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Finally Back On The Road


Mike Stewart

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Finally after a 2 plus year wait for the Mike Rich pistons, the Ghezzi Brian is road worthy once again. That is after a new battery, reinsuring, getting new tags for the license plate etc. I just did a 20 mile loop to check her out, and she obey's my commands, hard throttle to force the piston rings to expand to seat into the cylinders walls equals the beautiful sound of the engine's exhaust that brings the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up straight :notworthy:

 

Mike

Ghezzi-Brian10b.jpg

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That, and the endless,orgasmic,curvy roads of northern California = Nirvana! :notworthy:

Oh boy would I like to take that on 36 between 101+ the 5 :race:

Congrats :thumbsup:

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That, and the endless,orgasmic,curvy roads of northern California = Nirvana! :notworthy:

Oh boy would I like to take that on 36 between 101+ the 5 :race:

Congrats :thumbsup:

WOW! 36 between 5 & 101!

i lived in igo cal many many years ago, & had a suzuki gsxr 750. 36 between red bluff & platina is my favorite road of all time!

no cut & fill at all. they just paved the hills, left all the terrain as is. could get lots of air off those hills. the lads & i used to really flog that road, then turn at platina and head down the "ditch grade" through ono & igo into redding. of course that was before the CHP started using radar. wonder none of us were killed.......

stef

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Any ride after so long would have to be sublime Mike! My piston's are in the possession of my guzzi-drug-mule British Airway's Captain's hands which he'll be dropping over reeeaaal soon (he lives in France).

 

As you'd previously put out the call and I along with a few others answered - I can't wait anymore...

 

 

"After a 2 plus year wait for the Mike Rich pistons"... ARE THEY WORTH IT?

 

Still breaking them in I know but even at this stage, do you have any thoughts on 'em? Have you noticed any change?

 

ScuRoo's just gotta know...

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ScuRoo,

 

Once you see the pistons, you will wonder why you will have to hide them inside the engine where no one will see them, they are a work of art!

 

From the deep valve pockets, low dome height, oil forced lube holes from the oil ring to wrist pins,the pistons are very high tech. After checking for piston to valve clearence, I must say, Mike Rich did his homework as my clearence was at the close end of the scale (I have larger valves in this engine).

 

Take your time when installing the pistons, follow the directions on checking the ring gaps and where to position the ring end gaps on installation. The only real pain was getting those tight fitting piston pin retainers in. The piston pin clearence to retainer is very tight which is a good thing for a running engine, but care must be taken to make sure the piston pin clip/retainer doesn't fly across the shop to be lost. I stuffed rags down under the piston so the clips would not fall into the crankcase :whistle: Once the clips are in, MAKE sure the piston pin still can be rotated by putting your finger into it. If it doesnt rotate, then the retainers aren't seated in all the way. The end of the wrist pin has a slight chamfer on it to push the retainer outwards into the piston. On one of my pistons, I had to take a socket that fit against the piston pin to give it a loving tap to seat the piston pin retainers. Yes, the piston pin spun freely afterwards.

 

So, my main problem with needing th MR pistons was mainly for the bad ping I was getting on hot, dry days. I had the FBF pistons which had a unfavorable squish area, could I have made these pistons work? Yes but it would be alot of machine work and with machine work, there is no turning back if something didn't work. So, the MR pistons were the cheapest way to go for me.

 

Performance wise, it is hard for me to tell, mainly because I had the bike apart for soooo long, I can't really do any seat dyno testing here. The engine does rev smoother but some of this was because the FBF piston weight was way lighter than the stock pistons (about 100 grams lighter). I wont be able to see if the ping issue is gone till this summer when the dry heat comes.

 

My other problem is that I am still healing from the dreaded broken shoulder so this bike is very uncomfortable for me at this time. Just 20 miles on the tight Oakland Hills roads were killing me :homer: So hopefully I will get somemore riding time in to give you more feedback. :drink:

 

Mike

 

 

 

"After a 2 plus year wait for the Mike Rich pistons"... ARE THEY WORTH IT?

 

Still breaking them in I know but even at this stage, do you have any thoughts on 'em? Have you noticed any change?

 

ScuRoo's just gotta know...

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Finally after a 2 plus year wait for the Mike Rich pistons, the Ghezzi Brian is road worthy once again. That is after a new battery, reinsuring, getting new tags for the license plate etc. I just did a 20 mile loop to check her out, and she obey's my commands, hard throttle to force the piston rings to expand to seat into the cylinders walls equals the beautiful sound of the engine's exhaust that brings the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up straight :notworthy:

 

Mike

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Finally after a 2 plus year wait for the Mike Rich pistons, the Ghezzi Brian is road worthy once again. That is after a new battery, reinsuring, getting new tags for the license plate etc. I just did a 20 mile loop to check her out, and she obey's my commands, hard throttle to force the piston rings to expand to seat into the cylinders walls equals the beautiful sound of the engine's exhaust that brings the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up straight :notworthy:

 

Mike

 

Mike the bike looks fantastic! Nice to hear its back together again. Believe me I know the feeling!

Mike Sorge

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That, and the endless,orgasmic,curvy roads of northern California = Nirvana! :notworthy:

Oh boy would I like to take that on 36 between 101+ the 5 :race:

Congrats :thumbsup:

WOW! 36 between 5 & 101!

i lived in igo cal many many years ago, & had a suzuki gsxr 750. 36 between red bluff & platina is my favorite road of all time!

no cut & fill at all. they just paved the hills, left all the terrain as is. could get lots of air off those hills. the lads & i used to really flog that road, then turn at platina and head down the "ditch grade" through ono & igo into redding. of course that was before the CHP started using radar. wonder none of us were killed.......

stef

Ya No Cal,hell all of the West Coast is riding heaven.But 36 is one of those roads.Been on it several times over the last 10 years.Some nice stretches going west to east down hill at 60-70 that are just unbelievable!For anyone who hasn't done it,riding in the western US is a bucketlist thing to do!

End of highjack,more pics Mike and how bout a vid?

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Yes, I always use premium fuel in my bikes, I even have a PCIII and have added alot of fuel at the problem spot of 3500 rpm without any luck of making it better.

 

Mike

 

As for the pinging, are you running premium fuel ?

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