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We had the Ducati preamption of the championship; now we need to add the Marquez brothers festival. I have no doubt Marc Marquez will be the lead guy in both the short and long races. Will Alex be second again? I would love for Zarco to make it to the podium, but he often has difficulty at the race launch.

Somethinig to take into consideration; I brought the bike from Arizona, and used it extensively. This gear lever issue happened right after I decided to change the gear shifter position. This morning, I was going to long distance test the latest assembly, but yesterday I caught a nail in the rear tire, and I now need to take off the rear wheel to replace the tube. I have ordered a replacement gear lever from Harper's Moto Guzzi; Incidentally, without the gear lever problem, I would have been in the Panhandle yesterday, where they had high winds, still today.... so, fate!

With the gear lever removed, I could finally understand what was wrong. As you can see in this photo, this is the only position of both splines that will allow the gear lever to slide all the way in. When both parts came undone the first time, I set the shift lever at a different level, to suit my preference; but in the new position, the gear lever female spline would not go all the way in. As I did not know as it was previously, I did not think it would affect anything. As you see in the photo below, I could not get the gear lever further in on the male spline of the shift lever. In the photo below, you can see that the gear lever spline is slightly out of the male spline. It is possible that when you tighten the jaw, you actually make a force that pushes out the gear lever female spline: The photo below shows how the two parts should be connected. Hopefully, I have solved the problem for good. I will reassemble and test that I have solve the crux of the issue.

Harper's; but I don't need it anymore. I have understood why that gear lever came off all the time. I will put the photos for reference. The first time the splines came apart, I put the shift lever in a different position than intially. Because it was too low for my taste. Especially when I rode in terrain, on soft sandy patches, I was standing. Shifting down was easy, but shifting up forced me to go low with the front of my foot. I did not realize, but the gear lever female spline only goes all the way in its original position. This is the reason why it always came undone. Duh.... If you want to adjust the shift lever height, you have to use the gear lever.

Unfortunately, as with EVERY insurances, as long as you pay the premiums, everything goes well. Then when you need assistance, this is when you discover that what you thought was covered, is in fact NOT! With AMA, I paid for the tow option, but I did not know it was restricted to 35 miles. I thought it was "to the nearest dealership". With Guzzi, the nearest dealership may be hundreds of miles away. But the best came after; AMA told me I would not have gotten any roadside assistance anyway, because I needed to register the vehicles that may have needed it. Ahead of time. Did you know that? I asked why don't you request to register at the time you tick the roadside assistance box? the answer was, it is indicated in the Terms and Conditions. This is finnicky. To me, it seems they want to make sure they can get out on technicalities...

I went ahead and purchased it. I do not know if you are aware, but voice calls are now past us. All of the large companies have resorted to robots, so-called powered by A.I.; smaller companies don't answer their phone any longer. They have a recording that provides you with hours of opening or other stuff that is available from Google anyway. The days when you would call to make a reservation for anything are mostly gone. There are a few exceptions, but most of those are no longer the rule. Before, after having exhausted all the run around given to you by the robot, you would eventually get to speak to a human. I found out recently that if none of the options addresses your needs, the call is simply terminated. All the options offered are only handled by the robot, without the need for human intervention. Basically, they may as well have no phone number, as all transactions are handled on the web in any case. Back to Harper's, there was another thread on this forum, where someone had purchased parts from them, had not received them, and could not get in touch either by phone or email. So, I am prepared to lose the 50$ I spent on that part they may not even have. In the meantime, I am going to try a mechanical fix, because I want to rite my Quota. I will start wth the quick simple, and look at drilling a hole for putting an M6 screw to hold the lever in place.

If you go back to the beginning of the thread, the gear lever is item #10 of the drawing. You see the female spline part is split to allow for tightening. However, fatigue makes the two sides in contact, and even when I untight the nut, it stays in the same position. No more elasticity. There are a few mechanical tricks that can be used. Put some very light and think metal around the male spline, force open the "claw", and reassemble. The think metal band will increase the diameter and possibly improve the lateral grip. I have looked for a "Gear Lever", item #10 of the drawing. Part Number 30 25 69 25, with the prefix "GU" so GU30256925. I could not find it anywhere excepted for an outfit named "Parts Republik" in The Netherlands, for a whopping 191 EUR!!! Maybe MPH has something in stock, but they are still in transition.

In fact, no. They don't give you any ball park idea. Simply because it depends which company will be available to assist you. Remember, this is Texas and it is quite grand here. Based on where you break down, they will call the closes assist and depending on many factors, the price can vary. Today my Quota left me without any gear change while I was about 80 miles from home. This time, I had a 10mm spanner and I reassembled the shift lever with the gear lever. In any case, if push had come to shove, I would have set the bike in fourth, and I would have been able to get back to 4 miles away from home without the need to change gears. The rest of the way, in 3rd or 2nd would have worked too. But I have been in remote parts of Texas, and as I said, 35 miles does not get you to any town. Of course, in Europe, you are never far away from civilization.

The shift lever and the gear lever parted again at the spline. I did 269 miles today, and the two components slowly came undone as I kept riding, until the gear lever came off the spline. Since gear change is only by reciprocation, one wonders why the gear lever would slowly move out. I took a closer look at the gear lever claw, and realized that with the nut tightened, the two sides that form the claw are in contact. In other words, you can't tight more than what it was, and it stil comes out. I could drill a hole in the center of the shift lever, at the spline end, tap it, and install an hex screw and a washer so the gear lever would not come out any longer. Or, I could put some mild loctite on the spline, and see if that does the trick? Other ideas? I don't think I can easily find another gear lever. I am still going to look though.

I went through the fine prints of both my Insurance (Progressive) and AMA; Here's the gist: When you are riding in the west of Texas, 35 miles does not get you to any motorcycle shop. Those can only be found in major towns, and in any case, not Moto Guzzi. Overages can be just about anything; How much are we talking about? 500$, 1000$?

your name implies it: j'aide!

For those of you that are not privy of the European quirks; once you get your Motorcycle driver's license, you are restricted to a certain power limit for a given time. I don't know if it is good or bad, but it prevents you from purchasing a Ducati Desmo Sedici right after you get your license. Absolutely not! we are all very young at heart here! Bienvenue au Club!

Even without the nut, the bolt would not fall off; I pointed out that the splined claw of the gear lever has been deformed because of excessive tightening. Since the hole where the bolt stays is in both parts of what forms the claw, there is now a lot of friction because that hole is no longer concentric. There is about a 5 degrees angle between the top and the bottom of the claw. I also find this policy wrong, but there is not much I can do. It is their decision. They do not seem to care that it may affect their reputation. I think they weighted their policy based on the hassle to service motorcycles for which spare parts may require extra effort that cannot be incorporated in the invoice. I pointed out that a satisfied customer may purchase a motorcycle from them rather than another business. The feeling that I had if it was possible, they would have no service department and only sell motorcycles if that was ever possible. I have a feeling that in today's market, finding a good mechanic is no longer easy; once you found him/her, keeping is also an issue. I am old enough to remember the days when you could get your motorcycle serviced just about everywhere. The new vehicles are less serviceable than they used to be. These new TFT displays, the added electronics do not age well. Because the technology is in constant evolution, you may not be able to replace some of the electronics after a while. It is a bit like the EV batteries. If you purchase an older EV, some of the onboard technology may no longer be available to replace. I enjoy my two analog instruments. I only need to know the mileage, the speed, and the rpm. I have a warning light for low oil pressure, one for the charging, and a fuel reserve indication which I don't really need since I know how far I can go with a full tank. Cherry on the cake, a 10 and 13 flat wrenches will address most of my problems.

Excepted for this mishap, and the somewhat loose battery connections that caused a no start, the Quota has been incredibly reliable. I mean, much more than the V11 if I have to compare both. I am going to put it through its paces by driving it all the way to Wyoming, at what used to be the northern boundary of the former Republic of Texas. Exceptionally, I am going to bring a 10 and 13mm flat wrenches with me. I am a member of the AMA, and under their umbrella, I have a one time free tow (per year) to the closest Moto Guzzi dealer. I am yet to find out what happens if the dealership refuses to work on an older motorcycle. The Moto Guzzi dealer in Arizona that changed the tires on my Quota said they would have no problem working on it for anything. While the Moto Guzzi dealer near me, Wild West Motoplex does not work on anything older than 10 years.

The drawing shows the nut at the top, Doc. Agreed about the nylstop nut renewal. Those are supposed to be a one time use only. In any case, the gear lever spline claw is permanently deformed, making its removal difficult. I think it was overtightened. The "Nut Place" did not have M6 nylstop nuts; McMaster-Carr has them, but they sell them by 100, and the shipping cost is significant. I am going to wait until the Nut place restock them.

Here's the assy following the shimming:

Fortunately, I have a shop nearby that specializes in fasteners; its called "the nut place". They have both metric and imperial. I could find various thicknesses M16 washers as they have some stainless, non stainless, zinc, phosphated, cadmiumed. I am good now. I will take a picture once I am certain that gear lever does not skip the spline.

@gstallons I have reassembled the shift lever and "shimmed" it properly with flat washers with the o'rings acting as dirt catchers. The o'rings should hopefully stay in place as there are no o'ring grooves. The flat washer should keep them in. @Sam P I don't understand where that 7mm play came from. The initial assembly was as per the drawing. However, there is a trace of welding on the shift lever. Also, the position of the lever was very low, which was fine to engage the first gear, but required an effort to shift up. I am guessing there may have been some damage fixing that resulted in that lateral play. The shifting is better now, but I need to do a longer test run to make sure the gear lever does not come out of the shift lever as it did twice before.

It is not about "appropriate"; the whole concept of "tip" is detourned. My first encounter was in February 1983, when I took one of these yellow cabs from JFK to get to my hotel in Manhattan. Upon arrival, I was yelled at in the open by a pretty irrate taxi driver. I did not understand. In France, even today, you are not required to tip. You pay for the transport, yes? so a tip should be left at the appreciation of the customer, and never an obligation. But as i learned later, this did not hold true in NY. Apparently, the tip is compulsory in a number of cases. In France, a "tip" is called "pourboire". Which literally means "for drinks", combined into one word. The meaning is on point. This is an extra that you provide, because as a paying customer, you felt that someone went out of his/her way to give an impeccable service. It is not something that should be automatically claimed because today's technology enables it. NFC which is the technical name of contactless payments should make transactions faster. As it turns out, because you invariably need to select a tip in cases that should not require one, you end up having to fumble with the payment terminal. They found a new way to enforce it, by removing the "no tip" option. I am starting to see it more too. But as you suggest, I am not ashamed to tell them I don't want to tip, so complete the transaction.

In this new assembly, there will be no slack. The previous one, the wave washer served no purpose given the 7mm lateral play. Its sole purpose was to mangle the o'ring, not maintained inside the pivot hold. I will take some pics once installed.

@68C As a European from France, I will share what has always been my most puzzling experience here. None of the price shown to you includes Tax and/or fees. In the whole of Europe, and the UK, the price shown to you is the price you pay, in that it includes VAT. This is never the case here. I was once explained that the rationale is that taxes vary per state, city and so on. But my local supermarket does not include taxes either. Why not? Something you also need to be wary about: tips! with the contactless payments, came the flip tablets, which impose you to select a tip percent before you can complete the transaction; even when there is no service provided, such as you purchasing something that is given to you over a counter, or even better, when you do all the work yourself. I am just back from Orlando Florida, the home of Mickey, and I discovered a new one: the no tip option altogether missing. It felt a little bit like extortion. Can you picture going to your supermarket, filling up your cart, and at the check-out, you are presented with a tip percent selection with no opt-out? Are you renting a car?

I am not reinstalling the wave washer, as it did not serve any purpose. I have shimmed the shift lever properly, and it no longer has any lateral play.

I received the o'rings this morning: The size is ID=15mm x CS=1.5mm. Therefore, any O'ring GU90706141 is it; I paid 18 dollars for two o'rings....

Do you have a lot of lateral play in your shift lever? see my technical topic here: