Baldini

Sorry to hear about this + Good luck with rebuild. What does Harry say about oil level maintenance? Did he always keep it topped around max? Is oil light working? Did he ever see it come on when riding? Did he have a Roper plate in it? How did he ride it? KB

Clutch friction plates broken up? KB

Thanks Pete. It was good to see you. Please say hi to Jude, it was a pleasure to meet her KB

My photo is of the inside of the clutch housing looking towards the back wheel. It's: engine->clutch->trans->wheel There's various ways. To access clutch, I took motor out from front & left gearbox & back wheel in place. It's fairly straight forward & seemed to me easiest. I haven't done it another way. If you decide to do it, there's a "How to" thread & various others on this, which we can point you to. Also Note the edit I added to my post above in between times!: Alternatively ...just read this on the WildGuzzi forum: "...if you've got a minor leak, you can try using thicker oil in the gearbox. 85W140 did the trick for me. My clutch started slipping at 19k when going over 85MPH, used white spirit to rinse the oil off the clutch plates, changed to gearbox oil to 85W140 and no more slippage. The bike now has 38k..." I've heard others report this, might be worth trying before pulling it apart? . When I put Redline Shockproof Heavy in the gearbox the minor leak I had from the gearbox sideplate stopped, a leak that I think you may also have (does leaked gearbox oil pool on the exhaust collector box?). But obviously if it's engine oil that's contaminated the clutch, this won't help! KB

Attached photo shows slot in bottom of bellhousing (note that this photo shows transmission side & this is an old 5-speed box but V11 is very similar & as I recall has similar slot). The oil will be coming from either the gearbox input shaft seal (shown in centre of my photo) or from the crankshaft seal opposite it on the engine side, if either is bad. Another possible culprit might be the crankcase breather that runs thru the bellhousing. All these are within the bellhousing & oil will drop down to the bottom of the casing & show there. The joint between motor & bellhousing is unsealed. Check if it's gearbox or engine oil by smell. In any event, if there's significant oil showing at the joint between the engine & the trans & your clutch is slipping, you will need to split the two to investigate. Alternatively ...just read this on the WildGuzzi forum: "...if you've got a minor leak, you can try using thicker oil in the gearbox. 85W140 did the trick for me. My clutch started slipping at 19k when going over 85MPH, used white spirit to rinse the oil off the clutch plates, changed to gearbox oil to 85W140 and no more slippage. The bike now has 38k..." I've heard others report this, might be worth trying before pulling it apart? . When I put Redline Shockproof Heavy in the gearbox the minor leak I had from the gearbox sideplate stopped, a leak that I think you may also have (does leaked gearbox oil pool on the exhaust collector box?). But obviously if it's engine oil that's contaminated the clutch, this won't help! KB

Thanks for the link, Alevfr. How much of this frame is stock Griso? Anyone got a photo of a Griso without tank/panelling to share? KB

Hi Guzzimeister, how you keeping/ Yes, when it went I thought the motor, clutch or gbox had blown, plenty smoke & noise. Shield was toast but as you note it did it's job! Below photo to show how I could have got better alignment had I just ignored factory paintmarks & checked it myself. It's just turned by one spline. Oh well - live & learn. To anyone else hasn't checked - I'd recommend it! Couple questions: 1. Output shaft seal in gearbox endcover. appears to be replacable with box in situ. Any comments? 2. I've heard of people sourcing uj's for V11 other than from Guzzi. I don't understand cos the uj's are integral with splined collars, are they available from non-Guzzi sources like that or are people cutting & welding collars to non-Guzzi ujs? KB PS: Guzzimeister, no I'm not going to V-Twin - don't really do rallies. Have a good one!

Old & new driveshafts aligned according to factory paintmarks. Old one can be aligned better by rotating one end by one spline. Worth checking yourself rather than relying on factory marks.

Scura just under 28,000 miles & front UJ exploded rather spectacularly. Possible contributors: Lazy maintenance on my part - hadn't touched front UJ grease nipple for probably last 20k cos it's a bugger to get to & thinking I'll get round to it... Not long before, I had found on of the s/a mount peg locknuts had backed off & the peg had backed out of the sideplate a far way. I just screwed it back in to right feel, centred side to side, tightened locknuts & carried on, hoping for the best... I found the front & back UJ's to be way out of alignment when shaft is assembled according to the factory paint marks. I had always gone by the paintmarks & had never checked alignment. It is possible to align them better by turning relative to each other by one spline but UJ's are still misaligned. The new complete driveshaft is, by comparison, bang-on. See attached photos.

Pete, Check your pm's. Contact me before you leave Oz! Keith

Where does it mention Wales? KB

No. Mine's got no blistering. KB

There's more photos but v little info here: http://supacustom.com/ipothesys/ & more here: http://www.motoblog.it/post/34993/due-chiacchiere-con-officine-rossopuro (Italian)

It's called Ipothesys...some more photos & divided opinion in this thread: http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=51458.0 That thread says it's a Rossopuro bike but I don't see it on the Rossopuro website...

Great location for a studio. but right ropey old buildings. that bloke worritting about his studio being condemned - he's got water running down the walls into a plastic dustbin & his windows have blown out - get off yer arse & fix the leak mate. Dozy beggar. KB

Yep. Where you based? Do you already have an itinerary? If you visit Mid-Wales ther's a bed for you here. I'll pm you. KB

:!: Before you reach for that grinder, think! should you really trust advice from this man?

holdfast to your dreams & they may yet come true...

Don't worry, you're not the only one. I've doodled plenty but never built a bike frame in my life! Doesn't stop me spouting tho . Strength in a structure is relative to the force acting on it & that force's direction. An upward curve may better resist a downward compressive force than a straight line laid horizontal. But a straight line will be more able to resist compression applied at it's ends along it's length. It's about what is appropriate in any given situation. But there are thousands of factors & really I know very little about it. Me too. KB

Guzzimoto, whilst I think I understand the point you are making I think it is only one consideration amongst many. Most motorcycles use the engine as a stressed component of the frame, the CARC bikes are not unusual in that. Given the architecture of the Guzzi motor I don't see how a perimeter frame could ever be the optimal solution. IMO a more appropriate & elegant solution with less obtrusive top tubes could have been engineered. I suspect that the Griso design was motivated primarily by styling considerations rather than functional & I think that is symptomatic of a changed focus at Guzzi. Perhaps we could agree to disagree. Not really sure what you’re saying here. The Spine frame is a little more sprightly than the Tonti but it looks & feels no more rigid to me. What do you base that idea on? Not sure how such things could be measured esp given different inputs into the chassis from more/less power, tyre grip, forks/shox etc. etc. Both use the motor as a stressed member & rely on bracing at various points for rigidity. I believe the spine frame is inadequately braced (as evidently Guzzi themselves did when they added bracing under trans & strengthened front frame triangulation 02 onwards) & would benefit from some triangulation of the s/a mounts/spine & a decent mount at trans top/frame. I also wonder if the s/a plates in the later iterations are as strong as envisaged originally. Both the Spine & the Tonti suffer from short, relatively weak swinging arms & a heavy drivebox hanging off the back. The Tonti at least has some excuse in the age of it’s design, & the Spine has the advantage of a floating box. With the advent of the short 6 speed box, some of this could have been addressed in the Spine but it wasn’t & it was left with the short s/a etc. I believe Tonti & Spine are both good design. I feel the Spine particularly was let down in part by poor attention to detail, financial & production considerations & a lack of a clear focus & vision for the future. When the Griso is described as a "dishonest" design it is opinion. When you say it's an "honest" design, it's still only an opinion - that you hold it doesn't make it fact! Guzzimoto, no offence is intended to you by any of this & I hope none is taken - it's just opinion. I do think Guzzi have lost there way a bit. It's also interesting what Guzzirider says about sales in UK as against the rest of the world. We may be getting different pictures. KB

How so? A bit disingenuous - doesn't 68C's post suggest Griso frame is not an honest design? The high run of the tubes looks to me like a styling gimmick. IMV The big-block Tonti frame is an example of an honest design. IMO the spine frame is at heart an honest design thoin it's V11 guise (I don't know about earlier versions) I think you're right about the rigidity. KB

To me, the frame design was by far the most interesting thing about those bikes - it looked like a clean, fresh, functional, non decorative take on framing the V motor. Dunno about styling of it - didn't look too well thought thru, too vague, esp the curves behind the rocker covers which don't relate to the shape of the motor. Dunno how feasible it is. I'm a sucker for good looking tube frames - like the frame on Millepercento's Alba, shame they swathed it in plastic. KB

Turn it up to eleventeen... or this... or this...

Looks great well done for getting off your arses & arranging it. Would love to do it but loads of reasons not too! Good luck with weather, hope you'll have a great day. KB

For me, the problem wasn't attitude, language or passion it was that every thread became infected with the interminable bickering of Ratch & his Nemesis - DLaing. All other voices drowned in endless paragraphs of their whining at each other, re-iterating the same stances over & over in great long screeds. It got very boring & repetitive. I didn't bother checking out the forum any more cos it was all the same - just scrolling down through their reams of bile. You'd be discussing some particular mechanical issue that needed sorting - then one of them two would appear...& the other couldn't resist...It wasn't even as though there was any imagination, humour or variety to engage with, just constant drone. Exageration? I guess you had to have been there! I had no problems with Ratchethack myself, I think we got along just fine. But obviously he's sh*t his nest here some other way too, cos generally Jaap is pretty tolerant. I think part of the reason this forum is real quiet is cos of the way it was then. Images persist. Shame, cos unlike some, this forum is pretty catholic, international & varied - with polar opposites seeming to co-exist. Just not enough of us. KB