The Orphanage - A Year On

'The Orphan' has been with me for a year now.
It's been fun. Unless it's driving rain or blistering hot - and we get both extremes and everything in between here in Adelaide, South Australia - most days the Orphan has been given an outing.

Whether it's commuting the arterial roads into the city from my home 13 kms north-east of the city, or going for a quick Sunday afternoon blat to Lobethal in the Adelaide Hills, the Orphan has been a good friend.

Along the way she has needed a bit of TLC, in the form of the following:

1. A new Dunlop 120ZR17 SportMax front tyre (Oct 2009) and a carby tune,
2. Fix differential (final drive) pinion bearing and front alternator seal (Dec 2009),
3. Metal polishing of exhaust headers - they looked more like mild steel than stainless, so bad was the tarnishing (Feb 2010) and another carby tune by Eurocycle,
4. Bitubo steering damper rebuild by Hoey Racing. Thanks, Pete, about 20% of the cost of a new one (Apr 2010),
5. Wave rotors to replace the Brembo rotors, which were undersize at 3.7mm and 3.8mm thickness. Purchased via eBay from S3 Performance Racing, and they have improved the front end bite and feel considerably. See them here, and less than half the cost of the Brembo gear, too. (June 2010),
6. Repair to leaking diff seal, overhaul of both Dell'Orto PHM40 carburettors and a proper tune-up (re-jet) of the carbys. Also involved removal of the airbox and the fitment of pod filters. Now everyone can see the beautiful White Power shock. Italian Motorcycles did the tune, and have transformed the bike. Suddenly there is no bogging down at 2500rpm, and the Orphan runs hard to 8000rpm, where before it was dropping off noticeably at 5000rpm. I reckon there's an extra 10 seat of the pants horsepower now, and a crack open of the throttle at 3000rpm in third gear leaves me glad the seat has a ducktail to stop me sliding off under power. (Oct 2010). They also fitted a new rear Dunlop,
7. A Mistral Crossover the replace the 'colostomy bag' junction box, and a sump adapter with external oil filter adapter. The 1996 carby sport model is the last of the Guzzis with the oil filter inside the sump. This adapter will be fitted by Italian Motorcycles shortly, and should make oil changes a breeze. The Mistral Crossover has been fitted this weekend and adds some low frequency note to the free flow mufflers. Both items were sourced from Stein-Dinse in Germany, and their service has been excellent. (Oct 2010),
8. Today I had to replace the gear linkage which broke yesterday (Sunday). The ball jointed linkage had snapped at the mounting. Italian Motorcycles didn't have any, but kindly pointed me in the direction of SKF Bearings about 100 metres away. Excellent service there from 'Chubby' (Robert Heaysman), who said they had none in stock and rang Phil at BSC (another 100 metres away) had them in stock so I bought and fitted them today ($30 for 2) and she's back on the road and the gearshift is a little bit cleaner as a result. (Nov 2010).

Did I mention that the crew at Italian Motorcycles have been excellent ever since I commenced my relationship with them earlier this year? They do great work - the way the Orphan (l'Orfano) is going now is testament to that, and if they can't get stuff for you, they will point you in the direction of those that can help. No wonder Moto Guzzi, Aprilia and Ducati sales are going gangbusters in Adelaide right now. These guys really know how to keep their customers happy.
I'll keep you posted on how the Stein-Dinse sump adapter fitment has gone.

New Wave Rotors - Excellent Bite and Feel



With airbox removed you can see the WP Shock.  And note the new Mistral exhaust crossover.