Transmission "Stuck" while downshifting

read it and weep...

Pete Roper wrote:

No synch ros in a Guzzi box, it's a constant mesh unit, which gear is selected to deliver drive is chosen by dog clutches on the pinions themselves.

Pete

Ha!! Thanks for the education Pete.
Now I know...

I was fond of the box on my first GRiSO but now with the revised clutch on later bikes, it makes shifting a dream.
My 09 was a real Mofo in traffic and lane splitting was very welcome.

The 1100's had a face cam shock absorber on the gearbox input shaft, it was deleted on the 1200's but has returned on the 1400, go figure? Main reason for serious clunkiness though is the poor fueling just off idle and that is exacerbated by the lack of a shock absorber. If the bike is tuned and fueling right it'll be a lot less clonky.

Pete

My 1100 has a smooth clutch operation you're right but I can feel the box not as precise as the one on the 1200.
I can also hear the throw out bearing rattling in there when I engage the clutch, almost like a Duc but it doesn't bother me.
Still a peach of a bike to ride...

Mine only clonks going to first from neutral. Like most bikes. Every other change is snickety-snick.

Grisonut wrote:

My 1100 has a smooth clutch operation you're right but I can feel the box not as precise as the one on the 1200.
I can also hear the throw out bearing rattling in there when I engage the clutch, almost like a Duc but it doesn't bother me.
Still a peach of a bike to ride...

The rattle isn't the throw out bearing, it's the intermediate plate. The 1100 uses the 'Old' twin plate clutch with a steel intermediate plate between the two friction plates. When you pull the clutch lever the plates separate and the intermediate plate 'Floats' in the splines of the flywheel and as the wheel accelerates and decelerates between power and compression strokes the intermediate plate lashes too and fro in the spines making the flywheel ring like a bell.

On the later bikes like V11's and 2V CARC bikes the flywheel is very light meaning that this acceleration and decelleration is more marked and the 'Rattle' is of a higher pitch. Listen to earlier models like a T3/SP and the 'Ring' is quieter and has a deeper tone, an early LeMans is slightly but detectably higher in pitch than the T3 due to its slightly lighter flywheel. Listen to a loop frame like an Ambo or Eldo and the sound is almost undetectable due to the flywheel being about as heavy as a neutron star so it's inertia overcomes the compression/power effect far more effectively. The earlier engines also had lower compression ratios which also diminished the effect.

It's worth remembering that the intermediate plate thrashing in the splines doesn't do them any good. That's the reason it's not a good idea to sit at the lights with your clutch pulled in for any length of time! Best to keep it pulled in until the idiot behind you has stopped and then find neutral and release the clutch. Better for splines, better for thrust/release bearing.

Pete

Cool stuff Pete...
I taught the wife to keep the bike in neutral as much as possible just like I told her to do on her Mustang before she even rode a bike.