The old beauty didn't miss a beat during our two week tour across Italy and into Austria, the roads and scenery are spectacular, the high point literally was the Grossglockner pass, on the way down from which the temperature dropped to freezing point and we were in a white out from blown snow. Jacquie spent a couple of days in the saddle with me, otherwise she rode shotgun with Lynne and the two dogs in Lynne's convertible. On the way back along an Italian autostrada the old girl got up to 115 mph, but Jacquie was not on the back then.
Since arriving back at our friends home in the mountains north of Nice, the oil and filter have been changed, not as simple as it might sound as the sump has to be dropped to get to the oil filter. I remembered that after removing the 14 socket headed screws around the sump there is still 4 bolts at either end to be removed. The first time I did this job I ended clouting the sump with a rubber mallet with not a sign of movement until I discovered these tucked away bolts.
The rocker covers were also removed and the tappets adjusted, it was sounding a bit clattery. The Guzzi is a really easy bike to work on and is pretty much bomb proof, on one trip back from Italy I had to crash change the gears as the clutch cable was steadily pulling out from the nipple at the handle bar end. I only used the clutch when I actually had to stop for tolls and traffic lights and by the time I got back home there was only three strands of wire still soldered into the nipple, but the gearbox didn't complain. I now have a spare cable taped alongside, just in case.
I will soon be looking for a donor Moto Guzzi for the Morgan project, it will probably be a California, but a much later model. My fingers are getting itchy waiting to get back to work and make the best of the warm weather.
