Aaron Gray

This really is the season from hell.

This is the season from hell for Thorns fans.

The side of a brick building glowing in the evening sun, blue sky beyond. Rooflines from food carts at the base of the building are visible at the bottom of the frame.

Textures and lines.

Nice 🔥

A dark grey and white mottled hen wanders on the grass parking strip in front of a well manicured landscape and porch attached to a Victorian vernacular house. It’s grey out and the street and sidewalk are wet because it has been drizzling all morning.

A Very Portland Morning

Yep. I’ve actually taken an MSF course and done some riding. I’m an experienced side hack pilot, but it’s been a minute.

I just occurred to me that I own at least 2% of the Quotas in the US. 😜

They only sold ~130 in the US. There's probably under 100 still accounted for and on the road (or could be if registered). I own two.

I don't know whose image this is (I found it via DuckDuckGo search), but I'm thinking about doing this with the other Quota I own, which is red. I have a buddy who's unloading a Ural sidecar. He's also unloading a Moto Guzzi Eldorado project, with a leading link front fork. Stuff to think about...

Plug caps / wires / coils are all new (replaced by me). Doing relays next. Then checking TPS.

Timing sensor on the quota is up front where the cam chain is. It has been replaced recently. (It’s also a common source of a minor oil leak, so o-ring has been replaced.) 👍

TY! Will look into this too.

Oh, this is a good call. I’ll focus on that next.

Welp, just kidding. Started misfiring all the way home again. 😔

Next weekend I’ll try swapping to a different fuel tank and maybe putting on a newer stator in the alternator.

Honestly, I’m running out of ideas. It might be time to switch gears and make the red one the runner.

Needs oil change, gear oil changes, new tires, taller screen, crash bars, panniers, bar backs, aux lights, mileage test, mistral header pipes, prolly more.

A Moto Guzzi Quota 1100 motorcycle parked by the curb. The photographer’s latte can be seen at the bottom of the photo, in the foreground.

I think I might finally have all the niggles worked out.

One or two little gasps for air in an hour long ride, both in the first 30 minutes.

Needs a longer shakedown ride. Then, if I’m satisfied, I can get busy outfitting for touring.

#motosky #motoguzzi #advrider #motoguzziquota #motorcycle

Yep. Two of them, actually.

Air box. Has two snorkels that point forward between the frame rails.

A Moto Guzzi Quota 1100 with tank and body panels off, getting some work inside my garage.

As much as I enjoy riding, I also enjoy this.

#motosky #motorcycle #motoguzzi #motoguzziquota #garage

A 16mm socket sitting on a workbench in front of a bench grinder. The tip of the socket has been ground down so the walls are thinner to fit in a tight opening.

Sometimes you need to make a custom socket by taking material away, not adding more.

It worked for its purpose, so job done. ✅

That’ll buff out.

Back of a female paddler in a canoe on the water, preparing for a stroke on the right side of

A heron (I believe) standing on a log along the river bank.

Loading paddles and gear into the back of our Outback wagon.

The canoe on the ground (foreground) waiting to be loaded on the car (background).

Short paddle on the Tualatin River today. #paddle #canoe #river #pnwonderland #oldtowncanoe

Well, the test ride was fantastic for 10 minutes and then it started running rough at 3k to 4k rpm. Not as bad as before, but I’ve clearly not fixed it. I’m really starting to regret buying this bike.

#motosky #motorcycle #motoguzzi #motoguzziquota

One of the good injectors in a baggie with the words “good running set” written on it. There’s also a plastic duckie in the bag.

Close up on a single fuel injector held in my hand.

Left side injector reinstalled, with electrical connected and fuel line attached.

Between the two Quotas I own there was one good set of well matched injectors (had all four cleaned and flow tested). Installed them this morning and test fired. All signs good…idled fairly smoothly, even cold, without the fast idle on.

Will test ride tomorrow or Monday.

No, Magneti Marelli.

Bummer. I’ve had really good experiences with Odysseys. I run one in my van, too (as the starting battery).

Closeup of a fuel injector exposed but not yet removed on a motorcycle.

A removed fuel injector and part of its installation assembly; ready to go out for testing and cleaning.

Today it’s back to working on the Quota. Injectors coming out for testing and cleaning.

#motoguzzi #motoguzziquota #motosky #advrider #motorcycle

Portrait of a latte and a motorcycle helmet.

Dual sport motorcycle parked on a bridge on a forest service road.

Dual sport motorcycle parked by the side of a forest service road.

Dual sport motorcycle parked by the side of a forest service road.

Detail of stickers on a road sign on Lolo Pass Road.

Little ride up Lolo Pass Road yesterday, culminating in a coffee in Hood River before the ride home.

#advmoto #advrider #motosky #drz400 #lolopass #pnwonderland

Also disappointing. I'm not opposed to AI as part of a workflow (I use it all the time in my workflows), but using it to generate garbage and then publish it is a waste of everyone's time. I can go to ChatGPT and generate my own nonsense if that's what I want to read.