750S - Before You Can Stop, You Have to Start

April 2009
Well, plans to start the 750S hit an unexpected hurdle.
Marty gave me a number of keys for the 850 Le Mans and the 750S.
The Le Mans started fine, but the key for the 750 won't unlock the ignition.
Have I failed to attain a certain level of Zen? Is the locked stuffed? Is it the correct key? Am I asking the correct questions?
All of these permutations have been explored, yet the end result is the same - one very quiet, non-compliant Moto Guzzi 750S.

Now anyone who knows Italian motorcycles of any time prior to the nineties knows that they have electrical systems designed by the Borgias, installed by kinsmen of Macchiavelli, and requiring the same level of maintenance as the average Alfa Romeo. One can only suspect that the designer of the lock came from the same bloodline.

They key inserts easily into the lock about 75% of its' length, and then requires some jiggling to plunge it's full depth into the bowels (barrels?) of the lock. It feels like it wants to turn at the 75% depth, and also at the 100% depth, but I have only 1 key, and a nagging suspicion that the ghosts of Borgia, Macchiavelli et al will come back to haunt me and snap the key off in the lock if I try to force the issue. So what to do?

I refer myself to the Moto Guzzi manual, of course, for here all will be revealed, for as we know, the manual is the source of all truths........
Yeah, right!
The Haynes manual is informatively descriptive on the matter: "if the lock malfunctions the lock securing dowel must be drilled out and a new lock fitted"
That's it. No pictures, no schematics, nothing more. Zip. Nada. Niente. Rien.
Rien. And frankly, right now a detailed manual in French would be of more use than the commentary provided by the Haynes manual.

WD40 has been applied. So much, in fact, that there was a small discoloured pool of WD40 overflow under the bike. Votive candles were lit, and hasty orisions muttered to the God-of-motorcycle-repair, all to no avail. Even a locksmith was engaged. The technical description was that the lock is fu?ked - apparently it has wafers rather than tumblers, and it would appear that one of the wafers has broken. Now we have to drill out the locating dowel, which appears to be hardened steel, in order to remove the lock from the barrel. That should be fun.

Keep the faith. When all else fails, try brute force and ignorance.

The Guzzi 750S project must roll on. Time to regroup and do other stuff while a solution for the lock is explored.

As the Tao says, "A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step." If we can't get it to start, at least we can work on the stoppers! :-)

I removed the front brake lines and took them to Power Brakes (PBR) at Holden Hill to get the lines replaced. They were cracked and perished, and the banjo connectors were rusted, and I wasn't about to place my life on the line, so it's time to start afresh with new lines. So PBR get the gig to create the replacements, and supply a new brake sensor switch as well. Should come in at about $180.
I also removed the calipers and inspected them - the rubbers were perished and the pistons seized, so they are going to PBR as well for an overhaul. I did explore replacements via Stein-Dinse Australia, but the new calipers came in around the same cost as the overhaul, and weren't an exact replacement for the originals (1 bleed nipple per caliper on the new units cf 2 on the originals). So better to stay original. Expected cost is about $600 for the overhaul, which includes new pistons, rubbers, bleed nipples etc, as well as rust removal, buffing and repainting.

I fitted some in-line ceramic filters for the fuel lines and cleaned the in-tank filters and the fuel taps. Marty bought the filters a little while back from our local Guzzi dealer - Eurocycle. Once fitted I rinsed-out the tank with some fresh fuel, followed by a refill, and opened the taps to prime the carburettors. There was some leakage so I tightened all the connections and shut the taps off.

That's enough for the time being, I need a beer.