with oil and this will greatly assist the system to cope without expelling the oil vapor excess into the airbox for rebreathing through the motor. This being the case there is, IMHO, a very strong argument for running the oil just below the sloppage sheet. While there may still be some aeration of the oil increasing it's *volume* in the sump when the engine is stationary and has been allowed to drain down there will be the volume of most of the galleries, plus oil draining down from the heads, to help compensate for that. If the oil is run just below the plate then there is greater discouragement for it to slop rearwards under acceleration as it doesn't have any air to displace simply by squeezing it out of the way. Air will pass through the drains in the plate much more easily than air and many times more quickly, even if the oil is hot and thin. The reason why the *main*drain holes in the sheet are at the left hand front is because this is where the oil tends to end up as it comes off the crank. How do I know? Well several years ago, when I first saw one of Bruno Scola's plates I wondered about this. So I took the sump of an 850T and plumbed a pick-up hose onto the sump pick up after removing the stariner and dropped it into a 20 litre oil drum. I then lay on my side beside the bike with a timing strobe hooked up to one of the spark plugs and got a mate to start the engine and give it a rev while I lay beside it and a.) Got covered in oil. and b.) used the strobe to see where the oil was going. No, not particularly sophisticated and VERY messy but it DID show that the front left hand corner was where a LOT of the oil ended up Hence the holes! For these reasons I suggest that when the plate is installed the dipstick should be marked so that when oil is added it will come up to just below the level of the plate. Then the bike should be ridden and my guess is that while a little bit of oil will be used at first it will, very soon, find it's own *level* and stop using any. From then on you can take that point on the stick as being the correct level to run your oil at. Am I correct in all my reasoning? Buggered if I know! But it makes sense to me. As I said before I actualy gave a fair bit of thought to the design of the plates and my suggestions are not made lightly and without due consideration. Pete

I suppose what I meant by *residual* was any oil being above the plate while the engine is in service. To my mind you want to have as much oil in the engine as possible, (As stated, I don't think that pressurisation is going to be increaed enough to damage seals.) without it being above the plate. If it IS above the plate then the secondary function of preventing crank windage of the oil simply cesed to happen, the plate, (Apart from the 'Slop Stop' becomes nothing more than excess weight. Sorry, gotta go, supper and all that Pete

If the oil was milky looking it's because it's got water in it so it's formed a mayonaise. This is a particular problem on V11's, especially those regularly ridden in the rain, because the gearbox breather is directly in line with the spray from the rear tyre. To be honest it wasn't the Guzzi design shop's finest hour To prevent a reccurence of the problem it's possible to make a *shield* out of something, (It doesn't have to be as hideous as Greg's whiskey fueled inner-tube offering in the Bodge thread but that'll work fine ) A piece of perspex cut to fit in the triangular part of the shock cantilever brace and drilled so it can be retained by cable ties seems to be the commonest form I've seen but I haven't seen a lot of them so someone else will almost certainly have a better idea. As for the frag on the plug? Well, you'll always get frag. That does look a bit extreme to me but how serious it is will of course be dependent on how long it was since the oil was last changed and ow brutal you and the PO were with gearchanging. Pete

Thanks Carl. She's do at a pinch. Mind you being pinched by those could have a devastating effect! Pete

Mate, it's a pleasure. No, I won't be retiring on the profits of these, even if I add them to the outrageous piles of money I get from promulgating the use of UFI filters . They were produced because someone had to and I just happened to be the bloke with the time and the inclination. IMHO the problem should never have been there in the first place, but it is and I'm confident that in almost all situations it will solve the loss of oil pressure problems. I agree that adding more oil so that it is level with the bottom of the plate and marking the dipstick accordingly is the way to go. My reasons for suggesting using the plate as well as *over-filling* are that if you simply over fill the oil level will be closer to the crank and windage will pick it up and try to over-tax the breather system, the plate will help prevent this. I designed and manufactured the plate NOT for profit but because this is the sort of thing that I get a great deal of enjoyment ut of. What profit I do make on the plates will just about cover the moving of the septic tank away from the house down at the beach and the digging of some new soakage trenches. Alas my dreams of one of these is still a long way off, and I'll never be able to afford the silly drinks and nubile young titters! Pete

Hmmmm. Sounds like someone at that dealer can't read as well as not being able to carry out a half way decent PD. On the gearbox noise? yes, they are noisy. With time it gets better but this is still a noisy box. The factory HAS offered a retrofit, (Whether this is no included with current boxes I don't know?) which consists of what appear to be two small thrust washers or shims that go on one of the shafts, (Sorry, can't remember which. If you're interested I'll look it up later.) which are supposed to help quiet the racket but the fctory stress that the din doesn't actually cause damage. The drain tube fron the airbox is supposed to be plugged. If the plug has been removed there *may* be a drip or two if you thrash the bike mercilessly. I have removed the plug on mine because I want to see if it will drip after I give the machine a protracted flog. So far the answer is no, but weather here is warming up and I'll expect more problems, if they are likely to occur, in hot weather. So far though it hasn't leaked a drop. The sump isn't over-filled is it? Unlike the earlier models the oil light isn't a direct feed circuit I don't think. I haven't vbothered chasing the schematic but on my bike and others I have seen the light comes on when you turn on the ignition and the dash goes through it's 'Look at Me! Look at Me! routine and then goes out. I'm assuming that if oil pressure fails it will send a message to the dash computer and maybe the ECU that will illuminate the light and/or kill the engine. Because mine has been faultless I've had no need to chase reasons or diagnoses yet. Perhaps a faulty sender unit could still produce an error code in the new system just as it usd to cause a problem with the simple light before Sorry, I know I'm not being much help. Sorry to hear you're having such trials with yours. Mine has been fantastic since I first pushed the button. BTW, if it hasn't been done, get the dealer to do the fuel pump hose in the tank at the first service. It takes only a few minutes and they ARE falling off, due entirely to the use of 1 and 1/2 inches of crap hose and a couple of cheapshit hose clamps rather than proper jubilee clips . Mine didn't have a chance to blow off but when I puled the pump to check the hose was loose and the clamps weren't holding it very well at all, it was only a matter of time. Pete

I was always led to believe that one should put one's hed in between them and go 'Yibble-Yibble-Yibble!' but I have to state that I have no experience of anything quite so gargantuan so my advice may well be of little real help or relevance. Pete

Have you, or anybody else, had the tank off recently? If so were you/they careful about checking the cable routing to make sure that the throttle cable was routed with gentle bends and also not squeezed or nipped between say, the tank and the steering head of the bike. If cables are asked to go through too tight bends they will bind. Likewise if the cable is squeezed the outer may crush down onto the inner and prevent it moving freely. Either of these *may* cause the throttle to stick open. Otherwise check the linkage between the TB's. Make sure that the rod isn't hanging up on anything and the rose joints are free of crud. If when you turn the twistgrip back to idle position the bell crank on the top of the TB remains in the WFO possition and the cable goes slack then there has to be something either causing the rod, the rose joints or the butterfly spindles, (And possibly the sweeper of the TPS?) to jam up. There is a spring that closes the butterflys that opperates on the bell crank. If this has broken this too wouild allow the throttle to hang wide open. Having said this I think the cable routing is the most likely culprit. Take the tank off and then try twisting the twistgrip and letting go. If the butterfies snap shut then the most likely problem us a pinched cable. Oh, and I'm sorry to hear about your injuries but it could of been a lot worse! Pete

Buggered clutch slave? It all sounds extraordinarily byzantine to me! The way the sealing works is that the little 'ole in the bottom of the nipple is occluded as the nipple seats as it is screwed into the caliper. If the receptical that it screws into has a *flat* bottom, (God, this gets weirder and weirder!) and the nipple is pointed, (Can it get a lot worse?) then when the nipple is tightened down there is no way the two flats on the flanks of the bottom of the nipple, (Yup! Seems it can!) and the caliper base can mate, (See!) and form a fluid type seal. Grinding the tit, (Groan!) off the end of the nipple, (Fnarr, Fnarr...) should allow the assorted parts to seat together, (Like in a church!) and not allow the egress of fluid, (Like a wet dream.). Pete

St. Louis is a great town. I loved it, even though I diodn't actually meet anyone there Leo, the Convert Nutter, live there I think. Look him up, he'll know what's what. Pete

Thank you dear! Who is this prick? Just for that the cost of your plate has doubled! Since I'm not going to charge you this doesn't make a lot of difference but the thought is there. And NO I'm not going to accept payment! How much would it of cost for me to stay in LA without your generosity and I always value the fact you took me to the ugliest bar in LA! Fantastic! I loved the place, I only wish I had some pics of us staggering out drunk Pete

OK, some more went out just now. Wick got 4, Gini Fata got 1, Tom LaNasa got 1, Wallace MacRitchie got 1. Now Al Rotyheisterineburger wants one, Howard Reinhart wants one, Jon Margrave wants one, I'm sendin half a dozen to Todd at MPH on a 'Pay me as they sell' thing. send me your postal addresses and I'll get them out. Costs are at the top of this thread I think. Paypal account is linked to my email motomoda@optusnet.com.au If you can't or don't do paypal I'm sure we can work something out. I'm actually running out of the first run but never fear, I'll get another load done if the demand is there and i won't be taking anybody's money and doing a runner. apart from anything else I can't run Pete

Yours, along with a couple of others, went out a few days ago. Should be with you soon. I'll organize a summary in the next day or so of those I've sent out and anyone I've forgotten can shout at me and tear strips off Pete

A can of this stuff appears in my engine rebuild rant that I originally posted up on Wildguzzi and caused great hillarity with those not afflicted by humourless, po-faced christianofascism. We simply don't get all prescious and up-tight over such stuff. I mean??? What are you going to be saying when you use this shit? (Sing song voice.) "Please Mr. Motor won't you play?" Bollocks you will! Pete

Wick, Mate, I'm sorry, there are a LOT of things happening in my life at the moment that make things hard for me to keep on top of stuff right now, (I freely admit I'm not exactly Flash Gordon at the best of times!) but if you send me your fukll mailing address I'll get 'em out tomorrow and I'll send you the total price once in transit. Sorry about that! Pete

I too think the Griso looks 'The Biz'. I haven't ridden enough V11's hard to really comment on the handling but comments like 'Vague' and 'Willowy' have been used to describe them sometimes. While I don't push my bikes anywhere near as hard as other people do I've found that the Griso responds superbly to suspension tuning but it is sensitive. Even very small changes make a big difference. The spring rates seem fine for a porker like me but the front preload was too high and, at least for our goat-track roads, both compression and rebound damping were set far, far too firm at the factory. As I said, I don't ride nearly as hard as some but I do use all the back and most of the front of my tyres and have now got the Big 'G' handling just the way I like it. It's confidence inspiring and fantastic fun, even I manage to round up people on much more *modern* and powerful kit. Not, I might add, because I'm a better rider but simply because I have taken the time to play with and set up my suspension which is something that very few people actually seem to do Pete

Glad you're happy guys. I sent out several more yesterday, to Ryan and John Henry and someone else who's name elludes me at the moment..... If there are still people who have paid me who HAVEN'T recieved their plates by the beginning of next week let me know and I'll do some chasing. I'm sorry if this all seems a bit disorganized, it's because it is. Having just returned from burying my Mum I am now stuck confronting the very rapid deterioration of my Mum in Law into dementia and social ineptitude. The change has been very rapid, in the four weeks I was away the change has been marked and the local nurse reckons that she will probably be loosing most of her cognitive skills in the next four to six months. For those of you who've met Val you'll realize what a blow that is, she's a pretty incredible woman. At the moment both Jude and I are spending at least 40% of our waking hours caring for Mum so things ARE very confused. If I miss stuff I apologise, please feel free to prod me if I've overlooked you or your plate doesn't arrive within a week or so of now. Pete

Guys, this isn't something where there is a *right* and a *wrong*. It's purely personal taste and choosing which tool is better for your intended task. One of the things I love about all Guzzis is that they are hopelessly asymetric as one cylinder is further forward than the other and I personally find symetry boring but that's just me, it doesn't mean I'm *right* just different. As I said in the other thread I think a well set up V11 is probably more powerful than a Griso but to me that is completely irrelevant as my Griso is more than adequately powerful for ME. If people want more power? that's fine, but to be honest if you want much more power you'll have to leave the Guzzi fold and go to something more modern as there are, unfortunately, limits to the amount of Oomph! you can drag out of an old air cooled, hemi head, 2 valve twin. Pete

John Gorman borrowed my Griso for a couple of weeks while I was in the UK. John is 'Six foot lots' and complained that the stance simply didn't suit him. He also has very long legs which probably caught on the rocker covers. I'm *Lucky* in the fact that I'm a freak. I'm 5 foot 10 inches without boots or hair but I suffer from the classic 'Duck's Disease' I have a long back and tiny little legs which makes the Griso ideal for me . The seat is comparatively low, (I can flat-foot it both sides at a standstill.) but the pegs are high enough that I can only drag the ends of my boots on the entry to sharp bends and/or roundabouts on a trailing throttle,(Note, although there is provision for screw-in 'Hero Knobs' on the footpegs they ain't there ) remember, I ride like Gumby! I hate the 'Dog Shagging a Hockeyball' riding position but also eschew the 'Broomstick up the Arse' BMW look and I find the 'G' is ideal for me in terms of overal back posture at any speed I usually travel at, (Between 110-145KPH, you loose your licence on the spot for over 130.) unless there is a substantial head wind in which case things get tiresome, but they would on anything apart from a fully faired bike. At the same time the wide bars make it really easy to muscle about in bends and the long wheelbase makes it stable and easy to predict in a 'Road Riding' situation trather than the track. It's comparatively heavy rotating bits make it forgiving when the back end breaks away, (I'm glad to say I haven't yet had a front end lose!) and the Showa forks on the front are, (Yes, I know you racial purists will hate it.) superb. The Bogge (Sp?) shock is more than adequate for me but from previous experience with their products I'd guess that within a couple of years I might be looking to upgrade at the back. I love the way the motor delivers it's power and that may well be partly to do with the fact that the 'G' uses 36mm throttle bodies. I now that all the theorists, including some I really respect, will tell you that you should be able to use much bigger TB's wuith such a motor but the smaller ones deliver incredibly smooth, linear performance from nothing until the point where I'm quite happy to not go any faster. The bike ROMPS up to 100MPH after which things become a bit more relaxed, I don't care, it's rare for me to need to go faster than that and I can always knock it down to 5th if I'm in a panic, I've usually got 1,500 in hand at least Having said that a check of the on-board data logger often turns up maximum speeds of the 178-182kph mark so perhaps I'm suffering from advanced altzheimers The *new* six speed box? Sorry guys, while it is undoubtably noisy it is about a zillion light-years ahead of the V11 box in terms of precision. Ratios? Well they work for me but I'd preffer the middle three to be a bit closer together, 4th to 5th sometimes feels a bit tall but it still pulls well in 6th. Whether the higher geared Breva would do the same I dunno? No experience but when I test rode a Breva I was disappointed, short ride though and the only one. The CARC final drive? There is essentially nothing different to the V11. It's an independently isolated shaft drive with a torque arm on the bevelbox, on the Breva/Griso it's just less elegant, harder to service and heavier . It does have a driveshaft shock absorber though and is sheltered from road grime so it's not all bad. I can live with a bit more un-sprung weight. Good God! It's not as if any bike with a GEARBOX on the rear axle is ever going to handle like a GP bike, or even a Honda CT110 . My guess, although I haven't done a direct comparison, is that a well set up V11 will be considerably faster than a Griso and slightly faster than a wrung-out Breva. Style-wise they are all as different a chalk and cheese. I think the Breva, (And it's bastard offspring the 1200 Sport ) are uglier than the biggest ugly thing ever smitten with an ugly stick! I think the Griso is a truly stylish and individual machine that owes nothing to anything apart from the Centauro which was another Guzzi *original*. The V11 series, especially the early 'Short Frame' models were, magnificent but always seemed to me to be trying to *trade* on the fame and splendor of the early '70's models. Don't get me wrong. I like and respect the V11's, I just feel that they could of been done a lot better for not a lot more money. Perhaps the key to my *Valuing* of the various models is that I never bought a V11 but I bought a Griso without ever having ridden, or even seen on, in the *flesh* as it were. NOW! THESE ARE ONLY MY PERSONAL OPINIONS AND OBSERVATIONS. THEY BEAR NO OTHER MERIT THAN THE FACT THAT I BELIVE THEM AND THEY ARE NOT NECCESSARILY RIGHT OR WRONG. SO IF YOU WANT TO FLAME ME? FEEL FREE! BUT MY OBSERVATIONS ARE NOT BASED ON ANYTHING OTHER THAN EXPERIENCE AND PERSONAL BIAS SO I DON'T WANT TO GET INVOLVED IN LONG, SEMANTIC ARGUMENTS OVER WHAT I *MEAN*, JUST GET STUCK IN Pete

Horses for courses I suppose? I personally love my Griso and it's getting better all the time as I get it closer and closer to sorted. No major problems, just suspension tuning. I can understand people not being comfortable with the riding position. It's not *conventional* in any sense of the word, the bars are highish and wide and if you've been used to something with flatt bars and/or clip-ons it will feel really weird. I've never likes clip-ons though and most of my bikes have had real handlebars with a slight rise so apart from the width, (Which I'm now used to.) I have no issues with the 'G' and I find it very comfortable. Out of the crate the suspension was set up far too harsh. I've backed off the fork pre-load and compression and rebound damping front and rear and it's now working very well. Despite it's long wheelbase it's surprisingly easy to muscle around, in part because of those wide bars. I'd have to say I'd take my 'G' over a Breva any day, but that's me. I don't expect others to have the same wants or needs as me but don't write the 'G' off without trying one. Pete

Cable ties? Pfft! I spit on your cable ties! Once you're out in the middle of woop-woop you won't find cable ties! You'll find baling wire and bits of old fence. If you're really lucky you'll find a wrecked HQ Holden that was wrapped around a tree by a young hoon 30 years ago and you'll find that an old Holden, even though it was produced with Imperial bits, has loads of stuff that will enable you to get home. Never mind that the wiring loom is all the wrong colour. There's LOTS of wire in it! That helps when your home made loom decides to let all the blue smoke out west of the Black Stump. Then there's all sorts of intersting steel bits that can be cut off or broken off and beaten into various *neccessary* shapes before being attatched with baling wire. If the worst comes to the worst you cabn set fire to kit. Those 1970's vinly seats produce a plume of smoke visible from space! Sod the fact that polar bears will be weeping when you do it! It's better than dying of thirst or having to listen to two days of talk-back radio while you wait for someone to realise you're stranded. I reckon that any sort of 'Home Made' Hugger is a fine thing. the tackier the better. With V11's with their gearbox vent right in the line of the spray-off from the tyre they are virtually 'De-Riguere' but ugly, cheap, barely adequate and done while drunk will get a big, big bodge point from me every time Now, this Nuovo Falcone I'm working on at the moment? Whoops, I haven't been paid for that yet....... Pete