It was looked after by an Engineer.....

Well, that was the story. Poor 2010 Stelvio, needs rollers. New owner trailers it down from Newcastle and the story comes out.

This was the one that has been for sale in Merimbula on the south coast for ages. 48,000km, not rollerised. OK, that's not fatal. But it's last owner was "An Engineer". I dunno why this is seen to mean anything? I know of one 'Engineer' who runs a bike shop, couldn't get Guzzidiag to work and who couldn't diagnose a series of inconsequential issues with his own GRiSO! Turns out he is a Civil Engineer so he might be able to knock up a multi storey car park that won't fall down but he knows fuck all about motorbikes!

Anyway, I digress. Running a quick eye over this piece of two wheeled magnificence what do I find at the throttlebodies?

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

WTF is all that shit about? And what do you reckon the center to center distances were accurately measured?

And the 'Sacred Screw' has been buggered about with!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

And just to put the cherry on top of the icing on the cake it has a PCV+AT!

To me it smells of the dead hand of Toad Vegan! Yet another one that runs so shittily that the owner has passed it on.

Ah well. We'll rip the map out of it and send it to Mark. He'll probably be able to tell if it's one of the Master's reflashes. Then we'll try and find out if the TB's are un-fuckable. With that crappy setup on the linkage rod and a sodimised Sacred Screw and the need for Rollerisation it might not be worth it for the poor owner to fix all its embuggerances. Even if it were in tip-top rollerised condition it's still 9 years old, never had its swingarm and shock linkage greased to our knowledge so its worth a max of $7.5K. Since it's aflat tappet munter that probably needs new TB's it's value is really pretty low! How much money would he want to sink into it?

We get all the good jobs!

Pete

Words fail me. Except for such things as: Egads! Crivens! Arse!

Mere apprentices - now the master has it to set it to rights. Pete a pain to be sure, but it's what you do...

Well shit, if anybody can bring this bike to life without selling the house, it's you guys. lol
It'd be worth it to have an extra CARC bike around me think...

It may be what I do Tony but the issue is "Is it worth it"? Much though I hate to see bikes sent down the wrecker's route the sad and simple fact is that sometimes they simply aren't worth saving.

Look at this thing. It needs a B kit we think. There's $2K straight off the bat. Then what happens if it needs new TB's? Something I think is a very strong possibility. There's another $1.5K. Then there is the embuggerance of removing the PC/AT and sorting any damage it may of caused. We'll suggest dropping the sump and spacer to replace the early, fragile, spacer gasket. It'll most likely need swingarm bearings and a shock linkage and what about steering head bearings? So we're already looking at probably $4.5-5K in repairs. We have no idea if the PC/AT will of worn the rings out and have no ideas of history to allow us to even guess at other potential problems.

I don't know how much the current owner paid for this POS but I know John at Motocicolo knew of the bike and said the owner wanted $6.5K. My guess is he sold it for $5K max. So if we go in and it's a 'Best case' scenario the current owner will be looking at another $4-5K spend. He'll then have a bike that has cost him nearly ten grand and it's resale value will be $7.5K. It just doesn't make financial sense.

We'll have a bit of a poke around and then tell him what we think. If he still wants to go ahead? Fine, but it will be an 'Open cheque' proposition because we won't know what we are going to find and there is still the possibility after 48,000KM that it may lunch it's bottom end after it is rollerised.

Unfortunately if it looks like a turd and smells like a turd it is very highly unlikely it's going to turn into a beautiful butterfly.

Pete

I bought a MKIII Le Mans off a Qantas engineer once.
(2 weeks later several Qantas jets had failures on take-off from Sydney)

I needed a 3' breaker bar to get the spark plugs out.
Swingarm spindles so tight the rear suspension was rigid.
Jacked up bike to clean front wheel, bottom fork legs/wheel fell off.
Spun a big end after 10,000km, shells with differing part # fitted.
No dowels in the main bearing housing, full oil pressure to top end with reduced pressure to bottom end.

I think I know who fixed those planes.

I was feeling mighty perky when I got up this a.m.

Then I read this thread.

Bill

I work with nuclear engineers - would I trust them to work on my Guzzi? No, no, no, no, no, no, no...

Is this a red stelvio ? I tried to look at one at Pambula about 6 weeks ago. I asked if it had been rollerized and he said he thought it had been done by the previous owner. I asked to pop a rocker cover to check. After that it seemed he came up with every excuse he could to not let me see the bike.
In the end I told him forget it.
If its the same bike, he knew it was shagged..pity the new owner.
I know it shouldn't, but knee cap comes to mind...just sayin

Yup, that's the one. I really dislike people who play these sorts of games.

New owner paid $5.8K! Anyway, we are going to make an assessment as to its suitability for repair. New owner seems keen but I may well try to dissuade him if we think it's too high risk.

Pete

48,000km, mine has just reached that, i hope they go on for a bit longer........

Pete Roper wrote:

Turns out he is a Civil Engineer

Pete

no such thing as civil engineer

Just so happens I'm a Civil Engineer (34 years now), and I work on my own bikes.....but I know when it becomes more than I can handle and that's when I call in the Professionals! I hope you guys aren't designing your own septic systems!

Shit flows downhill, what else is there to know?

ghezzi wrote:

I bought a MKIII Le Mans off a Qantas engineer once.
(2 weeks later several Qantas jets had failures on take-off from Sydney)

I needed a 3' breaker bar to get the spark plugs out.
Swingarm spindles so tight the rear suspension was rigid.
Jacked up bike to clean front wheel, bottom fork legs/wheel fell off.
Spun a big end after 10,000km, shells with differing part # fitted.
No dowels in the main bearing housing, full oil pressure to top end with reduced pressure to bottom end.

I think I know who fixed those planes.

Was a Sydney or Brisbane based engineer ?

In the interest of causing NO offense, I refuse to answer that question until all aircraft engineers on this forum have been identified.

Waterbottles work passes all tests, well, apart from oil leaks.

As long as no one on here works on the Moto Guzzi factory assembly line! That seems to be where a lot of the problems start!

Well for what its worth, as you all know my GRiSO was very nearly a parts special too until Pete waved the wand over it. I just got back from a trip to Adelaide on it where it ran faultlessly. Just on 4000kms in nine days. It now has a tad under 94,000 kms on the clock. Weirdly I got better fuel economy from 95 octane than 98 which I always use where available, bike seemed to like it better too from my seat of the pants feelomometer.
It'll go back to Bunged end later this year for the annual once over and swingarm check. In between it'll get oil and a filter this time around.

Maybe that bike had a cruise control on it.

1.

Street wrote:

Shit flows downhill, what else is there to know?

2. Don’t chew your fingernails
3. Pay day is Friday

marcdavo wrote:

Is this a red stelvio ?
I know it shouldn't, but knee cap comes to mind...just sayin

Marcdavo , was this person saying he was an aircraft engineer ? If so pm me the fools name, it’s a very small industry, we shall expose him

No Ron, he didn't say what he did for a living. I never met him, only spoke a few times on the phone. Didn't get a look at the bike either. I just asked if it had been rollerized and could I check and he went from keen to full of excuses cagey almost instantly.
Peter was his name. South American/ Argentinian kinda accent.

I have learnt from experience that buying a bike from a mechanic may be a negative, rather than positive aspect of a purchase- two bikes I purchased in the last couple of years from mechanics:
Guzzi:
BOTH wheels loose.
Valve clearances on the left side set backwards. (Exhaust was Inlet spec and vice versa)
Sump plug stripped with incorrect plug installed.
Disintegrated foam from airbox filled filter.
Swelling fuel filter.
Broken fuel connector at pump.
(minor) Both bar clamps on backwards.
CBR1000F I bought in February from mechanic- spent 8 weeks of every day off fixing poor workmanship/bodginess:
Cam timing wrong. (he said he had fixed the internal cam chain tensioner so it was him)
Ignition switch would not lock and bodgied- a separate secret toggle switch with wires pushed into fuse box could start an unlockable bike. Yay
Valve clearances- inlet were way too loose exhaust too tight.
Brake and clutch master windows cracked so rubber plugs placed in cylinders to stop leaks. Leaking brake plunger in master.
Motobatt battery fitted with adaptors meant positive lead of battery nearly rubbing frame (negative) with uninsulated positive terminal- fire waiting to happen there.
Ridiculous amount of silicone on valve cover gasket. Reused gasket without silicone and it doesn't leak.
Broken and bodgied seat lock. (cable tie to open seat)
Broken aluminium 'ears' from around sump plug.
Missing o ring and washer off pilot screw. Float heights incorrect. Diaphragms shrunken in carbs- probably from carb cleaner use- rubber doesn't like it.
Lots more but I think you get the idea. In my experience bikes owned by mechanics are not looked after well. Pretty incompetent these ones too- especially the CBR guy.

Tony you arriving on the border next week? We will be there early - we can't help ourselves, and we'll be in the usual spot, as per the last few years...

well known parable... the mechanic always has the worst car in the street.