A big Hello

My name is Feroz and I am a proud owner of a 2009 GRiSO SE. I had had my bike for 2 years now and it's been an eventful two years, there have been moments when the bike had driven me nuts and then on those perfect occasions on open roads a big grin is born. I love the torque, the locomotive pull, the grunt, the growl and the handling. The amount of times I had to explain about the handling characteristics to my contemporaries! There have been times when for a few long moments after arriving home from my commute, I would think about how glorious the bike sounded in that tunnel or how well it turned on that corner or how well the engine behaved. And needless to say the attention the bike invokes; the admiring glances, the random thumps up and short conversations at traffic lights, one taxi driver said 'They don't make 'em like that anymore', a mother pointing out the bike to her child at the zebra crossing, the white van men tilting their heads to get a better look, the look of the startled motorists on their side mirrors when filtering through traffic with the Termi doing its deed.  

I first saw a GRiSO in Tenby, Wales in mid 2011. It was black and parked at the mouth of a small alley. It stopped me and my wife from continuing our stroll and bewildered asked each other 'What is that ?' followed by 'I have never seen anything like this before'. We saw the logo and asked ourself with perplexed look and tone 'Moto Guzzi ? GRiSO ?' . Having never heard the manufacturer before I made a mental note to do some research once back home in London. But things took over and slowly forgot all about the bike and the name and then a few months or so later saw it yet again, parked outside Greenwich park entrance near a pub, my wife was first to notice and burst out 'Look Feroz! It's the same bike!'. This time around I made a note on my phone and the first thing I did on reaching home was to read up on GRiSO. A few months later I got my full motorcycle license ( I used to ride in India as a kid, bikes such as Rajdoot 175, Yamaha RX100, Yamaha RD 350 and Suzuki Shogun) and the hunt for GRiSO SE began. On a raining Saturday morning we went down to a Triumph dealer in Taunton; I hugged and caressed the GRiSO much to the amusement of Ula (wife), test drove it for 5 mins in the parking lot and bought it. The bike arrived on a weekday late afternoon and Ula excitedly called me at work when she had taken delivery of the bike and I was restless for the rest of the day.

Half year later the engine started rattling like a box of loose coins and required the cam shaft recall to be done, the bike was in the garage for almost 8 weeks for the recall to be completed, due to unavailability of parts. The bike has never been the same since then. It has now done 11200miles (4000miles when bought) and is due for it's service.

Welcome my friend, your true love affair has begun but don't tell the wife.
Actually, I think she might be in love also.

Once the Mandello marrow gets into your bones, you will be hooked for life.

Hello Feroz, and welcome to the ghetto!

Indeed.
HELLO.
(is that a big enough "hello"??)

DM

Salute! I hope to see some pictures of you touring the high country on your new beast. Welcome!

When you say the bike has never been the same since the roller cam mod, what do you mean? What's wrong with it?

Yes, this.

The engineering of the roller conversion seems good as both roller and flat bikes seem to respond essentially the same to both factory and ft earmarked maps.

If your bike is behaving differently, at least significantly differently, something hasn't been done right. Either cam timing isn't t right or the bike hasn't been re-tuned properly after the work.

I have to say that I really worry about 'Service' in the UK.....

Pete

Thanks, everyone for the welcome.

I got the 68 map installed as soon as I got the bike. After the recall was done, the bike revs fine until 5000rpm and then struggles to reach 6000rpm. Once at 6000rpm the bike refuses to rev anymore. When I kill the throttle momentarily and the revs fall to say 5500 rpm and then gently reapply the throttle the bike snaps with tremendous power as if everything is unleashed in that instant, in a jerk, enough to snap your neck and not pleasant. As a result I have not been able to ride it hard like it deserves to be.

Every so often, when the throttle is killed the engine sounds as if there are a bunch of coins in there. This did not happen pre recall.  

Now, for the past 6K miles since recall, I have been going on about this to the dealer (Guzzi authorised who performed the recall work) and I get told every time that that's what Grisos do. I don't believe it one bit because between 4K(when bought) to 6K (When recall work done) miles the bike rev-ed smoothly all the way to 8000rpm and power delivery was sublime.

The difference in the engine sound pre and post recall is remarkable, the rattle noise is much more pronounced now and I get some vibrations as well. The wonderful smoothness of pre-recall is all but gone.

I have the bike scheduled for service at a different dealer now, I am told they are ace in this part of the country. Too bad I have a three week wait for my appointment.

Sometime ago I took it to a Guzzi enthusiast, who also reckoned that it had something to do with the cam timing. I wonder what's it store next for me.

Did you actually receive the roller tappet kit, or was this simply a tappet replacement? If the work was done more than a year ago, you've probably not gotten the conversion yet. It's also likely that whatever the work, they also updated your map to the 03 version as I believe the 68 was kind of a stop gap map that was pretty short lived. The 03 map isn't bad, but most think the 68 fueled better. At any rate, there are much better maps available now. All you need is the GuzziDiag kit and a few kind words for the Beetle...

Hopefully, dealer #2 can help get you all sorted. You're missing out on too much fun riding an unsorted GRiSO!

As per part numbers in the job :

Head covers
Cylinder Head cover
Damper drift
Rocker arm rod
Gaskets
Spacer calibration.
Camshaft
Tappet
Right hand rocker arm support
Left hand rocker arm support
RH cylinder timing system
LH cylinder timing system
Complete oil pump

Now, what is a conversion kit ?
I have downloaded GuzziDiag kit now, I need to figure out how to update the map. I guess, I will request Beetle for the latest and greatest map then.

Indeed, I am missing out. I haven't had a chance to fully enjoy what this bike has to offer.
I spend so much time thinking about the bike that my wife thinks this bike has possessed me   !

Amazing story and welcome to this forum! Can't wait to read the happy ending to this!