pete roper

Most citizens of countries that don't play cricket wnd many of those who do can't understand the game. That's cool. I have absolutely NO idea about either Baseball or American football. Good cricket matches between well matched teams are incredible demnstrations of tactics and endurance but you have to have some semblance of an idea what's going on otherwise it just looks like fifteen blokes standing in a field and throwing a ball about. One of the huge problems at the moment is that the Aussies are SO dominant that the games are usually boring. The second test in this series was an exception, I simply don't understand how the Poms could give that one away?? It really was very poor but it was great to watch. Generally speaking watching us get thrashed in India or test series between us and Pakistan are the best bet since the Windies are no longer really a force which is a shame. At least now with the microphone in the stumps you can hear the sledgeing which makes even boring periods more entertaining Pete

As far as I can make out they're useless anyway, never mind in an impact like this. Jude collected a huge 'Roo this morning and wrote off the Toyota. The rad and air-con evaporator have been pushed right into the block and the airbag didn't deploy! So much for this wonderful *safety* technology Pete

Is the setting clearance different? Personally I'd be very surprised if there was a huge difference between the cams. Certainly if I was going to cam-up a V11, (Which isn't something I'd bother doing for the road.) I wouldn't be using an 'Out of the box' grind. Pete

All the 'oles should be empty of the cut bits. Sorry, I must of missed that one. Yes you simply biff it out and dress the side of the holes with wet and dry or whatever to de-burr them if needed. Pete

The wheel itself looks like a very heavily machined example of one of the common 'Ergal' wheels offered by numerous purveyors. I don't know who actually makes 'em. Does this unit use ten springs? Looking at it it looks as if there are drillings beneath the spring seats in the wheel and there are ten holes but the ring gear is held to the wheel by the *older* eight x 8mm bolts rather than the ten x 6mm ones used on the later ten spring unit's ring gear. I've used alloy flywheels for years and weirdly they actually seem to be LESS prone to spline damage than the steel ones! Go figure! I dunno what the coating/anodising process is but it's tough as buggery! If the supplier hasn't told you so make sure that when you mount it you install flat washers beneath the bolt heads as well as lockwashers with the flat washers against the alloy wheel. The only failures of these wheels I've heard of have been due to cracking around these holes and the most popular theory for the failure is due to the surface of the wheel being damaged at these points by the fasteners 'digging in' to the alloy through the hard surface. My own feeling is that relieving the alloy wheel itself to such a degree will tend to weaken it for very little gain. The ring gear is another matter. Getting as much weight off that as you can will pay big dividends. Pete

Well they are promising us mid to high thirties centigrade by early afternoon so I reckon I'll nip down to the coast and see how badly I can get the Griso to detonate coming back up the Clyde. I think a lot of the problems I've had down there are down to bung fuel but receint information I've recieved tells me that detonation *is* a problem in high temperature conditions especially if the intake and exhaust have been de-restricted in any way. I'll fill up with 100 octane in Batemans Bay and see if I can get back up the hill without blowing a hole in a piston Pete

So where did you get the picture from Buddapest in 1981? I was still riding Triumphs back then Pete

Mine is a picture of me on holiday in the tundra. Pete

Sorry about that. People who are waiting, Bento and Andrew Goldberg among others, your plates went out today. the delay was caused by the first batch of the second run not having the dipstick 'ole cut in 'em, Grrrr! All fixed now. Should be in the USA within 5 days. Both MPH and Moto International have also ordered some so if you'd preffer to buy within the USA rather than wait for the carrier Wombat to get to you from Oz. you have that option too now. pete

Nah, I don't think so. What year is your bike? If it has a lambda sensor in only one pipe that might be an explanation, otherwise it's more likely to be TB ballance or simply a result of the firing intervals. The Guzzi, and most other, 90* Vtwins with a shared crankpin have firing intervals of 270*/450 degrees. That's what gives them the loping exhaust note, but it also means there is a *lazy* cylinder. Back in the late '80's early '90's there were even some models built for the Kaliforni-a market that had diffeenetially sized pilot jets to try and keep the emissions down when running on the slide. ell it seemed to work 'cos they got through. Sounds well shonky to me Most carburetted twins will run one plug significantly darker than the other, (the left from memory ) due to the 'Lazy' nature of the cylinder. Pete

No, not while you're actually riding but if you ride and it feels a bit squidgy you stop, get the screwdriver out and adjust. Works for me. I suppose some forks will be different/harder to adjust and of course spring rates are more difficult, especially with the V11's cantilever rear shock, I believe that some of the Marzochhis also have the compression in one leg and rebound in the other so you have to fiddle independently with either leg but it's not difficult and surely anyone can carry a small screwdriver somewhere on their bike? Pete

I saw this asked on one of the other boards (WG.) and hoped that someone else would respond. Honestly. You'll never notice a shred of difference. This is another of those questions that prompts me to ask "How much time and money have you spent on your suspension?". No, I'm not tyring to be smart but it is usually the way that people try and do stuff, the cheaper the better, to their engines in the hope that it will make 'em go faster but they completely overlook chassis set-up and this will pay HUGE dividends instantly and usually a very low cost. Most motorbikes nowadays come with pretty good, and fully adjustable, suspension components as standard but few people actually try adjusting them from the factory settings and even fewer make adjustments year round to account for changes bought about to things like oil viscosity by ambient temperature changes! If you think I'm kidding I'm not, since the temperature is going up here I'm winding up the damping on the 'G' to compensate, on cooler days I'll wind it off a little bit if I plan to ride hard, it only takes a second or two and makes a difference far greater than indexing plugs ever would to the performance of the bike. Pete

Also known as the 'Dummy Spit' . For you Yanks and others a 'Dummy' is what you call a 'Pacifier' I believe, a tit surrogate for noisy infants. The term 'Dummy Spit' should therefore be fairly self explanatory Pete

Whoops. Somehow this got in the banter bit. Can somone who moderates move it to the Tech bit? Thanks. Pete

OK, so lets get this bike up and running again. But lets do a bit of learning too, that means all of us. Gary is going to do all the stuff with the measuring sticks and sort out what's what. But S. has got to get the motor out of the frame and get it to him. Now while this is NOT going to be a huge issue for lots of blokes on this list for many others it probably seems like a major task. Yes? OK, so lets all do some learning here, me included. I've never actually had to do the bottom end on a V11 or any spiney so I've never actually pulled an engine, you can do EVERYRHING apart from pulling the crank with the engine in the frame. So lets start off by helping the boy get it out, (as it were.). Now whenever I've had to get at a clutch I've always 'Crabbed' the frame, not because it's easier but simply because I come from a long history of working on Tonti's and that seemed logical to me. Spiney experienced people seem to think that simply pulling the donk off the front of the gearbox is a far easier option. So lets get a run-down on that from someone who has actually done it rather than from me who hasn't. My first recommendation though would be to disconnect the battery and remove it. That way you don't risk frying anything by mistake. Then start disconnecting anything that looks like a wire OK, go to it! Pete

There is always the chance that the damage is more extensive so lets not get all previous on this. Thing is I've blown up some Guzzi engines pretty extensively and there is usually *some* stuff that is reclaimable! As long as a rod hasn't bustand it hasn't seized the top end is usually salveagle, as is the cam, followers etc. Remember the cam spins at half crank speed. The big ends are the most heavily loaded bearings and the ones most likely to suffer oil starvation so they usually are the first ones to go tits. As long as they are caught fairly early on it is unlikely that the crank will be completely stuffed. In a case like this I'd expect that the pin will need a grind and the mains may too but maybe not, you might be able to get away with a linish. Everything else is in the lap of the gods but I reckon that you'll find that your suggestion of parting it out is laughable That would be like chucking out a Monet painting 'cos there is a bit of a scratch on the frame! Pete

Ever since I was a small kid I've inflated things other than my ego with air from a pump. When I was small it was a hand pump. Nowadays it's a sodding great big mechanized compressor. Never, ever, have I had any problems with my tyres unless a.) their co-efficient of friction with the surface they were passing over was overwhelmed, (roughly translated this means I fell off.) not the stuff in the tyre's fault. Or, b.) the gas in the tyre escaped due to a Hagan or other sharp object encroaching on the wretched bit of rubber's ability to keep the gas inside. Oddly enough I don't roam the streets of Bungendore looking for highly corrosive gasses to blow my wheels up with. Nor do I worry unduly about what size the molecules that make up the gas in the tyre, or indeed the mixture of those gasses. The ones that I breathe seem to keep me alive in a manner of speaking and call me Mr. Stupid but I reckon a piece of highly modified vulcanised rubber substitute is probably a lot tougher than my lungs, even after nearly 40 years of smoking a pack a day. for this reason I couldn't give a fat rat's arse about the relative merits of what you put in your tyres. You can inflate them with bloody KY jelly for all I care but I'll bet a hamburger joint full of hamsters that it won't make the tiniest iota of difference Pete

Guzzis are astoundingly tough. People whinge about problems bt really the basic donk is practically un-killable as your bike attests too. It DOE'S though have a dipstick. This is a simple thing that screws in and out and allows you to check the oil Use it! Every day! More often if you're flogging the freckle off it! Oh, and I've PM'd Gary and told him that if it goes back together you can have the #1 prototype sloppage sheet for nix as it's simply gathering spiders in the shed. It's mild steel not Stainless and looks a bit daggy but it will do the job and help prevent this happening again. Note I say HELP. Read above about the dipstick!!!!! Yours is a nicely presented bike. Lets get it back together but also let's TRY to not let it happen again. Thrashing the bejasus out of them is fine. Thrashing the bejasus out of them and not maintaining 'em properly will kill anything! Even a Guzzi! Anyone for a basic maintenance and inspection thread????? Pete PS, you WILL owe us lots of beer

I still reckon the page looked better with him at the top rather than that sad budgie that Guzzi use! Pete

Wash the gribblies out of the sump and bolt it back on. Whip the engine out and ship it to Gary so he can find out what's f@cked. I've got serviceable standard mains and a front that is I think 3rd under and a rear that think is second under. They were used in the hot-rod motor with the 750 crank and it ain't ever likely to go again . As I said, I think I've got some 2nd under shells around, if you're lucky the crankpin will polish up and you can use standard ones. The rods came from Howard Reinhart's 1100 sport. I was going to use them in a race motor but his crank failed the crack test so the rods are just sitting around. I can get 'em re-sized here for peanuts if needs be. Most expensive thing will prolly be the rod bolts! I wouldn't recommend re-using 'em! You WILL be checking your oil more often in future though won't you? Pete

I know that Gary and I don't see eye to eye on very much but this is a generous offer, I've got a few 2nd hand main bearings that are useable knocking around and I'm pretty sure I've even got a pair of 1100 rods knocking about somewhere if they're needed. Dunno about shells? I think I might have a set of 2nd undersize ones somewhere. My guess is that the heads will be fine, barrels and pistons will be fine, cam will be fine, followers might look a bit daggy but other than that.......? Unless a rod tried to escape and cut the cam in two I can't see it being a 5 grand job? Pete

I find it hard to believe that the whole motor is donald ducked? One moment you were riding along. Next it made the dogga-dogga noise and was stopped pretty much immediately. Worst case scenario is new crank, mains and big ends and re-size rods surely? The cam hasn't seized in the block has it? Before you go parting it out I'd REALLY recommend taking the engine to bits and seeing how bad it really is. If the bloke who looked at it has simply taken the sump off and pulled the rod caps then it may well look worse than it actually is. Surely you have a mate who can help you do that? Guzzi big block engines are delightfully simple and only require a very few tools to take to bits. Pete

George Fornby's grandad? Karl Marx in a hat? George Bernard Shaw riding a bike, wearing a hat and pretending to be Karl Marx and wishing he had a ukelele? How the f@ck would I know Mind you it might just be this bloke Pete

ARRRRGH!!!!! What's f@cking air made out of mostly?????? Pete

Is that the illustrious Mr. Morris by any chance? Pete