Lucky Phil

Yep its all about the uni being in the correct plane.Mark a centre line along both shafts and line up the sliding joint. Ciao

Line up the uni joints. It's not some magical factory only special scenario. Ciao

Here's some images. I bought this years ago as a spare and it looks like a brand new takeoff. I was looking for 100 usd for it plus postage which I'd imagine would be around $40usd but I can get an accurate cost if you can let me know your address. Harpers and others still list the brackets at $30 each but you'd need to check availability. Ciao

Here's my little spark plug collection I keep in a glass display case in the family room along with some of my "engineering" pieces, tragic I know but it's the way I roll. Left to right......... aircraft, aircraft, aircraft, old lodge automotive with a knurled nut for the HT lead, automotive later Lodge, a Bosch and a KLG. Ciao

Yes it doesn't help the situation. Ciao

Yes docc lubrication on any threads alters the torque by a significant margin. Thats why angle torquing is more accurate than torquing and stretch the best of all. Carrillo rod bolts have both a torque and stretch figure so you can apply a torque and check the stretch is within limits. Stretch is independent of lubrication unlike torque. NGK doesn't recommend anti seize on plugs. They say their plug plating is designed to be an anti seize/corrosion coating. Ciao

That's a big day for sure. I reflected once on my Euro trips and long haul rides in general and came to the conclusion that back then it was about a couple of things. One, "being different" and two the challenge of the journey facing the "elements" that those in cars and tour busses would shy away from. A bit like the guy in the wild west that crossed the country on a horse as opposed to a stage coach or a train I guess. Now days I'm indistinguishable from the hoard of middle to past middle age "born again" bikers and that depresses me. I weathered the storm of negative comments and attitudes from "sensible people" for 30 years that either gave up riding or didn't ride in the first place but at least I felt like a bit of a Maverick, someone that took his own path and stuff the rest of you. Now I'm just identified as some old guy that's having a delayed middle aged crisis with all the BMW, Harley and mega dollar Ducati Panagale posers at the coffee shop sipping lattes and discussing share portfolios, damn it. People like us should have something to identify us as "worriers for the cause" that sacrificed for years so all the relative new comers could enjoy respect and equality from polite society. Have i gotten off track? Ciao

No thats true. When you think about it very little stuff really needs thread locker. All the engine bolts dont have any and dont fall out all the time. If the engineering is right and the fasteners are good quality then the stretch on the fastener does it job. There are always outliers though of course like the nut that holds the oil pump drive sprocket on. The other common reason is if you are fastening down an item made from a soft material like a plastic and you cant achieve the fastener stretch because it would crush or distort the component then you basically undertorque the fastener and the locker stops it loosening. Locker is also good for protecting fastener threads from wearing due to severe vibration and the fastener losing its stretch. The automotive world uses thread locker on lots of stuff these days which is pretty much all about litigation protection. To the point where if you read the shop manual they tell you to discard many fasteners and fit new ones and they aren't TTY fasteners either. The reason? because the new oem fastener comes with thread locker already applied. They don't even trust the average mechanic to apply it themselves, on top of the fact its not even necessary 95% of the time. It was very rare to use thread locker on aircraft components I can say that and I rarely use it on cars or bikes either really. Ciao

How did they come out? like they had thread locker on them? If they spun out easily then it wasnt thread locker. Blue Loctite has a grey colour to it once cured and then removed. Ciao

You know docc up until very recently we had one of these exact shops in the heart of the Melbourne CBD run by a lady in her 90's. Imagine in a City of almost 6 million you are walking down one of the main streets surrounded by skyscraper and you come across a small dusty wooden floored shop front full of stuff for 1950's British bikes with a 90 something year old lady serving at the counter that had been there since 1955. This from 2013, she died a few years ago I believe and the shops finally gone now, mores the pity. https://talesofbrickandmortar.com/2017/10/01/modak-motorcycles-est-1930/ https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/about-melbourne/celebrating-melbourne/lord-mayors-commendations/previous-recipients/Pages/-2013-Platinum-recipients-.aspx Ciao

It's the remnants of Blue Loctite. No Loctite is required on any of these bolts and nor are those poxy schnorr washers, plain washers is all thats required and the fasteners properly torqued with a little anti seize on them. Ciao

So I have to agree that if you've done all you can in a personal physical sense to keep ride fit then some mods might be in order, but seriously managing 6-8 hour rides at our kind of ages is pretty good with regards to the suitability of the bike ergo's. Just make it your short ride bike and the BMW the road trip bike. There's no law saying a bike needs to be ride-able for 8 hours per day for X days. If I used your criteria for my bikes I'd have none at all and I would never have bought my 1000ss and 1198. Short rides have been my preference for at least the last 20 years and back in the mid 80's I did two 3 month trips around Europe and Britain with my wife living off the bikes, each trip doing around 25,000 klms. My dream is to tour Europe again in a motor home with something like a BMW R1200GS in the back. Stop and find a place to base yourself for a week and then do day trips on the bike around the local area seeing the sights. 250 klms a day max. Anyway, back to the point. If you can manage 6-8 hours on the V11 over a day and feel decent after it you're doing ok. Save the Guzzi for the fun short day rides and the BMW for the multi day trips. Ciao

Yes the Mani fairing looks quite suit the V11. Personally I couldn't care less who the previous owner was as long as he looked after it. I wouldn't pay a premium for it thats for sure. Ciao

Na they would have all been out along my route to salute and throw down a bed of rose petals being an Aussie Guzzi rider:) Ciao

You'd hardly notice a lock down in NZ would you. My first trip to NZ the flight got in late afternoon and I drove from Christchurch to Queenstown. Come 5 PM everything closed. The whole country seemed deserted. Ciao

The shift lever return spring. Ciao

I'm having a clean out and finding stuff I'd forgotten I had. I have a brand new Black V11 small fairing with screen I'd be willing to sell. Dont have the triple clamp mounts though. Ciao

Scudd also came up with a needle bearing option for the detent arm instead of the original Guzzi plain roller that was't covered in my thread. That would also be a good upgrade to do while you're in there. Ciao

And missing the barn door by a mile:). it's actually .028"-.036" (0.7- 0.9 mm) Ciao

I was trying to avoid heat just for the sake of the finish. Heating is sometimes the only way but it's usually in the last resort category for me. My home made tool solutions works like a charm and you can make the tool for literally $5. You need an internal puller of course but what the hell Guzziisti wouldn't have one of those:) Ciao

My home made tool works really well, truly it does:) But the secret is loading up the bearing and then impacting the bearing housing with a copper hammer or a 2lb hammer with an aluminium block to protect the swingarm. The impact shock is absolutely critical to the operation. The problem with the impact puller is mainly the fact that it's difficult to restrain the arm solidly so the energy from the impact of the slide hammer is all transferred to the bearing. Docc had the theory right but I'm still surprised the webbing wasn't too stretchy. Ciao

I didn't want to say that Pete. No way would mine come out with a slide hammer only. Ciao