Cracked Goose

So a couple weeks ago I was washing my Guzzi Stelvio and I happened to notice that the right fork pinch bolt clamp area at the axle was sheered clean through. Very discouraging. This clamp helps to hold the front fork to the front axle of the bike. I guess it is kind of important :=0

I started to wonder how long had it been like that and what were the consequences of riding the bike in this state. Of course I felt it unsafe to ride. I went back and started looking at pictures I had taken of the bike previously but could not find one which showed the clamp area clearly.

However today I found one that my friend Andrew had taken back in September, when I had organized a ride your bike to work day. After zooming in on the picture he took, I could clearly see that the right fork pinch bolt clamp area at the axle was sheered through as far back as then!

That means that I rode the bike to Birmingham, AL and back and of course to work and back numerous times and weekend rides as well on the broken clamp. I figure probably at least 1500 miles were covered if not more. Indeed the clamp MAY have been broken when I picked up the bike in Ohio, some 3000 miles ago.

Here are a couple pics showing the cracked clamp and a yellow circle highlighting the location of the clamp on the bike.

Since I have made it this far, it is obvious that the good, sweet Lord above has been watching over me so I will resume riding the bike again in its state of disrepair.