audiomick

Good call, @NicoNZ Furthering that thought: milky looking headlight. Brake discs have seen a good bit of use, the way they look. I can't say for sure, but the tread pattern on the tyres looks to me to be quite a bit more modern than to be expected on a 20 year old bike. My guess would be that the clock has gone around (at least...) once.

You apparently didn't read my last post, immediatly before yours with that question, all the way to the end. Here it is again...

Mine doesn't rub, but the bracket on the left is closer to the tank than on the right. I think it might have to do with the left cylinder being further back than the right, but I didn't have enough time to have a really close look at it after I noticed the "problem". I have been informed by someone who really knows what he is talking about that there can be problems with contact between fairing, sidecovers and tank, and ensuing wear and tear. He suggested a thick washer or two under the rear mount of the tank to raise it a couple of millimeters. I haven't had a really close look yet to see exactly what it will acheive, but the first glance indicated that this might be a really good idea.

Have a listen to this woman. I heard her a couple of months ago. Fairly young, and quite brilliant. Unfortunately the recordings here are a bit shitty. https://www.bryndisgudjonsdottir.com/media

Yes, exactly. Getting the alternator cover off is complicated on mine, as I have the crossover between the headers which sits in front of the alternator cover. Nevertheless, I prefer a spanner (socket) on the alternator to turn over the motor. Whatever the method is to turn over the motor, the straw is very useful. Actually, I prefer to use a piece of heat shrink tube. Because: it happens to be lying around in easy reach of the work bench, it is soft enough to not damage anything inside the motor, and tough enough to not get chewed up if it does get jammed in there a bit. The "straw" is useful because it means I can be watching the valves whilst turning the motor with one hand and feeling what the "straw" is doing with the other. I turn the motor until it gets to TDC. Generally it kind of pops past the precise point. I've always assumed that this has to do with what the valve springs on the other piston are doing. So, I go back a bit and approach the point again. I have observed where I was at with the spanner on the alternator and what the straw was doing, and can find the TDC on the second approach very precisely. By the way, the reason for always approaching the TDC in the correct direction of motor rotation is to ensure that all the slop in the cam chain and so on is being taken up be the tensioner in the way the manufacturer intended, i.e. any backlash or whatever is there where it will be at when the motor is really running. Seems logical to me...

Yes, that is correct. I did the valve clearances on mine recently, and found a mark for TDC for the left cylinder. I don't remember what it was, though. I'm not quite sure, but I reckon I didn't find a mark for the right hand cylinder. Should be easy to check though: with the rocker covers off, watch what the valves are doing. Find the combustion TDC, go back a bit, and turn the motor slowly past the TDC whilst keeping an eye on the flywheel through the hole. That's how I found the mark for the left cylinder. The most difficult part of the process was getting the cover off the alternator to be able to put a spanner on the front of the motor and turn it over in a controlled fashion. What a pain in the proverbial...

Off ramps are tricky. You never really know what you are going to find at the bottom. I tend to take them a bit easier. On ramps, on the other hand... All things being equal, they lead here very often on to an unlimited section of Autobahn, and it is in your interest to hit it (the Autobahn...) already doing a respectable speed. Except if you have to tuck in behind a truck (speed limit 80 km/h), or there are road works, or there is a traffic jam, or there is lots of traffic and you have to juggle to get in, or.... So yes, I enjoy (on) ramps that I know, but always with a bit of reserve for unforseen circumstances.

Whatever you reckon. Just remember, red is 10% faster....

So the Dunlop and Avon product pallettes are both being rigorously rationalised. Hmm, we'll see how that developes...

Feel free to do that if you want. You're the one that will be seen riding it... Seriously, though, what about red bar end weights. I'm repeating myself there. Someone here was looking for suggestions for a bit more red on the front, and that occurred to me. I think it would work on yours too, Phil. And yes, the mudgaurd is much better in green.

Wow, that's practically nothing. Still, that doesn't mean one could buy it and just start riding it. I bought a Breva 750 a couple of weeks ago. Less than 10,000 km. on the clock. At first glance, it looks like new. I've since discovered a couple of scratches, but never mind. The bike has only done about 500 km in the last 10 years, based on records of a tyre change at the bike shop that took care of the sale for the owner. The Breva runs ok, but... It needed a complete fluid change. At this point, I've done engine and gearbox oil, but still have to do final drive and brake fluid. On the basis of previous experience, I'm inclined to really open up the brake calipers and see what they look like from the inside. And the rear brake doesn't feel right anyway, so... The tyres on it are no doubt the ones put on at the bike shop in question 10 years ago. They look almost new, but I'm more and more convinced that they are just too old. The bike has "startus interruptus". I think the battery is still in an acceptable condition. Going by the look of it, it might even have been put in for the sale. Nevertheless, something has to be done about getting a decent 12V supply to the solenoid on the starter. It seems to be more or less the same problem that blights our V11s in that respect. For some reason, the idle speed is far too low. It is supposed to be around 1100 rpm, and can only be influenced by the bypass screws on the throttle bodies. It is, however, not 1100 but rather more like 850 rpm. So a tune up is in order, even though the bike is "practically new". I'm hoping that when those things, and that which is still to become apparent, is all sorted, I'll have a reliable and stress free bike to ride into town and do errands on. Time will tell...

Ok, that is starting to make sense. Going back to the Wiki article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brake_cleaner in the section on "Composition". I could see something with a chlorine base producing Phosgene when heated, although I didn't find any hard facts. By the way, Phosgene here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosgene However, as can be seen in the quote I included, the chlorinated brake cleaner is sometimes sold as "non-flammable". Clearly this is then not suitable for finding leaks in the intake system of a combustion engine. The brake cleaner I was referring to, and incidently the only type I have come across, is the sort that is hydrocarbon based (see, once again, the "Composition" section of the Wiki article). That is most definiitely not "non-flammable".

Yeah, I know mate. But can you put braided lines on something that didn't have them as standard, or is it still illegal? By the way, your Guzzi is very, very nice.

Yes, ether would work. But getting back to the brake cleaner; are we talking about the same thing? I mean this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brake_cleaner not anything that chemically has anything to do with brake fluid. Incidentally, that Wiki article looks like an automatic translation of the German Wiki aricle on the subject https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremsenreiniger but that is a bit beside the point, I think. The stuff I mean is very nasty. Agressive, no doubt poisonous, you don't want too much of it on your skin or to be breathing it in too much, but it is hydrocarbons. That means the by-products of burning it must be similar to exhaust gases, i.e. not exactly healthy, but mostly CO, CO2 and water. Apart from that, I can't see how the stuff I mean could be a danger to a welder, because the point of it is that it evaporates and leaves absolutely no residue. By the time the welder gets on to the part, there should be absolutely nothing left to burn. If I'm missing something, please let me know.

yes, I know about that one. Here, the spray of choice is brake cleaner. Makes sense to me, as it is extremely volatile.

Just as a matter of curiosity, Phil, If I recall correctly, when I was still in Melbourne it was not legal to install braided lines on a bike that didn't have them as standard. Is that still the case?

Yes, I believe some bikes were or will be recalled in Germany. A quote from here: https://www.motorradonline.de/tourer/moto-guzzi-v-100-mandello-rueckruf/ From what I've read in the german forum, there were some rear shocks that were missing a bush, or it was installed incorrectly. The result was that the end of the shock is clamped tight in the mounting bracket and can't rotate as it is intended to be able to. This overstresses the eye on the end of the shock, and it can fracture.

What the hell went wrong there? It looks like he just wasn't looking where he was going.

It's not really the speed as such, particularly with the V35 Imola. That is flat out at about 145 km/h. The fun is in the way it feels whilst getting there. The small block motor is a lot of fun.

You forgot an "r" in that word.

What was the problem, and what was the solution? I'm asking more or less for other people. I've read a few comments about how the tyre pressure sensor can take quite a while to "connect". Did your problem have anything to do with that?

Docc, that goes quite a long way in the direction of LP vs. CD. The new is undeniably better in quite a lot of ways, but haptically and visually the old is somehow more fulfilling.

Well, yes, heron heads and all that. But... I know 7 people personally who maintain small blocks as track bikes. Mostly just for fun, but one of them is this bloke (whom I admittedly don't know very well) : https://www.silent-hektik.de/Rac_Sascha_Pfautsch_Racing.htm and another 3 or 4 from hearsay. As far as I'm concerned, my V35 Imola is definitely at least as much danger to my driver's license in respect to speeding fines as my GTR 1000 Kawasaki ever was, in fact more, and also as much as the V11 Le Mans. It doesn't have a great deal of power, but wants desperately to be using all of it all the time. The Breva 750 ie that I just bought is a bit of a "generic motorcycle", but I think putting some clip-ons on it to get more contact with the bike will change the whole ball game there. I think there is some tweaking to be done on the motor too, just along the lines of "a decent tune-up", but even as it is it's loads of fun (despite the "sit-up-and-beg" riding position).

What's wrong with small blocks? I've got two, and they're fantastic.

The riders are different weights, but as far as I can tell, there is a minimum weight limit for the bikes. You can bet your granny that they will all be bang on that. So the same pressure for everyone in the same tyre is going to be more or less ok.