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Air cleaner.... Ugggggggggg

Will do - I am very interested in how this works out as well?;)
Went out for a spirited ride on the Cali yesterday - oh boy oh boy oh boy! I swear it is running better, probably due to the left side valve adjustments. Little bit more intake honk, and much better very slow steady-throttle cruise (as in putting through a small town with 20 mph speed limit). And I said spirited, didn't I? When I passed a pickup towing a horse trailer that pulled out in front of me, reminded me of grabbing a bunch of throttle on my dear departed Centauro. Gonna download the map and send it to Todd and see what he says. But I am a very happy boy.
 
They says to replace it after 6000 miles or 10.000 km., do you think it need to be replaced so soon?
No, unless you ride in very dusty conditions. I replaced what I believe was the original air cleaner on my Norge at 30,000 km and it was spotless. I only replaced it because I got a CNC open air box lid from Todd and a BMC filter.
 
No, unless you ride in very dusty conditions. I replaced what I believe was the original air cleaner on my Norge at 30,000 km and it was spotless. I only replaced it because I got a CNC open air box lid from Todd and a BMC filter.
I thought so, thanks Raven
 
I cleaned my filter the other day while attaching wires for my stereo amp (in the top box) and with the battery out the air box is easy to get to. I use my cheapo (harbor freight $3) xtra long needle nose pliers on the side clips. Removing the battery is pretty easy and makes the air box easy to deal with.
 
I cleaned my filter the other day while attaching wires for my stereo amp (in the top box) and with the battery out the air box is easy to get to. I use my cheapo (harbor freight $3) xtra long needle nose pliers on the side clips. Removing the battery is pretty easy and makes the air box easy to deal with.
Good to know it's not a big job.
 
Moto Guzzi is like every other vehicle builder out there. There is very little margin on the sale of a new motorcycle, especially when there are dealers who are content selling for a few hundred dollars over their invoice price. So, the manufacturer realizes that their dealer network has to survive, so they have to make a living, hence they design machines which are not user friendly but rather practically require the services of a dealer due to the complexity now of what was once simple events.

I know yours is a popular attitude but I can speak from the point of view of the designer of commercial vehicles and I can state just the opposite. Every design I have participated in was made to make service and maintainence as simple as possible. Sometimes "special" tools need to be created to deal with a particularly difficult access problem that might result from the sequence of assembly. But, I have never run into a design idea that a design was created to aid dealers or service people in charging more for their work.
 
Like was stated earlier, I just use the top clips and take the battery out when cleaning or changing the filter. Still its tricky to hold on to just those two, almost lost one but I found one of the side clips I had lost before. The fit is pretty tight so I don't see any issue with just the top clips.
 
I know yours is a popular attitude but I can speak from the point of view of the designer of commercial vehicles and I can state just the opposite. Every design I have participated in was made to make service and maintainence as simple as possible. Sometimes "special" tools need to be created to deal with a particularly difficult access problem that might result from the sequence of assembly. But, I have never run into a design idea that a design was created to aid dealers or service people in charging more for their work.

I can understand that you feel the way you do, however I doubt that any manufacturer who has had you design something for them, has told you directly to make it as easy to maintain as possible. Who are you trying to kid? I simply do not buy that for a second.

A classic example of what I stated earlier is the inner "long term" spark plug on dual plugged head Moto Guzzi. The factory is not the least bit shy about stating publicly for the owner to "take it to your local Moto Guzzi dealer to have these plugs replaced"!

That's hogwash! All you need is a thin walled socket and some extreme patience to remove stuff to get access, but the removal of that stuff in your way is a royal PITA. So much for making "service and maintenance as simple as possible." :shake:
 
Who are you trying to kid? I simply do not buy that for a second.

A classic example of what I stated earlier is the inner "long term" spark plug on dual plugged head Moto Guzzi. The factory is not the least bit shy about stating publicly for the owner to "take it to your local Moto Guzzi dealer to have these plugs replaced"!

Believe whatever conspiracy theories you wish to buy into. My reality is that I (and my team) regularly designed for situations that would make machinery simpler to maintain. On the other side of the equation is design for manufacture and assembly which is sometimes opposed.

Regarding manufacture advice to take to the dealer, they have no idea of your personal mechanical skill level, so will advise to the lowest-common-denominator. If you disagree and can do the work yourself, do so. It's really that simple.
 
Believe whatever conspiracy theories you wish to buy into. My reality is that I (and my team) regularly designed for situations that would make machinery simpler to maintain. On the other side of the equation is design for manufacture and assembly which is sometimes opposed.

Regarding manufacture advice to take to the dealer, they have no idea of your personal mechanical skill level, so will advise to the lowest-common-denominator. If you disagree and can do the work yourself, do so. It's really that simple.

So let me get this straight. If somebody (myself in this case) disagrees with your opinion, then they are all of a sudden, a conspiracy theory proponent? How classy! :think:

The bottom line is that manufacturers of vehicles - cars, motorcycles, boats, planes, rarely if ever take into consideration the design of functional simplicity and ease of maintenance and repair from the perspective of the owner/operator.

Moto Guzzi and BMW with their airheads, used to be, and even up until the V7 line, Moto Guzzi was still fairly decent.

Either way it makes no difference to me as I can wrench just about anything and absolutely everything of mine.

Cheers!
 
So let me get this straight. If somebody (myself in this case) disagrees with your opinion, then they are all of a sudden, a conspiracy theory proponent? How classy! :think:

The bottom line is that manufacturers of vehicles - cars, motorcycles, boats, planes, rarely if ever take into consideration the design of functional simplicity and ease of maintenance and repair from the perspective of the owner/operator.

Moto Guzzi and BMW with their airheads, used to be, and even up until the V7 line, Moto Guzzi was still fairly decent.

Either way it makes no difference to me as I can wrench just about anything and absolutely everything of mine.

Cheers!

No, not at all. You may disagree as much as you like. But you will, in my experience, be wrong. Stating "that manufacturers of vehicles - cars, motorcycles, boats, planes, rarely if ever take into consideration the design of functional simplicity and ease of maintenance and repair from the perspective of the owner/operator" is simply uninformed and wrong. There is no conspiracy to make machinery difficult to service so that owners must make use of qualified, trained professionals to perform the work.

I am sorry that you may have found it challenging to perform service work on some of your machines, however to make a blanket statement that no consideration is given to service and maintenance is incorrect. I know better.
 
Oh also how the hell due to ever ever get the bottom right clip back on the airbox. I have no access to that area after taking the ride side cover off due to a large wiring harness that's in place. after 2 hours I gave up.

Re: bottom right clip back on the airbox - BEEN THERE, DONE THAT and the LEFT one !!!!

I also gave up after 2 hours, due to some skinned knuckles and a lot of swearing. I think some have managed it with a special tooth pick style tool and removing the side panels + ancilliary relays etc. I didn't bother as I'm frequently in and out of the box and bike in general. In the edge I wedged some stiff foam down there between battery and air box - takes 2 seconds to remove and refit.

There's a YouTube video of a German mechanic who seems to specialise in Guzzi's trying to refit the air box after a filter change here (time index 11:15 onwards). You can have a good laugh as he struggles also

 
The airbox lid clips in at the very bottom anyway so I don't see there is really any reason for those two lower stainless clips, there is very little difference with them on or off. I've left them off on mine and its a much simpler job now to get the lid off and on.

Airbox Airbox2 Airbox3
 
Hi I have a 1400 California with 11k miles -- driving it only in summer months in fresh air environment. I have a new air filter from MG Cycle but don't want to deal with it right now so I wonder, how important is it to change that? Can I do it at 15k mi? Thanks for any advice.
 
99% of air filters replaced didn't need it. I'll check mine at 40,000 miles even though it will be a waste of time.
I think it would depend where and in what environment you ride. I've changed both the Stelvio and Griso air filters at 40000kms as there was a significant amount of dirt in the filter and I couldn't see light through them, which while in itself is likely not a very scientific way of determining filter efficiency, does it for me as they only cost $20 each.
 
I've changed both the Stelvio and Griso air filters at 40000kms as there was a significant amount of dirt in the filter and I couldn't see light through them, which while in itself is likely not a very scientific way of determining filter efficiency, does it for me as they only cost $20 each.

When talking about changing the air filter in the California 1400 the cost of the filter is not the issue. It is the PITA poor design that makes changing replacing the filter a major project.
 
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