Hi just bought an Imola 2 I’m going to restore as it’s been dry stored for quite a while.
It came without a centrestand which makes life hard.
I managed to get a used one but it was quite ropey and needed straightening.
I managed to get the legs parallel and the correct gap for the frame, but the left hand foot turns in a lot .
Is this correct.
Any other advice on the bike would be welcome, any preventative measures, I’ve heard horror stories about dropped exhaust valves and Suzuki replacements.
I had a Lario 20 years ago and all that i know is that despite the engines being lovely to ride the valve heads sometimes dropped off the valves on the 4 valve heads. That may not apply to the Imola2 or yours may have 2 valve heads fitted?
If the valve heads are risky on the Imola I am sorry but i don’t know what parts on that head are replaced. It may help to say that on my Lario i was recommended a mix of Suzuki GSX valves and Kawasaki GPz900 valve springs by Pip Higham - i had to get a spacer made to get the valve spring fitted lengths right, but as it was a long time ago i cannot recall further details. It ran without head troubles for another 10k that i i knew of - then sold and gone.
There was a factory recall on the Lario 4V to have the originals replaced with stainless valves. I remember the fuss surrounding it. A friend’s wife had the dropped valve problem which wrote off the entire r/h side and was repaired under the recall. That bike too was sold fairly soon afterwards because all trust in it had gone.
Unfortunately a bit of research shows that the Imola 2 4V also popped its exhaust valve heads. I think a call to Gutsibits would be in order to see what would be involved in creating a preventative setup. Alternatively - and probably a lot less expensive - would be to fit a V50-3 engine.