Happy New Year!
Well, with winter time on us here in Northwest Ohio, and the break between the academic semesters at the university of my "let's get a PhD at 50 years of age...", I have time to read for myself and pleasure.
So, I stumbled upon some writings on another site, by Pete Roper about failures of the flat tappet bikes in Oz. It seems Mr. Roper had a 180 degree turnaround on his original position about the matter, and after reading all that he had to say, I became convinced as well that failure is not a question of if, but rather a question of when.
I do all of my own service but I never really paid close attention to roller/non-roller because frankly, I didn't care. I bought the bike. Moto Guzzi had my money in full, and I had the bike (my 5th Guzzi over the years). I did not want to become angry about this especially since nothing was wrong with my bike and I didn't want to convince myself of doom and gloom and that Moto Guzzi (i.e. Piaggio) had fucked me along with everybody else.
Curiosity was now killing me and I couldn't stand myself so I braved going out to my garage, and popped off a valve cover and looked carefully to identify my valve train.
This is what I found.
From what I could gather from pictures that others had posted, my bike was built at the factory with roller tappets! Halleluia! God bless Giulio Cesare Carcano!
I hope this is what I am seeing! Given that my date of manufacture was 3/12, (UPDATE: Engine # AC 012683) I am very surprised and overjoyed. I was planning on doing the rollerization with tax refund money this year, but now, I can plan a really nice road trip.
To those who have suffered the failure, I am sorry for your frustration. For those of you who have yet to rollerize, thanks to Pete Roper, I now firmly believe that early intervention is much more preferable to eventual failure. Consider it if you haven't!
May everybody have the most wonderful "New Year" and I am grateful for this fantastic forum and the people who make it so good. Thank you!
Safe Riding!
Scott Mastrocinque
Well, with winter time on us here in Northwest Ohio, and the break between the academic semesters at the university of my "let's get a PhD at 50 years of age...", I have time to read for myself and pleasure.
So, I stumbled upon some writings on another site, by Pete Roper about failures of the flat tappet bikes in Oz. It seems Mr. Roper had a 180 degree turnaround on his original position about the matter, and after reading all that he had to say, I became convinced as well that failure is not a question of if, but rather a question of when.
I do all of my own service but I never really paid close attention to roller/non-roller because frankly, I didn't care. I bought the bike. Moto Guzzi had my money in full, and I had the bike (my 5th Guzzi over the years). I did not want to become angry about this especially since nothing was wrong with my bike and I didn't want to convince myself of doom and gloom and that Moto Guzzi (i.e. Piaggio) had fucked me along with everybody else.
Curiosity was now killing me and I couldn't stand myself so I braved going out to my garage, and popped off a valve cover and looked carefully to identify my valve train.
This is what I found.
From what I could gather from pictures that others had posted, my bike was built at the factory with roller tappets! Halleluia! God bless Giulio Cesare Carcano!
I hope this is what I am seeing! Given that my date of manufacture was 3/12, (UPDATE: Engine # AC 012683) I am very surprised and overjoyed. I was planning on doing the rollerization with tax refund money this year, but now, I can plan a really nice road trip.
To those who have suffered the failure, I am sorry for your frustration. For those of you who have yet to rollerize, thanks to Pete Roper, I now firmly believe that early intervention is much more preferable to eventual failure. Consider it if you haven't!
May everybody have the most wonderful "New Year" and I am grateful for this fantastic forum and the people who make it so good. Thank you!
Safe Riding!
Scott Mastrocinque
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