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I just did a nice 320km day trip in Friesland!

On another fanatical note, the T1 trust has secured an assembly facility in Denison, Ohio less than 2 hours from my shop. I'll be discovering whether I can force my way in to touch anything. https://prrt1steamlocomotivetrust.org/

I grew up climbing on this devil, the equal of the Big Boy; arguably stronger and slower, the Lima locomotive works 'Allegheny' at the Henry Ford Museum. Every summer there was a steam excursion from Dearborn, MI to Ft. Wayne, IN. I worked in a print shop across the street from the tracks, and over all the machinery you could hear the 2-8-4 Nickel Plate Road Lima Berkshire 765 thundering and sounding so far away we had plenty of time to shut down and run out to watch.

I still remember the peculiar smell of the steam locomotives. In the 60's, while on vacation, each day I was going to the station to witness the departure of the train from Quiberon to Auray. The locomotive was a 231 Chapelon. The engineers were seeing me every day, and one time, they got me inside the cabin, and showed me the fire.... I will never forget the experience. At the time, I decided I was going to be a steam locomotive engineer.

So, I've finally patched the bike up, and it's once again looking great! I still need to replace the windscreen, but it didn't want to fit properly anyways so I had to drill new holes just to get it on there. The frame of the fairing is a little bit asymmetrical and that's probably the cause of these fitment issues.

Managed to source an original example. It's a snug fit but keeps things toasty.

https://youtu.be/-HhQ5vvjK5o?si=JGQxOqioYJ5Ty7QU

Just got back from an almost 1,200 mile trip on the Quota, mostly Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. She did great, best tank was 44.5 mpg, worst was 38 mpg, average was a touch over 42 mpg. She ran great, I was basically up one gear when cruising. I do get an odd miss when cold, but only 2 or three times the whole trip. I did get a touch of spark knock in 5th climbing a steep hill, it was the tank with 89 octane and not 93. I did plenty of heavy throttle hill climbs before and after and no issues with 93 in the tank. The bike ran much better, smoother, more responsive, just more enjoyable. I'll pull the plugs tomorrow and give them a look. Oil temps were good, liquid cooling (rain) does a great job. They stayed about the same as testing, it did get hot in traffic in town, up to 220-240, but dropped quick enough when back up to speed. I really enjoyed the Quota as a touring bike, both bags were fully loaded, and it was still fun on the twisty roads, and it was comfortable cruising 4 lanes at 65 mph.

Hi all, I have a question for Pete, me and my mate both ride the same bike (on occasion) and both have the same handling issues. We are not mad men but do like to scoot along at a (making progress pace). We are trying to cure a stability problem with these bikes. Having a bit of flex down a bumpy road is ok by me and is a sign to settle down a bit but both of us are getting a weave at speeds above 130kph. Made worse when changing lanes on a highway or any gentle bends. Improvements are easily made with higher rear tyre pressures, my buddy has longer shocks and progressive fork springs. This helped for a while. I now have about 15mm of fork showing through the yokes. But here’s the thing, when i got the bike it came straight from a service from a well known guzzi guy in Italy. I didnt have any issues at that time. Do you know if there are any “tricks” to keeping these in top handling behaviour? also if anyone else has experience i would love to hear it. I have trawled through forums and cant bear to read one more post that its the rider thats at fault. It’s true, if i didnt ride it then there would no issues… thanks David

I have spoken with a a Guzzi guru who is a very experienced chap with Guzzi. (Mike de Clifford) Like you all said it needs a decent tune up! He knew straight away as did you guys! well beyond my knowledge!! So I’m taking it to him this weekend! Pete I had my Griso for 16 years. never really had an issue with it, except for lack of grease where it was required the most! The only other thing that I could probably say was condensation in the clocks.

beautiful, isn't it?

I only know the Guzzi of helicopters.

His 242 A1 beat the fastest Diesel/Electric locomotives of the time. If you want to read something that is going to captivate you, I recommend this book; I own an original print like the one below. La Locomotive à Vapeur, André Chapelon currently sold on Amazon for USD 90 dollars. It is translated into English.

WE were discussing steam trains the other night and I told my wife , a steam locomotive EXISTS . It is alive , it breathes , it inhales , exhales , it does everything. No other form of transportation did , does or will do this .

I love old steam trains but as a general comment if I was running a rail network I'd choose diesel over steam every day. Thats why steam power died out. Phil

It's badly designed, the electrics are dreadful, and it'll be a yoke around your neck and a drain on your wallet. Also, the parts to repair it are unavailable and expensive. I'm guessing here, but I could go on.

How so? Phil

I do not think this would necessarily qualify for being the Moto Guzzi of locomotives, depending on what meaning you want to give it. As someone who actually loved steam, and had the opportunity to grow up when steam locomotives were still operating, while being phased out, if I had been born in the USA, I would have most likely picked the Big Boy. Now, if we want to really give the prize for the best ever, the Moto Guzzi of steam locomotive, I would award the title to the Chapelon 242A. André Chapelon was one of the prominent genius of the Steam locomotives. His magnificence was illustrated by the 242 A; this is the mother lode of Steam Locomotive. So good, that the French Railways scrapped it as fast as they could, since it was better than their diesel powered locomotives. I wish they had kept that locomotive for the museum, but as even politics were stronger than engineers. They made the best steam loco ever designed to disappear to not shadow electrical traction.

That is not a ‘Temp Gun’ it is obviously some sort of weak American version of the cover of a ‘Mutton Gun’. It is very much smaller than its Australian counterpart. It also bares no resemblance to a Penis Gourd. If you think it does there are a number of tribes in the highlands of Papua New Guinea and the depths of the Amazon rain forest who would like to ‘Have a Chat’! With the PNG crew that might also involve a meal. One at which you might be the main course!

No. Not presently but any excuse to buy more tools.... :-)

Ah. Thanks. I should hook a fan up to them and place it over the fuses. ;-) Out on my first ride since the breakdown. Just ten or so miles to a cafe in Ramsey (Isle of Man). Put my finger on that 30A fuse upon arrival. Felt quite warm. Could be my paranoia.

You, and your horse.

Like Pete said they were originally for a penis heater. A 2002 long frame won't have them because as we all know long frames are a girls bike. Phil

These are seen on the early Sport wiring diagram as #44: "Warning light connectors" and came to the U.S.A. with nothing connected to them. Perhaps the Euro bikes got the "heated gourd." Apparently the Genuine Article came with a Warning Light. As it well should !

Thank you. There are two redundant electrical connectors. I wondered what should be plugged into them? I'm not 100% convinced Pete was right on this one. ;-)

They’re the feed for your Moto Guzzi branded heated penis gourd. Sadly this was not a popular accessory and was only available for a period of a few short weeks in the early 2000’s. Why they were unpopular at the time remains a mystery and now, two decades on, are one of the most prized and sought after accessories, especially among the ‘Cold of Todger’, most noticeably with owners in the higher latitudes. Unfortunately in recent years there have been a variety of cheap impersonations of the original product but being from shadowy, nameless suppliers from a variety of nations not prized for the quality of their low-volume knock-off products. This has led to unfounded claims of both ‘Chaffing’ and, even more worrying, ‘Scalding’ when wearing these doppelgänger products! At the end of the day, unless you are able to secure an original, factory, item they are best avoided. As mentioned, they rarely come up for sale but if you post a request for help finding one I would suggest a site like Canadian or Scandinavian Grindr. Do be prepared to have to sieve through the responses carefully for genuine replies.

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! )

The external shift mechanism and "connector rod" should be seen to. Make sure the foot lever is not striking the lower extension of the Frame Side Plate. That would give a "dead feel" trying to get into first. Once, I did fail to seat one of the cir-clips on one of the two shafts for the toothed gears of the shift plate. Yet, the outcome was that the Neutral Light would not extinguish, rather than difficulty getting into first. Again, this is most likely when the foot lever hits the Frame Side Plate on the downstroke into first gear.

You mean you didn't notice that the horn wasn't working? You're obviously far too passive to be operating an Italian vehicle, and I'm afraid I must recommend you sell it and buy a Honda.

It’s fine until it gets to the swingarm pivot. Everything behind that goes to shit! What ‘Serious’, ‘Non Hipster mobile’ has twin shocks in 2025? Get outa here with that crap!

The thing tie-wrapped to the frame looks like a blinker relay to me, and the "what is this for" looks like it *might* be where the blinker relay was originally mounted. The "what is this for" looks like a rubber shock mount for something. Such things are often used to contain a blinker relay. Sorry I can't help with the wiring questions.