belfastguzzi

Great stuff! I've emailed WG to ask is it ok to copy the info & pics over to here. I'm sure it will be, particularly if you approve – which you do, of course. The pic that I was really interested to see, was the tappet bowl, so it's a pity that it didn't work. But you say that it wasn't worn? I hope that when I collect my bike next week, the dealer will still have the tappets and I'll get a photo. Given the big gap that opened up, I'm expecting mine to be badly worn. Excellent D PS meantime, I've added a link to Wg Chase to the Contents sticky at the top of this forum

Yeah, can I insult you... for doing that? You shoulda posted it here first!

Fantastic! Great news. No tent. Are you happy to share a room with Jaap and a couple of others (probably macguzzi and ferguzzi)? (Is macguzzi around these days?) The best thing would be to take a bed in the small dorm. As I said above, you guys could consider sharing an ensuite room instead. More money, but more comfortable. I don't have time to check the prices. I'll come back later and do that. You can find prices in an earlier post or on the website: www.belfastguzzi – there is no log-in required now. Go to the Accommodation page. I can't guarantee the weather. There is a strong possibility that it will be good. EDIT Are you considering coming on your own, Or with wife? If there are two of you, you will probably not want to share with Jaap. We can sort you out with a room I'm sure. Just let me know, when you can.

8V Spark Plug Caps

Can anyone else book yet? Jaap is the only one booked into the small dorm. Macguzzi? If enough others book the dorm, you might want to consider upgrading to a 'family room' instead. It's a few more pounds, but you'll have ensuite bathroom and a bit of a sea view.

As there are 10 people booked at the moment, it's worth considering booking breakfasts. Caterers have to come for this – so it does need to be booked in advance. What do you say about booking breakfast for Saturday and Sunday? Here is the menu: Breakfast Menu Continental Breakfast Pure Orange Juice Cereal – Toast Tea or coffee £2.85 ****** Cooked Breakfast Small Fry with tea/coffee £3.40 or Pure Orange Juice Cereal Bacon, sausage, egg, potato & soda bread, and beans Tea or coffee £4.95 ****** Other Breakfasts on request. I don't think that it is worth booking an evening dinner as there are other places nearby and it will leave things more flexible. If you think that one dinner at the place would be good to organise, it would be either the Friday or Sunday. Here is menu: Dinner Menu Starter Homemade Soup Egg Mayonnaise Corn on the Cob Melon ****** Main Course Freshly caught battered Fish Steak & Mushroom Casserole Spaghetti Bolognaise Lasagne Roast beef, chicken or pork Chicken & ham pie Steak Pie All served with either chips or potatoes as well as vegetables ****** Vegetarian Selection Available ****** Desserts Apple/Rhubarb Crumble (seasonal) Trifle Gateau Served with cream or ice cream £12.50 £10.25 for two courses What think you?

Pull the spark plugs and tow it behind a [...insert vehicle of preference...].

I made a poster for the event. It can be downloaded form the website. Someone might like to print it and put it, er, somewhere appropriate. Guzzi Rally 09 poster.pdf at www.belfastguzzi.com download page I can also email it. This is a small version

Viewing the MG (V.11) Ulster Rally web pages Ah ha! At last, I've found the way to make the Rally pages at the www.belfastguzzi site viewable by anyone, without having to enter a password. There are more pages on there, with more background info on the area, than on the other public pages that I put up. This should work – please let me know if there are problems. Enter this address in your browser: www.belfastguzzi.com – it will now open without requiring a sign-in. From there you can navigate to the Ulster Rally page and other pages with local history, motorcycling history, pictures, video... Only 40 or so days to go. Summary MG Ulster Rally at Belfastguzzi site www.belfastguzzi.com now viewable as an open public site – main news plus more info, pics, video MG Ulster Rally 2009 moto.belfastguzzi.com smaller public site, with main info and pics

From Bob, MGCGB, Inchy jiggly rally etc "Hi Dave, Sorry for getting back to you a bit late, I was trying to work out some Holiday Dates. Regretfully I cannot make the event, Caroline and I plan to come over to Ireland in June for a few days, my Holiday dates are pre arranged. I hope all goes well with the event. Please pass on my best wishes to all the usual crowd who have met up at Creedons. Dennis McHugh tells me that Joe Creedon has put the old Hotel up for sale, I guess it's a sign of the times. I shall look back and remember the great time we all had there. Best Wishes Bob and Caroline, hopefully we will get up to the North in the near future."

Ah, well, I dare say all that stuff won't be happening. Even the sump dropping isn't part of the procedure as recommended by Guzzi, as we know. It's being done because I stressed that I wanted the sump cleaned out and checked and I have generally been making a fuss with Piaggio/Guzzi about the whole circumstance around this (original dealer completely ignoring the recall and my messages, MG Customer Services not functioning etc..). Otherwise, under the MG recall instructions, it wouldn't be done. The only official instruction is to flush the engine through with an oil change.

The house was burgled. Took laptops, guitars, usual electrical goods, car – and a load of keys including motorbikes. We were asleep upstairs. So new locks are needed on house, bike, other car...

Good thinking, sir! They will let me see the parts, when the bike is ready to collect. I spoke to them yesterday. The new parts are fitted. He says the tappets and cams/cam followers were worn. No lumps of swarf. He said they had the bottom off to check the oil pumps as I requested. I haven't heard more since then. I imagine that they are waiting now for new ignition lock and keys to arrive so they can be fitted before I go to collect the bike.

No, no! It's the same with 20/50, 10/60 or whatever your fluid of choice is. Same goes for the EP90, Redline MonsterJuice etc. The pouring makes all the difference. Why do you think some guys' springs keep breaking and others' last forever? If you hurry the pouring, use a big funnel – the essence of the stuff is destroyed. Your spring will rot in no time at all. Here, you should see the head that I've got on the Griso lube, thanks to expert pouring. Beats Guinness any day of the week. There might be a pic somewhere... yeah: creamy or what?

It's more than 10 miles away

wow

And no more than 10 miles from a Guzzi Service Centre. I knew there had to be a logical explanation for why the Griso fuel tank is so small.

oh, it was sort of overturned. I've had an email from Piaggio to say that it is only for 10 miles and I have to pay the rest. We'll see about that... That's some warranty! The roadassistance person who I spoke to yesterday seemed to believe that there is a Guzzi dealership every 10 miles along the road. She couldn't believe that there isn't a dealer / service centre within 10 miles of me. WHAT!!!

Having done more chasing around that I shouldn't have to do, that decision about the towing/recovery has been overturned. Fingers crossed that the bike will be taken away tomorrow morning.

Thanks guys Even apart from that situation, I'm madly frustrated with the whole lack of 'Customer Care' that I have had from MotoGuzziworld over the recall issue. The complete lack of assistance and care from Moto Guzzi to me as a customer, and a (I'm tempted to add – formerly – ) loyal and dedicated customer, over a period of almost two months now, is astounding The latest thing is that as the bike is immobile due to the recall issue and damage to the bike resulting from it, I arranged for Roadside Assistance to take the bike to the dealer this morning. Even the dealer suggested this, saying that I shouldn't have to pay. Some of you have said the same. Contrary to what I was told earlier in the week, when I rang this morning to confirm a collection time with MG's Road Assistance, they told me that they would now not transport the bike. They will only take it a maximum of 10 miles, so that will only get it outside of Belfast. It wouldn't even get it to the original (negligent) dealer where I bought the bike! It wouldn't get the bike to any dealer, never mind to Coleraine, which is now the nearest / only dealer here in NI! What is the point of that so-called roadassistance scheme, when it actually doesn't do anything useful? If you are broken down on the road, how often are you going to be within 10 miles of a Guzzi dealer?! In reality any assistance needed is at the customer's expense (apart from a paltry 10 miles' worth). In essence, all that this warranty scheme appears to be – is a phone number. There are phone books full of those.

It's, how do they say... yes, it's rocking. (According to the young folk at MG.)

Yeah, not so nice. Losing the stuff on the laptops is a pain as some things are backed up but not everything, particularly on my wife's computer and I'm annoyed about the special edition guitar. Keys for all the motorbikes went. I kinda wish that the Griso itself was taken, to get around the cam/tappets issue. Even when the tappets are replaced I'm always going to be uneasy that the pulverised metal from the damaged items has or will cause some further wear and tear or even catastrophy. In what's virtually just a new engine too. Well, at least it will have some nice shiny new locks and keys. I think insurance is going to be a bit of a battle. I'd like to replace the Arai helmet and other bits of bike gear that were taken from the house hallway, but the house contents insurers say (initially anyway) that they are 'motorbike accessories' and they don't cover them. The bike insurance says they are 'personal effects' – and they don't cover them... With the Guzzis all broken, I thought I might end up at the May meeting in a car. Er... will you let me go on a bicycle now?

Foiled again, in my attempt to go to Barholm and meet Will about the accommodation. I arranged to meet him early Saturday morning. I got up and came downstairs at 7.30am. Then I saw that we had been burgled and the car was stolen too. Loads of stuff gone including 2 laptops (so I wasn't on the Forum here over the weekend!) some irreplaceable things like a special edition Fender guitar plus of course all the info on the computers. Motorbike keys gone.

I want to see the work done, but customers aren't allowed to be in the workshop. So I want to see the parts afterwards and I'll take photos. I don't know when the replacement parts will arrive. I'm sure it will be a few weeks before the job can be done.