Well,The bike ran GREAT ! I did OK too and am back home after a nice 2500 mile s of riding and camping. Here is a link to my blog post with photos and a full description of the trip https://motoguzzi850t.blogspot.com/2018/10/my-ride-up-to-adirondacks.html

Great write up YG and nice countryside. I'm glad you consider the bike a keeper. A pity about the rain but you have to take the good with the bad.
Regards Martin.

Thanks for taking the trouble to do a write up yammaguzzi.

Best wishes, D

When I used to make sales calls in Northern New York I used to hate going up there this time of year.  Stuck behind a couple of geezers in a motorhome looking at leaves at 25mph for 15-20 miles with no place to pass.  I hope you had better luck.

That's why I travel on weekdays ! There was one guy and 4 cars between him and me.I got to a safe passing zone ,opened it up and blew by them at warp speed on a fully loaded bike.It was incredible.The bike can do amazing things even with 200 lbs of gear on it.

MartinW wrote:Great write up YG and nice countryside. I'm glad you consider the bike a keeper. A pity about the rain but you have to take the good with the bad.
Regards Martin.

Thanks Martin . I was worried because this bike made my shoulders hurt  when I first started riding it but as time went on my body adapted and now I can ride the thing 3 and 4 hundred miles a day  with no problem at all. It has turned out to be a very comfortable ride

Nice blog Yammaguzzi and some great pics - glad the shakedown ride worked out well. 

How cool is having your own log cabin in the woods though, even if the rain and isolation brought on a touch of cabin fever. Nice paintings too - there's a(nother) skill that I have failed to pick up (along with musical instruments, foreign languages etc.). At least I can wield a wrench!

Definitely worth investigating the source of your start and end of adventure bike stutter ahead of your big ride. That could turn into a real spoiler. Alternatively, might even be worth picking up a complete spare RHS switch gear to carry as a just in case (which will then never be required due to murphy's law).

Interesting that the bike made your shoulders hurt (initially) - when I first started riding these bike, I found that my hips hurt, but likewise, I have adapted and don't have any problem now. I do find that my knees start to get stiff though after 4+ hours of riding - perhaps I should stop more often to stretch my legs rather than just riding for hundreds of miles?

YG have a look at http://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2737
Regards Martin.

Born Again Eccentric wrote:Nice blog Yammaguzzi and some great pics - glad the shakedown ride worked out well. 

How cool is having your own log cabin in the woods though, even if the rain and isolation brought on a touch of cabin fever. Nice paintings too - there's a(nother) skill that I have failed to pick up (along with musical instruments, foreign languages etc.). At least I can wield a wrench!

Definitely worth investigating the source of your start and end of adventure bike stutter ahead of your big ride. That could turn into a real spoiler. Alternatively, might even be worth picking up a complete spare RHS switch gear to carry as a just in case (which will then never be required due to murphy's law).

Interesting that the bike made your shoulders hurt (initially) - when I first started riding these bike, I found that my hips hurt, but likewise, I have adapted and don't have any problem now. I do find that my knees start to get stiff though after 4+ hours of riding - perhaps I should stop more often to stretch my legs rather than just riding for hundreds of miles?

Thanks for your response . I'm thinking that I'm going to take the handle bar control apart and use some electrical contact cleaner on the kill switch and see if that solves this .And, like you suggest, I'm also going to start looking on ebay and elsewhere for a spare to carry . I has similar isues with the factory switches on my '75 Moto Guzzi 850-T and carried some later model Ducati switches which I did end up using after 10 years of carrying them around in my bag of tools and spares I bring on my rides.On that bike I had to disable the kill switch all together ,what failed was the starter button eventually causing me to use the Duc switch.Still have to change the other side over. My attitude is "if it ain't broke don't fix it"

MartinW wrote:YG have a look at http://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2737
Regards Martin.

Thanks Martin,it was a good read and I'm sure I'll read it a few more times to get it in my head so when I need it on the road it will be there.

Great write up. Thanks for sharing.

I hope the challenging weather didn't put a damper on things,  the colours were truly beautiful and hopefully compensated some. 
The ethanol certainly impacts negatively. I have the same experience.
For the body pains (for me it's the back) I find that is a sort of inbetween driving positron requires the support of the knees to take some weight of the arms and a light grip on the bars. 
Keep the write ups coming !
Einar.

Thank You. I'll be writing more about the work on the bike to get her ready for the cross country trip now mostly as we head into winter here in New York.I still have 2 months of decent riding weather to go places in but then it's just short rides in the freezing cold when the roads are clean and it's dry out. Should be fun prepping this bike for a long distance ride and I'm sure I'll need lots of advice on things  as I get into it.

YG, beyond normal maintenance the only prep your bike needs is to make sure you have a pair of clean skivvies and a credit card for gas.  At least that's all I've needed with Ilsa, my horizon chaser, in the last 35,000 miles we've shared on the road.

I do carry a few spares, only because they prevent untimely stops along the way since you never break it if you have the spare at hand.

They include:

Clutch cable with the barrel and no longer available felt thingie
Throttle cable
Fuel pump
HES sensor assembly
H4 headlight bulb(this time of year it seems I'm always doing a hundred miles after dark on some deserted road)
Clutch lever
Shifter
Coolant filler cap
Pannier hinge
Tire repair kit and Honda compressor

Those are the things I was thinking about bringing .My fuel pump is new (4000 miles ago) so what I was thinking was to put in a new one just before the trip and keep the almost new one as a spare . I have lots to do to this bike before I really travel.I want to replace all the coolant hoses and thermostat , lube the splines, get the pulsing in the front brake solved,new tires just before I leave,a valve adjustment,all new vacuum hoses ,and I'd like to replace the original injectors with the 4 hole ones. When I brought the bike back to life after her 12 year sleep I replaced the entire fuel delivery system less the injectors so I want new . I am starting now .The first things are the kill switch issue and the pulse in the front brakes.Found a new switch last night on line and probably going to spring for it rather than chase my tail trying to figure out why the bike shuts off and comes back when I flip the kill back and forth like it did the other day when I was traveling.This issue scares me so I want it dealt with now.

Yeah, just get your maintenance baseline established and keep up with the proper intervals.  These bikes are truly reliable as bricks.  I think nothing of 40-50 mile blasts at 100mph a couple thousand miles from home. 

Right now,  I'm in Colorado getting some new rubber at the tail end of a 2 1/2 week, 8000 mile run through Canada, the west coast and southwest with Ilsa.  Don't obsess with prep, just take good care of the bike and ride.

One of the things I would check is the radiator fan. They get infrequent use (well in the UK anyway) so can seize. Then when you do need it your up a creek without a paddle.

Mike

YG I wouldn't bother changing your injectors over if they are running OK. There has been no posted dyno results showing any boost or benefit from the use of the 4 hole injectors. I experienced a boost in performance by cleaning my OEM original 170,000 K injectors and getting the correct spray pattern. The reported seat of pants benefit reported by riders switching to the 4 hole injectors is because they are now running with clean injectors. If they had cleaned their OEM ones the same seat of pants benefit would have been felt. You need to get hold of a dial gauge indicator. Remove your calipers and cobble up a mount so you can run the gauge on a smooth track on the outer edge of the discs. The runout needs to be less than .200 mm or .008 ". Minor excess of this figure can be corrected. If the bike has been left sitting for long periods the discs will also benefit from a good cleaning. While cleaning check the surface of the discs for and abnormalities. Also check your pads and give them a scuff up. I carry a spare clutch cable and lever, throttle cable, my old OEM fuel pump with a foot of line and clips, self sealing silicone tape, insulation tape, front brake lever, 3 spark plugs, tools, small can of WD40,first aid kit, tyre repair kit, ,a compact bicycle pump and a part roll of toilet paper. And heaps more that I should pull out and photograph so i don't have to try and remember what's in there.
Regards Martin.

mike d wrote:One of the things I would check is the radiator fan. They get infrequent use (well in the UK anyway) so can seize. Then when you do need it your up a creek without a paddle.

Mike

Oh my fan works Mike. I rode 350 miles in 90 degree  F heat this past August at high speed.I could here it when I would slow down going into a gas station . It usually comes on when I ride around town in traffic

Point-Seven-five wrote:Yeah, just get your maintenance baseline established and keep up with the proper intervals.  These bikes are truly reliable as bricks.  I think nothing of 40-50 mile blasts at 100mph a couple thousand miles from home. 

Right now,  I'm in Colorado getting some new rubber at the tail end of a 2 1/2 week, 8000 mile run through Canada, the west coast and southwest with Ilsa.  Don't obsess with prep, just take good care of the bike and ride.

Sounds like a nice ride .Gettin cold and wet back here in the east . Once I get everything up to snuff I will just keep up with it by doing the routine maintenance .See,I'm still replacing the 30 year old stuff that sat for 12 or 13 years like hoses and stuff. I didn't want to spend any more than I had to just to make it run until I could test it and see if it is the bike for me. I had that chance and it turns out to be the right bike for me so now I'll finish what needed to be done to really bring this thing back from the dead .You know,it only had 12000 miles on it this time last year now it has close to 19000 so I have really put it to the test.

MartinW wrote:YG I wouldn't  bother changing your injectors over if they are running OK. There has been no posted dyno results showing any boost or benefit from the use of the 4 hole injectors. I experienced a boost in performance by cleaning my OEM original 170,000 K injectors and getting the correct spray pattern. The reported seat of pants benefit reported by riders switching to the 4 hole injectors is because they are now running with clean injectors. If they had cleaned their OEM ones the same seat of pants benefit would have been felt. You need to get hold of a dial gauge indicator. Remove your calipers and cobble up a mount so you can run the gauge on a smooth track on the outer edge of the discs. The runout needs to be less than .200 mm or .008 ". Minor excess of this figure can be corrected. If the bike has been left sitting for long periods the discs will also benefit from a good cleaning. While cleaning check the surface of the discs for and abnormalities. Also check your pads and give them a scuff up. I carry a spare clutch cable and lever, throttle cable, my old OEM fuel pump with a foot of line and clips, self sealing silicone tape, insulation tape, front brake lever, 3 spark plugs, tools, small can of WD40,first aid kit, tyre repair kit, ,a compact bicycle pump and a part roll of toilet paper. And heaps more that I should pull out and photograph so i don't have to try and remember what's in there.



Regards Martin.

A photo of the spares and tools,now that's a good idea ! I like that Martin. I always carry all that basic stuff and some JB Weld too .When I travel on my 43 year old Moto Guzzi I have all sorts of crap and like others say,if you have it you won't need it. I'm hoping that I can carry less with this bike.So far in my 4000 miles of travel with it I only needed a fuse. This is a good sign !

Are you sure you need to replace your cooling hoses?  On my three bricks the cooling hoses show the least amount of wear.  So far I have had to replace only one in an accumulated 65,000 miles, and that one was torn when I dropped the bike on a patch of ice last winter. 

Do a good flush of the system including the bugs and dirt that is probably clogging up the radiator fins.

Knock on wood, but the only things I had to replace in all my travels has been a set of tires that I wore out halfway through a trip.

YG Gryph posted a problem with the 4 hole injectors is that with 4 smaller holes the chances of blockages increase proportionally with the decrease in hole size. My brick is now 26 years old with 170,000 K's I'm still running on all the original cables and original coolant hoses bar the overflow return which was replaced 3 weeks ago. I've had to adjust 2 exhaust valves once at 140,000 K's, and I'm on my original drive shaft. I'm on my second RAD rebuilt rear shock. I replaced the rear main seal at 140,000 K's and replaced the clutch plate only because I had a new one that I couldn't return as it was a special order. I am on my second headlight globe only because I uprated it and I've only ever replaced one blown globe which was the taillight. I am running a Chinese fuel pump but I still have my original fuel pump as a spare along with the pump damper which is still fine. I am running a Chinese rear master cylinder but still have the OEM one which is still good. And still have my original A/C element as a backup. I love my Brick it is the most bullet proof bike I have ever owned.

Regards Martin.

I have a wheel truing stand and a dial indicator with a magnetic base that will hook to the stand so I'm going to pull the front wheel off and see if the rotors are warped Martin. I'm tired of fooling with this one problem. It's probably the rotors .

Point-Seven-five wrote:Are you sure you need to replace your cooling hoses?  On my three bricks the cooling hoses show the least amount of wear.  So far I have had to replace only one in an accumulated 65,000 miles, and that one was torn when I dropped the bike on a patch of ice last winter. 

Do a good flush of the system including the bugs and dirt that is probably clogging up the radiator fins.

Knock on wood, but the only things I had to replace in all my travels has been a set of tires that I wore out halfway through a trip.

My feeling is that all the rubber is 30 years old and no matter how good it looks it's old and will let me down when I really don't have the means to fix it out on the road.I'd rather spend some money now and upgrade all this rubber stuff to new in my own garage over the winter so that's what I'm gonna do. The rest of the bike is real good so this is money well spent and spent at a time when I can easily go out and make more. Money on the road is way more valuable to me especially on a 3 month road trip.