FreyZI
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Posts posted by FreyZI
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All:
Sorry for the delay and for being incommunicado. April and May are always busy months for me, then my kids wrap up school, so lots of other priorities. Now on vacation (hang gliding school with kids) and next week off to Colorado for wedding (I decided instead of renting a car, I'd get a bike, so I have a used sport touring waiting for me to pick up there). Not much free time for Guzzi stuff between all this.
Meanwhile, the fabricator had his big show in Vegas, lost his mold maker, and had a TKR. Between him and me, we haven't had a confluence of time to connect at great length. Last I spoke with him, he was planning to work on it last week and see if he could get quality edges with a different technique. I told him I don't need at mold that can be released a thousand times, so let's see what happens.
As far as commitments go, there are none. I didn't want to take anyone's money for exactly this reason: the stars not quite aligning and people being pissed at me. It hasn't been a priority for me lately, or the fabricator. It'll be after July 4 by the time I get around to dealing with it, and then I'm at the mercy of the fabricator.
I'll update when I know more, hopefully with pics of a sample. But no guarantees this will be soon.
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Thanks! Definitely adding these ideas to the itinerary.
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Taking the kids to Lookout Mountain area (Rising Fawn, GA, actually) for five days of hang gliding school. Never been to that neck of the woods, but I know there a few of you not too far away and at least familiar with Tellico Plains. Putting out feelers for ideas for things to do in the Chattanooga area (with teenage children). Our lessons each day should end by early afternoon, so we'll have time for some afternoon and evening outings. Please let me know if you have ideas.
Cheers,
Frey
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All: Sorry to be incommunicado. Been busy and haven't tended to this -- I have meant to reach out to fabricator, but always seems to be somewhat after COB every time I get around to looking at my to do list. Last update was that he won't do vacuum finish, so no matte/satin. I am hoping to finish up my hell week and then have some time for fun next week. I'll plan to ride down to Gettysburg then and see if I can get some pics of samples for color options, etc. He never did give me a final price. Hopefully it doesn't look dramatically different from his estimate a couple months ago. Sorry for the delay.
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I've heard of explosive diarrhea, but that's something else altogether.
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23 hours ago, Speedfrog said:
I like the look of that pad and how it follows the tank curves!
Is it some sort of faux carbon finish?
Would you mind letting us know where you found it? Thanks!
Oh, BTW, it's just black rubber with texture; not faux cf. See https://www.eazi-grip.com/eazi-grip/. I ordered from U.S. distributor https://www.orientexpress.com/
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16 hours ago, Speedfrog said:
I like the look of that pad and how it follows the tank curves!
Is it some sort of faux carbon finish?
Would you mind letting us know where you found it? Thanks!
The center pad is an Eazi-Grips universal type B "Pro" pad. Ironically, I called in my order and the guy who took it misunderstood. I had asked for the universal"E". Oh, well. I agree that it matches the contours of the tank pretty well. The universal products, as well as bike specific pads and grips, are offered in Evo, Pro, and Silicone. Evo has pretty significant raised domes for more aggressive/track riding. The Pro has some tactile relief. The silicone, I gather, is smooth -- the website photos don't really give a great sense.
This will please @Lucky Phil: Many of the shape and grip options are available in clear. Too late for Bubbles, though.
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2 hours ago, Tomchri said:
Makes me wondering, was the coater proud and happy to give you the cap
Cheers Tom.
Clearly not, but the chops look good.
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On 4/20/2022 at 10:34 AM, Rox Lemans said:
So what's the progress on these carbon seat cowls? Would be a great addition to my Scura.
Manufacturer was doing a race in Vegas and very busy. I'll try to touch base with him this week. I left sample parts with him, so I thought I'd go back through Gettysburg and see him in the shop, take pics of carbon cloth options to post here. May not happen until I have a reason to go through there or a really nice day without responsibilities for a two hour ride each way. Still going to be a couple months... Planning on a batch of 12 to 15, with requested variants.
Cheers,
Frey
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In other news, I finally landed on a center tank pad to cover up PO's crookedly applied pad and subsequent discoloration. The new pad hasn't completely resolved the problem, but it's better than how it was. Another benefit is that we know for certain what gender this bike is now.
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On 4/16/2022 at 12:42 PM, Gmc28 said:
Like to see how that turns out when done at powdercoater’s…
Reservoir lid turned out great, right?
Actually, the above pic of the lid is from just the right angle that it doesn't look like someone spilled a jar of raspberry jelly on it. This is what it really looks like:
This coating will be stripped.
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Stopped by powdercoater today to check out the new color: Prismatic's "rancher red" over silver. This photograph didn't capture it very well -- I think the color is very close. The question now is whether to put a satin clear on top. Think I'll take the Tenni out there tomorrow and compare. I'm thinking the satin.
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What a difference a little piece of plastic makes:
The aluminium one is going to the powdercoaters to get the candy apple red treatment with the pork chops for the Tenni.
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2 hours ago, p6x said:
I never thought about giving a name to an object.
Does it not feel strange to tell around:
-" I am going for a ride with "Bubbles", be back soon.... or not!
Odin's spear was named Gungnir and Thor's hammer was Mjölnir. Long tradition of naming inanimate objects that are special to ourselves, especially reflecting their qualities.
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On 2/3/2022 at 3:36 PM, Guzzimax said:
I’ve had 2 sets of pork chops powder coated at a local powder coating shop. They shot blasted the old finish off, and masked the threads with excellent results. Much more durable than the original red paint (these are off red frame bikes), and no issues with longevity. This one was done 2 years ago and it’s pristine
Is that a hammer I see?
So, I was driving past the powdercoater today and stopped in to see how they were doing with my porkchops. They have now stripped the chops three times because they can't get a good result. Gotta give them credit for trying hard. Hope to update on progress this time next week. I think they'll just shoot some scrap first. Good thing this is the spare set of chops and it's not going to keep the Tenni or Bubbles off the road.
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1 hour ago, docc said:
The options being made available to us on this piece are pleasantly surprising. Looks like I am "firm" on satin 2x2 for the booty lid.
As for those fitted oval canister badges, they have a story rooted similarly to this effort. In the early days (
), we had a member that was a seat builder, one Rich Maund. My Moto Guzzi round cf canisters (likely built by Mistral) were delivered (after some typical delay of months) with a special plaque riveted to their sides that was not pictured in the (photocopied pages) "catalog" of accessories when my Sport was new. I was determined to buy everything available from the beginning, both to support my dealer and accept that these pieces would be in limited supply.
I must say, I was rather crestfallen to discover these badges riveted to my lovely, new (and expensive) cf canisters . . .
So I drilled out the rivets, popped new ones into the holes, and blackened them.
And tried not to see them.
Sometime later, I saw Rich had these etched, shaped medallions fitted to his Sport. He had an extra set and I ponied up for them. I had to move them to replacement cans (thank you @joe camarda!) after my 2003 crash.
They are typically hidden under my ugly (but useful) Tekno panniers.
But, ain't they sweet?
Thanks for the explanation, docc. Gives me an idea...
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Turns out I have quite the mix: 1x1 large weave satin front fender, chin pad, side panels; 1x1 small weave hugger (a bit more sheen); 2x2 satin Mistral cans; and 2x2 gloss booty lid. Guess I can't screw it up too badly, whatever I do. Thinking the blue weave will look pretty sweet on the champagne (especially if I keep the gunmetal pork chops).
Revised sheet to reflect @footgoose's happiness with his current black booty bonnet. @p6x, can I give y'all editing privileges? Maybe we will get Google "Sheet bombed"?
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MG4LL0PE9ZBEyB7L9jmyZ16-ZkO3rMrBdcrVWVHjOmU/edit?usp=sharing
Off topic (sorry), but @docc, where did you find those MG eagle oval badges on those Mistrals? My Mistral stickers are badly faded and I haven't been able to find new. Those badges would nicely resolve the problem (if they would fit oval cans -- I know yours are round).
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49 minutes ago, docc said:
I am rather uncertain about the weave size or how to measure it.
Here's a link: https://www.vividracing.com/blog/1x1-vs-2x2-everything-you-need-to-know-about-carbon-fiber-weaves/
1x1 looks like a checkerboard, 2x2 looks like diagonal stripes.
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20 hours ago, p6x said:
@FreyZI would you care to make a list of the takers using google sheet on google drive? share it, so we can follow-up easily, and other interested party can also put their names in the list directly.
Good idea, @p6x. Here's a link to a Google Sheet:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRxzY1vqEMO45avvdnr-WqJcQYiXi14UHwDzr2MFGGgFc7XFzgc8oiuVYhcOXydhyPUZxUBOxQMTQbi/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true
And here's a screenshot of what that sheet looks like as I have populated it:
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1 minute ago, footgoose said:
just throwing this out there. what color Red is the Red? If I wanted red I'd want it to match the Guzzi Red, and there are a few of those. If there is an upcharge for red it should match, otherwise paint it yourself.
Thanks, all. @footgoose, check this thread back a page or two; I inserted a pic of the red from the fabricator's web page. There's also an orange if anyone wants to try to match orange cylinder head covers. Fabricator's website is riggeals.com. I believe they have pics of the swatches under the "custom" link.
Greg was planning to get back to me Monday about the satin finish. If that doesn't turn out to be possible to our satisfaction, I'll think about red for the Tenni, too. We're still operating on estimates. Final pricing TBA. However, estimate for color Kevlar weave +$65.
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Update:
By my count, if I include @Lucky Philand @stewgnu (gonna do everything possible to share with brethren on the islands), we're up to 9 takers. Excellent! Way to open your wallets for purely aesthetic purposes!
Given that number (and I'm counting on at least one more to chime in), there are enough on board to offset the cost of creation of the mold and prototyping and to get to a (subjectively) reasonable price per unit.
I've gone ahead and told Greg to go ahead with the mold and prototyping. I haven't spoken with Greg about when payment is expected. I'll float the $550 mold and prototyping. I'll make up that investment with each member's contribution as the humps become available. Recall that we're looking at ~3 months before we have our parts. I'll plan to deal with logistics of distributing the humps, as safely and cost effectively as possible. Some (MD and VA) may be able to take delivery in person if desiring a reason for a ride to a convenient meeting point.
As it will be some time before the mold and prototyping are done, I don't need your specific requests right now, but I'll be in touch with you all to confirm specifications. As the "not-gloss" finish will be at the end of production, its not critical to nail this down any time soon. Gloss is pretty obvious, but "not gloss" has some not-well-defined gradations between satin and matte. What I have been calling "matte" may be more like "satin". I'll get some pics posted of the "not-gloss" side panel I took to Greg for matching. Meanwhile, it seems that several of yinz want that "not-gloss" to match your Mistral C/F cans (which I presume are similar to mine).
Again, not time sensitive: For those wanting the usual C/F/ look (whatever the sheen), 2X2 carbon twill weave (kinda standard). At the moment, I have +1 on red kevlar weave -- that is going to be sweet @p6x(BTW, HBD!).
Thanks to all for your interest!
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16 minutes ago, deadpen69 said:
Good evening, If I'm understanding you correctly, they would come out of the mold high gloss and a clear matte, semi- gloss or whatever would be applied by the end user?
No, they would do the matte finish.
Here's what Greg shared about the process, through my filter: The C/F parts that come out with a matte-looking finish are made with a vacuum process that pulls resin through the fiber, but also pulls a lot of the resin off the part altoghether, leaving a very thin part (possibly with teenie-tiny holes), but more susceptible to cracking. In a non-vacuum process, the resin remains on the surface of the C/F, resulting in a glossy finish. Thus, the application (by the fabricator) of a matte coating. I guess they don't have a lot of folks wanting a matte finish, but says they can do it (I left my vacuum/matte side panel with Greg so he knew what to match (for me)). It's a family business: Pops and daughter do the C/F work and son-in-law does the paint. Pops says he's really good.
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Spoke with Greg today. 50% upcharge on kelvar/carbon color weave (currently available colors are red, blue, and orange). I suggested that there might be a couple folks with Greenies that would like a green weave, but he hasn't been happy with the green -- too yellow. Anyway, if he doesn't have the color in stock, he isn't going to order a whole roll of it.
Matte finish to match mufflers, etc., would be by applied finish, not by vacuum method. The backing would be a carbon fibre-looking cloth (he says customers swear he did carbon backing, too) to add some structural integrity. As I mentioned, my existing c/f hump has fiberglass backing, so this should be an improvement if smooth and almost indistinguishable from the outside.
@Lucky Phil, maybe there's a way to consolidate a couple items into a shipment to down under if you "need" other things from the States, too?
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16 hours ago, p6x said:
If color = red, then P6x = 1 or if color <> red, then P6x = 0
If color = red, but color red = +$65, then @p6x = 1?
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G5 bucking
in Older models
Posted
Hoping for some advice on next steps for a '79 G5 that's bucking.
Background: This was a project bike and got a full (not museum, but solid) restoration. I did most of the work, but couldn't get it running and so took it to an experienced classic Guzzi mechanic. He got it running (with an entirely new Bender wiring harness and other sensibly replaced electrical bits, etc.). However, his brief rides up and down the neighborhood didn't reveal a problem that has been with the bike ever since.
Started out running well, but after 15 minutes or a half hour, it would begin to feel bottled up and decel for a second, followed by a surge, repeated ad naseam, resulting in a bucking sensation. If I parked it and rode the next day, it would start fine and ride fine for a while, but the bucking would eventually return after a bit of riding. I thought this was limited to when the engine was quite warm. At least, until today.
A little research and chat with another Guzzi mechanic revealed that this decel/surge issue can be a symptom of ignition coils faltering when hot. I installed new ignition coils and took a spin yesterday -- same issue exactly. Warmed up in the driveway, did ~7 miles and (on interstate doing ~65mph indicated), the familiar bucking returned (though not so bad). After a few more miles, I filled up the tank and continued, doing ~4 miles before going up what passes for a mountain in these parts (somewhat less that 1K') and then another 25 miles or so of country riding, 30-60 mph, with no problem whatsoever. After stopping at a friend's place for an hour, I rode 5 miles or so, with a good bit of bucking in the last mile, to a farmers' market. Bike got a 10-minute rest, then bucked the last 5 miles home.
So, the new ignition coils didn't resolve the problem. Today, I replaced the NGK spark plugs with some E3 plugs. That was terrible (worse engine firing and more bucking than before). I removed the plugs and the points were black and wet. I looked at the old plugs -- they were gapped at about 0.5mm. I widened the gap to 0.6mm, per the owner's manual and took it for a ride. Still crap -- probably a bit better than the E3s, but -- until today -- I hadn't experienced the bucking when the engine wasn't particularly warm. Today, both with the new plugs and the re-gapped and cleaned up old plugs, the bucking was present right out of the driveway.
Since those rides around the block, I've confirmed that the condensers were replaced in the restoration. I also checked the gaps of the points and they are right at spec of 0.4mm.
This certainly seems like an electrical ignition system failure, but I don't have any sense of what may be going on. Nothing has changed since restoration. Bike has been inside. No corrosion. Haven't removed any ground wires.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Frey