Rusty Bucket

Your summary seems well thought out, Rob. The Cafe Sport/ Coppa and Ballabio perhaps won't need you to fit different bars, and won't require a lot of fuss/cash if you do. The newer bikes (Breva, Griso) benefit from a better sump design and dual plug heads, and the Norge presumably does what it looks like it would do, which is a whole different vibe from the V11 series. The new bikes don't quite ring my bell like the older ones, but I think the 1100 Sport and Sporti owners would say much the same thing. You'll have to follow your personal tastes, but you seem well up to tracking the variables, so I would be optimistic your choice will be the right one. Absolutely.

Some familiar issues that can come up on both the early and late bikes are tank suck (tipover valve creates a vacuum seal as fuel leaves fuel tank, in severe cases damaging finish), headlight shroud can break off inside reflector and rattle around 'til noticed, scarring reflector, speedo cable breakage (at the tight bend under the throttle linkage). and the oil in the sump can move backwards enough to uncover the pickup, allowing the oil system to starve (run low on oil, ever had the oil pressure warning light come on?) Late V11s can suffer from poor assembly (not much lube used, or none at all, on bearings and splines), fuel tanks that ride on the sidecovers, damaging them, and the crossover on the exhaust system (the one at the front, just behind the front wheel) moves around enough to create a leak. I have an '04, and so far none of the above have troubled me, except for the headlight shroud, which might be due to the very rough roads hereabouts.(Marz suspension on mine) and the tank suck, which was a noticable 'whoosh' when opening filler cap. Sump baffle, inspection and lube, look for a smooth-running speedo (I took a couple of degrees out of mine, at the bend over the tranny, what I felt the throttle would allow, and it has held up so far), and you should be all set.

I have the same bike as you, and, of course, the same signal lights (in the same country, with likley the same, or worse roads). Haven't really had any problems with mine, except when they hit the ground. After my father put a rope across his cabin driveway without mentioning it to me I also needed electrician's tape to hold a front on, but replaced the lenses with the Buell ones. I have to agree that the mounting seems a bit flimsy, but unless the screw-post gets stripped out, they should hold together ok. What part is failing you?

Did you have the throttles open? These results are low for a four-stroke engine at operating temp. Your valve clearances won't make a measurable difference unless the valve isn't seating. The 20% difference side to side is a bit of a worry, but I would re-do the test on open throttles, with a warm engine, fully charged battery (faster cranking means higher readings, an unwelcome variable here) and see how it comes out. A leakdown tester is only slightly harder to use, and provides steadier, less varaible and more specific information, so if you are inclined to add tools, that's a good one.

Very grateful to Dan for posting this; should be helpful for those of us with the 43mm forks. The factory manual has very little on servicing the later forks if they aren't gold. I know I feel much better about my impending fork strip.

Thanks very much! I'm relieved that SOMEBODY's forks appear to be built per my manuals specs. Was it your fork strip I was following before? Further, does this mean that there are 2 different iterations of the 43mm Marz. fork, an earlier ('02) fork retaining the adjustable compression and rebound damping, and a later ('03-04) fork with externally adjustable preload, but only rebound adjustment?

Wouldn't a set screw have to be listed in the parts catalogue? The late supplement service manual I have only covers an Ohlins strip, not, sadly, the Marz 43, but the parts manual claims to cover it, and no screw is shown in that area. I haven't opened my '04 forks yet, but it is on the to-do list for tis winter, so I am watching your progress with interest Your '02 forks are apparently different in one area from the illustration in my service and parts manuals, your spacers are ABOVE the springs, mine are shown under the springs. Someone else had pointed out that the spacers were on the bottom before, I believe he was also working on an '04, though. At any rate, good luck. Since the manual doesn't cover a strip of the later forks, YOU are writing the definitive how to guide.

Agree with this, I love my red sport; but these polished alloy tanks are beautiful, too. Nothing says 'cafe' like a beaten/wheeled plain aluminum tank. Have you seen that ad for, I think, Davida helmets with a model named Katrien astride an alloy tanked Guzzi cafe bike? Extremely agreeable models, both bike and rider. Perhaps someone might post the image...

That looks fantastic; much, much better than it was. If I find myself with the parts to get a decent start at this project, I will certainly take advantage, as the aesthetic payoff looks well worth it, though I guess my lower bars might present more problems with space and angularity. I wish the stock parts looked like this. Thanks for blazing trail on this!

I think Nog hit this one. The 'big' benefits of pure nitrogen may be in the superior compression equipment that YOU the consumer are paying for. Getting the moisture out of compressed air is a problem in high volumes, and that moisture is what is harmful to your rims. You can never get all the air out, or all the moisture, unless the tire was changed/beaded up in a sealed vacuum, but as far as moisture goes, some effort in keeping it to a minimum is well justified. I don't favour nitrogen over dry air, but compression equipment at a tire store is one of the big battles/expenses they fight. The nitrogen equipment has excellent drying capability, and tends to be new (for the time being) and in good repair, as the shop bills directly on the output. If you live in a humid environment, it might be worth it for you. If not, you can save some money.

Thanks for the pics/write-up. I am grateful you have a V11; I had just put my sump back on when I saw your earlier posts on filter 'insurance'. Your logic appeals; I went down to the shop and pulled it back off again and banded the filter. Here's hoping the baffle-plate succeeds in maintaining your pressure even at the lower oil level, surely everyone would be happy with that result, not least of all you.

I hadn't noticed the stems when I took a brief look at a Griso awhile back, good to know the small things are being addressed as well as the large. I have been coveting the angled stems off a Ducati Monster ($30 CDN apiece here) It would be great to be able at get a gas station air hose on the front valve. Yep, sounds the way to go

A 'near collision' (.024-.040") between the piston and the head at TDC cools the piston (by proximity), drives the igniting mixture into a smaller area (hopefully into an area with a centralized ignition source for a faster burn), induces a shockwave that helps keep mixture in suspension and helps eliminate unburned mixture in crevass areas, and will, when everything is correct allow the highest possible static and dynamic compression ratio, which makes for a clean combustion chamber with a high output and excellent fuel efficiency. The downside? Careful assembly and tedious fitting required as 'hopefully close enough' can be worse that not attempting to get things right at all. At some point, your near collision between piston and head becomes a clear miss, and you have added crevass area to the chamber, and provided area where carbon will have an easy time adhereing as we are far from the flame front; the surface runs cold, unburned mixture lurks waiting for a chance to start an abnormal combustion event. See a low compression BMW R-series chamber from the early '80's to see how badly the same basic parts can be arranged. Cold, dirty-running, poor atomization in slow moving ports, low output and weak mileage, and VERY octane sensitive. The substitution of a thicker gasket in a chamber that been optomized for a thinner one could make the engine ping worse, in theory.

Innovate sells a very nice mounting spud and bung kit. I bought an M18 tap and make my own tubes of varying materials and thicknesses, but the bung that comes with the LM1 is a very nice piece and the ones I end up using (lightened M18 oil drain plugs, mostly) suffer by comparison. If I could find a bunch of old used spark plugs of this size, I might try to knock the ceramic out and use those as a basis for a bung.