Project Kanguro Supermoto - Update

[robinh44]

Hi,

Just completed my re-paint of the tank. Got fed up with the silver, went back to my original design of a Harley XR750 style design.

With the base colour laid down (Ford carnival red) masked ready for inset painting:-




Then with inset panels sprayed, the pinstriping masked of ready for brush painting the smoothrite white:-



End result, after hand painting the classic morini logo on the top of the tank:-



Tank fitted but run out of daylight to get any good shots, will update when I have some more pics.

Regards

Robin

[Van883]

looking good!

Van

[robinh44]

Hi,

Latest shots with tank fitted:-







Final job during this winter is to lower swinging arm mounts to improve chain run, not looking forward to doing this but looking forward to results.

Regards

Robin

[robinh44]

Hi,

Winter refit complete, swinging arm position corrected and decored Ducati silencers which appears to have improved running in 6th gear. Running rich so dropped back to 98 mains from the 114 previously fitted. Did a good 70 mile run round herts & beds today, picture below taken at Cardington:-



All done now so can just get on with riding it.

Regards

Robin

[huub]

quite a impressive result, and even more impressive, you managed to finish it!
my projects usually needs some fiddling after i finish them.
o can see from the pictures you made good use of the rear tyre, so the handling seems to be ok..

[robinh44]

Huub

Good to hear from you again, hope you are well. Yes well I finished it last June07, but as you say I also still had a lot of fiddling to do. I repainted the tank with the colours I originally wanted but did'nt have time to do. I went through endless mods getting the k&n's to work, in the end I used part of the old air box to create a wind break and also lengthened the intake. Modified the exhausts, basically decored them, which improved high rpm running, still got to make some baffles just to decrease the ducati style bass boom a little. The chain run was a major headache so over christmas I lowered the swinging arm mount to get the chain to run clear. Only outstanding items are to get flywheel remagnetised to improve stator output which I have just rewound with 0.9mm wire.
Regarding running now with 108 main jets, excellent starting and response throughout rev range. Pulls happily beyond 80mph (approx 140kmh +) as long as no hills or headwinds. Handling is also very stable, although the front can feel a little twitchy but I put that down to the wide bars and 17" front wheel. But yes I considered it now finished with some minor fiddling or fettling to do, but now I will just ride it. Also my Yamaha TMAX scooter has just failed me , starter motor issues, so the Morini is proving its reliability. What are you riding at the moment Huub?, how is your super moto guzzi?, we should really get our two creations together.

Regards

Robin

[huub]

i had the same headaches fiting K&N filters to my 3,5
basically the engine would loose most of its midrange,
i managed to solve that by fitting bigger filters, and fitting velocity stacks inside the filters, the carbs need the air to be guided into the carb.
wich is the same thing you achieve by fitting the rubber elbows.

twitchy at the front is normal, lowering the air pressure in the front tire might help.
( i run 1.8 atm rear, 1.6atm front to get some heat into the tires, it still takes ages for them to warm up.)
Now that you have the 17 inch wheels fitted, wait until you get some snow,
i was absolutely shocked the guzzi was suddenly completely useless in the snow after fitting the 17 inch wheels.
the front wheel simply follows the road, independent of your steering imput pretty scary..

did you manage to get the suspension dialled in?
the morini is probably half the weight of the bike that donated its front forks..

for the time being my own daily transport is a '90 cagiva elefant, ( 900IE)
a bit high maintenance for my 250 km/day, but so far without any major problems, and i can now enjoy cruising at a steady 140 km/h, wich would destroy the guzzi engine in a matter of weeks.
( my enfield bullet didnt last 3 weeks of commuting before eating its main bearings, so that one is not recommended for prolonged highway use)

[robinh44]

Huub

Yes I got my k&n's working better by using the elbows plus a homemade stainless tube (fabricated from some leftover ducati exhaust), still got some carb tuning to do as running rich. Regarding handling it seems ok, I will drop the pressure a little in both tyres as I am running the Suzuki SV650 pressures currently. The forks are working well, they have both rebound and compression adjustment and the rear shock from a Kawasaki ZX636 is fully adjustable and it is quite firm on stock settings so I have adjusted it to be a little softer. I try and avoid snow, had enough trouble last winter on a small amount of snow in my street on my Yamaha XT225!!. Today though almost lost the front end of the Morini on some icy spots in the works car park, felt like riding my XT on the dirt so fortunately kept it upright. Interesting you have a Cagiva Elefant I met a chap last year at a bike rally in the Peak District with one and he was very happy with it. Speak soon.

Regards

Robin

[huub]

sounds like you were extremely lucky with the suspenion, i had the front and rear suspension on the guzzi rebuilt and revalved ( by the WP factory) , the rear damper needed 4 attempts to get it working well with the guzzi rear end.
As long as i dont need to work on it i love the elefant, being able to cruise at high speed , without needing to reach for clip-ons is a relieve.
the fairing is just big enough to keep most of the wind off my chest, and small enough to fit between cars at traffic jams.

and having 80 HP available really doesnt hurt...

working on the cagiva is a different story , you need to remove the engine to set the valve clearance...

[Jem]

Robin,

was it you who fitted a Trailtech Vapor unit? I plan to fit one to my Sport to get more accurate numbers and give more space to fit clip-ons comfortably. Any advice? How did you wire the tacho?

[robinh44]

Jem

Yes the trailtech vapor has been on for over a year now, very good quality. The rev counter has two wires a red and black, the black is grounded and the red is wrapped approx 10 times round one of the ht leads. In the options you need to set it to 0.5 pulse per rev (ppr) to get the correct readout. The rev counter function seems very accurate and stable. There is also a hidden menu where you can set the current mileage of the old speedo. When you get yours send me a pm and I will advise procedure, as trailtech don't want to publicise the hidden menu so I only advise people via pm's.

Regards

Robin

[nig]

Hi, Im A returning member, 1st post who has a 3 1/2 X series, Im stunned, love the look, hats off to yer mate, can you do mine please...

[robinh44]

Nig,

Thanks for your comments, I would like to say yes to your request to convert yours, but the amount of work involved would be too much. Although I am happy to advise on the pitfalls I fell into and how to avoid them if you decide to modify yours. What year and X model Kanguro have you got?. The looks of mine have changed slightly as it was run over in my works car park a few weeks ago by a runaway pool car. Luckily the husqvarna forks (built like scafolding) took the brunt of the impact and only the screen, levers and mirrors plus the paint job on the tank took a beating. To the credit of the bike and its motley collection of parts, I was able to straighten the BMW levers and ride the bike home. Now it has new BMW levers and mirrors and an MRA screen with spoiler. Picture below of bike following rework:-



Regards

Robin

[robinh44]

Hi,

Long time no update, so to bring you up to date. Beginning of 09 morini was run over by runaway company pool car, it survived but the screen, mirrors and tank paint did not. Fixed most of that up and then into spring started losing compression, ie easy to kick over and poor or no tick over. Diagnosis after strip down and measurements was worn rings. New set fitted as nikasil bores were in good nick. Now latest issue rear cylinder exhaust port thread worn in head, quote from NLM is £75 per head to build up ally and cut new thread. Have decided to have a go using ex moto guzzi exhaust clamps and helicoil some studs in place. This will be part of my winter 09 refit. So the list is modify exhaust header fixings on both heads, new paint job on tank & mudguard, new fork seals (husqvarna forks), fix leaking clutch again! and fit pillion seat (ex BMW R850 pillion section). The pillion seat idea is to keep my wife happy as currently we travel two up on my yamaha tmax, but I have eyes on the triumph street triple and that would mean the tmax going. As good as the street triple is even I would not like to travel on the pillion so I will convert my single seat morini to dual. Will post updates as winter refit unfolds.

Regards

Robin

[3potjohn]

Looks like you will have some fun this winter.A colleague has a black Speed Triple, which is some years old now and very nice. He was knocked off coming back from Sainsbury's last year,shopping all up the road.Bike is now well again.
What mileage had the Morini done prior to the worn rings? Does the worn exhaust thread come from a slightly loose chattering exhaust. I keep a close eye on them and use Optimol paste on the threads (as per BMW) but I haven't got a "proper" tool for tightening them up.
(sorry if this posts x2 as browser locked up)