33,000 Mile Flat Tappet Pics

Thanks to Pete and the community, my 2011 8V SE with 33,000 miles, most of those in warm climate commuting, finally is mostly on the way towards getting rollerized.  Because of my short commute to work and having young kids, I actually haven’t ridden the bike in three years.  I’ve got the itch back, though, of course, just in time for the local government to spray vehicle dissolving fluids and fine rocks all about the street.

For a while I just took oil samples to monitor the flat tappet issue.  Then someone correctly asked if the lab was testing for the diamond-like carbon coatings on the tappets.  They weren’t.  My issue then became finding a dealer to get my “free” kit.  Long story short is that the logistics train with a family and a dealer I was going to have to pay labor to, it was definitely going to cost more in time and inconvenience than to shell out the cash to get the bike right.  Plus, I’ve done every piece of work on this bike since it was delivered.  The bike is a dream to work on as much as it is to ride.  I certainly do look at some other plastic-wrapped Italian beauties when I see them, but their price tags generally make me fall back in love with the matt green and spoked wheel girl I have!

Below are the pics of the tappets at 33,000+ miles.  Definitely had a few more ticks left off the time-bomb fuze than some of the folks out there!

I’ve got some other bits to work out like replacing clutch and brake lines that have deteriorated over the years and, because they are now unavailable, replacing the now bent (downward! How do you do THAT moving company?!?) Stuchi Luigi engine guards with GuzziTech’s.  I’ll put out some pics of all that in due time.

Hope some of you guys have better riding weather than the wet weather we’ve got going on today!

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You definitely got away lightly....my second set of tappets (first replaced at 14,000 miles) were much much worse than that after only another 10,000 miles. Worse means all the coating gone & significant cones ground into all the tappets with visible metal loss.....you did well!

If you want to change hydraulic lines (TBH I think it's more cosmetic than operational project as OEM lines start looking crap but function fine) then for brake lines you could think about upgrading master cylinders to radials as they likely will need longer cables anyway, I dodged clutch line replacement due to the relatively higher pain required to do that at same time & clutch has enough length for radials.

Personally switched to alloy wheels as they are uber cheap on line & eliminate potential spoke issues & easier to clean (I never had spoke seal issues but defo prefer alloys ride & look even on Tenni SE)

Brake line unavailable?

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If the master to slave clutch hose really offends you why not just build one using speedflow fittings.

As Pauls says though despite looking a bit manky the integrity of the hoses doesn't seem to suffer.

Paul-

Yes, based off the comments that came out when Pete was revealing these issues years ago, you’d think I would have blown up and been impaled by the motor bits flying about from 33k miles. Honestly, I think that living in Southern California at the time and each of my rides going for 60 mins, twice a day Monday though Friday helped the situation. Many folks used to post about the mayonnaise on the top of the valve covers...I never had that. Completely unscientific data correlation but I think using the AGIP 10W-60 and running the bike long and well essentially every day, helped. Like I said, completely unscientific, but that’s my hypothesis.

I hadn’t thought about changing master cylinders, but I am debating about how much pain I want before I ride again. I may hold off on replacing clutch amd brake lines like you’ve mentioned.

Interesting you mention wheels. I wouldn’t change to alloys as the wire wheels is what made me buy the bike eight years ago, but yes, my back wheel has a slow leak that’s quicker than what I’d like it to be. I have to fill it weekly when riding regularly.

Pete-

I was able to find the brake line via AF-1. Thanks again for a great deal and getting parts so quickly!!!

A cool, damp climate may accelerate the wear but it isn't the root cause. I think that the length of time needed for the DLC to all disappear, which is when the noises really begin, is dependent on a variety of factors including differences in spring rate, riding style (Engine speed.), climate and frequency of use. The bottom line though is that they will ALL fail, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

Oh, if you need examples of other higher mileage engines? My original donk went to about 78,000 km before I began to really know something was wrong but waiting that long cost me the engine. I also have a customer who has just bought a Norge with 165,000 km on it! It's still got flats in! I have to say though I'm dubious as to whether either the odometer is correct or it may of had a second set of flats put through it.

FWIW my clutch line looked a little crusty when I bought my GRiSO and I didn't think anything of it...
until it burst on a ride and sprayed brake fluid all over me and the tank. Flushed with water asap and paint survived (so far, knock wood). Got a replacement through Spiegler Performance, fit great!
I think it was about $80 with shipping. Hope this helps.
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It took my 09 36K miles for the tappets to go to shit and that's when I knew that the flatties were doomed for certain.
I'm pretty good with maintenance, so the bike was never abused in that regard.
It's just that one day after a long ride I heard a light tic,tic, tic sounds come and go and I knew exactly what it was. Pissed me off too.
So I was a couple of miles away from a friend's house and park the bike there. He took me home to get my truck so we went back to his house and hauled the bike away back home. My cool dealer (now sadly no longer around) sent me a set of used cam and tappet while waiting for the roller part to become available on the market.
Unfortunately, I totaled the bike before I had the chance to rollerize it...