Just joined grisoghetto/wannabe GRiSO owner

GuzziSteve wrote:

Hey, Now that Tenni came down $2000 to 5995, weird guy for sure.

Yeah saw that. I had similar thoughts/got confused a bit.

I was like "did I read the asking price correctly or I am forgetting something?"
I don't understand all this.

BTW, I also now see ad posted for the same GRiSO on local Craigslist since yesterday.

The bearings are not expensive, from memory they retail at about $68AU. Removing the inner races from the frame can be a real bastard of a job, it really depends on how badly rusted in they are.

As for urgency? Well we had a Stelvio in the week before last and the guy had been riding it around but would you want to trust your life to bearings that look like this?

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The problem is they are rarely assembled with any grease at the factory. Water gets in. The bearings are destroyed. If assembled packed full of decent marine grease and they are serviced every few years they'll last well. Incidentally getting those races out of the frame was a proper frontbottom of a job. It took Michael about two hours. They can be a bastard.

Can you inspect them? Yes, by doing what is done in the photo above. Chances are very high, as in almost a certainty, that they will be rooted.

Motoguzzi750 wrote:

GuzziSteve wrote:

Hey, Now that Tenni came down $2000 to 5995, weird guy for sure.

Yeah saw that. I had similar thoughts/got confused a bit.

I was like "did I read the asking price correctly or I am forgetting something?"
I don't understand all this.

BTW, I also now see ad posted for the same GRiSO on local Craigslist since yesterday.

Is it a scam?

Pete Roper wrote:

The bearings are not expensive, from memory they retail at about $68AU. Removing the inner races from the frame can be a real bastard of a job, it really depends on how badly rusted in they are.

As for urgency? Well we had a Stelvio in the week before last and the guy had been riding it around but would you want to trust your life to bearings that look like this?

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

The problem is they are rarely assembled with any grease at the factory. Water gets in. The bearings are destroyed. If assembled packed full of decent marine grease and they are serviced every few years they'll last well. Incidentally getting those races out of the frame was a proper frontbottom of a job. It took Michael about two hours. They can be a bastard.

Can you inspect them? Yes, by doing what is done in the photo above. Chances are very high, as in almost a certainty, that they will be rooted.

I am not following this conversation. Did you mean to send bearing info to someone else? because my understanding is the concern was
rollarisation of 8V GRiSO. Unless bearing issue you speak of is part of the same model year.

Thanks.

beetle wrote:

Motoguzzi750 wrote:

GuzziSteve wrote:

Hey, Now that Tenni came down $2000 to 5995, weird guy for sure.

Yeah saw that. I had similar thoughts/got confused a bit.

I was like "did I read the asking price correctly or I am forgetting something?"
I don't understand all this.

BTW, I also now see ad posted for the same GRiSO on local Craigslist since yesterday.

Is it a scam?

I won't be surprised if it was a scam. Something does not feel right about this whole thing.
But I could be wrong. who knows. But I would be very careful with such a listing if at all.

He must be out of time selling it to move .

Motoguzzi750 wrote:

I am not following this conversation. Did you mean to send bearing info to someone else? because my understanding is the concern was
rollarisation of 8V GRiSO. Unless bearing issue you speak of is part of the same model year.

Thanks.

Swingarm bearings rusting and failure due to lack of grease is something that affects all 8V and CARC variants. Regardless of whether you get an 8V or 2V GRiSO, you should check the swingarm bearings and shock absorber linkages. The Guzzi factory had grease phobia.

GuzziSteve wrote:

He must be out of time selling it to move .

Makes sense.

As Beetle says, it's a problem with all the CARC bikes but is not limited to Moto Guzzis. Many machines from many manufacturers from many countries that use similar swingarm bearing set ups have similar problems. I was told a few years ago that a probable reason is that potential purchasers don't like to see grease on a 'New' vehicle so factories skimp on it! Whether that's true or it's simply laziness on the production line I have no idea.

Oh, and if you are wondering what CARC means it is the 'Cardano reactivo' final drive system used on the Breva, Sport, Norge, Stelvio, Bellagio and GRiSO models of this manufacturing period. The crownwheel and pinion of the final drive are contained within a floating bridge within the bevelbox cases and the torsional forces of both acceleration and deceleration are transmitted to the frame via a torque arm above the swingarm. This means those forces have a lot less effect on both the stability of the machine and reduce the interference of the operation of the suspension.

The issue of rollerisation of the 8V is entirely separate to the discussion of swingarm bearings and shock linkages.

How do you check the swingarm bearings and shock linkage bearings? By disassembling the rear end of the bike as shown above in the picture of the Bellagio Michael is working on. On the GRiSO you also need to remove the footrest hanger plates to get to the swingarm spindle.

If you haven't done much work with tools before it would probably be best to take it to a reputable mechanic.

Pete Roper wrote:

How do you check the swingarm bearings and shock linkage bearings? By disassembling the rear end of the bike as shown above in the picture of the Bellagio Michael is working on. On the GRiSO you also need to remove the footrest hanger plates to get to the swingarm spindle.

If you haven't done much work with tools before it would probably be best to take it to a reputable mechanic.

Oh wow.
Thanks for making me aware of this. I didn't know until now.

Pete Roper wrote:

How do you check the swingarm bearings and shock linkage bearings? By disassembling the rear end of the bike as shown above in the picture of the Bellagio Michael is working on. On the GRiSO you also need to remove the footrest hanger plates to get to the swingarm spindle.

If you haven't done much work with tools before it would probably be best to take it to a reputable mechanic.

Currently I do not know of such a mechanic. I was not expecting/didn't know of these repairs before I started to look for GRiSO.
Hmm..

There are several posts on here about it, including pictures of the process. It's not terribly difficult if you pay attention and are patient and methodical. It will have to be done sooner than later and doing it yourself will give you a sense of accomplishment and peace of mind.

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[quote="Motoguzzi750"]

Pete Roper wrote:

Currently I do not know of such a mechanic. I was not expecting/didn't know of these repairs before I started to look for GRiSO.
Hmm..

Where you have the advantage over many is that you are, very wisely, doing your research before just leaping in and buying the bike. This is surprisingly rare, especially with bikes like a GRiSO which tend to attract the easily star-struck because they are so stylish and unique in appearance.

All too often I hear of, or see here or on other boards, stories of people who have bought their bike and are full of the joy and pride of new ownership who are horrified that their machine has problems they weren't told about or only found out about after the fact.

It is often said by non-Guzzi owners that Guzzis are 'Quirky' at best or 'Unreliable' at worst. I'm sorry, this is utter frogshit. They are a machine, and not an overly complicated one. Most of the 'Issues' they suffer from are either owner induced and/or the product of neglect. Sure the swingarm bearings and shock linkage bearings should be greased properly but once the problem became known and publicised there is no reason not to deal with it. The flat tappet fiasco was due to poor design, no doubt about that, and it was also handled very shabbily by Piaggio. But as others have pointed out even if you can't get the replacement honoured by Piaggio the cost of doing it yourself is not outrageous. Probably the most difficult thing will be finding someone to do it who won't screw it up if you don't feel confident of doing it yourself.

Just as a point of reference I've been riding And working on Guzzis for forty years. I've never had one fail to get me home. It's been a close run thing a couple of times but they've always delivered the goods when the chips were down.