Lucky Phil

Seems decent with 1 cylinder low on comp for whatever reason. Looks like the guy who's selling isn't an "engine guy" more a chassis aesthetics guy so isn't prepared to go inside the engine. Your question isn't answerable without knowing what the asking price is. Also you haven't mentioned the mileage believable or not. As for $175/hr labour well that's in the luxury/rich persons bracket isn't it? I had to laugh at the working environment, budget quality tools and cheap old rusty compression tester, working outside in the dirt. Probably best he left the engine alone. I often look at the background more than the item to get an idea of whats on offer. A plus is he hasn't been inside the engine but the reality of old bike restos is if you need to farm out the engine work to someone else the risk is high and your pockets need to be deep unless you are exceedingly lucky. At your mechanics rate i'd estimate a simple top end flex hone job with new rings and valve seat lap and re assemble would be 8 hrs work at least plus parts. So you can see how the costs can blow out if anything else crops up. Phil

Without a doubt. I've seen and heard one run and ride in the flesh. Impressions? massively overweight, and chunky. Poorly engineered. They had perennial issues with oil leaks from the cam drive covers and an appalling gearbox shifting action that was never really addressed. I learned quickly in the mid 80's from being in Britain and hanging out with the industry people a lesson about the English speaking motorcycle press. They were so parochial in those days you could pretty much dismiss all their opinions on British made or British involved anything. So they pumped this thing up a lot but the reality was disappointing. Bit like those horrid Janus things made in the states now. Phil

True but they don't bang on about how home grown they are. There's not a lot in a Ducati that's made outside Italy come to think of it. Phil

No docc C3 just refers to the bearings internal clearance. The V11 wheel bearings are the classic single row deep groove ball bearing as an example. Phil

What a total wanker. The bike was rubbish years ago when it was first released and still is. As for British made wank? Well, Wheels and suspension aren't just for starters. Foot pegs and carriers that look like something I made in my workshop. Rubbish sold on "Britishness" that doesn't exist and poor quality, masquerading as rawness and simplicity. Phil

I don't back them off docc, too much chance of introducing freeplay. All single/double groove ball bearings will accept a decent amount of axial load and commonly do in practice. It's when it becomes excessive it's an issue such as when the wheel bearing spacer is too short and the amount of torque applied by the axle nut has to be tolerated. Remember even in that case the wheel bearings still last quite a while. In the case of the massive double row ball bearings at the pivot a small amount of preload is preferable to zero or clearance. When I say small I mean "nipped up" to coin an Aussie phrase. Maybe 1 foot pound or so. Think about ball races in a car gearbox main shaft and layshaft for example restraining the lateral force imposed by helical cut gears and 5 or 6 hundred foot pounds of torque generated by the engine. The Koyo bearing catalogue also backs this up for deep groove ball bearings and advises if axial loads are large to increase the shoulder radial depth in the housing. So they accept that significant axial loads will sometimes occur. Phil

Well my 40,000klms riding experience around Germany was 2 up on K100rs's fully loaded with panniers, tank bad and rear rack. Yes my Autobahn speeds were usually around the 120-140 mark. The rear tyres on both trips easily lasted without any thought of needing replacement and I was still riding on them at home when the bikes arrived back in Aus. Rear was only a 130 x 18 from memory as well in those good old days Phil

The most complex and contentious subject in the automotive and motorcycle world, tyres. In theory a wider tyre on the same size rim should have a flatter profile so put more rubber on the ground even upright so all other other things being equal less weight/square CM you should get improved tyre life but it's obviously far more complex than that. One thing I learned a long long time ago was the thing that truly kills rear tyre mileage is stop start traffic conditions. Every time you accelerate the mass of the bike from a standing start it multiplies the wear exponentially compared to steady state riding. And I don't mean hard launches either just the normal bike riders urban riding from a stop to 60kph or so. Add riding on our type of not so smooth B roads on the weekends in our hotter weather and rear tyre life is pretty poor. Cool European conditions, smooth B roads and Autobahn cruising makes for decent tyre life. Phil

The max voltage is too high. Is this figure with the headlights on or off? 14.6 volts will eventually cook the battery. As docc pointed out 12.6 is a little low at idle but then it depends on what the true idle actually is. Phil

Good info but modifying the std tap with Viton orings seems a more elegant solution. There's enough pipes and connections under the tank as it is for mine. I really dont want any more. Phil

You can't use this. The distance from the tap outlet to the pump inlet is so short and requires a curve in the hose that ANY section of stiffness in the inlet hose wont work. If it was this easy I'd have opted for a different tap assy instead of spending hours on making mine rebuildable. Phil

Oops I missed the fellow Aussie connection. Here Lambda and when? Not sure. Pete might chime in and let us know. Another reason for poor fuel economy in an old not ridden much bike....leaking fuel injectors. This would be my first line of action in the absence of the bleeding obvious other reasons. You could check them on the bike I guess as a back yard method. Remove the injector, reconnect the feed hose and wiring connector and turn on the ignition a few times and see if it leaks anything. The lines maintain pressure for a while with the ignition off and even a few drops/ minute would be bad. Phil

A 2001 Le Mans won't have a lambda sensor will it? Phil

Nope docc tool not required and re-useable. You can release them with a very small bladed straight screw driver and to secure them you can use a pair of side cutters or pincher pliers even multi grips if you have plenty of room. Thats how I did them for years until one day I was about to throw away an old pair of combo pliers and thought I wonder if I can re purpose these into a Cobra clip tool. Five minutes on the grinder and done. Phil

These are what you use on FI hoses. Norma cobra clips. Compact, easy to install, easy to remove, re useable, stainless steel, bullet proof sealing, colour banded for size identification. They sell a special tool to install them but it's not required in reality although I made up one using an old worn out pair of combination pliers for convenience sake. Purple banded size is what you need on 5/16 FI hose. I've been using them for many years and they work perfectly and look compact, professional and tidy. Worm drive clamps are horrible shit looking things. Bulky and just awful to look at. https://www.iq-parts-shop.com/en/norma-cobra-hose-clamp.html Phil

Well I'm darned if I know what my 24mm pins are off because the p/n's for the Centy and the later post 2002 v11's are the same Phil

I know for sure it's just the thread size docc. I'm thinking the 24mm ones I have are Centauro pins which means Guzzi made at least 3 different thread diameters for the same part that does the same job. Whats the sense in that. Before the days of "parts rationalisation I guess. Now wonder they were always in the red. Phil

I'm starting to wonder if my spare pins are off a Centauro. Phil

I measured the ID of the locknut at just under 20mm so the OD I guessed at 22mm. The other pair of pins I have are on the bench and I measured them at 24mm thread OD. In the recesses of my mind I have a memory that there was a 2mm OD difference between the old and later type thats why I went for 22 on the old OD. Phil

Corrections. Old size looks like M22 X 1.0 without pulling the locknut off. Later bikes definitely M24 X 1.0. Phil

It's pointless discussing fine tuning a Guzzi for the subtle operations such as fine throttle response, idle and coughing when you are trying or indeed running it on 100 octane race fuel. The higher the octane rating the less volatile the fuel and the more likely you are to have low speed throttle response and idling issues. Low volatility is great for anti knock but bad for pretty much everything else. The greater volatility of lower octane fuels also helps with intake temps due to better evaporation in the inlet manifold which also is the reason the higher octane fuels often exhibit poor low speed running. We ran some race engines on 100LL Avgas back in the day on injected Ducati Superbike engines and they exhibited poor low speed running especially when the engine was cold and the only advantage it offered was consistency. In the IOM years ago the guy in the next garage to us was using it in his Kawasaki production bike and it was a bitch to keep running properly on start up even with choke at 0430 in the cold weather before the 5am practice started. The Sunco 100 race fuel is actually 104 RON octane and the highest pump fuel we have here is 98 Octane, so it's a decent jump. America uses some average number of RON and MON for their ratings. So on a Guzzi engine I'm pretty confident the Sunco fuel will result in worse low speed running especially at cooler OAT's and poorer starting as well. It's street legal in the US but mostly used by massive boost road car nutters you have there.

Why Titanium? because the std ones are really quite heavy. Ti ones are on my list of things to machine up for my bike but I'd need to use a different method for holding them instead of an allan socket as i don't have a broaching tool. The thread will be MXX by 1.0mm I'm almost certain. I have a pair of large ones as spares that I can check later today. Important if you want to buy a replacement pork chop. Phil

Depends on what year. There are 2 different sizes. The earlier red frame bikes had the fine thread in from memory 18mm and the later M20. Phil

It's pretty easy to remove the ethanol from the Tainted stuff you get in the USA to keep corn growers in business. I wouldn't want to do it for commuting to work but for day rides it's doable. Phil

Why? Phil