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Did it again, my fall island hopping on croatian side.
Since I went together with a friend of mine I took the beemer to keep up with that young "whippersnapper" as Neil would say.
Took us  a week to see islands of Krk, Cres and Rab. Ferryspace is always available for motorcycles, so you need no reservation.

Usually I am not that adventureous but at a certain lovely spot I thought to ride down a gravel road, which proved to be pretty steep at situ. I was regretting immedeately my decision to follow this wash but it was already too late to turn around. My beemer 1100 is about 270 kgs loaded and not really an offroader, so I sweated profundely until we reached the base.

 No pics of me emberassed picking up the beemer. Fortunately only hurt pride, side boxes took the brunt.

Couple of weeks ago on a trip to Milano during a coffee stop there were some beautiful restored BSA and NORTON motorcycles parked outside a diner.
All had italian license plates from mid eighties. As far I could judge pretty all were original, accessories too. Very well made and kept.
Its joy to see such witnesses of motorcycle history on the road.

Strange things happened this summer as:
A colleague texted me his scooter, an italian brand, would run only intermittendly and is pretty hard to start.

Went there, tried, scooter started and run normal at first try.
Switched off, NO start.
-all the things checked like KILLSWITCH, SIDESTAND, FUEL, PLUGCAP, etc.
-sparkplug out (please see pics).

The middle elektrode was completely gone. It must have been fragmentarely there for a while to allow temporarely starts and run.

Ignition coil, cable and plugcap were in order.
I really don't know what caused that errosion.

Usually I saw such a failure on racing engines where mixture was too lean or the plug was way off recommended heatvalue.

QJ motors introduced its new maxiscooter..
Pls see pics

Got hold of a clutch for an XC 300i with some welding spots on the rearside (gearwards).

This spotweld points held something. Why and for what purpose, I cannot say.

Bench tested the whole piece, all fine, no rough spots at bearings.

Fieldtest: put it in my XC 300 and it runs smooth and without any flaw.

Can only think of: guy wanted to change bearings (rollerbearing) and oilseals, couldn't get a grip on it, welded some pipe or similar on it, repaired and cut "holders" off again.

And NO, the whole calotte wasn't cut off and rewelded.

But as said, runs nicely and noiseless (as far our CVTs are noiseless).

Like seen at topic I had the annual "spring adventure" tour with my XC 300, which lead me from Giulia Venetia to Croatia, the island of Cres with beautiful shores, great nature and even better food.

Ferry over from Croatia mainland takes about 30 minutes with a beautiful view across the med sea.

Took four days off from my hardship as a retiree  where I stayed at a friends house from where we took daily  50 to 80 kms rides.
Pls see pics.

My XCiting 300 started to behave slightly like a maverick when it came to narrow bends. Also on the center stand there was a light stoppage feeling, at middle position on the handlebar.

Both signs of worn out steering column bearings. I pushed this work for month ahead of me, knowing it being complex and annoying (pls see pics with comments)

BUT: for safety reasons DO NOT POSTPONE IT!
-stabilize the scoot in the middle
-screen off
-front inclusive headlights and dashboard off
-both mirrors off (steel in alu tread!)
-handlebar cover off (four #screws)
-30mm nut off
-mudguard, brake calipers, speed sensor off (watch the tiny shim/s)
-wheel out
-shocks out
-lift handlebar
-32mm nut and castlenut off
-shock carrier and bearings out
TBC...

Found this (for me) new kind of weight adjustable CVT rollers on a french website.

 Producers (distributers) claim this rollers to be adjustable by putting a certain number of short metal rods into its body until desired weight.

 Do this six times, have a test-run, re-adjust if necessary and be a happy scooterist.

 Saw it until now for PIAGGIO only and certain sizes, but they might come in different hight and widht to meet other scooter requirements too (pls see pic).
If anybody has some experience, please chime in.