I awoke, not refreshed, for the reasons cited previously, and packed like I meant it, whatever happened I had to move on. Skipping a shower and shave through sleeploss I left my stuff in the room and headed down to Paparo Cycles for 8:15 because a picture on the internet had implied that he might open at 8, the door said 9 and it wasn’t wrong. Jo drove up from the diner next door and I liked him already, 66 years old and independent, the last of the few, and he liked my bike, accent and manners.
He admitted up front that he had no recent experience with Moto Guzzi but offered to make space for me to work on the bike perhaps with their help on Wednesday when they were less busy. He sent me over to the diner to get breakfast while he worked things out and even called his friend Ben in the diner to make me welcome, and introduce me to Dan and Priscilla, lovely people.
I returned to find him working with his son Patrick having made a motorcycle lift, not unlike my ‘altar’ at home, available to me. Keen not to enjoy the H&B sideshow at the Travelodge I took my temporary leave to go check out and check in to a sister, younger and in better shape, hotel namely the Day’s Inn, further out of town but near to the road leading to Joe.
Keen to get to the root of things I headed back in on the bike and stripped a load of ancillaries (the bits around the edges) to get to the root of the problem.
An email exchange with Peter Boggia confirmed that I was not just going to get away with pulling the back off the gearbox in situ, but that it needed to be removed first, I respect his wisdom so the frame had to come off the engine.
Then the gearbox had to be persuaded off the back of the bell housing and split apart to review the extent of the damage.
Here is the culprit and the damage done, spot the missing tooth on what I now believe to be 5th gear and the guilty party sitting jauntily on the final drive shaft.
A long day with good company, Joe even gave me a lift back to my hotel after work. What a nice man, they call him “Mayor Joe” and it fits. I fell into a bath with a beer to wash the grime off and lubricate the synapses. Trawling the internet for a new 5th gear only came up with a second hand one in the Netherlands which I ordered for delivery to Joe’s {goodness knows when) and a German site that promised a new one but could not understand my UK billing address and US delivery address, and some references to a sub-standard UK car show.
Decisions to be made, here are some points:
- A new spring and gasket set should show up tomorrow or the day after at Joe’s.
- The gear from the Netherlands could be more than a week away.
- The Guzzi specialists in Philadelphia open again tomorrow and will have experience far beyond mine, and perhaps some resources.
- Joe is a very kind man and I don’t want to impose for too long.
- Fifth gear has a ratio of 1:0.750 and forth is 1:0.869 third 1:1.047 I don’t need to go fast.
Search me, answers on a Post Card or in the comments, tired now š
Le Mans man 