po18guy

In the past, I have gone down WoG (without gear). Young, foolish, ignorant, mostly happy. Ahh... but once again I digress. I prefer not crashing, but with gear if I must. Recently bought a couple of Spidi jackets for a relatively good price. They do not come with back protectors. Hmmm. Looked around and it seems that CorTech has one of the best accessory spine/kidney protectors, all things considered. It's called the Latigo and retails for about $90. Found a new w/tags example for less than half that, shipped to my house. Tried it today with the Spidi mesh jacket on an 80+ degree day: rural, freeway and traffic. Not bad. Was much cooler than I thought. Level 2 Euro protection level. (2 prior back surgeries), plus side "wings" for kidney protection (stage 3 kidney disease). You wear it like a back-pack and it also has a cross-chest strap to better hold it in place. Wide straps with elastic tensioners across the belly (yeah, that too). You know you are wearing something, but to me it feels pretty much like an elastic back support. T-shirt did not stick to my back, at ride's end, so it ventilates rather well. If I broke scapula, glenoid and right ribs 4-9 into 12 pieces using only 498cc, just imagine what 1064cc could do!

What is your intent for those other two transmissions? To sell with the caveat attached, sure. For yourself? Time-bomb trannies do not a touring gentleman make. MG, Harper's or someone who has the ability and desire to wind these springs up should have them listed in their online parts lists. Relying leaning on the tried and true forum members gets a little wearing on them.

"MT" = Master of Torque. Hard to argue with that. But, an MT03...? One is on his own there!

Had to sell it, once he figured out it wasn't a dope scale.

For my light duty torquing (300 in/lb - 35 Nm), I use a Consolidated Devices Inc./Snap-On 3002LDI dial torque wrench. It does not ratchet. It is not ergonomic. It measures torque. They are not prohibitive to purchase, but as always, are far less expensive on the surplus market. Dual scale on both directions. Resettable zero. Had a nicer example, but some local meth-heads stole it.

Got metal gaskets from MG. Two things: 1) The "mechanic" who last touched it used zero washers here, one there, two there. Sloppy work. The guard is apparently not supposed to have any washers under it (between it and the valve cover). This one had washers underneath the guard at both end screws and and none beneath the center screws. Thus the ends bolts were doing their job whilst the center bolts were attempting to pull the guard down into contact with the valve cover. Epic fail. 2) All such gasket failures I have seen show the failed gasket being sucked inward rather than blown outward. This is curious. Negative crankcase pressure? It is assembled correctly now and torqued properly using a CDI ex-aerospace dial torque wrench. I have two changes of metal gaskets should this or the other side fail. I suspect the right side is next, as the same shoddy workmanship is evidenced there, with washers being peppered about.

Again, thank you for standing in the Piaggio gap and easing our rides! I believe that all foreign mail is quarantined for two weeks. That seems to be the added delay for parcels from overseas. Now that the valve cover leak has been fixed, looking for another nice day to swap that shift extender out. In any case, I cannot get the shifter height (shaft length) adjustment to budge, so off it will come for some tough love. Is it just coincidence that my hammer collection is now bigger (and heavier) than ever…???

That I know. I read and have posted their "reconditioning" protocol. They need a minimum of 6 amps. I figure 10 will do it, if watched carefully. If I fry it, I'll just go back to Yuasa AGM, as they are not as weird and my last one lasted 9 years with no extra care required. .

Will be primarily for conditioning, as regular riding keeps the battery up.

I very much like Jason and the Scorchers. Part of the reason is obvious.

Hearing of the charging amperage requirements of the Odyssey battery, I did not want to lay out the bux for an "approved" charger. Ya' see, I had a perfectly good Schumacher rollabout charger that will do 2/10/40/200 amps. Not worried about the 40 and 200 here. 10A seems about OK. But, it has only those huge automotive battery clamps on it. So, I picked up an SAE connector w/10AWG leads and wired them to the output of the charger. They lead to a covered, polarized outlet that I mounted on the front panel for access. Now, amping up is that much more convenient. But 10amps through an SAE connector does have me wondering a bit. We'll find out on that. Will have to be used in concert with a volt meter to ensure staying at or below 15V. Got some leather tool holsters for the automotive clamps so as to avoid shorting. They'll go on the sides.

What's a guy to do if his compression tester has only 18mm and 14mm threads, but his bike (Kawi 500) has 12mm plugs? Well, what fits better than a spark plug? Gutted the plug, squared off the top on my handy-dandy drill press, tapped 14 X 1.25, filled the cavern with JB weld and drilled through it, slipped a high pressure viton O-ring on and there ya' go.

OK, alloy then. That certainly stretches...

I wish the prior owners of Big Red would have tried that. The handlebar caps (same but smaller) look like vise grips were used on them. Little matter, as. I will be replacing the bolts with some nice tumble polished SS from RaceboltUK.

We Luddites have trouble coping. The .027 (inches) is from my Chevy small block days.

Will let you know how hot glue on the end of a wood dowel works. If it can pull dents then it should...but MG might have used a hydraulic press to install it.

Comma is "point" in Eurospeak. In decimals, it's .027559, but .027 or .028 is good enough fur us 'Murricans. Tried Iridium plugs? First thing I did and noticed quicker starts. It has Autolites now, but I have NGKs at the ready just in case. I have obtained 40mpg at 70-80mph on the freeway - which might not be stellar, but not bad for the old lump, considering it is still breaking in.

You have me thinking. DW thanks you for that! Anyway, all of the diagrams I have seen and owner input here suggest that the top four screws have washers while the guard screws have none, either above or below. The top screws are all one length and the guard screws all of the same longer length. Will try to remember to measure them. That is how I am reassembling it and that makes sense. True enough, but how is this situation helped by placing washers under the head guard at its ends and omitting them in the middle at the leak point? Before I pulled her down, I re-torqued the cap screws. The screw at the rear end of the leak point tightened ever so slowly, with that "it's about to strip" feeling. Now I know why: It was essentially trying to pull the guard down into contact with the valve cover. That is simple mechanic's negligence. I miked the height of the bosses on the valve cover and all were nominally the same - thus, no washers needed. What was the fellow thinking - or not thinking? As well, gasket compression is another issue and re-torquing may be old school, but it can never hurt. To assuage any impinged upon nerves, I received the metal core gaskets from MG today. A clear improvement and dirt cheap for a European bike with such idiosyncratic construction. Short of a Japanese style gasket with flanges to keep it in place, they are the clear solution. I recall here that the Japanese entered the industrial age by copying known designs and since their unchanging and inscrutable cultural traditions did not extend to the arena of industrial manufacture, they quickly analyzed and solved problems such as leaking gaskets. I have a 1987 Kawi EX500/GPz500S. Has the original cam cover gasket and it shows no sign of needing replacement. Neither does it leak. However, the Japanese tend toward the rational rather than the passionate.

Hard to forgive H-D for what they did to him. He would be a nice follow on to Dr. John Wittner. As I recall, the doctor did a few positive things for M-G. Ah, but there were different owners then...

I have an assortment of the green "high pressure" O-rings for car/truck HVAC use. They appear to be viton - rather higher durometer than the usual nitrile - so would be appropriate for Guzzi crank sensors and that kind of stuff. 390º was their designated limit for that material. Boeing experience you say? I was in tooling in the 70s until I found a steady job in the government Dad spent 38 years there, ending up in Experimental and Test (B-3410 for any Boeing types) in a small building adjacent to the runway. He enjoyed the heck out of it, as the shop was a microcosm of the manufacturing process, with early CNC, heat treat furnace, autoclave, A&P welders etc. He told me stories of the various times he had to demonstrate to certain engineers that two objects cannot occupy the same physical space.

Here is a nifty chart listing the strengths and weaknesses of the various compositions of O-rings. https://www.globaloring.com/o-ring-materials-comparison-chart/ Located in Texas, they claim to have 50 million O-rings in stock - except for Guzzi sizes. OK, just guessing there...

#112 O-rings? Here's 5 for $2.50 free shipping https://www.ebay.com/itm/112-O-ring-1-2-ID-x-11-16-OD-x-3-32-thick-Buna-70-Quan-5/293205984259?hash=item4444704403:g:d-EAAOSwlTBdaBQt.

Got tired of being landlocked, so I found a not-rainy day and pulled the left valve cover. Hmmmm. Problem obvious, but what was the cause? Ya' know, you'd think that a well-paid professional mechanic would take some pride in his work. Of the top four bolts, one had a washer that was clearly from some other source, being twice as thick. One other had two washers. Now as to the bolts holding the head guard, two had washers beneath and two did not. How do you suppose that affected the clamping force? And these are the thicker (#6139 0.8mm) gaskets. Went immediately to the surface plate. The guard is flat. Good. After using my favorite beverage (Methylene Chloride) to soften and remove what was left of the old gasket on the cover, I flattened it with a few strokes atop 320 wet or dry on the surface plate. It wasn't bad but a little freshening could not hurt in the flatness arena. A little 3M 8008 gasket maker on the cover, and a sparing amount of Mobil1 synthetic grease on the head side and back together we went. 10 N-m and all was good. Went for a 30 mile/45Km thrash on the freeway/Interstate/Autobahn/Auto Strada and all remained nice and dry. Today, I re-torqued the cover bolts and noted that they would move at 7-8 N-m, so the sandwich I made of them had compressed a bit. Looked at the right side and 3 out of 4 bolts had washers beneath the head guard. Ugh. Since the right side is not leaking, I will let sleeping dogs lie and catch that one at next service. Sure glad I didn't pay for that "maintenance."

I describe the Ballabio as the red-haired step-child of the Guzzi family and that's not far off. By comparison, the '99-'01 Sports have a more integrated, compact (is that even possible?) look at the front end. The fairing is the subject of discussion. From straight on, it's not my favorite, but from the front 3/4 view, I think it looks rather nice. It does block a fair bit of wind at my favorite 120km/hr riding pace. The rest of the bike is standard '03 and onward OEM stuff. Is it possible that the reported instability of the short-framed bikes was compensated for by the longer frame, slightly more conservative geometry, and frame-mounted rather than fork-mounted gauges and fairing? I recall here the infamous tank-slapping early Kawasaki police bikes, said problem resolved by frame mounting the fairing. For a bike named for the hillclimb victory, I can understand the high bars, but you'd think the suspension would be upgraded. As well as something stating, proclaiming, even boasting Italy - but no. A little script on the tailpiece and that's it. However, nothing in the Guzzi lineup makes perfect sense - nor should it, nor should we expect it to.

We are on the fringe here. ""Most" of the small block Guzzi buyers are more toward the hipster mainstream, and that is what parent Piaggio wants. They are a scooter company and urban appliances are their forté. As I see it, the newer bikes have probably been subjected to focus groups and marketing studies. Homogenized 2-wheeled McDonald's hamburgers. Satisfying many but exciting (or offending) none. Guzzi exists and for that reason we should derive some satisfaction, and Aprilia had things moving in the right direction until they fell on hard times. If I had to guess, Piaggio bought the company with the idea of exploiting the name and. history, using that horrible business philosophy of "brand management." A certain American company has done the same, licensing their name to Ford, clothing manufacturers, glassware, jewelry - everything but better bikes. Alas, it seems that they are also in dire straits now, despite appearances. My proposal is to hire Erik Buell and allow him to offend a few and inject some lightness and performance into the current commuter bikes. Speaking of which and totally off subject: back when Buell introduced the Harley-powered XB9 and XB12 Firebolts, I examined one and sat on it at the international motorcycle show in Seattle that year. Despite the horrid engine, that bike fit and felt perfect - as very few do when subjected to the "fit" test. Daydreaming is satisfying - else we would not spend to much time involved in it. I somehow doubt that the board of Piaggio is capable of it.