Well done Bud, and Dennis, and everyone else who's trying to get a ride in with either extreme of weather. It was my first week back at work this past week, so no rides, and that really sucked balls. On my first day back my "Manager" (not really, I'm a consultant working for defence and he's a public servant, but the manager of all the folks I'm embedded with) who, for all his faults, at least likes motorcycles, asked me very nicely if I'd take a look at a Moto Guzzi California III that he'd been offered as a long term loan from one of his mates.
I drove my little truck to work yesterday and we drove over to his mate's place to collect it. It turns out I like his mate more than I like him, and my new best friend, Dave, gave me a cigarette and showed me his other two bikes, another Guzzi, and a KTM dirt bike that he's turning into a Motard, which I think is a cross between a motorcycle and a retard. I actually love big single cylinder bikes, and a Motard would be a fantastic commuter, but I digress. We loaded up the big heavy bastaard and headed back to my place to unload it.
Moto Guzzi Saturday 21 Jan 2023 1 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Dave gave me a fistful of invoices from one of Melbourne's very few "European Bike Specialist" motorcycle workshops, that I've only heard good things about. the invoices listed all the work that has been done on it in the last two years from when Dave bought it. The total is $4203.85. The list included a roadworthy inspection and an oil and filter change, but everything else is just labour and a few small carb and ignition parts. The problem, since he bought it (after it sat for a long time) was that it would start OK, but after a little while would start to miss and fart. Over two visits to the workshop they apparently rebuilt the carbs, and replaced various jets, and "needles and seats" (fuel valves) at least 4 times. (he'd done less than 500 miles in the time that he's owned it) each time he got it back, and the same thing would happen, it was fine when he took off from the shop, but a few miles down the road it would act up. We both agreed that his visits to the shop wasn't money well spent.
This morning, after spending most of my sleeping time thinking about it, I popped off the alternator cover, and valve covers.
Moto Guzzi Saturday 21 Jan 2023 2 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
I have a copy of the factory manual, and read that the valve clearances should be .22mm or .008" on both inlet and exhaust. (if it's not rattling, it's not Italian....) I checked each one, and the loosest was .13. They're really easy to adjust, so I did that, then checked the point gaps (nice new points, but I gave 'em a clean anyway) and gapped and cleaned the newish NGK plugs. My theory is that when the bike started to get hot the clearances closed up, and the valves weren't seating. I also checked the mixture screws, and adjusted the idle screw for a slightly faster idle. It ran much smoother than yesterday, so I decided that it was all fixed, and went for a ride. I filled it up with 95 RON fuel as the factory owners manual said 97 RON, and folks on the Motoguzzi forums were saying that it needed higher than our standard 91, I also threw in some fuel system cleaner, thinking that the fuel in it was probably pretty stale as Dave hasn't ridden it in months.
Straight away I discovered that regardless of how much I like this bike, I could never own one, it must have been built for midgets, because my knees were up around my shoulders or so it felt, and then I had to lift my feet another 2 or 3 inches higher to operate the "heel and toe" shifter lever, and the brake pedal, which operates the "linked" brakes, i.e., it operates both the rear caliper, and one front caliper. It was so uncomfortable I decided to use just the front brake, which is far weaker than the linked ones. The brake pedal arm actually has a little peg poking out for you to rest your heel on while operating the brake, with your knees up around your head........ After only a few miles, my right hip started to hurt bad due to the angle of my legs. If I was 5'4" it'd be great, but at closer to 6'4", it wasn't fun.
Also, the engine, as it got warmer, started to miss and fart. Great. I have RACV (Auto Club) cover for any vehicle I ride or drive, so wasn't fussed if it broke down, so burped and farted my way to Kilmore. I stopped at the bakery, but I could see that they were closing up so I rode on to a chicken shop. The Indian(?) guy that runs it is a nice guy, he asked me what I'd like, I said I didn't know, he recommended Roast Chicken, Roast Potato, Roast Pumpkin and peas, with gravy, which sounded pretty good, so I said, "Yes Please". It was delicious.
Moto Guzzi Saturday 21 Jan 2023 4 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
I wandered back to the bike and fired it up. It ran beautifully, and I wondered if the new fuel and the fuel system cleaner had sorted it? I was really enjoying myself as I zipped thru town, then as the speed limit increased, it started to miss and fart again. Fcuk. On the way home it ran nicely, then awfully, intermittently, all the way home, and just got worse, to the point where it was only running on one cylinder, by the time I arrived home. I suspect the coils now, I re-read the invoice notes and it had been previously missing on the left cylinder, but they'd checked the coils, and they checked out OK, so weren't replaced. My new theory is that one coil is breaking down once it gets hot, like the coils on my Goldwing used to do. I sat at the chicken shop long enough for it to cool down, but once it got hot again, (in the high 70's today) it started breaking down again.
I'll test the coils for fun tomorrow, but I'll also look around my garage for another pair of coils (possibly off an old Honda or Kawasaki...) to thrown on it and take it for another ride, and see if that was the issue. I also thought about float levels, but I don't think it's fuel, I think it's electrical. I'll be prepared to be wrong. Ride #4 down.
Moto Guzzi Saturday 21 Jan 2023 3 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
