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Violin tools. Absolutely maddening to use (certainly for this novice). The drill is to stab the little stick with the point of the s-curved tool and insert it through the narrow "f" hole on the violin's top. If the little stick (sound post) doesn't fall off instantly, you are to deftly turn it upright and stand it between the top and back inside the body at exactly the right spot in relation to the bridge, then extract the instrument. Since the sound post will fall off multiple times during these attempts, one gets better and better at holding the violin upside down, overhead and rolling it around until the little stick drops out. All while humming Vivaldi. Or maybe The Devil Went Down to Georgia.

Yesterday, I rode Ebbetts Pass for the first time and it might just be my new favorite road. I was on the Stelvio going from Sacramento airport to Mammoth Lakes and it got me wanting to back and ride it on a V11. Then I started thinking about the Sierra Spine Raid idea that I've been incubating for too long. So... I am testing interest in gathering in Mammoth Lakes, CA in early October, when the high-altitude roads are still open and the aspens are putting on a color show. Tentatively October 9-13, with flexible arrival/departure dates. There is a hotel in town with covered parking (not garage). The hotel I'm thinking of is walking distance to my house, which has a two-car garage and can accommodate several bikes. Potential routes include: Ebbets Pass: https://scenic4.org/the-route/the-driving-experience/. << required reading Yosemite Valley via Tioga Pass Short loops around Mammoth and June Lake area Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest Lake Tahoe Sonora Pass Mono Lake and Benton Hot Springs (and search for wild mustangs on route 120) There are plenty of dirt bike trails here too in case anybody wants to trailer two bikes. What say you? Interested enough for me to inquire regarding a small block of rooms?

I beg to differ...

We have a member here that was told by those folks that guzzidiag would ruin his ECU. The fellow was elated to learn how to interface with his V11 using guzzidiag and has done it now, numerous times. As have many of us, with no adverse effects. It can be challenging to get it to connect, sometimes. With your plugs suggesting an "imbalance", it seems prudent to address the throttle body balance next. IMO, there is no advantage to perform parts of the entire tune-up, but let's work what you are comfortable with, @Drahchir

I've measured mine a few times with different gear oils- never had the opportunity during a good high-speed long thrashing, but in 'spirited' riding my rear drive has been between 135-170* depending on specific conditions and oil choice. A rule of thumb is that if you can keep your hand on the item in question for more than 5 seconds the temperature is below 150*.

FWIW rather than dremel clearance, flinging tiny chips everywhere, I'd locate the contact point between case and bracket with layout dye, or even a sharpie and some care. Then centerpunch your point and use a drill, somewhat larger diameter than the pin to sink the clearance. A bit of grease on the drill bit and some care in the work area guarantees you don't get swarf in the engine.

If there is a color faster than red, it must be silver . . .

Proctology tools? Phil

I know turning 137,000 miles doesn't seem like much to celebrate. But I'm celebrating, anyway. ( I intended this to be my 20,000th post, but I used that to reference fixing a broken link that @mikev had pointed out. As it should be, I reckon! )

for sale is my '97 916. it is the last year of the original 90's Ducati graphics before they went to a small displacement number in the upper front corner of the fairing with a plain red fairing. i bought this bike almost a decade ago with 17k miles and have had it since. it now has around 21k on the odometer. however this bike is as clean as can be for not being brand new, it is in exceptional shape as you would expect of an icon such as this. it looks as new with the fairings on or off. i am extraordinarily picky about what i buy and religious about maintaining their mechanicals and aesthetics. i have owned dozens of Ducati's and other brands over my riding lifetime, this is of course the most special of all. it's cleaned off with a microfibre cloth after each ride, with separate cloths for fairings, windscreen, and frame/wheels. it's also hand waxed every few months. this 916 is completely 💯% OEM with the exception of a set of Termignoni carbon fibre slip-ons (with chip) and a closed carbon fibre clutch cover. there is a carbon key guard also, otherwise it's no different than when it rolled out of the Bologna factory 28 years ago. license plate holder, turn signals, levers, paint are all original. it came to me with an SPS tail but it is NOT an SPS. the white plate on the tail does look awesome so i left it, especially compared to the all red tail which looks kinda plain in contrast. when i bought it there was a tinted aftermarket windscreen. i purchased a brand new Factory Ducati OEM windscreen directly from Italy with the little Cagiva elephant in the right hand corner to bring it back to original equipment condition. i have had the rear brake master cylinder rebuilt, the chain runners replaced with new, and the air intake tubes replaced with brand new also. probably a few other general maintenance items i do not recall currently, along with the usual oil and filter, air filters, etc. it wears Bridgestone S22 tyres currently, in very near new, great condition. brakes, clutch, fluids, etc., are all in excellent shape. it has the upgraded charging system and regulator. battery is fresh and always on a tender when not in use. it will fire straight to life and run perfectly without the need of the fast idle. every turn signal, dash light, tail light and the rest function as expected. the going rate in this condition and mileage according to Classic Ducati Market sales tracking for 2020 to 2025 is between $18k to $19k on average. https://www.classic.com/m/ducati/year-1997 this bike has always resided within my personal residence in the Los Angeles South Bay area since i've owned it, and been maintained exclusively by Moto Servizio in Long Beach, as have all of my Ducati's and other brands. clean title of course, and currently registered. never dropped and never abused. spending 90% of its life in front of the fireplace. as you can see from some of the photos, this machine is ridden at least monthly, usually for Malibu car shows and Rock Store bike meet-ups. it has never left me stranded or given any trouble. it's never seen the track, i have other new machines for that purpose (ZX-4RR, Daytona 675R, GSXR 750, S1000RR M, RSV4 Factory). i originally purchased the bike from an old man's estate in NYC and had it shipped to me in L.A. it's been well cared for and had an easy life. the two videos below will show the condition and sound of my 916:

FWIW , in Ky. & Tenn. (and probably all the Southeastern States) these would be fiddles and not violins .

Always fun banter over "fast and faster." I would like to steer the topic back to @fastaussie's Ducati for sale. Where is the 916 listed? I am not sure I saw it on the Classic.com link. I was thinking that link was as a value reference...

Since I had never heard of them, I went looking. Didn't spend too much time on it, but I came up with this. I found this thread: https://www.guzzitech.com/forums/threads/v7-v85tt-9-e4-e5-diag-tool-info.25192/ apparently discussing a diagnostic device that can be purchased from here: https://gtmotocycles.com/ and what did I find down at the bottom of that page? A link back to the Guzzitech forum. Forgive me for getting the feeling that they are shit-canning a good program, GuzziDiag, developed and made available for free by a handful of intelligent, competent and engaged individuals, to "protect" their own commercial interests. I don't know how I could come up with that idea.

Nobody was born with that knowledge and experience. Everyone learned it somewhere. I'd rather like to know who wrote that, and what his background, training and experience is. As it happens, I've met and talked to the bloke who wrote GuzziDiag several times. I have faith in his work. He is definitely not an idiot, and is a professional programmer. All that GuzziDiag does is read out the information that the ECU is receiving, nothing more. IAW reader reads out the map in the ECU. IAW writer writes a map into the ECU, which, if the new map is dickey, or the process is interrupted (flat battery or whatever) could cause problems.

Neither do I. However, @pete roper did mention the possibility that maybe a tooth could break off due to heat damage caused by the lack of oil. That made me re-think the whole situation.

Would be if there were, but there isn't. Red is 10% faster. Scientifically proven.

It's the plan!

We went to dinner at Skadi last night, which is attached to the Empiera High Sierra Hotel. And look at all these Harleys. Surely we could make this parking structure look better than this. The mountains in the background are part of the Sherwin Range in the Sierra Nevada.

MM got what he deserved. MM was clearly faster, he passed and repassed Rossi for several laps rather than race for the win. This is what Rossi was saying MM would do before the race. It's apparent that MM did it out of spite and was determined to prevent Rossi from contesting the championship. Rather than warn MM before the race or give him the "meatball" during the race, the officials allowed him to do it and penalized Rossi. The big losers were the fans who were cheated out of a competitive championship by handing Lorenzo the title. My only point writing about it is that the subject came up comparing their respective legacies. I was an MM fan until that point and saw him win his first GP at COTA. I'm usually a fan of all the riders and like to see a good race. I'm glad to see MM fight through injury and come back on top. There's no question about his talent and competitiveness. But his "legacy" is forever sullied by his own actions. In my book, the same is true for F1 stars Senna and Schumacher.

Another classic, rare in today's landscape, but never forgotten...

Ah geez... I will probably have the BMW in El Paso by then, and have family in Reno... OTW.

Wow....Ebbets pass looks fantastic, the video on the site was excellent.

Sorry I can't claim the prize in person, I'm in a plane halfway between Cairns Australia and home.

Score! For ten points and the championship , those brass tools are meant to seat the violin sound post (seen in the foreground) between the violin's top and back, through the "F-hole." (Perhaps where the "proctology" comes in ) In just the exact spot in relation to the bridge. I can attest that this is a task equal to putting a peanut on a moving train with tweezers. While dancing a jig.

How about tools to repair or make a wooden musical instrument like a violin? Guess #2: tools to make a cane fly fishing rod.

I seem to remember that Valtech actually produced a ‘Blade’ type tensioner that fits the *Newer* crankcases? I’ve not laid eyes on one but despite my memory being less than perfect nowadays I’m pretty sure I’ve seen pictures of one?

Thanks Pete and Phil, the additional information is great to know. I sure don’t want to go grinding out anything before knowing if there is something important in there. While I am waiting for the new HMB tensioner I have been looking at the original one closely and it seems to me that if the spring had somewhere around 3/8 to 1/4 less coil is would provide a lot more resistance to the tensioner pad. By shortening the spring and re-bending the end that could be accomplished, but not sure how it would affect the fatigue life of the spring. Looks like Chuck and the Engineers Handbook would provide the answer. A real solution to the weak spring on the later Guzzi Tensioner maybe a redesigned spring and continue using the Guzzi Tensioner, kind of like the gear selector spring issue.

This was the theme of my comments relating to the clutch slave cylinder Pete. It's amazing the small and generally unnoticed subtle changes that the manufacturers do in the production run that even at times proceed the actual incorporation of things for later model. Just when you think you have a handle on what was produced when you get a curve ball. Ducati crankcases are a myriad of such production variations. Most don't have a major implication for engine assembly but some do. Phil

For the sake of completeness, again, yes, it is in quite good condition. The one screw hole, the last one towards the rider that holds the screen on, is broken out. That could probably be repaired by plastic welding that bit from the broken fairing in, or just be ignored. A plastic weld would likely mean re-painting, or at least a touch-up. Ignoring the defect would avoid a re-paint. Also, there appeared to be three very fine scratches on the front end. Maybe one could polish them out. All in all, considering that fairing parts for the Le Mans models are a bit rarer than hen's teeth, I think it was a reasonable buy.

I dare say they are hatter's tools, but don't ask me what the do.

Update, I contacted HMB. They sell both types of tensioners, their beefed up version of the MG one and the blade style. They recomend their beefed up one, but also say the other works as well. They said that the HMB design fits exactly as the original and no case machining or grinding required. I am ordering one to see what it looks like and will decide which way to go once I have both on hand in about 10 to 14 days. Thanks Phil and Pete for your expertise. Will post the outcome in a few weeks.

I have to say I’ve installed a ton of those Valtech ‘Blade’ type tensioners over the years and have never had a problem with them. I have heard of the broken spring problem but never a broken blade. I tend to think it might be an installation issue rather than a design problem. Yes, they do exert a higher pressure on the chain, at least initially and this can be heard as they whine quite loudly when new but they soon settle down as the blade ‘Relaxes’. The was I installed them was to take the blade off the pin/base and bolt that on and then install the chain and sprockets before slipping the blade on half way with the pin just engaging the spring and then swing the blade round and pop it into the timing chest before pushing the pin end all the way on to the pin and reinstalling the nut and washer. Make sure the spring fits inside the bolt boss for the timing cover that it passes by. If you miss this and it’s over the boss the timing chest will leak when you tighten it down. It’s easily done.

On a healthy bevelbox the temperature of the unit is going to vary greatly depending on both ambient temperature and how hard/fast the machine has been ridden. One with issues will generally run a lot hotter. As far as ‘Slop’ or backlash is concerned any backlash you can feel by turning the wheel fore and aft with the bike in gear and the engine off will be between the dogs in the gearbox and not the bevelbox where backlash is measured in thou.

I changed the oils in my Quota last week, just went out and double checked my drain plugs, my bgb was about a 1/4 turn short of torque spec. So thanks. Maybe someone mentioned this and I missed it, but can you take temperature measurements on it after rides to help diagnose health? Or slop/free play in the wheel to check for excess wear?

Look, as I keep saying. If you want confirmation? Just pull the bevelbox and pull out the pinion carrier and pinion. You wouldn’t hesitate to pull the back wheel if you had a flat tire would you? Well it’s the same deal and then four more nuts that hold the bevelbox on. Once it’s on the bench all that is required to pull out the pinion carrier is to separate the flange from the casing. Sometimes it will simply pull out with a tug on the pinion. Sometimes you need to give the flange a couple of biffs with a hammer and drift to get it to separate a bit and then you can pry it forward until it comes loose and you can pull it out. Once it’s out the head of the pinion is staring you in the face. All these bevelboxes are essentially the same. All the way through from the T3 to the last of the California 1100’s. Yes there are differences in the lengths of the spacers in the box and these are easily swapped, then there was a change in about 2002 to the depth of the spline spigot in the crownwheel carrier, your Quota will need one of the earlier type. Apart from that the earlier Tonti boxes had 7/33 gear sets rather than the 8/33 of the Quota and of course the case has a shock mount on it whereas yours has a rubber bung filling the hole. Older Cali bevelboxes must be ten a penny in the US. Mark at Guzzi Classics probably has a dozen of them! If this had happened to me I’d just be buying a Cali box, checking it was sound and sticking it on. There is no need for it to be a Quota bevelbox. I can’t stress strongly enough. If you did ride 200 miles without oil there will be serious damage and you are taking a great risk riding it further. It will not of escaped unscathed.

That drain magnet is telling me to move on. I would not risk a rear wheel lockup giving your scene of events. You are hesitant to do a rear pull and replace because you don't know where the rear came from? Well, you can say that about any 25 year old used machine. Who really knows what the bikes real history is. If you are dealing with reputable MG shops, they might know the history. You're right, it's a gamble, always is. I can go with only what I know, that rear is shot.

One aspect that is difficult to interpret is the amount of metal on the drain magnet in 50-100 miles versus what we expect at the typical change interval (12,000 miles?). If we see 12,000 miles worth of wear in a very short time, that could be telling. Also, if the hardening of the gear teeth has been damaged from overheating, the wear may accelerate (more and more debris at short intervals). This may be detectable without fully changing the oil every time, but inspecting and cleaning the drain magnet routinely. Certainly, if the size and nature of the debris changes from the typical "filings" to larger pieces and flakes, the damage to the engagement surfaces would be suspect . . .

A saying from old timers who worked on Pratt and Whitney radial engines; "if you can read a part number on chips in the filter, its time to pull the engine" Not helpful I know, but a great story. 😀