Cali2004 Never lets me down

[luthier]

It's a big problem. When is this damn bike going to finally break down? I had the same problem with the Cali111. In that case I just had to sell it cause it just wouldn't give me a break. It drove me insane. No matter how hard I thrashed it, at dreadful illegal speeds, no matter how much I abused that thing it just wouldn't let go. I even put it on a trailer and drove it halfway across Australia to get rid of the damn thing.
But then in a moment of madness I decided that I would be a recidivist and in a pique of impulsiveness I re-introduced myself to another Cali. Now this time I'm well and truly done because this one has everything. Well almost everything.
It's got the hydraulic tappets with the proper recall done, so it never needs tappets ****with. And consequently it doesn't rattle. It just sounds like a proper engine instead of a stupid rattly one. That's very nice and though it still has original pipes it sounds sweet, not too loud and not too soft. Kinda purrfect. Gearbox is pretty good too as it was tweaked by our Aussie Guzzi Guru Mister Roper who is a genius when it comes to gearboxes and no slouch when you are talking rollerising 8valves either.
But I digress. This damn Cali just has me by the balls but there are still a few complaints. Firstly a few more virtues. The brakes!!! They are superb!!!. Now here I need to make myself absolutely clear. I was once a big fan of delinking. I did that on the first one and not even two weeks later I found myself with wife on the back , making our way down a precipitous road in the wet, with slimy clay sections, absolutely treacherous , pissing with rain, and I idled down there with the foot on the back brake all the way, in fear and trepidation that I could slide off the edge at any time, with a thousand foot drop, and I always put the success of that trip down to delinking those bloody Guzzi brakes.
BUT,
Now with this new one, I have left the brakes standard and I have found them to be excellent. I'm not delinking, I'm a happy camper.
I do however hold a position against the handling.
Firstly I decided to fit straight bars and do away with those horrible high things. I rode it that way for over a year but the other day I decided to retry the original bars. Then I found that the wobble I had been getting round corners was much more contollable with the wide bars. I don't forgive the wobble, I think these bikes handle like shit, but with the big bars you can hold them in tight and get there without too much drama.
Then there's the throttle wobble. I guess it's a worn out TPS. I hope so. i need to get that computer program organised but the first time I tried the cables must have been faulty so I bought another set , just haven't tried them yet.
Basically what happens is at around 4500rpm the throttle is unreliable. It doesn't respond as it should, it drops out suddenly as if you'd suddenly backed off completely, and basically it's impossible to hold steady around that rev range, which makes it annoying when cruising around sweeping bends at speeds that work and you are getting a juddering speed happening so you have to change down and use higher revs for the smoothness , and that gives me the shits.
Then there's the seat.  Mine has had extra foam shoved in under the cover but it's rubbish. The original shape was always rubbish. You sit in this little dip and can't slide back or forth, in my case I can slide back and rest my arse on the rearmost edge which is almost ok. They just didn't get the ergos right on these machines. The pegs are in the wrong place, the seat is wrong , the whole thing feels like a suit you just bought from the op shop that doesn't fit, never did , and till it goes to the remodeller, never will.
So you ride out on this thing, looking stupid like the metric cruiser idiot you are, but you have a couple of things up on the imperial yankee bastards already. Firstly though you handle like a shopping trolley, it's still a million miles better than those Harleys, and you also have the acceleration, way better than those stupid pig hog things, you can lean round corners and you can leave them burbling along with their idiotic tyres while you enjoy the new horizon.
Sports bikes go past and that's what they do. Don't even bother on a Cali unless you are a dickhead.
But as you see these bikes have a certain appeal. They are fast, but the handling is limited, they brake well but the handling is also limited. They aren't the fastest but they are much faster than a lot of crap on the roads. And they have a cool sound and appearance that takes quite a lot of beating these days.
And don't get me started about making a Cali look like a T3. Or a T3 look like a transformer. All these modifiers and buggerisers are ruining too many good bikes. I suppose the bottom line is the ones that haven't been ******will be worth so much more because they will become quite rare. I don't think that's a good thing because those bikes are so good reliable workhorses and should be maintained and honoured and loved for what they are. True masterpieces from the factory. Your opinions and whatever will be dealt with at a later stage if I don't get banned.
Enjoy your Cali's Guys, they are worthy!

[guzzisteve]

Thank you for your review on the Cali's, seems all my Guzzi's are the same! MAYBE it's the mechanic. Ha, Ha
Your paragraph WAS worth reading. Ride Safe down under

[lazlokovacs]

consider me a d head,

used to love surprising sports bikes on my cali. I was faster than the majority of them were prepared to go.

good reading and agree with much of your post

 

[John A]

I’m afraid you are stuck now, son.  Both my Ambassadors never stranded me more than a few days, and not often. Mistakes of my own making, mostly. Then I went to Tonti frame stuff and I got stuck on Guzzi’s. I liked the big bore Suzuki’s back in the day but was stuck on Guzzi’s.

[John A]

consider me a d head,

used to love surprising sports bikes on my cali. I was faster than the majority of them were prepared to go.

good reading and agree with much of your post

 

That reminds me of how tech rep Extrodinare Dave Hewitt used to put it, :”  Guzzi’s may not be as fast as some but they can usually be ridden faster.”

[elrealistico]

SFSG with my 04 EVT. Bought just about a year ago, put 3k miles on it myself, just turned over to 19k miles. Put new BT46 tyres on it last fall, some lighting updates, change all fluids, clean up the relay contacts and switches, new battery, rear shock adj.. nothing major. Did get the seat done with 3" of memory foam by some local greybeards that fix HD seats. I also hated the stock seat, feli like I was sitting on a low toilet.

Did lose the RH TB cover, which is unobtanium it seems, so I did the emesis basin hack on that side.

One question though---can the TPS sensor be cleaned in place with something like Deoxit? I did have one odd moment on a coast to coast Florida trip awhile back where the bike surged and stayed up at 5k rpm. Pulled in clutch and worked the throttle, eventually pulled off the road and shut down, waited a few minutes, and restarted, no problems since.

I will be taking her on a long trip in June up to Northern Georgia and will be riding the Cherohala Skyway, 2500+ miles, depending on routes and time. Spending a few days at Scout Camp near Clayton, then leaving midweek to loop around to NC and TN to do the skyway. Maybe I will run in to some of you there!

[John A]

First check that the throttle bel crank has no possibility of hanging up on the air cleaner housing. It was the reason they added a return cable because if it happens the throttle won’t go back to idle. What would happen sometimes is an intake pop would move the throttle body aft on its mount causing the pivot to rub on the air filter housing. For the tps you can take it off , drill a hole according to Patrick’s ( I think) drawing and wash it out. You’ll have to find Patrick’s instructions from a while back. I’ve done it but find I might just as well throw a new one on. On a long trip, I carry a spare unless I’m sure it won’t fail.
https://www.mgcycle.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5333
Here is a link to a tps, I had no idea they had gotten so expensive, 408 bones.

[elrealistico]

Yeah, that was my thought later as well, OR that was the moment the RH TB cover decided to escape and jammed things up a bit on its way out to its new home in Kissimmee. I have checked tor freedom of movement for the bellcranks and connecting rod. I also greased up the movement points up a pit with Mobil synthetic grease.

The TPS PN comes up on Amazon as a California Cycle Works:

 https://www.amazon.com/Throttle-Position-Sensor-Potentiometer-California/dp/B07ZQM66J1

CLAIMS to be a direct drop in, but I seem to remember from these forums a CCW TPS that was meant for HD took some fiddling to make work. I dunno if thats the same one.
I've been around long enuf not to take plug n play claims seriously, but if you will have to go thru the whole adjustment procedure anyway, may was well do it with a heavier wallet

[Tom H]

I believe that is the correct one for your bike. Ca cycleworks  sells a few different ones for many brands of bikes. Check their web site.

Price is not bad.

Tom

[luthier]

From what I xxxxxxx understand , to replace the TPS switch you simply get one with the same numbers and they should cost about $30. The link above is from too long ago but I believe there are plenty on Amazon and Ebay.
I can't understand this nonsense about $800 for a genuine replacement. It's xxxxxxx insane.
But the thing is if you do swap out for a new one you must 'install' it using Guzzidiag which given the excellent tutorial that Mark has given on this forum should be fairly straightforward.
It just requires a laptop with the Guzzidiag program installed and the right connection leads.
I've been meaning to do it for months. But seeing the above fix of drilling a hole and cleaning it out I am tempted to give that a try with some Deoxit Pro Gold that seems to fix everything I use it on.
xxxx.

[bigbikerrick]

Ca cycleworks tests all their TPSs , before selling them and sends a print out with them. I installed one in my 98 EV, and it worked out great!

Link below shows their test bench/procedure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZK9fVvNaC4

Rick