What did you do with your GRiSO today?

I could not imagine how my map could be made any better than it is - thanks Mark.

Your bike idles very nicely Gregg.

Finally tackled the swingarm, CARC service today. After long putting it off due to equal parts procrastination and trepidation, Dick Guthrie and I decided if we worked together we could do my GRiSO and his Stelvio more efficiently than either of us could working alone. I invited Jin (Fresh Egg on the Ghetto) to join us and it ended up being a very enjoyable day that even included a very civilized lunch break half way through featuring Smarty Pants sandwiches and cold beer.

I know most of you have already undertaken this task and are far more competent wrenches than I, but here are a few pictures anyway.

First order of business, fly the GRiSO...

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

...up onto the bench,

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

secure the front wheel,

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

and place a jack under the sump, a block thrown in for insurance against the possibility of a creeping jack.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

A couple of tie-downs from the frame to the workbench will keep everything in place.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

All rigged up and we're ready to start dismantling.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Rear wheel, pork-chops, exhaust and dog-bone all disconnected,

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

and CARC removed.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Swingarm bearings well greased and shock sock checked.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

While I've got it off, a liberal application of silicone to seal the speedo sensor,

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

and drill the wheel bolt heads for safety wire.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Better safe than sorry. (See follow-up in conversation below)

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Once everything is reassembled, it's time to repeat the job on Dick's Fat GRiSO.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

It's much easier the second time around, especially since the Stelvio has a center stand, doesn't have pork-chops
and we didn't have to completely remove the exhaust.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Jin was a big help and soon we'll fly his GRiSO onto the bench for its operation too.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

All-in-all, we are pretty proud of ourselves, we had a fun day and we did some good work.
And we didn't break anything so in my book, that's a BIG WIN!

Good job!

Got the same lift - had to rebuild it so it worked properly. The braces needed a bit of work to work, too.

Street wrote:

Better safe than sorry.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I don't think your lockwire will do anything for you here.  check this video below, start at around 6min.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Great video, DeepSpace. Thanks for posting!


Pete, I think you should watch it too.

AHA! Brilliant! Thanks for that, Deep Space, I will redo them ASAP and pass this on to Dick too as we did his Stelvio the same way. Obviously, I should have done some research first, but here's more proof that the Ghetto is a great place to learn. Time to change the name of the forum to GRiSO University!

Boy, just watched this vid ......your never too old to learn !!!
I drilled my bolts and wired them up when I did the grease thing last year ...
BUT, my wiring also, now after watching this does not stack up ....
Next time I'm at 30,000 feet I will think about this vid.
Lesson learned, thanks for posting

You have a brilliant workshop. I would sleep in it amongst my loved ones.

No worries i'm a software guy in the oil and gas industry (building drilling rigs) but love to help out on the mechanical/hydraulic items too when in the field. I, too, was doing it wrong hehe

Street wrote:

AHA! Brilliant! Thanks for that, Deep Space, I will redo them ASAP and pass this on to Dick too as we did his Stelvio the same way. Obviously, I should have done some research first, but here's more proof that the Ghetto is a great place to learn. Time to change the name of the forum to GRiSO University!

Well, that was considerably more difficult than it looked in the video. I even happen to own a pair of lockwire twisters that I bought at Boeing Surplus many years ago, but I still ended up taking several tries at it before I got a semi-passable result, and I ended up using a few other implements too.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I had to put the bike back up on the bench, that was easy enough, but I could never have managed this lying on the floor and certainly not by the side of the road. Several factors made the job more challenging than it should have been. First of all, it's worth noting that the aircraft engine bolts have round heads which makes it easier to pull the wire loop tight. Secondly, the GRiSO wheel hub is sort of bowl shaped which limits one's working area and this is exacerbated by the fact that the bolt heads sit in recessed pockets so it's tough to pull tension on the wire without pulling the loop off of the head. And, I've only drilled two holes in each bolt head as opposed to four which would have given me better alignment options and a neater result. Anyway, not as nice as the samples shown in the video (done by a pro), but good enough for me. I can pretty much guaran-goddamn-tee-ya this wheel ain't gonna fall off!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Ooh! That's nice.

Time to go flying!

clap, clap, clap
Will have to now revisit mine ....
keep smilin

Good job Street.

...or for us lazy arses...

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

… not today, but 2 weeks ago before a 1300 Km trip in French Maritime Alps i've swapped oem Sachs shock with a Wilbers QS 643 …
Boy, i've been such an idiot didn't doin this earlier!

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

diedel wrote:

… not today, but 2 weeks ago before a 1300 Km trip in French Maritime Alps i've swapped oem Sachs shock with a Wilbers QS 643 …
Boy, i've been such an idiot didn't doin this earlier!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I wish I hadn’t read that - :-( expense ahoy

Robinson_Spike wrote:

diedel wrote:

… not today, but 2 weeks ago before a 1300 Km trip in French Maritime Alps i've swapped oem Sachs shock with a Wilbers QS 643 …
Boy, i've been such an idiot didn't doin this earlier!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I wish I hadn’t read that - :-( expense ahoy

Yupp, but it's every penny worth… 1100,- EUR incl. hydraulic spring preload adjuster (in my case: 110 Kg drivers weight all incl.)

Got a new set of Michelin PR 4:s and found out my rear brake pads were completely worn out. As I hardly ever use the rear brake (only when riding two up+luggage and that is seldom), I can only suspect the former owner was a footbrake man.

Bet your previous owner was a dirt bike rider Lemparri.

Rode to work - hit 2 degrees on several occasions (probably to celebrate the winter solstice - which means summer is coming, and for you folk in the northern hemisphere, "Winter is Coming"). I now sit here with a double shot espresso and look through this forum (taxpayer dollars hard at work). Morning all!

Oz1200Guzzi wrote:

Rode to work - hit 2 degrees on several occasions

Not trying to one up but........
Rode to work. Checked the weather app before leaving.
Temperature was -4C at home and had risen to a balmy -3C by the time I got to work.
Even with heated gloves I arrived with frozen fingertips

Craig, special allowances need to be made for those living in "Cantberra" - you win! Snot a pissing contest, just saying... Appreciate how cold it gets where you are. At least we are not "fair weather fairies"...

I have heated grips and hand-guards - cool but not frozen. If I had further to ride, these numbers would not allow my hands/fingers to function for several hours afterwards. Maybe I need heated gloves too?

Coming to the ragged fringe this year?