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Yes, kids a twofer! We started the day at Portland Cars & Coffee. They have featured vehicles during the summer and today was Motorcycles! It had been earlier in the year previously but it always rained. So I asked to move it later in the summer. You know what happened. Yup... it rained. Luckily stopping before the event. We are trying to get as many Nortons to show up as possible, with the goal of 50. Bold. We are lucky to get a dozen. It coincided with the Cornfield Concours hosted by the Moto Guzzi club. But since I had. to leave immediately from C&C I was still on the Norton. To be fair I took the Guzzi last year. A great event with a ride, show and lunch. And yes, the corn was delicous.

Let me begin with no pictures were taken! I'll include the map @Scud put together for us. Scud and I live somewhat close to one another and have tried to get together for some time. At last, I left Mission Viejo and rode the 40 miles to his place in beautiful Carlsbad. After sitting on his numerous Guzzis stacked in his garage, we took off for the hills. Avoiding highways, we wrapped through the twisties with stops for fuel, coffee, and bladder relief. A 150-mile ride, and both bikes performed great. We plan to do a garage day soon and tweak each just a bit. Much of the roads were rather tight, thus slow going, but brisk enough to be fun. When finally approaching Lake Elsinore, Highway 74, also known as Ortega Highway, the bikes stretched their legs. This was my first shot at really ripping through the turns. The bike handled great, however, I still need to remove that abrupt off-idle hop. In turns, once planted, getting on the throttle took finesse to not upset the suspension. It wasn't terrible by any means, but I was trying to push it and every bit counts. On the straightaway, I did 120 mph and as you all already know, anything past 4k includes a big smile!

Apparently this guy has never heard a Moto Guzzi. I wouldn't turn my head for any of these bikes.

Have you converted it to a trike? I’m assuming you mean the bevelbox? The pinion bearings on the Tonti’s aren’t sealed and if the shocks have collapsed or shorter ones are fitted the angle the swingarm operates at means oil gets flung through them and pools in the swingarm. This would probably also explain the low volume in the bevelbox itself. The two O-rings? One goes over the pinion carrier and acts as a crush seal in the chamfer at the front of the bevelbox housing. The other one goes in the groove in the front face of the pinion holder and acts as a crush seal against the end of the swingarm.

Who are ya callin' a "big chunk?" I'm sittin' right here and can hear what yer sayin' . . .

Yes not Ballabio. Ballabio had handlebars and later canted triples but with the the top triple not having 6mm holes for the over the clamp clip ons locating bolts. The over the clamp clip on are around 1 inch higher and don't vibrate as much as the under clamp swan neck clip ons. Forks were 43mm hollow axle with nut on the left which are longer than the original 40mm forks for under the clamp clipons.. Phil

@Pressureangle If you don’t end up using the top mounted clip-ons and would like to offload them, please let me know, I’ve been looking for a good used set of those for a while.

Yes you're right, someone above pointed out the bike in question on eBay appears to be a later Sport, not a Ballabio at all.

Cameras. Huh. The pics really don't show what the eye sees here, but. The stock porkchops have turned a shade of purple south of red, noticeably darker than the frame. I bought a set of porkchops from TLM to get the swingarm pivot pins, and they were nicer overall so I cleaned them up and painted them to swap on. I found red caliper paint, much more durable than regular enamel, to be a pretty good match; again the camera doesn't really show the shade well, given the stock trans mount has the sheen off due to age and cleaning, the porkchops not yet dry. I think they'll end up very close, perhaps a half tone brighter and certainly shinier than the frame- though I did paint the front engine mount so most of what you can see will be the same.

Well, it is hard to defend American English, mutt language that it is.

The 'production' class H-D 883s were fine examples of CHEATING lol Nobody seemed to think twice if you got a push start, so the fast guys gutted the starters and fitted tiny batteries in the stock case. Removed half the magnets from the generator rotor, shaved the inside of the flywheels where it couldn't be seen without splitting the cases, shaved the inside of the rims where it couldn't be seen with the tires on... All stuff I learned after the class ended, of course. Starter cover weighs nothing, and...appears unmeddled.

Paint showed up and I’ve finished the repairs to right upper fairing using filler, plastic primer and high solids primer. Will paint tomorrow and post pictures of the results in a couple of days regardless of outcome,

I reckon you'll find the Ballabio fork stanchions enough longer to mount the clip-ons above the triple clamp. As to the top tree, @Lucky Phil did some thorough investigation of how they changed over the range. Seems I recall he verified that the bore angle changed. I hope he chimes in, otherwise I will try to find that thread . . .

Good times... North San Diego and SW bits of Riverside counties have some fabulously steep and narrow roads with all the blind corners a guy could ever want. Then the legendary Ortega has smooth pavement and excellent visibility through the sweepers. And there's nothing wrong with a straight ride on I-5 through Camp Pendleton with uninterrupted natural coastline and fresh ocean air for about 20 miles.

I found it interesting this racer still has the starter cover . . .

LOL, no trike... I knew diff wasn't right, but yes, the bevelbox. Thanks, I'll let it ride this way a while and keep an eye on the level. Not sure the whole story of the bike, but originally from Switzerland, then was in NY for a while, but I got it from a little machine shop south of Morgantown, NC.

Looking fwd to seeing how it turns out. Phil

All good points Phil, you will notice I did paint all of the tail piece. With a base/clear paint system I’ve had better results with aerosols than with my conventional equipment and methods. Suspect that’s due to my inexperience. For the front fairing repair I do have a plan to minimize the colour differences between the original and the repair. Will post a picture of the results. If they are poor will paint the whole of the front fairing but hope that will not be required. Thank you for your well thought out reply.

Ha! Well, things like transmission, battery, starter, shaft, etc. it gets complicated. I really admire the cafe builders who get the bike's curb weight down into the 400s. But their styling taste often leaves something to be desired.

So far so good but I wonder why if you have access to proper spray equipment you wouldn't use that? You can get decent spray cans but they will never equal a spray gun for control and consistency. You may as well just repaint the whole fairing also. Code matching colours doesn't mean you'll get a colour match on the repaired panel as paint mixed in small batches has an issue with "tolerances" on the pigments. Imagine at the factory when they do a paint run of a particular colour and mix 100 litres of paint a gram of pigment either way isn't going to have much affect on the colour. Now imagine mixing 500ml. A drop of pigment the size of a pin head will make the colour different. Thats why spray painters still need to colour match by eye for repair work no matter how sophisticated their computer controlled matching equipment is. We haven't even got to fading due to the affects of the sun etc yet and add the complication of a base coat and various coats of tinted clear coats like a V11 Greenie has. My advice as an amateur painter just like me is to spray the whole fairing to go with the full paint on the tail piece even if you mask off the number boards. In for a penny in for a pound. Similarly a professional motorcycle painter wont do spot paint repairs on fuel tank damage or fairing damage mostly simply because it's harder to mess about with colour matching and then blending in the paint repair. As one explained to me 30 years ago by the time you go through all that palaver it's faster and easier to just paint the whole tank or fairing component and the result is far superior. He was correct of course. Phil

Finally got a few miscellaneous parts and got it back together. Took her out for a test ride and she did great, just a quick ride around the neighborhood. The new shocks are nice, my front wheel seems good with the new spokes, she shifts smoothly and rides nice. I'm going to need the OEM style seat, this one has me a little too far forward. I changed the diff fluid, it was low, which probably explains the gear oil in the driveshaft housing. Any thoughts on what would cause that? I see a couple of orings in the parts diagram. Waiting on a new clutch cable, this one is adjusted all the way out. I'll post some good fall pictures in the coming months.

Yup, nope, mine is good. Just the tip, nothing on the seal area and even then buffed off well.

You will want to be certain that internal corrosion has not damaged the "nose" of the crown wheel lest the deep seal cannot (seal) . . .

I think that was me.

PM me. These seem to be in perfect shape.

I don't think either of those belong to a Ballabio. A look at some parts lists just now indicates that the Ballabio had a handlebar, not clip-ons. Looks like this: https://www.stein-dinse.com/de/moto-guzzi-lenker-grau-v11-caf-sport-ballabio-coppa/item-2-1021515-01600382-.html The ones in the picture look to be one from the various Le Mans iterations at the top https://wendelmotorraeder.de/halblenker-kpl-links_gu01600761-p-1035365.html?ref=expl and the earlier Sport variations below that https://www.stein-dinse.com/de/moto-guzzi-stummellenker-links-v11-sport-1999-2001/item-2-1021524-01600731-.html

Investigation shows the bars are the same height, with the Ballabio mounts being about a handlebar width closer to the fork tube. Cleaner look, though. Probably won't want to drop the front enough to fit them.

Correctly.

Wheel bearings today. Rears were original, spacer was a bit short to make me happy with the new bearings, so tossed in a .75mm valve spring shim. Can move spacer slightly with fingers, pushing in on bearing races tightens spacer. Nice. Pic shown is an easy compare between spacer length and hub shoulder; the washer, when slid around on the spacer, just whisks the bearing shoulder. Needs a bit of clearance not to be tight when assembled. To measure, Phil's way, the spacer is about .005"-.010" short. About +.010" long with shim. The inside of the rear hub was just as nasty as the inside of the drive box, so the hub and spacer got a nice rubdown and again, cosmoline is your best friend. Front bearings, one had been replaced; buggers were TIGHT coming out so much I wondered if I misunderstood what was going on with the spacer. A little cleanup in the bores and a touch of cosmoline and the new ones went in... less tight. Much tighter than the rears.

Looks like he patterned the 2007 bike after the Coppa lol. We've circled around.

And have at least one beer for me while you're there. I wish I could attend.

. Howdy. Kathi and I are looking forward to SSR XXI despite our arriving in a car! Aside from still (begrudgingly) following doctor's orders -- effectively enforced by my better 2/3 -- after my hernia surgery, we are traveling before the 'raid. We leave this Friday for my 60th (gasp) high-school reunion, then visiting friends in Ellijay and my brother in Hiawassee before joining you all at the Lodge. Ah, but this is a notice of a nearby “opportunity” for SSR XXI attendees. [Note for mods. If this is “inappropriate” for here, no hurt feelings on my end … but that’s because I am an insensitive lout. Seriously, it’s not something I would likely put in the “classified” section. Inasmuch as it’s a way for interested “known folks" who happen to be nearby to see a motorcycle, the notice is intended for the usual suspects at SSR’s. ================= My brother, Michael, who is “retiring” from riding, is selling his 2016 Multistrada 1200, garaged — it’s never slept outdoors except on multi-day trips — in Hiawassee, Ga. Details, below, but wondering if any SSR folks might be interested in seeing this gem “in the flesh” while we are in Tellico Plains? Michael wants to avoid the hassle and time-wasters of an advertised sale, thus this is an opportunity to ride over to Hiawassee and see a moto-gem. Photos attached. Includes OEM side cases and top case, all with interior bags; tank bag; and Garmin GPS. More general info here: https://ducati-specs.com/models/ducati-multistrada-1200.html Mileage is 19,914. So basically 20,000 miles ... or c.2000 miles since the “big service" four years ago. That service included Multistrada Desmo Service $1,556.46; Hydraulic Flush $109.52; Chain and Sprockets $566.45; Tires $494.00; Labor: $1,202.50; Tax: $275.33; Total: $3,274.76. Michael has not thought too much yet about an asking price, but see FMV info here ... https://www.cycletrader.com/2016-Ducati-Multistrada/motorcycles-for-sale?make=Ducati%7C2316082&model=MULTISTRADA%7C764855672&year=2016 and here: https://www.perplexity.ai/search/what-is-the-fmv-of-a-base-mode-cAhK677XSsO0N1zGIjrJaQ. The roads over to Hiawassee are mighty fine — . But, if you’d prefer (and given the fickle weather forecast, you might!) Kathi and I are in a cage, so I can run you over to Michael’s place in our car. BTW, I have ridden this motorcycle. It’s a beauty and, for this Guzzista, intoxicatingly quick! Need/want more info? Ask me. See you next week! Bill My brother taking delivery … My own test ride. Yee ha! Always garaged; on BT routinely. As I said, "intoxicatingly quick!. OK ... not a traffic stop! The cop’s a Guzzista friend of mine. 😄 Edited to add that if you have any interest in my brother's Duc, that you not reply here, but send me a PM, email, text, or call Bill 4ZERO4-eightZEROeight-8FOUR86 wrhagan AT earthlinkDOTnet

The Dutch journalist Paul van Hooff of Guzzi Galore V7 world trotting fame died of a heart attack on August 22, 2025 I’m absolutely gutted. Another one lost https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwide.piaggiogroup.com%2Fen%2Farticles%2Ftravels%2Falaska-argentina-with-a-moto-guzzi-v7-following-in-the-footsteps-of-che-guevara%2Findex.html&psig=AOvVaw0eaAWiGvITqSvHw37LqMNj&ust=1756295249298000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBoQ3YkBahcKEwiwnLv4s6iPAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQCQ