GuzziMoto

Yeah, I love our Lario but finding tires for it is hard. There used to be more options, but 16" sportbike tires have gone the way of the dodo bird.

Yes, times have changed. And so we end up with this going on. There is a good chance someone will get hurt eventually. It is an issue not just because some riders don't want to be followed but also because there are safety concerns with racers cruising around off the pace looking for the tow. There have already been incidents because of that. Personally, I don't have a dog in the fight. But I do find it funny that such highly rated racers do such a novice thing. Makes me think they are not as talented as people think they are.

One thing that they could do to help reduce the traffic from people cruising around waiting for someone to get a tow off of would be to change where timing and scoring starts timing a lap in qualifying. If the timing line for qualifying was perhaps somewhere like between turns one and two the lap would start quicker without the rider being in the way. It could also reduce the issue of the riders not wanting to abuse the tires too much on the warmup lap. If that spot doesn't work right, the timing line could be moved to just about anywhere that it needs to be. It is not uncommon for the timing line in qualifying to be other then at the start / finish line for cars. Moving it reduces the amount of time racers spend either getting up to speed or coming back down.

What docc said... As I recall the 170 came stock on V11 Sports that had the 4.5" wheel, and a 160 fits better. The 170 is a little wide for a 4.5" wheel. The bikes that came with a 5.5" rear wheel came with a 180 rear tire I thought. While going to a 170 is an option, as you mentioned a 170 is not a common size tire and may be hard to find. That is the nature of going for an odd size tire. Also, it looks like it is mainly the Pirelli option that is out of stock. Other brands are in stock.

One of the aspects of riders looking for a tow off other guys is they are cruising around off the pace and often in the way, making themselves a hazard to the other guys who are not engaging in such foolishness. This issue is bad in MotoGP, but even worse in the smaller classes. It is not just the following of another rider, it is the waiting for another rider to come by for them to follow that presents a hazard to others.

V11 Sports come with either a 4.5" wide rear wheel or a 5.5" wide rear wheel. If you have the 4.5" wide rear wheel (that is the typical size on the earlier V11 Sports) a 160 rear tire works well. If you have the 5.5" wide rear wheel of the later V11 Sports a 180 will fit that wheel size fine. I prefer the narrower 160, but only if you have a 4.5" wide rear wheel. Putting a 160 on a 5.5" wide wheel isn't a good fit. Confirming which size rear wheel would be step 1 to me. From there, it is pretty hard to pick a bad tire choice with what is out there now. I like Michelins, but Pirelli, Dunlop, Metzler, they are all fine choices. I like the multi-compound tires available now. But that is not that important unless you rack up a lot of miles a year. I usually end up replacing tires because of age before mileage (except on my 401, which seems to have worn out the OEM tire in less then 5,000 miles).

Yeah, it has gotten out of hand. It is not just him doing it, but he is one of the worst offenders. It actually makes me want them switch to a different qualifying format, like one at a time single lap runs. Send them out a half lap apart one at a time. To me someone needing a carrot in front of them to get their best lap time was always a sign of a novice. Makes it funny that one of the highest regarded motorcycle racers in the world falls into that category, funny that he needs someone in front of him to use as a reference. It isn't just the draft aspect of it, at least with Marc it is about having that reference in front of him. Sad.

While he is certainly in it with a chance, I would not put him as the favorite. There are a few riders with a higher chance of winning the title then him in my opinion. Either way, it will be fun to watch. Whether he wins the title or not I doubt he will dominate the way he has in the past on the Honda.

Those sound like (without actually looking) they are the cartridge inserts for the front forks. They should be the springs and the cartridge that does the valving. A very nice upgrade. Other vendors also offer them.

Yeah, same here. The cold temps meant that much of the snow was the light fluffy variety around us. But others to our east and south may not be so lucky. It is pretty cold, a high of 26 today with a low of 13. We have had colder, but for me that is cold enough. As to power, we don't have the power issues Texas has. Or California. Power might go out, but we don't get rolling brownouts or blackouts. We don't make all our power, but we are part of a larger grid so that shortfalls in power production can come in from elsewhere.

Yes, the air cooled cylinders do have their acoustic properties. And they have their simplicity, which greatly appeals to me. But they also have trouble with the newest emissions regs. I suspect the days of air cooled motorcycles are numbered. Luckily, the ones MG makes tend to be around for a long time, so I don't think I will still be alive at a time when there are no Moto Guzzi's to be had.

Fair enough. I get that. In the end, a motorcycle should speak to you. If it doesn't, it probably isn't one you should buy. I do like the new V100 engine. But I imagine other people don't, as it is water cooled.

Sure, Piaggio has the money to develop a bespoke small engine for MG, but they are going to look at the numbers and how many they think they can sell. Triumph clearly expects to sell a lot more small Triumphs then MG ever would. No doubt Piaggio looked at the numbers, realized they would never sell enough of them to make their investment back, so they declined to invest in a new bespoke Guzzi engine.. They already have a small displacement engine ready to go from Aprilia, and simply opted to start with that. At least it does look like the frame is not lifted from the little Aprilia. Sharing engines makes sense. But sharing too much makes it a classic badge engineering exercise, and I start loosing interest.

Heck, Triumph is developing two new motocross platforms, a 250 single and a 450 single, plus that new 400 single. They are a much larger brand then MG is. Personally, as long as a new MG is really an MG and not a rebadged Aprilia I don't care if the engine layout is not a sideways V twin. As long as they keep thinking outside the box and doing things their own was I don't care if they share engine designs with Aprilia.

Actually, Moto Guzzi has a well established history with engines that aren't sideways V twins. It is fairly recently, in Moto Guzzi terms, that they became known for the sideways V twin. That said, I am fine with other engine layouts as long as it doesn't end up being simple badge engineering. If they just slap MG badges on an Aprilia, that will suck. But if they use an Aprilia engine in a new Guzzi I am fine with that.

Springs can loose their "spring". It does happen. But it would be unusual for it to happen on a motorcycle spring. It tends to happen, for example, on Jeep JK's, which use coil springs, if your springs are low quality and not properly heat treated. That, combined with the heavy nature of a Jeep, can result in the springs sagging. But I doubt the stock V11 spring would be prone to that. More likely what might feel like the springs being worn out is the shocks being worn out. The shocks are there to control the springs. That said, the stock spring is not always the right rate for the rider depending on the riders weight and riding style. Preload does not, as mentioned, change spring rate. Preload sets ride height when you are on the bike riding down the road. Adding preload will make the bike ride higher when you are on it riding down the road. That can be a good thing, but it won't make a spring that is too soft stiffer if you add preload. This has been covered repeatedly on here, but a standard path forward is to fully set sag. Setting sag will tell you if your springs are too soft, too hard, or right. If the sag of the bike is right with you on the bike (Race Sag is the term used for that), but the bike sags too much under just its own weight the springs are too stiff. If the Race Sag is right but the bike sags too little under just its own weight the springs are too soft (that means you had to add too much preload into the spring to get the Race Sag right, so sag under just the weight of the bike was reduced). Yes, it can sound backwards. If Race Sag is right and the bike sags the right amount under just the weight of the bike your spring rate is good. From there you can go about adjusting dampening to get the ride quality you are looking for. Harsh ride over jolts can be a lack of spring rate, but it can also be a lack of dampening. Set your sag first, and if required change your springs so sag is right. Then adjust dampening. A longer rear shock usually means higher ride height at the rear. But, as mentioned, it does not always mean that. The spring rate and preload do play a role. But with most longer rear shocks you are increasing the ride height at the rear.

I think when you say "forks are raised 5mm" you mean the triple clamps are slid down the fork tubes 5mm, so that the front end is 5mm lower, right? When you say "raised" you mean the fork tubes relative to the triple clamps, I think. 10mm - 15mm is a common amount to lower the front end, but raising the rear end means less lowering of the front end would be required to achieve the same result. 10mm higher at the back along with 5mm lower at the front is roughly the same as 15mm lower at the front as far as steering goes, while not costing you the ground clearance that only lowering the front 15mm would have cost. Back when I raced a HD 883 we ran way longer shocks in back AND lowered the front to try to get the bike to turn faster. But you were flirting with the limits of not having enough trail. Stability was often an issue.

Both dropping the forks and a longer shock are common mods for the V11. But usually it is one or the other. That said, there is nothing that says you can't do both. But just because some is good doesn't always mean more is better. Both dropping the front forks and a longer rear shock reduce trail. Trail is a big part of what make the motorcycle stable. Too little trail can lead to stability issues. So, there is a point where more is not better, at least when it comes to this. That is one reason why I prefer an adjustable length shock to a fixed length longer shock. But if the shock length is fixed you can always use the fork height adjustment and the preload adjustment to get the steering where you want it.

The two valve CARC bikes are nice, but I was not impressed when I rode a Norge. It was too soft for my tastes. I can imagine that to some it would be perfect, but for me it was too soft. Like riding a marshmallow. The V11 Sport is a sharper focused tool, along with the Griso. But the V11 Sport is likely a high water mark for Guzzi. We will see if the new V100 delivers anything comparable.

That sure does look like something is up in that muffler. It could be fueling or it could be a problem physically in the muffler.

Or this one.... Yeah, I'm back

My wife keeps plants in the house. I don't mind. I keep motorcycles in the house, she doesn't mind. A woman who won't allow a motorcycle in the house is not a "keeper".

That would depend on the bike(s), obviously. If the bikes is drained of fuel the risk of smell is reduced dramatically. But even there, modern bikes in the US have a vent system for the fuel tank that is designed to capture the fuel vapors. Fuel is probably the main possible source of an odor. These are my two bikes in my living room. But they don't get run. So there is no fuel in them. I did add a secondary floor for them so if they do mess up the floor under them (Old Ducatis do sometimes mark their territory) it is not the real floor but a secondary floor that they are messing up. I did that with snap together flooring and some trim for the edge.

Sorry for getting this thread too far off into the weeds, but way back when we were racing an 883 at Daytona we got to know a guy known as "Merlin" real well. I wrecked the 883 in the chicane on the back straight at near 100 mph. It was messed up. Merlin was at the track running a mobile machine shop. He was a great guy and was a massive help to us. It got to the point that when we walked up he just pointed us to whatever we needed and we did it ourselves. It was epic. That was the bike that was never right again, it turned better one way then the other because the front and rear wheels were no longer in line. The standard term was "Rub the new off it". I have full respect for people that can do work like that without the standard machines and tools most people would require to do such work.

You and me both. Try rebuilding Ducati cylinder heads in the pits at a racetrack, hand grinding the shims to get the clearances right. Or hammering the frame to get it close enough to straight so you can rebuild the bike and race. So it turns better one way then the other, big deal. It was a Harley anyway, it really didn't turn that well to begin with.