Cold Light of Day

.... it's not too bad. Still runs, albeit on one cylinder. Rearsets will
be expensive.

Before:
http://sweller.dynalias.org/images/guzzi_20070929_800.jpg

After:
http://sweller.dynalias.org/motosmackdown/img009.jpg

"You want to see the damage..."
http://sweller.dynalias.org/motosmackdown/

Well, what happened was...

I'd just left Cane's house and was about 5 or 10 minutes away when I came
across a long queue of traffic at a pretty serious accident.

After waiting at the front for twenty or so minutes as the fire brigade
cut open a car and the dibbles pushed a small lorry out of the way I
asked a plod how long they were going to be before anyone got moving.
"Quite some time" he said and suggested an alternative route.

So off I set sail up to about 50 or 60 mph on a 40 road see the back of a
speed camera and just touch the brake.

Next instance I was on the floor. So it's a bit slippery and my tyres
and brakes are cold. The fishtailing as I accelerated should have been a
clue...

Dibble turn up from original accident and is concerned I don't have any
road tax and it appears to have had one owner from new (not new but from
date of registration, duh). Ambulance lady tries to feel me up and
shines a light in my eye (it's so beautiful...)

Anyway while this is going on the plod have re-opened the road so if I'd
just waited another 5 minutes I would have probably had the opportunity
to fall off on the roundabout instead.

Cane and the lovely Heather come out to see if I'm ok. Which I am, just
a bit battered in the pride and bike department.

Hour and a half later, with a layer of ice on bike and gear, I'm in a
breakdown truck. Ho hum.

One problem is my winter gear has now been wrecked.

 

That it's a Moto Guzzi ;-)

It crashes well !

Even with the extra photos I had to get out the magnifying glass.

I shouldn't laugh, I've got to take the K75S on a 336 mile trip this
Wednesday and it's looking very frosty.

 

Ah, annoying, an unexpected expense but not so bad. Comiserations.
Happens to the best of us (I'm told).

This would piss me off. My winter jacket is a truly cool 'n' groovy
Spyke and I have a brand new pair of Wolf overtrousers. I'm currently
riding even more carefully than usual.

 

<snip sorry tale of woe>

....and it was only last week we were admiring those post-restoration pics.

This could have been the one occasion when the OEM cast wheels may have been
better then the spoked jobbies, as the extra weight would have increased
grip and the CoG would have been lower. Not that either would have made
that much of a real-world difference in the hands of such an "improved
idiot".

Are the janitors doing anything about the lack of tax disc or did he reckon
you had suffered enough?

So now you have some time over Xmas to recover but everywhere with the
replacement parts will be closed.

 

Is that all?

Those linked brakes are lethal. A guy I know has a fair bit of metal
holding him together because he didn't know about linked brakes on Guzzis,
and decided to trail the rear brake a bit whilst piling a borrowed Cali into
a bend.

Of course, if you'd been on an outfit, none of this sliding around would
have been a problem.

 

The cast wheels mean a higher unsprung weight, which has a more important
effect on a day to day basis than a notional increase in grip on a road
that, with my cold tyres, was essentially an ice rink.

When I showed him the valid tax disc on the bike he shut up.

No problem sourcing the parts but they won't be that cheap, even
secondhand - it's something I can do without.

 

It's the pain in the arse factor that's the pisser.

 

I don't agree. I'll happily use the linked brakes in a bend on a Tonti
framed Guzzi.

Anyway I used the front (hand) brake.

Harlow to Hove would still have been quicker to crash the Guzzi and go in
a breakdown truck than go on your outfit.

 

Yes "linked brakes" were the primary causal factor in the death of one of my
best friends back in '78 - according to the coroner, though this was
disputed by M-G UK.

He missed a gear while pulling back into a queue of stationary traffic has
was overtaking at slow speed. The loss of engine braking caused him to
stomp on the "rear" brake pedal, which promptly locked the front wheel and
caused it to tuck-under on the wet and greasy surface.
He went out the side door and the cement truck coming the other way went
right over him.

The truck driver stopped and everyone feared the worse. They were
initiallly relieved to see that the ground-clearance under the truck meant
it had missed him completely, but then discovered he was dead as his neck
had snapped in the initial fall.

I took his gf to identify the body but at the last minute she couldn't face
it, so I had to. There wasn't a mark on him.

His parents gave away the T3 he was riding and I still have the Alfa Romeo
1750 GTV that he used to drive and I spannered, but that's another story.

So maybe Sweller got off lightly...

 

They would say that, wouldn't they.

He danger on the road.

 

I would say that too - can't see the problem.

I would say that too - can't see the problem.

 

Well, sometimes shit just happens. I trust you made sure to mention to the
nice officer that the primary cause of the accident was the speed camera?

Mmm. According to google maps, it's about 85 miles, and mostly on motorways
or main A roads. You'd be averaging 60-ish, so say an hour and a half. The
Ural would do 40-ish, so about two hours. I can't see the breakdown truck
averaging faster than 50, plus the call-out and loading times which you
report as an hour and a half, and we're looking at a minimum of three and a
half hours. By which time, on the Ural, you'd have been home, had your
supper and settled down in front of a roaring fire with a nice mug of
Horlicks and a well-thumbed copy of O S Nock's Historic Railway Disasters.

 

I think I read that, or was it 'Great British Railway Disasters',
riveting stuff anyway.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

"A scone and tea at half past three
Makes the day a little brighter
Keep your cakes and fancy tarts
And stick them up your shiter."

 

I looked at the plug first and there's a definite lack of plug lead on the
2nd pic. Also missing it's brake reservoir, so it's definitely different.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

I'm stuck there too. Where are the other three things different?

 

Broken footpeg (hangs off the brake rod, it seems), and scratches on the
exhaust (lower bend and end). Brake reservoir is likely still here, but
less visible (picture taked from a POV more aft, wheel turning left),
would be the thing right above the headlight.

 

Doesn't look like much damage. It had been more than a little slippy
recently hasn't it? I almost binned it at about 40 on the A27 the other
day, dozy cow in a Jag pulled out on me. So when I'd recovered I did the
sensible thing and wheelied past her on the inside.

 

sweller says...

The rearset looks repairable, if you can find a friendly bearded man
with a machine shop in his back garden.

--
Lozzo
Triumph Daytona 955i SE
Suzuki SV650 K3
Honda CBR600 F-W
Yamaha SR250 SpazzTrakka
Suzuki GSX-R750L
Suzkui TS50X

 

My commiserations.
I have many spares , much cheapnesss , they are even in in bike shaped
form already....


Steve

 

I suppose. I've got linked brakes on the Wing, and I haven't crashed that
yet.

No problem, just an observation.