pete roper

Another possibility would be find a take-off single plate clutch assembly as used on the 2003 Cali 1100 Hydro . These used a very meaty flywheel but it can apparently be substantially lightened very easily. They suffered from extremely premature friction plate wear and there was a recall and the units were replaced by the venerable twin plate unit so there should be a load of them around. Use the friction plate you have or a RAM one. I think they will both work. Still having trouble posting………..

Sounds to me like you may have the crank 360 degrees out.

The 50mm Throttlebodies used on the 8V motor are very wear prone. Both the spindle bushes and the chokes and plates are subject to wear if abused. Abuse can and does include numerous things but shitty air filtration, (K&N filters and the like.) over filling with oil and missing, broken or unplugged drains from the airbox can all cause wear and huge problems, especially at idle. It is also super-important to understand how the W5AM ecu works before you start fiddling with the throttlebodies. It’s easy to kill them. I’ve done a YouTube vid covering this extensively.

Your Spineys are both five speeds. That makes the RM a different enough proposition to be worth buying but there again you say it needs a fair bit of work? The Griso is a nice thing but why not buy an 8V? 20 more RWHP and they are cheap as chips at the moment. It’ll need work too but only simple stuff. Just buy a 2013 on model. Of the three the Stelvio would seem to be the pick of the bunch to me. Just check all the things I have listed elsewhere a thousand times and check the throttlebodies are unmolested prior to purchase.

Well, yes. Since I weigh about 115kg in my birthday suit this is sadly true. Unfortunately the emergency liposuction doesn’t seem to be working! Oh, and for the record I’m five foot ten but have classic ‘Ducks Disease’, a long torso and weirs stubby little legs. Most people don’t notice though as they are too enthralled by my youthful and Adonis like visage……

Both the 1200 Sport and Norges (Both 2V and 4V models.) tend to ‘Lock’ you in to a seating position so it’s probably important to sit on one for a while before deciding if it is suitable for you. Both of these models, along with the Breva 850, 1100 and 1200 ‘Breva Sport’ are versions of one of the four types of CARC bike platforms and use essentially the same frame/tank/seat/footrest architecture. The 1200 Sport was only produced for a couple of years in 2V form, 2007-8 I believe? In the US it was a one year model in 2008. Confusingly the 4V model was sold for multiple years but sold first as the ‘1200 Sport 4V’ and then in later years, I think 2011 on, it was called the ‘1200 Sport 8V’ but both models are essentially the same and both use the 8V motor. No, I have no idea why? ABS arrived in about 2010, apart from that they are pretty much identical apart from paint. Do note that NONE of the 1200 Sports using the 8V motor were ever sold with roller tappets meaning that it is vital that you find out if they have been converted before you commit to buying. I believe this is because all of the 1200 Sports were manufactured prior to the development and adoption of the roller tappet top end and continued to be sold as ‘Current year’ models from old stock. I know that here in Oz they were still being sold, and plated as, a current model right up until 2015! The 8V Norges we’re produced in both flat tappet and roller tappet form and the date and engine number of the changeover is listed in my ‘Definitive guide’ pinned at the top of this section of the board. Be aware though that there have been cases of both Grisos and Stelvios with engine numbers that post date the factory’s numbers and dates that arrived with flat tappet top ends. Only a few, but that makes any 2012 bike a bit suspect so once again a visual check should be made prior to purchase. I personally have never seen a 2013-on 8V motor in any model with a flat tappet top end so best to aim for a ‘13 on example as roller conversion kits are no longer available from the factory. Apart from the seat locking you in the Breva/Sport/Norge platform is a superb mile muncher. I’m still keeping my eye out for an 8V Norge here in Oz to turn into a retirement project. They are very rare though and we never got roller motor ones here. I do have a kit to convert one on the shelf but of course owners refuse to accept their motor is destroying itself so they ask far too much for them! That’s fine, I’m not too fussed. The Norge has higher bars than the Sport and lowered footpegs are available so the ergonomics can be altered to a degree and seats can be remodelled easily enough. If you want to know more PM me your email and we can take this off the board and not clog up the thread.

On the 2nd Gen Hi Cams the DLC itself wasn’t the main issue I don’t believe but the results to the engine were the same. It took them five years but even the factory eventually admitted defeat and gave up!

There have been a variety of changes and updates to the Smallblocks this century but the bottom line is that they remain a very basic motorbike. The other things that are often overlooked is that although components look the same quite often they aren’t! One of the biggest changes was the swap from twin throttlebodies to a single unit that incorporated the ecu. Then there as the swap from heron head to hemi head on the motor and the change to an all new six speed gearbox. An interesting thing is the early six speeds had an oil pump and forced lubrication. The later ones don’t! Odd. I presume the bearings the pinions run on are different? Outwardly though the gearboxes are identical……. There have also been changes to the cardan shaft and bevelbox and those have necessitated changes to the frame to accomodate. Perversely, (What? Me? Perverse?) if I were to seriously think about getting one I’d choose a V7-II!The very last of the Heron Head engines with a forced lubrication six speed behind it, early type swingarm and final drive and a single throttlebody. I prefer the heron head motor to be honest and it really is stone axe simple. The latest V7-850 (?) uses much from the V85 I think? Although no Ti valves and I believe an updated TB control unit, (MUIG4?) rather than the V85’s huge throttlebody and MP11 controller. Bear in mind I am out of touch with most of this stuff now though as I’m retired and have little more than a passing interest in any of them.

I can tell you from personal experience that Piaggio treats it’s outlet providers like shit.in many cases warranty times, (Which are not paid in cash but in a credit against your parts account paid at *Their* rate, which was about a third of my shop rate!) are ridiculously short and the work to be undertaken stupidly overburdonsome. A fine example of this was when I was a service agent for Aprilia as well as Guzzi. When the Capponord 1200 was launched there was a run of them that had a problem with the gearbox output shaft. Now there were two sorts of difficulty/problem. The first one was easy enough to deal with, it just involved replacing the front sprocket retaining bolt. Not really a serious issue. The second one though was a manufacturing defect in the shaft itself! If one of those fell into your lap you had to replace the shaft! Now when they built a Cappo 1200 they started with that shaft and built a motorbike on to it! It was engine out and strip to split the cases, replace the shaft and rebuild! Even the factory quoted it as something like a 36 hour job! The reality was though with a brand new model it would take much, much longer! And remember it is being paid, in parts, at 1/3rd shop time! Then of course when it was back together? If it leaked or had any other issue? Well, that was on you! It was bloody ridiculous! I was essentially being asked to give up a week or two of my annual income to fix their stuff up! And of course while my bench was full of this POS I couldn’t work on anything else! As a Service Agent rather than a dealer I hadn’t even made a cent on the sale of the bike! How about *NO!*. I’m sure the same nonsense is still expected. The leaky water pump seals on the V100’s required removal of the engine to fix. No doubt there was a pittance ‘Paid’ for that as well. I have no idea if there was ever a fix for the terribly noisy gear engagement but as that is down to the odd, ‘Back to front’ clutch I’d think not. It didn’t stop lots of them getting taken to bits though. As far as I’m concerned the ‘Cost/Benefit’ just doesn’t stack up with the new generation of bikes. While I’m glad to embrace ABS and the like electronically tuned suspension for instance? I’m sure it’s great when new but I’m also pretty sure that the vast majority of owners may play with it once or twice and then it is never touched again! So why the need or expense? And as for the rafts of electronic mumbo-jumbo available through TFT dashes? Dear god! One of the main reasons I love riding is to separate myself from the mundanity of the electronic world! Last thing I want is to be staring at a screen and punching buttons when I should be concentrating on who or what is trying to kill me! Even my car has thousands of features I don’t need. Probably a lot I don’t even know about yet! I assume they are supposed to *Assist* me by *Convenience*! All they tend to do is stress me out! The last thing I want on a motorbike! Anyway, I’ve ranted enough!

Yeah, I was gobsmacked by that. I did see one report somewhere where a bloke had managed to remove the sub-rockers/finger followers and change the shims in situ but I have no idea of it’s veracity and the risk of dropping bits into the bowels of the engine would be genuinely arse-puckering! The actual ‘Nuts and Bolts’ of doing a shim swap on the engine by removing the cams isn’t a big deal. But like the V4’s it’s made a nightmare by all the shit that surrounds the motor and the lack of a way to lock the primary timing system without dropping the radiator, timing chest cover and f*ck nose what else when it should, with the heads, (Unnecessarily!) hanging out in the breeze be stupidly simple! I mean? My shitty old Hi-Cam I can check the valve lash in half an hour and experience has taught me that a 10,000 Km inspection schedule is a joke! I might look at them again next oil change but it’s been 25,000 since I last looked and they were never out by more than a thou or two in the half dozen checks before that! If Ducati can specify something like 40,000 Km valve lash intervals on their V4 valve spring models I can’t see any reason why Piaggio shouldn’t be able to do the same to be honest. Making the process difficult isn’t making them friends or gaining them customers. I certainly wouldn’t want to be paying some stupid number of hours labour to follow an unnecessarily burdensome service regime. Lots of people seem to be happy too though. Weird…….

Well, I think ‘Globally’ Piaggio seem to have sort of hit the bullseye for Guzzi with the V85 series. They seem to be selling like hot cakes in many markets although personally I can’t understand why as I find them a bland and insipid motorbike with few, if any, redeeming features. The biggest problem the V7 series has, which is perhaps also their strength, is their looks. They are still a 1970’s motorbike, which is fine if you want a 1970’s motorbike but that tends to be an ‘Old Man’ and ‘Hipster’ market. Both of those demographics though know and understand little if anything about engine design or principles though and are often put off Guzzis because they can’t understand why the V7’s are so lacking in performance when compared to most of the other ‘Retro’ bikes. Then you can look at the new V100 and Stelvio. These are a truly modern engine design in a pretty modern package but there are a lot of engineering compromises in the overall designs, they have a lot of gimmicks and gadgets, and are, at least to my eyes, far from attractive! For what you are being asked to pay it is all too easy to compare them to a host of other alternatives and see that there are equally good, if not better and better looking, options on the table for the same price but which have pretty much flawless reputations and a much better dealer network. Something very important as Piaggio is really pushing the ‘Dealer Service Only’ line to the hilt! Sadly there isn’t enough ‘Different’ about the V100 for it to attract me and I am at least in a position where I could do any work required on it. But I don’t want to! Most owners aren’t in that position. It doesn’t make it look like a brilliant choice really does it? As Phil says. They’ve always been a niche market. I think they are likely to remain that way until Piaggio gets sick of them.

My old mate Dave who died a few years ago from mesotheliosis had a Mk IV with a Harris swingarm with a similar floating bevelbox and rear brake set up. It also had a RAM clutch and a load of other enhancements but I never really thought any of them made a significant difference and the fatter tyres actually made it handle like a pig. It also had the big valve heads and the stupid pistons with an alp of alloy on top, they were oversized aftermarket jobs but they still weighed a ton and I have never been a fan of the big valve motor. The Mk III is a much, much nicer thing. I think the move to the big valve architecture and the ‘Tall Head’ frame was a ghastly mistake as the tall head bikes never had the finesse or agility of the narrow tyred, short head models. Despite their longer swingarm the Mk III’s never seemed as ponderous as the IV’s and V’s. Dear god! That was 30+ years ago!

Going through the piles of munt in the shed and I’ve found a VGC V11 rocker cover! No idea where it came from but it’s not much use to me. I think these have been long NLA new but others here will know. How does $100AU + postage sound? PM me your email and I’ll send pics if required. For people in the US please remember that because of all the tariff shitf@ckery sending it there will be a king sized PITA! I’ll happily do it but I can’t guarantee it will arrive or not get slugged with duty.

Wot Phil said x 1,000. K-lines are the biz.

My go to for joint sealants is Threebond 1211. With the gaskets for one of my plates, if they were the later more malleable, aftermarket type, I never used anything. On dry and crush to ‘Feel’. That’s me though with a lifetime of experience. Novices should probably be more careful…..