Subject: The Same Yet So Different
Author: Keith Ruff
Date: Jul 1, 2002, 5:28 AM
Post ID: 1710522425
Good Morning to All.
Went for a nice evening cruise with Cam yesterday. We headed out about
8:15pm, went east on Rt 72 to Long Beach Island, NJ, then headed north
to the tip of the island and stopped at the lighthouse to absorb some
scenary and fresh ocean air.... nice. We turned around and headed
south, stopping for gas on the way. After fueling up, we decided to
switch bikes to see how they differed. We had just talked about being
out here in what seems to be the boonies in NJ since we have no dealers
near by nor any good knowledgeable mechanics for these loopframes. We
wondered how our bikes were running in comparison to other loops that
are running like they should, so we figured switching bikes would give
us an idea. It was quite an enlightening experience.
Cruising back down the strip, we immediately noticed a few differences,
one being the brakes on my Ambo are excellent with good feel at the
handle. At the first stop light we hit, Cam said, "Your brakes are
awesome", I said, "and your brakes s--k!". For some reason, perhaps
binding brake cables, his Eldo with 4 leading shoes, is very hard at the
handle. It takes a ton of effort to start pulling the cable 1/2 way to
the bars, then, all of a sudden, they grab quick and the nose dives.
Something is not right there. Other immediately noticable difference is
his repro springer seat is springy (is that a word?) and bottoms out
over big bumps. My original Caribinieri has much thicker springs which
makes for a stiffer ride, to me and Cam, it almost feels like it is not
sprung but direct mounted to the frame. The springs do compress but you
can't really feel them working. I prefer the stiffer ride as it gives
me more road feel and a solid mount, whereas Cam likes the springy feel,
though we both agreed somewhere in between is the right choice. As far
as suspension, Cam's Eldo was much better. My Ambo's forks seem spungy
and bounce more in comparison to his Eldo, perhaps it is disguised by
the springs in his seat, or maybe I should check the setting on my rear
shocks or replace them? Ideas anyone? I am running 30 wt fork oil in
them which is much better than the ATF previously. The Eldo also seemed
to be more flickable than my Ambo, could have been the suspension or
perhaps how his bars were set up.
Cam's handlebars are pitched lower than mine, too low for me as I would
hit my knees while doing slow turns. We are both now used to how our
bars are set up, so this is a non-issue. Funny thing was our blinkers
operated opposite, which I noticed immediately as I was behind Cam and
when he went right, he put on my left blinker, when left, right blinker
was on. He noticed this when we turned onto our block. Now for the
engine differences:
We both noted and agreed that my Ambo has a bunch more low end torque,
funny because I thought the 850 motor produced more torque, I think
perhaps it is just harnessed at a different RPM. Cam's Eldo is so much
smoother in the throttle department, and power is right there at the
twist of the wrist where I must let the Ambo wind up a bit at low RPM's
or just downshift. Speaking of downshifting, this is quite a task on
the Ambo which goes back to the torque thing, downshifting on my Ambo
can be dangerouse depending on speed as it produces heavy engine
braking. Cam's Eldo was smooth to downshift with nowhere near the
engine braking of my Ambo, was very pleasant. The exhaust note on my
Ambo seemed to growl a bit more than Cam's, though they appear to be the
same pipes (Valtek) and we both have K&N's installed (I believe the
Guzzi shop rejetted my carbs though). We both noticed that my Ambo
motor is noisier than the Eldo, but we don't know what exactly the noise
was, perhaps the Ambo's valve clatter a bit more or need an adjustment,
though that was done only a few hundred miles ago but the Guzzi shop,
perhaps that too was done incorrectly! Don't know what else would cause
more of an engine clatter, power is excellent, so I don't think it can
be anything serious, I hope....
It was also good to hear the "chirp" noise on Cam's bike also. I
noticed a little chirp noise up front when getting on the throttle that
was also present in Cam's bike, I believe this is probably the
generator/belt. I was glad to hear this common chirp as it reassured me
that this may be common on loops. Transmission seemed to shift the
same, though it was a bit harder to get the Eldo in nuetral. 3rd gear
on the Eldo had tremendous pull where I believe 2nd gear was the sweet
gear on my Ambo. It was nice having that 5th gear too for highway
cruising, but I do like the pull of the 4 gears on the Ambo and winding
her up.....
Overall, for bikes that look so much alike, they run so much different,
each with their own personality. To me, Cam's Eldo felt tighter overall
(engine & suspension), ran quieter, and idled a bit better, even though
his odometer reads 51K miles and my Ambo only 5400 miles. Perhaps the
850 motor is smoother. To Cam, he felt like the Ambo felt tighter than
his Eldo and idled better, so I guess it's matter of opinion. Both are
sweet machines, and ya know, we didn't see any others like them during
our evening ride, nor during any other ride we have been on, cool.......
Keith Ruff
71 Police Ambassador - NJ