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Old Guzzi's Dont Die! / Strada Salvation,now with Video

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stevo as b4
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PostPosted: 20:37 - 17 Sep 2014    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well done, but you really should have pinched the keys from the owner for the Blue bike to the right of your's and left him to the Guzzi.


Your neighbourhood could have enjoyed a bit of evening blue haze and sweet burnt oil fragranced aroma then too! Thumbs Up
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Teflon-Mike
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PostPosted: 21:52 - 17 Sep 2014    Post subject: Reply with quote

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/10403099_829200147104904_2375835190887388507_n.jpg?oh=48fa9643e1d25f36b049c7b264b28f96&oe=548E9200&__gda__=1418858161_13e02031536a0b99f0edb87199cf085e
It's nice; slightly over restored, b-u-t.... it's a kettle. Its SORT of like a two-stroke... but falls twix the stools I think.
Round the corer, on the other hand......
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10704131_853964534628465_3360606653014656778_n.jpg?oh=1228e326ec932cec04763d891a66de0a&oe=5482B498&__gda__=1422952260_a4eae13b73c8dc5c0ae25bff67aa327a
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stevo as b4
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PostPosted: 08:33 - 18 Sep 2014    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tough call, but I can already hear 3 cackling spitting hazy expansion chambers in my head so Bluey gets my Vote!

I literally don't have the massive balls required to manhandle the mean Breganze beast around whilst looking like a boss!
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Teflon-Mike
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PostPosted: 16:54 - 18 Sep 2014    Post subject: Reply with quote

stevo as b4 wrote:
I literally don't have the massive balls required to manhandle the mean Breganze beast around whilst looking like a boss!
Chap who owned it, was shall we say a more senior rider, who had to be well past his pension & has a DBD34 as well, apparently. Lavvy sounded gorgeous when he fired it up, but....
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/10610746_840106979347554_1982267892771077332_n.jpg?oh=f2e179702e9cb78be35619c6ff484603&oe=5486F8DA&__gda__=1419245675_da1c75a2aa3629f2bef7f460c9819510
Not this Tuesday, think it was the week before, BUT, that was the sort of crowd he had to weave the thing through to leave...
There was a decidedly 'granite' grimace under that old Stadium helmet as he went out, trying to keep the motor alive, feathering the clutch. NOT me-thinks a bike well suited to just popping to the shops on! Old boy definitely deserves a 'Boss' rating for that one in his dotage!
stevo as b4 wrote:
Tough call, but I can already hear 3 cackling spitting hazy expansion chambers in my head so Bluey gets my Vote!
Thing is, the old kettle doesn't really have expansion chambers, and is so softly tuned, and water-cooled, it 'lacks' that 2T 'rawness' for me. Unfortunately the electric-picture-maker died on me, so didn't get a snap of it; but just over the way, was the 2T 'd have taken home. A 1963 Ariel Leader.
https://www.realclassic.co.uk/bikepix/ariel08040802.jpg
(Stock Photo for illustration, same colours, though) Something of a juxtaposition to the 'banzia' Japanese 2T's of legend, but a VERY much more interesting motorcycle, to me, technically. In many ways it was too advanced for its age.

Kettle, wasn't anything significantly out of the ordinary, and neither fire-breathing, Kawasaki H2, 'rebel' nor Mr Nice Honda 750 'four'... both of which I would be far ore eager to have the collection. Its certainly a lot more interesting than most bikes at that meet; just not one to get me all THAT exited.... RD-V4 that turned up a few weeks back with a for-sale sticker on the screen, on the other hand?
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/1972537_829200150438237_8619426367583456757_n.jpg?oh=17dd18a7a5e30d608e31a504440d91c0&oe=548733E1&__gda__=1418043551_1519b50cb37aec3773a6ec39879e8328
DID get me dong mental mathematics, trying to work out if I could afford it!

But hi-jacking the thread! Back to Snowie....
https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10685715_853964491295136_3191973923578381589_n.jpg?oh=5f9d472801e6a1347cad2ecc9b23bb32&oe=54CC79A6
I followed her there... we took something of a cooks tour... she decided to turn Left towards Coventry as we got out of town, rather than go straight on to Tamworth, and quickly up to speed on the 50 limit roads, attempted her first Guzzi-Gear-Change... the Strada doesn't much like labouring in 2nd or higher under 30, so this was the first time she got to tackle a cog-swap on the thing.

I was wincing a little, after she had spent five minutes trying to convince it to find 1st as we left the drive-way.... BUT, no, once rolling it clunked in pretty easily. There was a slight weeble-wobble of shaft reaction as took the motor off load to shift, then banged the clutch back out a bit sharp, BUT, pretty good for a first go. I had feared she might get vexed by it and coast to a halt, decide to turn back, and ask me what could be done to fix it, but no. No panic, no drama, just a little less 'finessed'.

Rest of the ride, bike looked nice and planted, and she was stable and comfy in the saddle, and she was actually CORNERING the thing! It IS a sweet handling little bike, and with just than bit more length in the wheel-base, a tad more mass, and POWAH! beautiful, wonderful tractable power, she was tipping in and driving round them, following nice smooth lines, where last week on the 'pup' she was tipping and changing a bit.

She grumbled a little when we got to Bassets that her shins were a bit hot from the heat of the cylinders, and her bum was starting to get a little numb... the seat is a little firm, but otherwise she was grinning ear-to ear.

Her enthusiasm wasn't even damped after the journey home, which went slightly less well.....

She had booked the bike in for its MOT Monday, last, so it would be all certed up for when her restriction lapsed... which meant I had to ride it to and from MOT man, 2up. Passed its test...and then conked out round the corer coming back! I turned the petrol 'on'... rode off... and conked out again! Turned it onto 'reserve' BLUDDI-GUZZI... did a U-turn in queueing rush hour traffic, and rode to the petrol-station, were we had debate on when it was last filled up, and having established it was when she took it to the car-park, whether it was actually 'filled'. £10's worth was sloshed into it, and we rode home, and parked up, and that's where it remained until we went to Bassets.....

So was something of a surprise when it conked out, in the middle of no-where on the way home.

Memory of her wreaking havoc on Stratford rush-hour on the pup, when it got a bit hot towards the end of an hour & a halfs journey... sprang to mind, with alarming notions that f she had another panic attack, how the hell was I going to get two bikes, and three people home with one rider? But.. credit to her, again; she kept her cool.

Shake of the tank, resulted silence, not 'slosh'.... WHERE THE HECK has the petrol gone? Only done 20miles!

ANYWAY, risked another panic attack, and suggested leaving her at the side of the road, while I went home, got a gerry can, and petrol ad came back for her.... but, my daughter said she'd stay with her, and after auditing the contents of her fag-packet, she agreed; so I raced off, to get fuel.

When I got back, it was dark. But Bluddi-Guzzi fired up on the button, but she had 10 miles of unlit country roads to negotiate home..... I expected her to be angry, raging, pissed off and cussing bluddi-guzzi and ME to high hell, when we got there.

But No! She was still all exited and raving about it, puzzling over where all the petrol could have gone. She reckoned the lamp's not brilliant, was and she deigned not to risk practising guzzi-shifts, so rode it all the way home in 1st, but given how tall that cog is, and how narrow and twisty the road, no real impediment.

She has been praising the handling and asking what difference new tyres would make; deliberating on how to more securely attach the side panels; whether to re-paint it; and asking where else we can go!

She has even said she might try riding on the motorway! But given how numb that seat made her bum in just twenty miles; idea I had to go to Weston-Beach-Races next moth MAY be a bit ambitious.... there's a Custom & Classic show on at Donngton this week-end though? Be a nice-run, to try a motorway,only one section of 3-lane on the M42 before it ends and becomes a duelie.... if she can find out where the petrol's going!

Otherwise, only thing I can say, is that the noise? Following it, it sounds like Ivor-The-Engine towing an old Land-Rover! There's this mid-pitch transmission whine from the shaft drive, with a rytmic sort of 'Churdey-Come-Chuffety, Churdey-Come-Chufety' rhythm over the top.... I kept looking up to see f we were being followed by Idris the Dragon!
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Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'
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noobRider
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PostPosted: 17:45 - 18 Sep 2014    Post subject: Reply with quote

It should do about 40 MPG and around 120 miles to a tank, if I remember right. I did ride it 100 miles each way to Oxford and back every week for a summer without my arse complaining too much.

The times it "died" on me were mainly from getting very wet. An hour in heavy rain will start it mis-firing. It even hated the hand-wash place I took it to once, I rode out of there on one cylinder.
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talkToTheHat
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PostPosted: 00:51 - 20 Sep 2014    Post subject: Reply with quote

What's the issue with guzzi gear shifts? I've got a shaft drive twin, OK its transverse layout and it wasn't all that horrifying, maybe a little clunky compared to little Suzuki's that I could cluchless shift incompetently, I have to use the cluch smoothly and pay attention to downshifts lest my balls end up rammed into the tank, but thats a short first and tall second and serious hamfistedness.

Bike looks awesome though. Cool to see it rolling at last.
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Shaft
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PostPosted: 01:04 - 20 Sep 2014    Post subject: Reply with quote

talkToTheHat wrote:
What's the issue with guzzi gear shifts?


I haven't ridden a latest model, but Guzzi gearboxes (along with pretty much every other aspect of their handling, including clutch, throttle and brakes) of old, are bit agricultural, so need a firm hand/foot.
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noobRider
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PostPosted: 09:43 - 20 Sep 2014    Post subject: Reply with quote

You needed to stamp it into first, second needed to be firm. The rest were very easy. Neutral was mythical. I managed clutchless shifts for 30 miles home when the clutch cable went one time.
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Kickstart
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PostPosted: 11:00 - 20 Sep 2014    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi

A friend used to do quite a lot of Guzzi gearbox rebuilds (mainly on the larger engines). His comment was that when properly set up they had quite a good gear change but that there were a fair few bits that needed to be shimmed up correctly and when built at the factory they were pretty poor at doing that.

All the best

Keith
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