Italian Motorcycles.

I have decided that I quite like Italian Motorcycles.To digressI spent some of the summer of 2013 clearing out my old Mums house 250 miles from where I live. When I returned home I looked at my motorcycle restoration project and thought ' Steve if you actually want to ride a bike , perhaps you should buy one as at current progress rates this one will be ready about the same time as your licence expires'.

To cut a long story short I went out and bought an Ex French army Cagiva 350 on a whim. It has some aspects of the ownership of a British bike in that it breaks down enough to keep me interested and on my toes. There are no spares available, except service items and second hand parts.

On the other hand, it doesn't actually break down when you are out on it, or shake itself to pieces, so it has some more pleasant aspects of modern bike ownership thrown in. The latest job is to rectify some stripped threads in the cam/ rocker cover and sort out the tappet screws , the ends of which were like threepenny bits.

Edited By stevetee on 03/12/2015 01:08:48

Edited By Wolfie on 20/12/2015 10:43:43

Please don't ask about how the text wrap has come about , I thought the pictures would be at the end.

It is pre war Brit stuff for me and a Yamaha Diversion owned for 20 years. I also make/modify/repair lots of stuff for other peoples bikes. A very enjoyable way to spend my twilight years,

Sorted the wrap

One thing you are likely to find with Italian 'bikes, and that is that they are very good (usually) at the mechanicals, but the electrics can be hopeless. Low grade fuse-boxes, for example, that heat up because of their own resistance and melt, releasing the fuses - yes indeed.

I think it is a symptom of a general problem, as electrical products such as vacuum cleaners, kettles, etc, let you down because of mechanical failure.

Enjoy your Cagiva and try not to get too much swarf in the engine ...

Regards, Tim

I do enjoy the old Cagiva, I've been entering a couple of orienteering events, one in Wales and one in Eire, for a year or two, trying to perfect my getting lost skills I picked up orienteering on school camp many years ago.

There is no doubt that the Italians have fully taken over from ' The prince of Darkness' in producing electrical equipment with the reputation of a high failure rate, mind you it works in conditions of extreme changes in temperature and humidity so a difficult environment. So far, it's hasn't broken down in service , you just find faults, that need fixing , like the oil pressure switch wire burnt nearly through on the exhaust pipe because all the wires, ignition, charging, warning lights etc all run between the 2 exhaust ports at the front of the engine, an inspired layout I have to say.

There is a lot more blue paper and grease carefully positioned than can be seen , but hopefully any bits of swarf that find their way into the oil should be caught by the paper element filter, a huge improvement on the coarse gauze filter on my old brit iron that would just about stop a dead bird or badger that got into the oil tank.

Thanks Wolfie,

Happy Christmas everyone.

You can do motorbike orienteering???

Oh Yes. I get more enjoyment out of this than, well a lot of things really. It's a combination of green laning, map reading and navigation,and at the events I've attended the emphasis is on having fun rather than winning. The first event I attended was the Taffy Dakar event in Wales ( would you believe) based around the south of the Brecon Beacons national park. I became aware of a ' similar' event in Ireland, would you believe the Paddy Dakar event, which I believe was the original event of it's kind. The regs have just gone up for the 2016 Taffy Dakar, which surprisingly sold out in less than 24 hours in 2015, a bit like Glastonbury. The TD website is here**LINK** and you will find links through to the Irish event there. There are loads of videos of both events on Youtube. I enjoy the night stages in Ireland and the Green lanes of South Wales. It's not me in the pictures.

It looks a bit like this.

Edited By stevetee on 30/12/2015 00:05:52

Edited By stevetee on 30/12/2015 00:06:44

Edited By stevetee on 30/12/2015 00:07:14

Edited By stevetee on 30/12/2015 00:09:30

**LINK**