ArtD

The boards do pivot, and they are not loose there, they have locknuts. I was wondering if where the floorboard mounting bracket mount to the frame itself should have some sort of isolation system. I'll take a real good look at the front pipes and see if they might possibly be hitting somewhere

Hi again Pete, ok......I know what you mean about the lugging! This is my 2nd Cali, I never have had a problem keeping the revs up. this is not that, this is almost a buzzing in the floorboards, it acts almost like a harmonic imbalance. It "buzzes" right around 3,000, and is basically gone by 3,500. I suppose if I were to rev it to 3,500 everytime I took off, then I would not have the issue, but nowadays I live in an urban area and that is not really an option. This can't be right...I keep finding little things, and I keep fixing little things. Today I pulled both floorboards off, and found where they had been hitting the exhaust, the one on the right was hitting more that the shifter side, but they both had been hitting the exhaust, but you could not tell or see unless they were pulled off completely. They are solidly mounted, btw, that is right....right? Two 19mm nuts, obviously not factory had been put on the right hand side(brake) as spacers, obviously someone had tried to address this issue in some way, and/or whatever the factory had there was not doing...something. Thinking "got it now", I ground away on the floorboard brackets, put them back on, was already to do a post here, thought, "let me ride it just for jollies"....vibration is still there. Not as pronounced..almost more "buzzy", if you can sort of get my drift with that. Is there supposed to be anything rubber in the mounting system??? I'm ready to put pegs on, I did not mind them at all on my other Cali, and I don't really care for the shifting with the floorboards anyway. BUT...will that really fix anything? my gut tells me something is not right here.

Sort of a update here.... As per Guzzimeister's suggestion, I did that. I also did a couple of other things, and everything has seemed to help a bit. Before I hit the road for that diagnostic test... The valves were off, set them to world specs. The plugs were both a bit fouled, replaced them with Iridium plugs. Then, took it for a ride and tried a couple of things and did some observations as well. The vibration is the same in both floorboards. I accelerated up to 30-40 mph, got the revs around 3,500, pulled the clutch in, rolled off the throttle, and hit the kill switch. I did that twice, the second time at a slightly higher speed. The vibration vanishes completely. I also noticed that its only really pronounced when under acceleration. As soon as you roll out of the throttle, it stops, this vibration is ONLY under light acceleration. It clears out for the most part under hard acceleration, and, when there is no throttle, it completely vanishes, no matter what the rpm's are. Remembering the old days, and this is with cars, mind you, if you did that with, say a MGB or a Fiat 124 with bad u-joints, it would give out a shudder, become very pronounced when you would back off the throttle. You could call a bad joint every time this way. Under acceleration the "slack" was being taken up, backing off of it loosened things up. This is a different machine, with different dynamics, but one would think that, allowing "slop" to get into the drivetrain when rotating fast, it would get worse, not vanish completely. Also, the driveshaft/carrier brg does not care about being under power, when you pull the clutch in, it should not instantly vanish when moving....I'm thinking that....I think:) The exhaust is not hitting anywhere. Not the centerstand, not the kickstand, nothing. The motor mounting bolts are tight.I'm starting to believe there is some sort of throttle body issue here. I'm going to get the Twinmax back out and I'm going to really put it on the money at 3,000rpms, balance at idle as well, and make sure its idling at 1,500. I'm about to join the "they all do that" and wait for a reason to tear it apart. Except....I am aware of what failure of these parts can mean.

Thank you! This looks like an excellent way to get some idea about the u-joints without tearing the thing apart. Since I posted earlier I got it up on the centerstand and checked the freeplay in the rear wheel when its in gear. Its about 2 and 1/2 inches up and down, and I have been told that's normal. There is a very faint clicking sound as you rock the wheel up and down with the gearbox in neutral, I can't imagine that is creating the vibration. I checked the exhaust, both sides, with the bike running right around the 3,000rpm point, while its close to the floorboard brackets, it does not hit anywhere and there are no signs it has been hitting. Just on a hunch, I'm going to set the valves, tight valves could, maybe cause some of this just off of idle, but there is not a miss here, per say, the motor pulls strong, she just has this very irritating vibration.

First off, hi again everyone, its been a while. Lot of changes, moved back to Florida,long story and had to sell the bikes to do that.Having done that, and since going Guzzi-less was not an option, I just got another 2001 California Special..and this one will NOT be sold, my estate can deal with it someday. ANYWAY....I got the old girl at a pretty decent price, and had to stick a battery in , get it running, etc. The bike had been sitting for a while, about 6 months. The bike has almost exactly 20,000 miles on it. I had a 60+ mile home so I had a good chance to evaluate things. Everything is nice and snug, the clutch and gearbox are perfect, new brakes, new tires, I'm betting a new clutch at some point not too long ago. All is fine except... Here's the deal: there is what I would consider to be a bad vibration right around 3,000 rpm's that comes through the floorboards. In fact, its there off idle , from 1,500 to 3,000 rpms, only when in gear, under acceleration. it builds to 3,000 and then It seems to smooth out after that. There is virtually no vibration in the handlebars, its through floorboards, you can really feel it in your feet, and, to a point through the seat. The The guy I got it from gave the usual, "its always done that", and said he put about 5,000 miles on when he had the bike. He also said he set the throttle bodies by ear.... Moving along....The next day I properly set the throttle bodies with the Twinmax, they were totally out to lunch. That helped, but no cure, the vibration is still there. Nothing is loose, the exhaust is tight, as is everything else. My former CA special did not do this...but interestingly it did not have floorboards on it either. Ok...if this was a car, I would say it has a quite worn carrier bearing in the driveshaft, and/or bad u-joints. This is the exact symptom of that, but, unlike a car, one cannot just get underneath and determine it in a few moments. Here its a big nasty job, which I will tackle if necessary...the key words being.."if necessary". Any thoughts? Any magic bullet I have overlooked? Any way to determine this without tearing the bike apart? Any other suggestions for this that I need to know about? Would checking and setting the TPS fix this? This is sort of off-topic, but I know the vast amount of Guzzi knowledge that is here in this group, I'm confident that there will be some excellent suggestions forthcoming. Thanks everyone.

I'm looking for a set of v11 valve covers. I don't care what color they are, I'm going to have them anodized. As long as they are not cracked, have road rash, etc, I'll be ok with them. Thanks

Ok, I'm a bit prejudiced, but due to a variety of reasons, I must reluctantly part with my 1938 Moto Guzzi PLS 250. Here's the link, info, etc http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Motorcycles...A1%7C240%3A1318 We are going to be making a cross country move that we had not planned on making, hence the reason for the quite reluctant sale. I'm open to reasonable offers. I'm going to hang on to the Italia!

My worth on all this: Being in the Pacific NW, you get to see just about every riding situation known to man. For the warm weather days I love my Joe Rocket Sonic. Good Armor, great ventilation, its very well made, and it fits perfect. When its cold and wet, I have a Belstaff Mercury, which is probably the closest thing to perfection that exists for a all weather riding jacket. I have the usual closet-full of assorted jackets, but those two are the only ones that seem to get any "outdoor time"

My worth- I had very much the same problem with my 04 Italia, fouled plugs, crappy mileage, reeking of fumes cold starting etc. Here is what is probably happening-the oil temperature sending unit is directly responsible for telling the ECU what the temperature is. This unit is mounted in a cheap bakelite housing. it does not transfer heat properly, so the ECU "thinks" that is is cold most all of the time. Fortunately there is a cure, replace it with the earlier one for the (I think) Le Mans that was made of brass. First do this- lFirst look at it, its on the right cylinder, towards the rear, under the tank, and see if the housing is brown or gold/brass colored. If its brown (and I think yours will prove to be ) its bakelite and you need to put the brass one in. First, remove the gas tank, that is extensively covered in here. Then you can get to it easily. Here is a little tip-leave the sending unit screwed in when you unscrew the housing, remove it as a unit. Its much easier to get out that way. It might be a pita anyway You can order the brass one from several places, just call either Moto International or MG cycle and tell whoever answers the phone that you want the brass oil temperature sending unit, they will know what you need. Then, put everything back where you found it I went one extra step, and put some thermal grease in the bottom of the housing, so that the tip of the sender would fully pick up the heat. Put blue locktite on the threads of the housing, and screw it all back in. Put the tank back on and your iback n buisness. My plugs are now coloring a nice shade of pale grey, and the thing runs like a raped ape

Quick story-I have a couple of many year old Snap-on Torque wrenches, a couple of Micrometer type's and several dials. When we moved here from Florida I knew we'd be a long way away from anyone who would calibrate them, so I took them all to the place in Ft Lauderdale that does them for the Aircraft guys. I used them a lot when I was twisting wrenches for a living, they were not "rollaway queens". When I went to pick them up I got a graph with each one showing how much they were off. They were all pretty damm close, I was surprised. Less than 3%.The guy told me that mine were made when they really were the very best you could buy. Thats because they were made by Precision Instruments. He added that, very quietly, Snap-on Torque wrenches have gone to hell over the last 5 (now 8) years. They are now all plastic bearings inside, cheap metal wherever they can get away with it, etc, made in hell knows where. he also mentioned that they are made no better than the other overpriced tool truck wrenches. Here's the punch line: he said that it was not at all uncommon for wrenches just a couple of years old to be off by 20-25%. Thats enough to ruin a Sun afternoon, thats for sure!!! Since this is what he does for a living day in and day out, I was inclined to believe him.

Ok, I just found it Fast forwarding thru all the assorted checks suggested by you guys..... Decided to take 'er out for a short run on totally different roads to see what (if anything) might happen. And, as I generally do, I checked the tire pressures...and just for the hell of it grabbed my other digital gauge, not the one I normally use. Rear- 30 lbs Yikes. Checked the front,-24 lbs. Already realizing the obvious, I got out one of the old school Milton pen's, yep 30/24. Stuck the wazoo guage on, 36/34. Threw super trick piece of (probably) Chinese crap in trash can. Moral of this little tale, every now and then check your tire gauge against another one!!! As always, thanks for the great input, this is THE best bike crew on the Internet

I've got the stock Metzler Sport tec M1's. I have played around the with air pressures, and I have been running 33-34F and 36R I checked the tires right after I got back, and they were spot on 34/36. Those air pressures may or may not be the best, but reguardless, she's always felt good to me, I can't see how that could be the problem. I got the rear wheel off the ground and did not find anything loose. But that was just a casual shake of things. Tomorrow I'm going to take a serious look at the three items you and some other folks have mentioned, and check every bolt on the bike. I have not found anything loose recently, but somthing is going on here, and it can't be that hidden...I don't think so anyway

Hey Guys, Last weekend I was getting towards the tail end of a 80+ mile ride that I have taken many times. A bit about the route first: its a combination of some very twisty, up and down roads, some fairly long straights, and some very fast sweepers. Great fun Anyway, just at the end, before I was getting to the "cool down" part of things, the bike sort of drifted by itself in the middle of a fast sweeping turn. Extremely unnerving. When I got home I took a look at everything, checked all the suspension bolts, axle nuts, air pressures, nothing seemed amiss. I figured that it was some oil or something on the road, maybe a gust of wind, and basically forgot about it This morning, I went out for the same ride. Same bike as always, same air pressures, same route, etc. As soon as I got to one of the semi fast turns, I felt the same thing. I then proceeded to get this "wander" about, say, one turn in five. Here is what happens: the best way that I can describe this is being hit by a gust of wind. But, there was no wind. The bike, for a split second, goes where it wants to. That might be to veer to the inside, or maybe the outside. It washes out by itself, for that lak of a better expression. Going in a straight line, it will be fine for a while, and then all of a sudden, it wants to move in a different direction. WTF is going on???? The tires have about 3,400 miles on them, and look pretty decent. I did make a rear spring change, but before you go there, it was fine, the spring was a great improvement, I have at least 500 miles on the new spring before it started doing this. Most of it on this exact route. I know this ride very well, and something totally abnormal is happening. My riding and bike knowledge are no-where near good enough to figure out what this is without changing a whole bunch of things. The bike has about 8,000 miles total, and is on its second set of tires. The weather is getting great up here and its time to ride, but not like this! Help!!!!!

Hi Jon, I'll take the kickstand bracket and the bolts for it. I don't really need the stand, but if its too much trouble to take in off, I'll take the entire assembly:) But definitely the bracket.

My on this subject: About 5 years ago I got one of the Belstaff TrialMaster cotton jackets, the "old school" one that is being discussed here. When I first got it, it really stank. After a bit, the wax probably wore away, and the smell went with it. I never have gotten around to re-waxing it, but I will one of these days I wear it very often, its my jacket of choice for just about every occasion, out to dinner, etc and etc. I do ride with it at times on my CA special. Imho, its a excellent, well made jacket. Its warm, but not suitable for sub freezing wear. It is waterproof, to a point, but in a tropical deluge there might be better choices out there. Huge pockets everywhere are nice as well. for the rainy Pacific NW coast where I live, its just about perfect. Its now an good old friend. I liked it so much, that a couple of years ago, I got another Belstaff Jacket from the guys at British Motorcycle gear, this one http://www.britishmotorcyclegear.com/jackets.asp . Dollar for dollar, (insert imho here) this is THE best jacket that you can own I cannot say enough good things about this jacket. Just wear any sort of undergarment/underwear and Its absolutely toasty in freezing conditions. Take the inner liner out, and your good for the summer. Yes, its quite waterproof, I have downpour tested it Its extremely well made, got reflective stuff everywhere, its easy to see anyway , its got armor, plenty of pockets, and its priced right. And, of course, its probably been discontinued, or "improved", i.e. ruined. isn't that how it always is?

I recently hauled a racecar ( A silver crown dirt car) from Minn to WA state on an open trailer. Like you, I wanted it protected from the elements. But I did not want the body and paint to chafe. I decided to use a large blue tarp, the sort that one can buy at home depot, with moving blankets underneath it all wrapped tightly. The moving blankets are soft and well made. What I did was take a couple of the blankets and wrapped them tightly around the car, and used about a roll of racer tape to hold them in place. Then, I wrapped the blue tarp around everything , and secured it in place the same way. It looked weird, but it worked like a charm. Everything held up real well. The blue tarp started to fray a bit a few hundred miles from home, but the car got here in perfect shape, and I drove thru a couple of torrential downpours as well as going 90+ across Montana. You have less distance, and much more wind protection with the cab and bed, if you use somthing like this, you should be fine.

Thanks for the observations. Frankly, I have yet to see a pic of any one of the bikes of this series that are not different from each other in some easy to see way. I got enough documentation to be able to feel comfortable with the fact that what I have stated about this old machine is what has happened over the past 69 years. You know what the funny thing is here that I'm observing? We all joke about what 'ol "Luig" did or did not do in the proverbial factory to our particular bike....and this in the new century, for God's sake!!! Yet, 70 years ago, "Lugi's" Grandfather and the factory had the assembly line techniques and the supply line of modern Honda???? Not to mention that 30 some odd years later it DID in fact get a total going over. At that time, the next generation of Lugi's undoubtedly used what was readily available and period correct. As I said, someday down the line my estate can deal with how original a decal is or is not I've taken the first steps in getting the old girl out to some of the shows that will be coming up in 2008. That was one of the ulterior motives here

Hi Paul, Thanks for the links and info. There is not much information out there. the original paperwork that imported the bike into the US just says "250". Thats also what the "modern" title says. I know that there were different models of this machine. I think your right about it being a pes or a pe. When I went to get it I asked about a specific model, and what everyone seemed to think was that it was a 250 pls, but, at the same time, it was also mentioned that could be one of the other models. So I went with pls. I have not done that much research on the old girl,and would never profess to be any sort of an expert. For whatever its worth, I CAN tell you that everything that was chrome from the factory is here on the bike. Much of it is the original chrome. The only things that I know that is not "correct period" are the grips. Those were replaced in the late 90's because the originals dry-rotted away. I'm quite certain that virtually everything else is quite correct, and either original, or nos from when the Moto Guzzi boys restored it. Bottom line: it certainly would not be the first time that history was corrected!!

Thanks for the info on what that cable probably is. Btw, I think if you were to actually read what I posted, you would see that yes, this bike WAS in fact totally restored. By the factory. I do have some interesting documentation that pretty much confirms most everything that I was told ( and posted) about this bike. Since I have no interest in selling it, its somthing that my estate can deal with at some (hopefully) far distant future time.

Exactly!!!

Hi Mike, you could be right, no-one seems to know for sure exactly what it is. It does not seem to do anything. When I got it, the "guru" mechanic at the dealership said that he thought that it was a neutral switch, but did mention that it might be a decompression device. The thing is, its hooked up and operational, but when you pull on it while its running, nothing seems to happen. I have had a terrible mental conflict about riding this machine. Of course, it was created to run and be ridden. But....time has changed that. What this is now is a brand new 1938 motorcycle. the old guy that I got it from rode it around the dealership twice, and someone at the factory/museum must have ridden it at least once down the parking lot and back, right? As has pointed out here, disaster could strike from an unforeseen source, and then what? So, what to do? Well, what I'm going to do is....ride it at least once, under controlled conditions. not sure what I mean by that, but I'll figure out something. After all, what could go wrong?

Thanks!! It was one of those moments that everything went right and fate took over. I found it within hours of him putting it up for sale, and the the guy that I got it from was a real straight shooter, he took it off the market right away after we made a deal. If he and I did had not clicked, he could have gotten far more than I could have spent. We actually had a couple of spare nickels to rub together, and it took all of them! I had the time to go and get it, it all worked out like...well...you dream about ! This next summer I am going to get her out and do somthing that has not been done for a long time, run her down the road the way her makers intended race.gif I am truly blessed to have someone with me that is just about as into all of this as I am!!!

Hey Tom, thanks for the kind words! Back in "the day" this bike had a reputation as a very reliable machine. On the left is the clutch, magneto advance, and the "extra lever" puts the bike in Neutral. And No, I have not yet gotten up the nerve to ride it It runs good, and sounds really cool!! BUT......this next summer, that is going to change As my very supportive wife has pointed out, "you have to do it at least once or someday you will hate yourself for never having done it" And, once again, she's right, hence, riding the old girl( at least once) is now on my "must do this soon" list

http://www.memorylaneracing.com/guzzi/ Hi everybody, I drove cross country in record time to pick this up in the Chicago area last summer. It's a 1938 PLS 250 and it has an interesting story....(don't they all)! This grand old bike was originally sent to the Moto Guzzi dealer in Lybia, and spent WW2 sitting in the window of the dealer in Tripoli. Those of you who, like me, are familiar with the battles in North Africa can imagine how many different troops from assorted armies looked at the old girl as they strolled by. After the war, it was shipped back to the factory, and spend many years in the "attic" so to speak of Moto Guzz. During the 60's Moto Guzzi decided to set up a museum, and the old girl was dragged out of the warehouse and given a complete restoration by the Factory. The bike then was displayed in the factory museum, until sometime in the 80's when Moto Guzz went thru one of its "going out of business" adventures. This one was really bad, because the factory started selling off their Museum bikes. And a cantankerous old WW2 vet with a Guzzi dealership in the Chicago area bought this one, and it sat in his window, if his dealership for many years:) So what this is, in a nutshell, is quite literately a brand new, 1938 Moto Guzzi! How cool is that?? The way that I came to be able to get a-hold of this piece of history is a whole story in itself. A couple of years ago, John (thats his name), had a major falling out with Moto Guzzi over a variety of issues, and decided to sell off every one of his bikes, and that included the old ones as well as the new. He had this advertised, and I happened to see it. It had no price. I called him, and basically spend an hour talking about WW2 and Sprint car racing. During WW2 he flew B17's in the 8th air force and was a ball turret gunner. Between 1942 and 9145, This could well have been the most dangerous spot to be on the planet. Once a Ball turret gunner was "in the ball", he stayed there untill the plane landed. He could not get out. If the plane was shot down, he went down with it. If it belly landed...well, you figure it out. Then after the war, he raced sprint cars for 20+ years, back when they had no roll cages and they lost a driver a week. He's in his 80's now, and just stopped riding in 2005. This guy takes no crap from anyone, trust me on this! You can't tell him what to do, or when. If he likes you, thats it, if not...well, he'll send you on your way. Out of the blue, he said "so do you want this old bike of mine"? I said, "hell yes, but I don't know if I can afford it or not". He said, "how about this"?, and shot me a price that was much lower that it was worth, followed with "but your going to have to come and get it, I'm not going to crate it or any of that crap". I said, "I'll leave tomorrow". And I did, I told the wife " I gotta to to Chicago right now", and left in the morning from the Washington Coast. When I got there, one of his Son's was there, I had to wait for him for a bit. His son told me "Man, he must really like you, he has been turning down offers for this bike constantly since the day it got here". So, we met, talked for a bit, loaded her up, tied her down, and now shes' in my Museum. It runs perfect, and everything works. I want to take her to some shows, I would like others to see this, the pics do not do the old girl justice!

Yeah, they are awesome The only minor little problem is, who do you buy them from? They have no dealers in the US, or on-line, and when you go to their contact page, they say that they will not sell direct??? I emailed them about all of the above..........