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I saw the new factory under construction when I was in Mandello last September. It looks interesting BUT it's obviously going to be a another "tourist attraction" thing. Don't know about others but the interest for me these days is to discover things and places that aren't popular or "attractions" for the masses. Things like the back alleys and little side lanes in Venice away from the main attractions where the real Venice life is or the hills of Tuscany and the Villas and small villages away from the hustle and bustle of the cities. Bit like going to an old world bike shop with an owner and staff that have been running the place for 50 years. Much more interesting than the modern glitzy places of today inhabited by people that seem to think you are privileged to be in their showroom. Phil

as long as you're in there, here's how I verify spacer fit- Set both bearings tight to the hub shoulders, with no center spacer Measure bearing depths from hub flange, both inner and outer races Remove one side bearing, place spacer. Re-install bearing until it bottoms Re-measure bearings; if you have *zero* change from no spacer measures, it's too short. If driving the second bearing home changes the depth of the first bearing, note by how much. These small bearings have very little clearance, so I would say if your center (spacer) race moved by .001" to .003" you're in good shape. If you get more protrusion than a couple thousandths, your spacer is long- which can overload the bearings if the outer races are too tight to float in the hub, which they should be. I would rather shim up a short spacer than try to work with a long one, as it's important to have the ends perfectly square to the centerline of the bearings, hard to achieve with a file or stone. If your spacer is long, you *can* drive the bearings against the spacer with an appropriate driver that touches only the inner race- then when the driven bearing finds home, the direction of forces on both bearings will load the races equally and center themselves up. That does leave you with a couple or few thousandths between the hub and the outer race of one of the bearings; a few thousandths is ok, but if they aren't tight in the hub they can shift and chafe during use. Have I overclarified that to mud now?

Absolutely agree. I'd personally much rather tour the crumbly prewar edifice, myself. However, in the big Corporate picture, the vast majority of persons want Disneyworld. So there has to be some poop to attract the flies. I'd rather see them build a tourist destination and with it a solid customer base than to see them struggle with viability.

I completely agree to that. There is much more charm in authenticity. We are not alone in this preference. It is becoming a bit of a problem in Europe, a writer overhere wrote a book, "Grand Hotel Europe", where he explains the controversy of tourism to authentic places. Interesting for me to read that in fact I am also part of the problem.

I visited Mandello in 2013 during Xmas time, unfortunately it was closed at the time, but still a very nice visit to Mandello and surrounding areas. It's time for a return trip hopefully next year. Nice that they have modernized and kept a connection to history as well. Some of the design looks like the back end of the Griso exhaust pipe. Now...if I could arrange a ride on the original Norge....I would be happy! Taking Guzzi out of Mandello would be like taking BMW out of Munich or Porsche out of Stuttgart (aside from its temporary home in Gmund, Austria during the war)...besides this area of Italy is just beautiful...why move it anywhere else?

I should mention that it's critical to have the spacer perfectly aligned with the bearings when taking measurements. If it's tipped it will measure long. You can finger it out, or if it's a decent fit on the axle you can use the axle and a soft mallet as the bearing driver. If the outer races are tight in the hub you can fit a piece of pipe to the outer race whilst the axle stays in place.

It's a '06.

How many wheel bearings is that? How have you checked your spacers and hub for alignment?

Not that I know of docc. He may have bought some stuff but TLM bought a large amount. He's more of a remanufacturer of parts but Audiomick would know more than me. I won't deal with HMB anymore. Phil

Three weeks out - warding off the Waddington Effect while seeing to necessary matters . . . --> Decent Tune-up --> Motor oil/ gearbox oil/ neutral switch & shift linkage adjustments --> Fresh Pirelli tires/ brake inspection/ another new rear wheel bearing (again!) --> GPS routes laid in. Looking to roll some "ten flight hours " before embarking on this XXI SSR .

HMB-moto also bought a good amount of that stock, as well?

Well it helps when TLM bought all the old Guzzi spares stock years ago as a job lot. Good for you. Phil

Here's a little follow up on the Tedeschi Trucks show in Tulsa. Tulsa is an historic music town and great riding destination. It's home to the Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie Centers. Also home to The Church Studio established by Leon Russell in the '70's. Tulsa and the studio had lots rock stars at the time, Leon, JJ Cale, Geo Harrison, Clapton, Dylan, Mudcrutch (Tom Petty), The GAP Band, Bread, The Tractors, Teagarden & Vanwinkle. We took the tour of the Church, still a working studio, museum and small concert venue. We were told that Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks were there the day before. We saw The Greyhounds (a duo out of Austin) in the board room. They'd performed the encore the night before with Susan and Derrick.

I'm not a big fan of fitting and removing bearings in the hub unless it's totally necessary to minimise wear and tear on the bearing bore. Once a bearing has been "driven" on the inner race which is the only way to remove them the bearing is junk. Throw it in the trash. Here's my way. Fit one bearing to the hub bottomed out on the shoulder. Insert the spacer so it's seated on the fitted bearing and then a large flat washer into the other bearing shoulder and measure with a depth gauge on the end of a pair of callipers between the face of the washer and the end of the spacer. Subtract the thickness of the washer and add a thou or two to the calculated spacer length. Everyone has access to a decent set of 6 in verniers and a hardware store for a large flat washer. This way the fitted bearing stays in place and the other bearing only needs to be installed for the final assembly. Instead of a large flat washer you can use anything with accurate thickness and parallel of the right dia to insert in the bearing hole to measure down to the spacer face such as a piece of 6 in stainless steel rule cut to just under the the bearing bore OD that can rest on the bearing bore shoulder and measure down from the top edge when held vertically to the spacer end face then subtract the measured width of the piece of SS steel rule. Obviously better and easier to just machine a flat washer but not everyone has a lathe.

Split wheel bearing posts to a wheel bearing thread:

That makes sense, as long as it isn't done the way it was in mine. The spacer was about 3mm too short, and was "shimmed up" with a slice off a bit of pipe that had obviously been cut free-hand with a hacksaw. Not even close to "square", so it was no wonder the bearings were shot. What sort of a gorilla does that sort of bullshit?

Just what I was going to write. The spacer in mine was too short.

https://www.mgcycle.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=37_156&products_id=83

Well, all together I would really enjoy being in mandello when this new factory opens up. Specifically, when all of you will be there as well.

I like what they are doing from a technology and legacy perspective. When you've got a 100-year old manufacturer the roots would run deep into the community. Business loyalty (or at least perceived loyalty) to a community is getting pretty rare these days. And can you imagine the hostility they would generate by moving to another city, or worse yet to another country? I don't know how the government works in Italy, but I would imagine that like most countries, there is a desire to keep domestic manufacturers going. So maybe there were also various incentives to remain in the location - or maybe the location has a lot of "grandfathered" types of permissions that would be hard to get elsewhere. As for the location... I think they are smart to capitalize on the vacation destination. When tourists show up, they maybe start thinking about buying a motorcycle and associate it with their vacation experience. And for the "faithful" it seems to have become sort of bucket-list item. Personally, I intend to go there at least once. Probably after all the the new stuff is open.

Counting on our Man-on-the-Scene @v11_meticcio for live reports!

A smiling Ballabio! Not just a pretty lady, but a business lady who over the last 20 years has ridden her BMW650GS up to 13 hours a day, from 34F to 105F days. For shorter rides she used her new Ducati 800 Scrambler!

I replaced the taillight lens on mine... Reason...I was riding into work a couple of Fridays ago when I hit a bloody huge pothole just before peeling off to the servo for gas. Christ it felt more like a crater, but anyways whist I'm fumbling with getting my helmet off ( hands were freezing and fingers numb ) a bloke comes over and tells me he was right behind me when I hit the pothole and saw my taillight explode and fly off everywhere! What the...? Sure enough I look behind me and all I've got is two screws left where the lens should've been! Shit so all I could do was ride on as is and hope there no rozzers about! Once home I ordered another with my mechanic Rob which took a week or so to arrive and I could pick it up and install. So,I was able to ride into the office again yesterday with a taillight again without any dramas other than it was fookin FREEZING! I later found out it was 1 degree on our balcony and minus 1 ish on the Longwarry flats....Arghhhh. Glad I had the thermals on but it was murder on the hands. Oh well at least it was better on the ride home.. a balmy 8 degrees! Be glad to see the arse end of this cold snap and more so the inept state government fixing these goat tracks they call a national highway! Although no one's holding their breath on that! Anyways glad to report the green one is back to her glorious good- looking self again. Cheers Ps forgot to mention that the lens was actually cracked in a couple of places and being 21 years old and with UV exposure the pothole was just the last straw! Anyways it gave ole mate Dave and Rob a good laugh!

edit: Not sure how to check "alignment?" Records show front bearings changed twice at 60-65,000 miles (~100.000km). A ridiculous number of rear bearings: five left, four right with the 112mm spacer, yet this is the second left rear since going to the 113mm spacer, 16400 miles and this one: 10000 miles. In all honesty, it is barely gritty. I doubt anyone else would change it, but I got stranded once with a blown wheel bearing 310 miles from home. Right after installing new bearings (over the 112mm spacer). Exactly. I thought I had this solved . . .

Meanwhile, the only MG dealer we had in San Francisco dropped the brand, citing difficulties dealing with Piaggio . . .