Dr Gil

Things here in rural northern California are still VERY slow...business as usual. With the help from the members of this board, Todd at MPH motorcycles (yes, in Houston) and some European supplies I've finally managed to get everything I need to repair the Le Mans. I've had good luck coming up with some of the harder parts to locate by talking to Teo Lamers, HMB Guzzi and Reboot Guzzi Spares (used parts) in Europe.

Yes indeed! Thank you to all. I'm still not 100% sure that this was the stop for the sidestand but it's the right size and I was missing mine. So if it wasn't a sidestand stop before it is now. Bit by bit I'm coming to recognize my entire bike. Gil

The "official" BMC cleaning/re-oiling instructions are HERE and are pretty much in keeping with what everyone here seems to be talking about. I'm appreciative of some of the alternative products suggested and tend to agree that they easily replace some of the higher priced "only use our product" solutions. I've decided to go with Ratchethack's suggestion with the "No-Toil" oiler from Cycle Gear and have taken it to the next step of getting their complete kit. It seems a nice compromise. Thanks to all for their spirited response to my somewhat needy thread. As always ALL info and experience is MUCHLY appreciated and has been digested (burp). You guys are aces

Bill, you're right...ground clearance is good. I may do a bit of grinding on the rubber bit. Stop by sometime when you're out riding and tell me what you think of the project. I want to get a look at the setup on your Scura for the sidestand kill switch besides. I assume it's the same as on the Le Mans. I can't seem to get a handle on how it's supposed to work or where the connections should be made. grossohc, I think the rubber bit is just glued onto the threaded part and mine fell off. Originally I think it's all sold as one unit.

Thanks Van, the hydraulic stand was borrowed from a friend after the bike fell over (simply fitting a mirror) early on in this project. It's a typical motorcycle floor jack with two parallel rubberized "feet" that fit under the oil sump. I'm now using it in conjunction with the standard Guzzi lift that fits under the lower bolts on the porkchops. Used together the bike is now quite stable. BB Rick...the rack should look familiar, I snuck into your garage and stole it from your bike when you weren't looking. Actually it was the cause for me having to disassemble the entire rear end of my bike a couple of weeks ago. I actually was pretty close to having the tail section bent back into shape and had everything working when I decided I should take the opportunity to mount the rack...alas, it turns out that to fit it into place I had to take apart the entire 50 gazillion pieces that make up the Le Mans rear end, fit the rack and then reassemble the whole thing. One of the good things about this project is that once I would probably have found disassembling the tail section and mounting the rack to be too daunting and ended up taking it to someone else to mount. Now after months of wrenching on the Guzzi I do these things without thinking.

Actually it's come as quite a shock to me the number of "non-Guzzi specific" parts are on the Le Mans. There are quite a few (and MUCH less expensive) Buell parts that bolt right on or bolt right on with a bit of coaxing...and yes, I must confess to now having both Buell turn signals and rear view mirrors on my Italian girl.

For those kind people who have supported me both with parts, expertise and kind thoughts and helped me in the rebuilding of my beloved Le Mans I wish to announce that PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE! While I'm awaiting a couple of last minute parts that I thought I was going to have to make do without (thank you Teo Lamers) I decided to go ahead and finish the rear end of the bike. During the slide the bike turned around and slid backwards town the tarmac for a couple of hundred feet and took quite a lot of damage. Once again thanks to all who have contributed to this worthy cause. (a drum roll please) Now, I give to you... MY COMPLETED REAR SECTION ( complete with working electrics)!!!

Perfect! I just placed an order with Cycle Gear. Thanks once again RH

And yet another in a seemingly unending series of newguy questions: With the tank now off of my '02 Le Mans I've discovered I'm the proud owner of a BMC air filter. I've gone to the BMC website and they list the "official" procedure for cleaning and re-oiling the filter using "official" BMC cleaner and "official" BMC oil. I figured I'd just bite the $ bullet and order the kit for $17 U.S. When I get to the checkout I find a whopping $18 U.S. for shipping and handling...from a U.S. outlet! I'm outraged and refuse to submit to this kind of crap. Soooo...any suggestions on the care and maintence of the BMC airfilter would be greatly appreciated.

Yep, luhbo's got it right. The crash occured because I left my sidestand down and the kill switch had been removed by the previous owner. 6 months later I'm still paying the price for that boneheaded move.

I was hoping for more from this thread (re: "slipping one in") but alas. You most certainly live in another part of NoCA than I....here it's rain, rain, rain. I'm sick of it. I find that "thinking" about gear changing always makes my transitions smoother. It's when I don't think that I get into trouble.

I don't know about Guzzi's but I know that if I spin around real fast I get very dizzy and taking ANY corner would be pretty much out of the question...but perhaps that's just me. Hope this helps.

Not quite yet I'm afraid. I've decided to do a few "under-the-tank" things before I put the fuel tank back on and fill the engine with oil. I'm not sure when I'll have the tank off again and it seemed the right thing to do to tidy things up a bit while I'm there. We're getting damned close though

You are SO right Martin! I'm impressed Believe me if it was in my power to give you quiz points I would, but... Thank you though for solving the mystery. I removed the sidestand as well as the fuel tank as part of the "replacing my timing cover" ordeal and it must have come off when I was messing with the sidestand and I just didn't notice it until later. I was just out to the garage and it is a perfect match! So are these things just glued on there or what? I see no other way of reattaching (grinding the sidestand is not an issue with me either).

When removing the fuel tank on my '02 Le Mans a round rubber thing approximately 3/4" (19 mm) in diameter popped out onto the garage floor. I'm ready to put the tank back on and am faced with the dreaded "parts left over" thing. Does this thing look at all familiar to anyone? Being rubber I'm supposing it is a "bumper" that keeps two pieces of the bike from rubbing/vibrating/banging together. The (what I suppose to be) top seems to either intentionally have some circular ribbing or is that way because it is a footprint of whatever was riding on it. The keys are just included in the pic for a sense of proportion. Please don't bother identifying them.

LOL Rh! My saving grace was that I still have my Triumph Sprint Sport (admittedly dying but still in service for the occasional day trip) and my wife's SV650 (taken down to the International Motorcycle Show in San Jose on a 3 Day Trip recently) to back me up...otherwise I'd of been freakin'! I could afford to wait. ...and no, I'm still not over worrying about leaks Tommorow's "fire-up" should tell the tale. Glad your downtime was minimal (by my standards at least) and feel somehow better for knowing you are out there, somewhere, on the road on your Guzzi. It's all very Zen.

Just a quick update on the timing cover replacement. I purchased one of those ridiculously inexpensive (59 Euros) from HMB Guzzi in Germany that Paul turned me onto. They came through like champs. I replaced my crinkle painted '02 cover for a shiny black '03 but it looks fine and as soon as I cover it with mud and dust no one will ever notice it doesn't exactly match. I spent the afternoon trying to remember where everything goes and getting it back together in the proper order (only had to redo everything twice...near record for me). I think I can proudly announce that my timing cover and alternator are back on the bike and situated as they should be. I have to being a bit nervous about rebolting the sub-frame back up. There was this nagging voice in the back of my head that once the frame bolts were removed that perhaps the frame would shift (because it was maybe tweaked in the accident and my untrained eye missed it) and I had no idea what I would do then...bent frame, NOOOOOO! Happily everything aligned as it should and it turns out I worried for no reason. Tomorrow I hope to put the fuel tank back on, fill the engine with oil, try to start the bike and then see if anything flys off or breaks. If so you can bet I'll be back here whining and asking for more advice. More as things develop. Gil

"brutes?" "fiesty?" "DANGEROUS?" Eh, I don't know Tom...here's a picture of Norman and Elizabeth doing what they do best...snuggling on the couch with me watching a little television.

I did actually see a Tomohawk at the '03 Superbike races at Sear Point but never saw it move. They had it behind a fence and a guy would periodically fire it up much to the delight of the crowd In all fairness that Viper engine did sound awesome! That pool of oil under then engine was kind of a bad sign though...

I've just posted my ridiculously long trip report of my adventures riding to and from the San Jose International Motorcycle Show last weekend on my website. You must forgive the report's length. It's just that this is the first time I've been able to put in any sort of a trip since I crashed my Moto Guzzi back in August (I took this trip on Becky's Suzuki SV650S) and perhaps I'm was a little overexcited about being back out on the road again. The report can be found HERE!

Moto Italiano was there alrighty...actually they had TWO booths! One seemed to consist of mostly clothing and accessories the other had one of those sexy white Triumph Speed Triples on display...much appreciated since Triumph chose not to "officially" take part in the show It's probably just as well that you weren't here Al...walking to a motorcycle show is like taking a knife to a gunfight. It's just wrong.

I also checked out the Kendon lift...what with the somewhat extensive repairs I'm having to make on my Le Mans I've lusted after a lift. I had the same experience as you though Mike, nobody to talk to about it. I had to sort out for myself how one would even get the bike onto the lift. There was no brochure, no salesperson, no nothing...and I felt the lift was too narrow. At the $600+ U.S. I think there are better deals to be had. The best deal I found was the set of adjustable "Rock Straps" for $18. Truly, there weren't too many deals to be had...but all the temptation was still nice ...and I also enjoyed the Ural's. And found the "retro" Ural made me laugh...truly an oxymoron but I liked it and want one anyway.

I rode the 320 miles or so down to San Jose on my wife's Suzuki SV650S (my Guzzi is still in pieces...someday) to take in the Cycle World International Motorcycle Show with some friends from the Sport-Touring.Net?. While the weather conditions were NOT ideal (freezing temps, high winds, driving rain, lightning and hail) the show was a delight. Even without Triumph's official pressence (a couple of local Triumph dealers had brough a few of their bikes...including a sexy white Speed Triple) there were plenty of new and interesting bikes to see and sit on. The vendors were back in force after many of them staying away last yeard due to union problems. The show was so big that I actually suffered "burn out" and simply had to rush through part of the show and get outta there. The Guzzi booth was great! Piaggio's commitment to the line and their willingness to spend money advertising it was apparent. The star of the display seemed to be the Griso and there was always a crowd with people waiting to sit on it. It was my first experience sitting on the Griso and found I didn't like it as well as I thought I would. For my style of riding I found the Breva 1100 more interesting (Griso's aerodynamics aren't wonderful for touring and a 4 1/2 gal. gas tank!) but it just doesn't speak to me...guess I'll stick with the Le Mans for the time being. I was a bit surprised at myself for lusting after the sexy, black EV though (see below). I thought I was committed to sports bikes. I'm just fickle I guess, show me a pretty face... It was great to meet my first member of this board face to face at breakfast Saturday morning, tomsp. We were there with a bunch of ST.Netters and did get to chat some but not enough. I was hoping to meet up with him later at the show but never did. Another time. All in all the show was a rousing success and highly recommended. I managed to get out of there without buying much...some custom earplugs and some rock straps so that's a good thing. Thanks again to Todd at MPH Cycles for the discount tickets to the show. I passed them around and they were much appreciated. I'll try to get off a complete trip report and post it on my website sometime in the next week or so. Now back to repairing the Le Mans and getting it back on the road.

Define "wine coloured."

Things warmed up enough today today to the point where I could get back into my tumbledown (unheated) garage. I spent a few minutes "bonding" with my Le Mans and then started sorting out the "no brake light" on the front brake problem. It didn't take long to discover that one of those teeny-tiny connections at the front switch (at the front brake lever) had slipped off. Dielectric grease on everything including all the connections that have been made in the tail section so far and I'm happy to announce ALL of my lights are now working as they should! I can't say I love all this wrenching on the bike and I'm envious of those who have the availability of a decent Guzzi shop but there are times, few and far between I'm afraid, when the sense of accomplishment and the joy of seeing something finally work after all the toil and trouble is intense. This was one of them. Thank you all for your help. I couldn't have done it without you ...now tht that's done I'll see you over in my other thread about the timing cover...after it arrives). Till then, chill awhile, smoke 'em it you got 'em.