The think tank is getting pretty thin. When I got there the back room was full and not a ROMEO in sight. They had moved us to the front. There were only three of us to save the world. I won't be at the group launch sight tomorrow. I'm going to do it in the dirt with Terry Powell. I dusted off the Quota and fired it up. It didn't hesitate and with a quick touch to the starter button it sprang to life. I did find a leaky fork seal though. I have a Guzzi fork seal on hand but I had to find out if it would fit the Quota. I measured the fork on the California and compared it to the Quota. Different sizes.
I perused EBAY for seals and found quite a few that claimed to fit the Moto Guzzi Quota, but they were of several different sizes. Not wanting to chance buying something wrong I went to my go to source of all things Guzzi, mgcycle.com. Their prices were reasonable, so they're on the way. As for the group, the launch time and site will be the Rodeway Inn @ 11:00. TIME....................12:00
Here it is.............. The Spot
304 W. Walnut
Herington, Kansas
(785) 258-5987
Facebook Page............https://www.facebook.com/TheSpotHeringt ... 5G6mvcqgAK
Web Page.............
Map site...........https://tinyurl.com/wd4hsez
Well, leaky fork seal be damned. I decided to take my "adventure bike" on the ride today, and an adventure it was. I haven't ridden this bike for quite a while and it takes a little getting used to. And it's been several years since I did it in the dirt. I got to Terry's house a little early with Fritz in tow. Terry had his Kawasaki 300 out in the driveway so I had no problem finding his house. It wasn't long before Ken Boss rolled up and after a little tire kicking we set out. Terry in the lead, me in second and Ken bringing up the rear. I felt like the elephant in the room with Terry on a 300, Ken on a 250, and me on an 1100 tank. The Quota is a cross between a road bike and a dirt bike and not a good one of either. Much like myself, it's over weight and under powered. But it meets my dirt riding needs. When we got off pavement the roads weren't too bad and the Goose seemed to be doing alright. We set up a 40 MPH cruise speed which the Goose seemed to enjoy. I know my California would never put up with that kind of speed in the dirt. Before long the road turned into loose gravel and it felt like I was riding on marbles. I had to remind myself to stay loose and let the bike find it's own way through the loose stuff. As dry as it was Terry was kicking up a fair amount of dust and at times I had to hang back about a quarter mile just to let his dust settle so I could see where I was going. I kept an eye on Ken in the back and I guess he grasped the concept before I did. All this time I was hoping that Terry knew where he was going, because I didn't have a clue. We got into some larger and looser gravel and I tried my best to stay in the well worn tire tracks where the gravel was the thinnest. In the center of the single lane road the gravel was piled up a few inches thick and I didn't want to try to slog through that. The gravel got thicker and more spread out over the road. By this time the bike was handling like a noodle on a greased plate. We did come to several bridges that offered a welcome, albeit all to brief respite to my bikes gymnastics. That was the only pavement that we encountered. As the gravel got thicker and the dust flew higher the ride became more of a wrestling match. STAY LOOSE! STAY LOOSE! We came to a paved road that we crossed and quickly encountered a sign warning us that the gravel ended in a half mile. GOOD LORD! What could be next?!? Well, I didn't have to wait long to find out. The road turned to something resembling freshly plowed dirt. It was smoother and the Goose seemed a little more sure footed riding on that. Save for the soft spots where the bike tried its best to spit me off. But I held on. Then I was reminded that I was in Kansas. The only place in the world where you can be in the middle of nowhere and still be delayed by construction. There was the familiar sign "ROAD CLOSED". This was on a road that I'd wager hasn't been used since the westward expansion. They were working on a bridge and the approach to the bridge was rough mud. There was a worker who was operating what must have been a pile driver of some sort. He was picking up one pile and driving it to somewhere else. There seemed to be a clear path across the bridge and the worker allowed us to pass. I'm glad he did, or we'd likely still be out there trying to find our way back to civilization. After a few more switches from gravel to mud and back we came to what looked like a road to Herrington. It was then that I noticed that my blinkers had decided to go on strike. No matter how much I fiddled with the switch I couldn't get them to come to life. YIPPEE! Something else to fix! We rolled into Herrington and that's when Terry looked a little disoriented. A familiar sight came into view and I took the lead. Pulling into the parking lot, about half the crew was there, all bunched up under the only tree to be found. We pulled in and were able to find places to park huddled under the tree. My bike had changed from fire engine red to dust brown and I was beating dust out of my clothes when I set Fritz up and got going on the photo mission. Inside we had the place pretty well packed, but the staff did an excellent job of getting everyone served. Good food and food friends, we all got our bellies full and started to filter out. I was just finishing up when Kai came over with a portion of his sandwich for Fritz. Apparently the portion was a little generous for him so he volunteered it for our mascot. I settled up and took Fritz's feast out to him. I think that, pound for pound, Fritz ate better than I did. By this time I figured that I had enjoyed as much dirt riding as I could stand so I hopped on the pavement for the return trip. On my way out of town I hit my blinker out of force of habit. LO AND BEHOLD, they worked! Well I guess that rules out the fuse. I'll deal with it tomorrow. Back at home I unloaded Fritz and collapsed in a heap in my recliner. Totally spent from another great ride.
Fast forward to Thursday I shake the cobwebs out and make breakfast. Slowly I screw up the ambition to take the bike to the car wash to blast half of the land mass of Kansas off of it. On the way there the blinkers worked flawlessly. Now I have visions of tracking down an electrical ghost.
$5 later I've blasted off all of the grunge that I can and the bike is once again red. I fire it up and once again NO blinkers. Well I'll circumnavigate town just to dry it off. East to Ohio, south to Shilling, west to Centennial and home and she's pretty well dried off. Up on the lift I check the fuse and all is well there. Next it's the flasher. I pull it and turn the key on. Hooking up a volt meter I find battery voltage to the flasher. Normal so far. So next It's plug in jumper wire in place of the flasher. I turn on the blinker and it comes on, but doesn't flash. 
I put the flasher back in and NOTHING. I tap on the flasher and it starts flashing. The flasher is the thing. Off to Advance Auto and $4.50 later I have blinkers. At least it was an easy fix.While digging around in there I noticed that the mounting plate that held the fuse block, relay rack, flasher and computer, that is supposed to be bolted to 3 rubber cushion mounts, was held in place by one and the associated wires. This was a sign of impending doom. Visions of being 50 miles from civilization with my bike engulfed in flames flooded my head. These rubber cushion mounts are a one half inch cylindrical piece of rubber with a metal plate and threaded stud on each end and held on to the frame and the plate with a nut on each end. Well as they are wont to do the adhesive holding the plate to the rubber failed on two of the mounts. This seemed to be a good time to try the new bottle of Gorilla Glue I bought for the truck. I applied a little glue to the rubber and moistened the plate, as per the instructions. Yes. I put the testosterone aside and read the instructions. Then I was able to finagle a "C" clamp in place to clamp the assembly down with a little of the recommended pressure for about an hour. Repeat for the other mount. So far so good. We'll see how it holds up in the long run.
