Lucky Phil

Good old Fred. I grew up on Fred, funny as a cut snake. A few updates though. Sydney and Melbourne are now collectively close to 12 million people unfortunately and Melbourne does indeed have a Rugby League team which has been highly successful over the last 12 years or so. BTW there is "Rugby" and "Rugby League" One is an Upper class game and has it's origins/following with the educated classes and league has it's origins in the working class. Internationally we are hopeless at "Rugby" and champions in "Rugby League". I did post a link here a few years ago to a lot of the classic Gassit cartoons or should I say "life lessons and musings"

One of my favourite comedians Carl Barron. BTW he's actually to be 100% correct talking about "enhancing" the English language there. Phil

Oh I thought it was your video for some reason. Phil

Yes not Ballabio. Ballabio had handlebars and later canted triples but with the the top triple not having 6mm holes for the over the clamp clip ons locating bolts. The over the clamp clip on are around 1 inch higher and don't vibrate as much as the under clamp swan neck clip ons. Forks were 43mm hollow axle with nut on the left which are longer than the original 40mm forks for under the clamp clipons.. Phil

Looking fwd to seeing how it turns out. Phil

You spelt "concours" correctly in you post and wrong in the video text Dave Phil

So far so good but I wonder why if you have access to proper spray equipment you wouldn't use that? You can get decent spray cans but they will never equal a spray gun for control and consistency. You may as well just repaint the whole fairing also. Code matching colours doesn't mean you'll get a colour match on the repaired panel as paint mixed in small batches has an issue with "tolerances" on the pigments. Imagine at the factory when they do a paint run of a particular colour and mix 100 litres of paint a gram of pigment either way isn't going to have much affect on the colour. Now imagine mixing 500ml. A drop of pigment the size of a pin head will make the colour different. Thats why spray painters still need to colour match by eye for repair work no matter how sophisticated their computer controlled matching equipment is. We haven't even got to fading due to the affects of the sun etc yet and add the complication of a base coat and various coats of tinted clear coats like a V11 Greenie has. My advice as an amateur painter just like me is to spray the whole fairing to go with the full paint on the tail piece even if you mask off the number boards. In for a penny in for a pound. Similarly a professional motorcycle painter wont do spot paint repairs on fuel tank damage or fairing damage mostly simply because it's harder to mess about with colour matching and then blending in the paint repair. As one explained to me 30 years ago by the time you go through all that palaver it's faster and easier to just paint the whole tank or fairing component and the result is far superior. He was correct of course. Phil

I had it matched perfectly at the local automotive paint supplier. The guy there did it by eye, no fancy spectrometer. Re painted pork chop against original seat and main frame. The colour match is perfect but the lovely depth and gloss of the 2K paint is way better than the original paint/powder coat. Phil

Fit the mufflers and ride it and see how it runs. Probably won't need to make any fuelling adjustments but if you do start familiarising yourself with Guzzidiag. It's free and awesome for tuning. Phil

No need for any changes to the ecu no matter what exhaust you fit inc the secondary crossover. The std ecu will accommodate any exhaust. The "titanium" exhaust ECU supplied with the Titanium mufflers was just a marketing thing and an exercise in Guzzi putting their hand in your pocket. Same as it was for Termi cans on Ducati's back in the day. Pod filters are an abomination that will make your bike run worse than stock and give less filtering. Phil

Ok docc I'll get onto it Phil

Forget the crossover if you mean the std style on the headers near the cylinder heads and don't go anywhere near open filters or pods. Check the ignition switch wiring isn't dodgy by starting and idling the bike and turning the bars lock to lock and seeing if it stalls and the CO is set correct. The Titanium ecu is just a std ecu with a very slight mapping change up top so no issues there. Whats the idle set at? Some people seem to think a Vtwin should idle like an old ditch pump kerosene gimp engine. Phil

An mx5 here in Australia. I saw a longish Youtube history of the car a little while back. Very interesting.

I did find one for about $30us. How little do you want to pay for a part that has a 25 year life? Phil

OEM part as far as I can tell. Phil

Ok. Can you PM me either your email address or phone number for the postal forms as I have a new one to send you. I recently bought a spare here from the company I linked previously and thought I may as well buy 2. You'll need it sooner or later.

Paranoia? Hey docc did you fit a new neutral switch? Phil

I mentioned in my previous post the technique for those without machine shop equipment. If you haven't got the money for a $50 set of 6 inch verniers that will last you for life then you probably shouldn't be working on you bike to start with. I've never had a wheel bearing that was a "tap fit" in a hub that wasn't damaged in some way. Thats why they are usually C3 bearings standard. Every one I've ever done on an undamaged hub required enough hammering on the inner race during removal to make it unusable again. Unusable in the sense that it will have reduced life by quite a margin. It is still of course "useable" in the sense you can fit it and ride around for a while but long after you've forgotten how you hammered it you'll be wondering why it's life was far shorter than you expected. Phil

I'm not a big fan of fitting and removing bearings in the hub unless it's totally necessary to minimise wear and tear on the bearing bore. Once a bearing has been "driven" on the inner race which is the only way to remove them the bearing is junk. Throw it in the trash. Here's my way. Fit one bearing to the hub bottomed out on the shoulder. Insert the spacer so it's seated on the fitted bearing and then a large flat washer into the other bearing shoulder and measure with a depth gauge on the end of a pair of callipers between the face of the washer and the end of the spacer. Subtract the thickness of the washer and add a thou or two to the calculated spacer length. Everyone has access to a decent set of 6 in verniers and a hardware store for a large flat washer. This way the fitted bearing stays in place and the other bearing only needs to be installed for the final assembly. Instead of a large flat washer you can use anything with accurate thickness and parallel of the right dia to insert in the bearing hole to measure down to the spacer face such as a piece of 6 in stainless steel rule cut to just under the the bearing bore OD that can rest on the bearing bore shoulder and measure down from the top edge when held vertically to the spacer end face then subtract the measured width of the piece of SS steel rule. Obviously better and easier to just machine a flat washer but not everyone has a lathe.

Not that I know of docc. He may have bought some stuff but TLM bought a large amount. He's more of a remanufacturer of parts but Audiomick would know more than me. I won't deal with HMB anymore. Phil

I saw the new factory under construction when I was in Mandello last September. It looks interesting BUT it's obviously going to be a another "tourist attraction" thing. Don't know about others but the interest for me these days is to discover things and places that aren't popular or "attractions" for the masses. Things like the back alleys and little side lanes in Venice away from the main attractions where the real Venice life is or the hills of Tuscany and the Villas and small villages away from the hustle and bustle of the cities. Bit like going to an old world bike shop with an owner and staff that have been running the place for 50 years. Much more interesting than the modern glitzy places of today inhabited by people that seem to think you are privileged to be in their showroom. Phil

Well it helps when TLM bought all the old Guzzi spares stock years ago as a job lot. Good for you. Phil

Nice to meet you in person Mick. I know how hard it is to find any time in a holiday schedule that involves a 24 hour plane ride to get to. Enjoy the rest of your visit. Phil

In the example you have kindly shown us Chuck if this is the way you do a Tonti clutch then the term "crabbing the frame" isn't appropriate and is what has me confused. This is "pivoting the frame" and not the same thing as "crabbing the frame" as previously mentioned. Here is how I handle a V11 engine out. Jack the bike up with the basic under engine lifter. (Note the simple wooden support that fits the sump and lifter and means the bike can be lifted with 100% stability with the lifter alone) Then support on the stands shown then simply let the engine assy out the bottom. Simple and safe. Should be able to do the same on a Tonti with a little sliding the engine backwards surely.

Why would the frame pivot around the front of the engine? In the image above if all the engine mount bolts are removed as you lift the back of the frame the assembly pivots around the front axle even with the wheel on.