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I know the feeling. I *hate* to start up an aircooled engine without warming it up, so I was pushing the AeroLario down to the shop in deep snow with the wind blowing 25 in near zero F weather. Got to the hanger apron, and it was ice covered under the snow. Managed to get the kick stand down as the bike and I were sliding sideways. Realized I was puffing and blowing like a steam engine, and saw a hooded figure coming down the path I'd just made. He laid his scythe on the bike, scrolled down on his I pad, and said," come along Mr. Stottlemeyer." I said, "No, no, there must be some mistake..I'm not ready yet." He just gave me the roll eye and said, "You can't *imagine* how many times I've heard that one.." I grabbed his Ipad, and saw my name was spelled wrong. Pointed that out. Many people spell it meyer instead of myer. He just said, "Crap. I've gotta talk to the girl that transcribes this stuff. Sorry to have startled you." and walked off. Whew. The next time, I was under the knife for a cancer operation. He came strolling in, fidgeted a bit, and said, "You know.. this is a *really* complicated procedure. It's been 5 hours now.. well, I'll be damned. You found yourself a *really* good cutter. Better get your bucket list covered, though.. I'll be back." So far, so good..

I'm assuming that the stator housing is probably cracked as I see no other reason for the bodge job with the clamps and resin. There is no rattle issues normally Ciao

ImgZeit is great. A while back I had a question, and the CEO got back to me with the answer. We even chatted over a beer at SSR15!

Looks like the bastards have done it again. I didn't mind when they put their logo on the stored pix, but this is on a par with their blocking technique. I went with ImgZeit. Simple interface, works with fones easily. I wonder if there is a way to move those photoblockit images to ImgZeit? I have *many* in the Lario Rehab and Aero Engine tutorials.. Blurring the images makes them useless.

It's not so much the windage, although it will help with that. It's oil surge under hard acceleration. The oil pick up in the 'Broad Sump' motors is at the front to the right of the sump. If you launch hard the oil sloshes backwards and can expose the pick up. This can be noticed by a flickering oil light but chances are you aren't going to be looking at that if you're nailing it in first and second gear or the front wheel is off the ground! A few events like this and you'll run the big ends. In the worst case scenario the rods weld themselves to the crank which is fun! You then have to cut that crap out of the case with a gas axe. Not fun!

I just bought my V-11 universal joints from Technomec in Montreal. They even opened a PayPal account to ease the USD-to-Cnd exchange rate. Two u-joints and postage - Montreal to Seattle - was $59.42 USD.

I last used my V11 3 years ago to ride to Sicily from Scotland, I pretty much parked it up after that trip and have just repatriated it from storage, I was thinking of selling but as always after spending the week servicing, greasing and cleaning I stood back, looked at it and thought "what was I thinking?" Flashbacks to the good times and the grin factor means I don't think I'll be selling it too soon! I have other bikes which I use more but I reckon for all round fun the V11 is up there.

I have made a couple of posts, but it was solely by way of introduction. Admired Guzzis from afar. Still have the '77 850 LeMans brochure. At the time I posted, I was looking at an '02 LeMans, and I wrote "because no one is selling a Ballabio." Well... wouldn't you know it, an '04 Ballabio came up on Craigslist shortly thereafter. Hmmm. Three hour drive but what the heck. The owner was, no surprise, a "mature" fellow. Had 20 bikes. RV. Airplane. Bad knees. Agreed to buy it on the spot. Garage queen with 4500 miles (no sign of replacement speedo cable). All records and the usual Guzzi spares, manuals, etc. Has fresh Pilot Roads, a Laminar Lip, MRA spoiler, Staintune cans, Hepco & Becker bags, a SS Aussie windage tray in a box and a few others. Trailered it home. It is cleaner now then the pics (when I can upload them, that is), as that is the proper thing to do. Pulled the bag mounts and MRA spoiler off. Low-mount pegs have to go. I have never owned a bike with pegs back far enough to suit me. They are "Motobits" forward/lowered style, but may not be that brand. OEM pegs came with it. Will have to find a pic of the OEM foot controls as installed, as it seems a few bits might have been reversed with the modded pegs. Has an LED Duc taillight. I just installed an LED headlight bulb after cleaning the haze from the inside of the headlight lens (assembly workers smoking?). Washed and waxed and rubber bits - not the tires - armoralled. Iridium plugs and now it fires off first press. Now it's raining. EDIT: Pics added. Oh, for any who may not know (not likely here) that little red tab behind the pegs is a centerstand. It needs some re-engineering, as it is only usable when the rear tire is rolled up onto a 2X4. Otherwise, there goes the back. Bike as it was. Bike with stuff. Basso profundo.

As Gstallions said, I had a friend from work weld a nut on it. He said it didn’t resist much after the welding.....

I just keep falling in love with this old slow girl. It disappears underneath you and lets you go where you want. 5k miles in 3-4 months and I no longer am shopping for Lemans tanks and rear sets. It does what it does. My 70s 2t seized badly awaiting another massaging, my v11 is in pieces. I feel pretty lucky too!

Buy yourself a new alternator stator housing, believe me its the best option. As for the cover mount bolts they will be 6x1 and 30mm sounds right. Dont use SS fasteners. I know they keep their finish better than passive cad plated bolts but SS is a poor choice for any fastener. They were only ever made originally for the boating and construction world where the premium was on corrosion resistance. They simply dont have the elasticity for effective engineering fastening. I use Titanium bolts wherever I can and the std passive cad plated steel where I cant or its too expensive to use Ti. Timesert or helicoil the front engine cover mount holes. Timesert is my prefered option. Do it once and do it right and you wont be sitting on the side of the road sometime wishing you had. Ciao

Ducati? hmmm... just fill the thing with expanding foam... be reet.

Hey, I really think my shaft failed from poor assembly practices (crossed the threads and re-used them) and complications of a crash. Don't cross the threads! "Important safety tip!"

(What's up with the blurred PhotoBlockit images?)

Clearly something the designers, decades ago, had no inkling would ever happen. Quite different in the Chevy V8 I built and raced long ago. Rear sump. Rear pump. The "tray" I attached to the extended main bolts was to keep the oil away from all that crank and rods. The oil pan itself had a "trap door" to keep the oil from sloshing away from the pickup. My GPz500s have the same wide sump, but far less accelerative force to affect the oil. Well, at (my) first oil change, in goes the plate. I'm riding it moderately until it has a few more clicks on it.

79,000 miles on ours. I put the first 77,000 on it and now my son is taking over. We have to replace the universal joints (for the first time) this week. It's needed it for a while now. Check out Technomec in Montreal - $59.42 USD including shipping.

I’ve been stressing about my driveshaft ever since Docc’s failed. This is an awesome solution. Thanks Pressurenagle!

As to my thread elsewhere, an '04 Ballabio seduced me and I dropped thoughts of the LeMans. Trailered it home and am removing the various mods that suited someone else. The Staintune cans stay. Stock pegs going back on and thoughts now turn to some clipons up front.

You want a cognizant welder . One that is fully aware of what is going to be done . This is a process that is going to be done ONCE . disconnecting one post of the battery will keep all the welding trouble out of the electrical system . Always disconnect the negative post . I have never made sparks with a wrench on the negative post touching the frame !

LOL forgot to finish this tale. The new DC u-joints fit perfectly in the yokes- they are slightly less tight than the originals, which were a tough move. The included grease zerks are so large that they hit the yokes; I had to find smaller zerks on ebay... https://www.ebay.com/itm/6-Pieces-Metric-Grease-Fitting-M8-M8X1-M8X1-0-Zerk-Nipple-45-Degree-Deg-L-CA/201786925134?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 You'd have thought I'd have noticed that and kept the stock one, right? Don't fail to keep it. I installed the u-joint, after careful consideration, with the zerk facing forward, hoping to ease access. Of course, I didn't consider the zerk-to-shaft clearance which is negative, ghost rider. Fortunately also, the new joints have a slightly different cross structure than the originals, allowing fairly simple removal and repositioning the zerk back to the rear. At the end of the day, everything went back together exactly as Mother Goose intended. Trying to out-engineer Italian engineers fails if you don't have any idea why they did what they did. So, I merely pulled a very long, expensive, intensive regular maintenance on the shaft and drive. I used Mobil Xtreme Grease on the joints, replacing the stock lightweight stuff in the caps before intallation and Jet-Lube open gear lube on the splines. All that, and discovering and correcting the yokes being un-tight on the splines of both ends has made everything much smoother and with noticeably less driveline lash. Now, if I can get out on the darn thing.

I spoke, by phone, with this supplier today. The gentleman was very courteous. They generally do not supply customers directly. So, waiting for a quote, by email, in Canadian dollars which I send by mail. The product then sent to me , by mail. And here I was perfectly willing to show up alone, with cash (Canadian dollars, even!), no Mounties . . .