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What did you do to your Moto Guzzi today?

Hooked up the electrical in my lighted license plate frame today so I'm street legal in that department again now. Haven't gotten to ride much lately but hoping for a good one later this week (after giving him a bath to clean up from the last ride)!
 
Hi,
kampe said:
I finaly got a chance to ride this year. Wooh hoow. :laugh: :laugh:
I had my first from this year drive last Sunday.
Very good weather, good temperatures, my gorgeous G12 under my ass :silly: ... That's real life.
I did 100 km drive on nice roads with also nice curves. :roll:
Okay, 80 km/h is the limit, they say...
I felt my drivers license "burning" in my pocket... :mrgreen: but I still have it, no police seen. B)
Not to much in the curves and on the brakes, it's my first ride this year.
It was fun!

Ad B
 
Rolled out of the garage to take the Griso into work this morning and...dead battery. Just got the new one set up and installed so the Griso's purring again now. Sadly, it's supposed to rain like crazy tomorrow, so I can't wait until Friday when it's supposed to beautiful again.
 
Plucked the courage and installed a usb powerlet harness to the battery of the old girl (1976 MG 750S3) to charge ipod5g since I downloaded the TomTom gps app. Uncharacteristically she was happy with the new addition.
L
 
Installed a set of Hepco & Becker on my Nevada Classic.
Just have to determine which electrical feed I want to tap into and will be all set.

Chris
 
Did 200 miles today, 2 buddies and me, on great roads, that were a fortnight ago impassable due to snow . Sunshine and sheep with lambs, in fields that had, had 6ft drifts.
 
Swapped out the headlight bulb for a nice bright xenon one. If I can manage to wiggle out of working on Wednesday, new clutch and brake levers will go on the Griso, as well as possibly some new (Non-dropped, unlike current) pegs.
 
Finished up my 600 mile check and rode to the shop to get a new Oring for the oil cap.
Now I get to start doing some more interesting riding.
 
May have taken 19 months.
But turned 50,000 miles on my Griso 1200 8V today on way home from work:

50k.jpg
 
Rode down to the Venice Vintage Bike Show in Venice this morning. Some nice stuff. Saw that Bartels is selling Royal Enfields now. Seems to have gotten them from the now nonexistent importer in England. Has some great prices if what the kid that was hawking them is right. At ay rate,some really nice bikes there.
As for the Guzzi, it passed 5100 miles today. Not too bad for being less than four months old. I'm even beginning to really like it!
Bare
 
Tidied up the gearbox on my Le Mans with a lick of pain. Maybe it was a mistake, cos it makes the rest of the engine look really grubby now :(

IMG_0288_zpsfdbcf8bf.jpg


Also had a play with the rattle cans and made the rocker covers a little prettier...

Before.
IMG_0275_zpsa8436047.jpg


After.
IMG_0285_zpsb6c46193.jpg
 
Yesterday I watched in horror as my Griso fell off its side stand. A combination of gravel and a slight downhill incline. I had only got off her to open a gate. I checked to make sure she was secure, then as I was opening the gate, she slowly rolled forward and onto her left side. Aargh! :eek:

The result was a broken shift lever pin, bent KD foot peg, bent mirror and cosmetic damage to bar end weight, clutch lever and LH rocker cover.

Today I was able to remove the remains of the shift lever screw thread from the side plate with an ezyout.








She's off the road until Pete can get me a new pin. Sigh.
 
BTDT and feel your pain. Mine fell on the right side, so I got off with a bent, not broken, rear brake lever. I replaced the shiny part of the valve cover and buffed out most of the scars on the rubber part. I also invested in head guards and a CARC guard as insurance against a relapse of stupid.
 
Because I'm sticking a new battery in the Griso today I thought it might be worth doing a little photo essay of what is involved if you want to avoid problems. As long as the charging system is working correctly on the bike of you follow the instructions.



Which are included in the box.



There is little that can go wrong.

First step. Get box with battery in it from shop or crate bike comes in.



(Note. It is not obligatory to do this in the kitchen next to a spice rack and deep fat fryer.)

Remove the battery, acid cell, (In the white box with all the warnings and frightening pictures on.) INSTRUCTIONS, nuts and bolts and warranty form from the box.



Unseal the battery by removing the strip of foil across the top of the fillers for the cells.



Open the white box containing the electrolyte cells. Note the warning stickers. Yes, this is sulphuric acid. Don't do any of the stuff it tells you not to do. No, you shouldn't need telling this unless you are a cretin but.......



Just in care you are a cretin there is another leaflet explaining at tedious length how to deal with sulphuric acid and what will happen if you screw up. Its a Zombie Apocalypse thing.....



Remove the cellophane from the acid cells and then remove, but don't discard, the black plastic strip from the top of the cells. This is recycled to cap the battery before it is put into service.



As you can see the caps of the acid cells are sealed with foil. To get the acid into the battery is preposterously easy! Simply invert the cells and position them over the battery filling orifices which have a convenient spike on them and press the whole pack down so the spikes puncture the foil. Press it right down and it will sit quite happily on top of the battery.



At this point the acid will start slowly dribbling into the cells of the battery from the electrolyte pack. Yes, it will. If you are afraid that it isn't tap the top of the pack with a screwdriver but I've yet to see a Yuasa that didn't fill properly. Do NOT try to speed up the process by puncturing the tops of the acid pack, all you'll do is end up with a flood of acid out of the battery. Patience is the order of the day. The acid has to fill the cells slowly as it has to be absorbed into the plates. These in turn will gas-off and this, going up into the cell pack, encourages the acid from the pack into the battery. The cells may not fill evenly. Don't worry about it. Its fine. The acid will all get in there eventually. In most cases it takes 15 to 20 minutes.

Going



Going



Once the electrolyte pack is empty the pack can be removed and discarded. Remember it has had acid in it so do this sensibly. Do not give it to your children to play with or wipe it on your dog's arse etc.

If you have READ THE INSTRUCTIONS you will now know that you DON'T just bung the cap on the battery and fling it in the bike. As it SAYS IN THE INSTRUCTIONS the battery needs a charge. How to charge it is WRITTEN IN THE INSTRUCTIONS. ;D

So make sure that your charger meets the charging requirements, place the cap that came off the electrolyte pack LOOSELY on top of the cells and connect your charger and trickle charge it for a couple of hours. Check the battery voltage AS IT SAYS IN THE INSTRUCTIONS and if the battery shows 12.8V or whatever let it sit for a few minutes to finish gassing off and then install the cap tightly by biffing it down onto the battery, gently, with a soft biffometer.



Now, and only now, can it be installed in the bike.

I usually fill the battery the night before I'm installing it and then let it sit overnight. In the morning I charge it for a couple of hours and then put it in the bike. So far I don't think I've had a dud.

It is my belief that the vast majority of supposed battery failures, be they leaky posts or simple failures to hold a charge and electrolyte expulsion are due to them not being put into service correctly. Shaved Apes and illiterates will simply treat them like an old, 'Conventional' lead-acid battery, fling the acid in as quickly as they can, whack the top on and fling it in the bike. They are then astonished when the customer comes back complaining that, if they are lucky, their battery has failed or worse if its boiled out its acid all over their brand new bike!

Patience is a virtue with these VRLA batteries. Do it right and they'll last a very long time with no issues.

Pete
 
All that is why I buy AGMs. Get it, charge it as the instructions dictate, put it in the bike and don't worry about it dumping acid on your bike. they aren't that much more money, and they're worth every penny of it.
Bare
 
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