I took my last Paso to a dealer in Northern Italy in 1992 to go home with a brand new 851 strada and to tell you the truth I regreted the move pretty soon.
Back then, I had owned that Paso for about 4 yrs and 50k km, I was 25, took that bike all around Italy and more, I broke in every thinkable way and always fixed it myself, but I was also a kind of a "Richard" and most of those failure where my fault.
I haven't owned a real Duke since the late 90s but my only transportation for the last 5 years ha s been a loyal 1984 Elefant 650 so I didn't really o that far.
A few weeks ago, I had a storm of nostalgia and started looking around for something. It didn't take long to run in a 750P looking of a new nest....
Only a few miles from home she hadn't run for at least 5 yrs, outside didn' look bad at all considering that she spent at least a portion of her lethargy outdoor.
All the pices where there , and the engine was free so I made an offer and she came home with me.
Well... It was a good deal , uncovered it and found basicly just a dirty Paso , with some corrosion here and there but pretty much everything in fair condition.
It's a late USA model with digiplex and mikuni.
My first concern was to put the electric system in safe condition so I lifted every bundle and cleaned de-oxydized all the connections ,including ignition switch and instrument panel.
One of the previous owner tride to fix the hot coils problem and relative discharging battery installing a big battery disconnetct under the seat.
I removed it and installed a master relay that took care also of the hi amp through the ignition switch.
A new set of driven clutch disk as the original where rusted and glued toghether.
The, mik where dried so just cleaned them and coated the rubbers with some vaseline.
Fresh fuel, borrowed the elefant battery and she started right away idling a few minutes later.
After that I replaced the timing belts with some dayco 94820 purchased in Germany for 12.00 eu/each ..( ...got a set for the elefant too as they where 40k old).
Rebuilt the M1R with new seals , the front brakes , cleaned and polished the rims, regreased the wheels bearings (.. I know they are sealed but I open even the new one always and replace the grease ).
Only upset was the chain that looked brand new but ended up breaking a lot of o-rings due to age.
So I decided to remove the swing arm at the same time just to inspect the bearings and the new chain allignment.
Now she is practically finished and ready to hit the road but I need some help from you guys.
As usuall the most difficult part in Italy is to deal with burocracy.
I need to find something to prove the date of construction to my insurance company.
I am pretty sure it is a late 88 but it was registered in Italy in april 1990.
My idea is that this USA red was unsold for a couple of years and returned on the Italian market, the s/n is 754550.
I contacted the mother house in Bologna and they have been all but helpful so far, first stating that was an " 86 edition" than asking me all kind of pictures and docs to finally tell me that they will answer in september which doesn't do me any good.
Anyway I am now looking to any kind of proof, official or unofficial paper to try to convince my insurance company that this bike was not built after 1988 so if any body has ideas they are wellcome.
Hey , sorry for the long post
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