audiomick

Good to see. We had a half-dozen or so V85 TT, about the same number of the newer V7 850s in various versions, and a couple each of V100 Mandellos and V100 Stelvios. Old dogs can learn new tricks, after all.

A couple of pictures from my weekend. We got lucky, probably the last cry of summer this year. About 30°C, sunshine, just beautiful. It started raining just now (late in the night after I got home today), and is going to be wet for the next 3 or 4 days. This is the spot. Don't be confused by the exposure, the two pictures were taken from the same spot, one into the sun, one away from it. It is the grounds of a canoe club, mostly slalom kayaks as far as I can tell. The poles are visible in the picture taken towards the river. Lunch time, half-way through the ride on Saturday. I counted 48 bikes. Two of them were side-car outfits (both Guzzis), and only three were not Guzzis. I was pleased to finally see this bike. The owner and builder has been reporting his progress for a while now in the German forum. The frame is a late model Tonti California frame. Motor is V11 (with ground off fins to look like an older round motor), but carbies instead of injectors. The rest of it, I don't really know. Suffice to say that absolutely none of it is "standard", either for the frame or in relation to any of the other parts. I don't like the Cali 2 look, actually, and the paint job is a matter of taste, but the thing is a work of art. There were two V11s there. This one, which I didn't like much. It said "Le Mans" on the side covers, and the colour suggests it may have been a Rosso Corsa. So why would one take off the Le Mans fairing and put on that shitty looking fly catcher? The other one was a Greenie. Not pretty, you might say. I liked it. It belongs to Bob. He bought it in 2005. The bike is loved, and lived, and matches the owner perfectly: a bit tousled and slightly eccentric. Here is Bob on his Greenie, loaded up and about to head off home. I had a great weekend. I hope you all did too.

That's a good idea! Thanks. I always use a drift to get bearings out. I don't like using screwdrivers for anything except turning screws.

That topic (rubber boot for something or other...) came up in another forum just recently. I haven't looked into it myself, although my bikes have a couple that need replacing. To change them, one needs to get the pins (or sockets) out of the connector to be able to get the new rubber bit over the wires. The following links were posted, the first one from Phil, the other two from two other members of the forum in question https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/854709452#map=19/50.706699/11.326726 https://de.aliexpress.com/item/4000781880821.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.1373.432e5c5frYsjMF&gatewayAdapt=glo2deu https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07P7LNLR5?ref=cm_sw_r_apan_dp_MFHHMW69CG46WEMQGH96&ref_=cm_sw_r_apan_dp_MFHHMW69CG46WEMQGH96&social_share=cm_sw_r_apan_dp_MFHHMW69CG46WEMQGH96&starsLeft=1&language=en_GB The point is, the boot on the connectors are pretty much a generic part. The don't really keep the water out or anything. Their main purpose is to stop the wires getting bent too severely where they come out of the connector. If they don't fit perfectly, it doesn't really matter, as long as the stay on (and aren't too ugly...). It seems the only trick is finding someone who sells something suitable at prices that apply when the names of Italian motorcyles don't appear in the product description.

There's a bloke in the german forum that has the following in his signature: "If the Lord God had wanted motorcycles to be clean, there would be dishwashing liquid in the rain". Just sayin'...

You blokes have good weekend. If all goes according to plan, I'll be spending a Guzzi weekend here. Tents instead of cabins, not enough "facilities", but good people and a group ride on Saturday through beautiful countryside. https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/854709452#map=19/50.706699/11.326726

I know from personal experience with another forum, that means somewhere between 3 and 4 hours work. At least, for someone who reads and types quickly. Somebody buy that man a beer or three. I'd do it, but I'm too far away.

As far as I can see, no-one has answered the questions explicitly yet, so I'll give it a go, even if it's only for posterity Unless I am very, very mistaken, that is the wire coming from the starter relay that supplies the voltage that activates the starter solenoid. Theortically, it shouldn't, but: The headlight is held on by the other state of the starter relay, i.e. the state it falls back to when the starter button is not being pressed. So there is a connection, somehow. The neutral light is not directly involved in the circuit, but I believe it might be indirectly involved via earth contact in the dashboard. Put those two together, and some of the really weird behavior of lights I have observed on older cars full of bad contacts, and I'd say "you never know" to both of those. Definitely. See the first point. That wire circled in the photo actives the starter solenoid, which causes the starter to crank over. If that wire has a bad contact, and it sounded like it had marginal or perhaps no contact, then the starter simply wont work. The question you haven't asked is "why did it only show up after a year of standing around?" If you are really sure that you didn't accidently dislodge that wire during the year's standing around, it probably just mucked up through corrosion. That can easily happen between metal surfaces that are close together. You get a bit of moisture in there, and it does it's thing. Or just dust. Or something else. I once had a bad connection in a studio mixing desk that was caused by a very small spider building a web inside a large multi-pin connector. Seriously, I kid you not.

No mate, she sounded like this. (That Guzzi sounds nice, though. The flywheel must be pretty light...)

That would be Beetle, almost certainly. Mentioned further up, if I recall correctly. This is his site: https://griso.org/ I believe his first name is Mark.

Hmm. I suppose finishing that early could have it's advantages. The last couple of weeks I've been starting at 9 a.m. , because the (Opera) season hasn't started properly yet. Not good for me at all. Generally, during the season, I start at 2.30 p.m. and finish between 10 and 11.30 p.m. Much better for my system.

Glad you enjoyed the ride, despite everything. I have to say though, your working hours would have me looking for a civilised job post haste.

Yes, it should fit both. I also think it looks a lot like the original Valeo starter motor. Because there are no stickers on it, and because of the price, I suspect it is a copy. That does not, however, mean that it wont work perfectly well. The bloke I share my workshop with has a Valeo copy in his V50 Monza that cost about €30,- and it works fine.

Both my V11 Le Mans and my Breva 750 have the headlight permanently on, but on low-beam. As far as I know, some later bikes may have had "running-lights", but I don't think it was that common in the low 20's. Otherwise, your logic is good. If the load is pulling current, the current will go up at lower voltages. And I think it can be considered "established knowledge" that italian electrics are occasionally a bit marginal.