Oh, arse.

Joining the A14 today, the traffic was backed up to the slip road, as
it often does in the winter months.

So, after carefully negotiating the traffic queueing to join the
dual-carriageway, I spotted a likely gap further along, joined, then
after a good look round, slipped into lane 1a.

Into the filtering groove, into second gear... that's into second
gear... second... try kicking it down then hooking it up... second?
How about third? Fourth? You FUCKER.

So I pulled off into a convenient lay-by, unbolted the starter to
check the gearshift linkages; all tight. Nothing else I could really
check from the outside. There's an adjuster bolt but it was tight.

By dint of rocking the bike back & forth and yanking the gear lever up
by hand it felt like I was getting gearshifts, so I put the lid back
on, fired her up and tried pulling forward...OK, I'm in a higher gear.

Traffic ws flowing OK now, so after waiting for a suitably large gap,
I chugged in a rather laboured fashion into the flow and completed the
journey to work, probably in fourth or fifth gear.

Unfortunately I succeeded in dropping it to (possibly) third on
arrival at work, so the return journey was a seriouly tedious drag at
55mph; I didn't fancy revving the aircooled engine too hard for
extended periods at only moderate speeds. Isn't it amazing that every
sod on the road gets under foot when you really, really don't want to
stop.

The good news is that it appears to be just a selector fault and I
think the selector mechanism is all on a removable plate on the side
of the gearbox.

Gah. Guzzis: gotta love 'em.

 

Which Guzzi?

JB

 

V11. And the problem was a broken spring, so not the end of the Earth.

The Quota's now officially off the road until I sort /it's/ gearbox: I
ran it through the gears o its centre stand a few weeks ago and fifthh
was definitely whiny. Fourth wasn't exactly quiet, either. What really
made up my mind though was the very occasional 'tick' or sort od soft
'thunk' as I revved it up in fifth: it could just be a misfire but it
had a worryingly gearboxy timbre.

 

Much relief eh?!

A good move not running it. It _may_ be smething minor, but if it were my
luck it wouldn't be. Have you ever stripped a Guzzi box completely? I've had
the back cover off and done the output bearing, but never had one of my own
to bits yet. The one in the trike has done 180k miles and still sounds ok
but then it doesn't get any high speed running the way it used to as a solo.

JB

 

Nope. the V11 tonight was my first view into a Guzzi box.

I am a little peeved about the Quota's box, I have to say. I've owned
the bike since around 2000 when it had a little over 7K miles on it
and I've done 45K reasonably restrained miles on it, and never, as far
as I can recall, ever having missed a service or put the wrong type of
oil in.

I sort of have the Christmas break slated as 'fix the Quota' week, or
at least, 'open the Quota up' week.

I also need ot have a 'tidy the tip that is my garage' weekend before
that.

 

Gah. I just started that. A free Sunday, with no car (due to the
Vectra being on its hols with some very nice men who sorted the goosed
clutch) and with the weather being at least dry, thought I'd make a
start. Everything out on the driveway, then sort through, bin some
crap and slide it all back in, in a different order, before the rain
started.

Fired both the Bandit and Elly's 9R up without many prods, rerouted the
main electrical feed, shuffled the compressor and all the windy tools
into a suitable corner next to the welding gear, shuffled all the
garagey-type toolboxes into one end, sorted out some lighting. Now all
I have to do is rebuild the shelving and fill it up with *stuff*, which
will make space for the ex-woodwork bench which will soak up a grinder,
a vice and a polisher and assorted metalworking power and hand tools -
and light it, of course.

Then I'll have a clear space on the floor where I can build up my
Lidl-acquired electric hoist (to go on a mobile-ish tripod molished
from scaffold tubes and clamps) and then I can strip the engine out of
the Bandit, and in a curious corollary to your post, split the cases
and get into the gearbox as it is rather noisier than a Bandit 'box
should be. No dicking around though - it will be the layshaft bearings
- just heave the cluster out of a known good box (the one currently
living with the blown engine) and slip it in.

POP, obviously.

What could possibly go wrong?

 

GOTO HERE

--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Thanks, Pete.

Very much.

<GLOOM>

 

The MZs had a habit of breaking the gearlever return spring - I ran one
for a couple of years until I fixed it - and that was because I had to
split the cases for another reason.

You can quickly pick up the knack of resetting the gear lever after each
change.

 

I'm only jealous. I've been engaged in a continuous rolling garage tidy
up since we first moved in to this house 10 years ago. Like painting the
Forth bridge it is. There is still one cardboard version of a removals
tea chest sitting in one corner. I *think* I know what's in there and
that it isn't another cache of Ebayable treasure trove.

Still, I've done the "sorted out some lighting bit" at last. That plus
borrowing the lad's MX paddock stand as a lightweight stool has improved
my fettling conditions considerably.

I was v. tempted by the Lidl hoist myself, but decided it might
encourage me in to more heavy car bodging that could end in tears. The
heaviest engine I'm ever likely to get out myself again is the Morini
and the lad will soon be strong enough to lift that in to place for me
(SWMBO discovered that he had moved an old style 14" TV from one side of
a room to another when he was 2 1/2). Did pick up a tap and die set, the
last pikey drill stand they had and couldn't resist a swivel head
ratchet.

The Shiver is far too much of a box of tricks to do much more than an
oil and filter change on myself. Though a battery swap, should the need
arise, looks easy after the Voxan and what I hear on here about other
modern bikes.

Anyway, you're starting in the right ZATAMM tidying up and sorting out
tools mode, so you'll have the required "great peace of mind".
--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Unless there is a piece of broken spring now being minced in the gearbox.

Oh dear - see above.

 

That's always a worry, but in fact the broken-off piece was simply
lying in the bottom of the box.

 

On Mon, 22 Nov 2010 18:35:58 +0000, Pip Luscher

.....

Well, spring ordered, unfortunately it's on back-order. Almost the
first thing that the parts man at Corsa Italiana said was: "Oh, the
one that usually breaks...": it's a known problem on older V11s.

I also asked about the Quota: he reckoned that when the output shaft
bearings go, it loads up the gears, which sounds plausible. Even more
so when you consider that fifth gear is at the output end of the
gearbox and the Quota's output oil seal has died too: it all adds up.

I'm now wondering if I can get the back off the gearbox without taking
the gearbox off the engine, or completely removing the engine/gearbox
assembly from the frame. It might just be possible if I partially
unbolt the lower frame rails & gearbox mounting bolts, then tilt the
engine down slightly so the back of the gearbox clears the frame.
There are a few other bits & bobs that would have to be disconnected,
but it would beat a full removal.

 

Had that on my old DT when I dropped it, only it wasn't the spring
that broke, it was the post that acted as both gearshift end-stop and
spring stop.

Upshifts were easy; as you say, hooking it up a little first to get
downshifts was a knack that I eventually picked up.

 

Does 'Guzziology'6.0 have anything to say on the matter?

--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

'blinks'

I've never heard of it before, but it seems to be a well-respected
tome.

Hmmm.

 

I had an earlier version when I had the Mille GT. Very well thought out
and with a lot of excellent general bike fettling tips as well as the
Guzzi specific stuff. Not sure how up to date with the Quota and V11 it
is though.

--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Early R1s had the same problem, the return spring was weak and used to
snap. Luckily the broken bits were accessible by taking a plate off the
left side of the gearbox, and the replacement part was cheap and
stronger. I had to do Bear's first R1 when it broke, when he lived in
Swindon. The bike was stuck in third or fourth and the gearshift
wouldn't budge for some reason so I told him to take it easy and not
risk the broken bits falling into the gearbox, so of course, Bear being
Bear, he came all the way from Swindon to Flitwick flat out in the one
gear he had and when he got to our gaff the brakes were absolutely red
hot.

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

The Bantam had a similar habit but the 65p spring was located in the
middle of the box so it was a crankcase split job to reach it.
The broken part had managed to migrate all the way to the primary
chaincase before causing minor havok. At least the Bantam lump was
light and easy enough to pull out onto the bench for surgery.

 

I have v5.4 - I think it covers V11s, I'll dig it out later.