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cold air without snow - always great fun with the V11

Talking about the frame end? Definitely an issue. When was the last time any of us inspected that? A formula for disaster when neglected. Kudos to your technician finding that. It should be inspected, cleaned, and greased with waterproof grease at every rear tire change . . . https://www.v11lemans.com/forums/topic/22039-torque-reaction-rods/ The torque reaction rod bushings , and its pivots, are a line item in the Wheels Off Maintenance Checklist:

Moderator note: The purpose of replies enabled in Classifieds is to assist the seller and prospective buyers, not to debate the seller's listing or pricing. Replies to this thread have been amended once, already, for not complying with this intent. Discussions of our opinions as to value of various V11 models, in various configurations, is a topic for "24/7 V11." Please reserve Classified replies for those directly and seriously interested in the item offered.

This topic has been raised numerous times over the now two decades of this forum's existence, and there have been a handful of examples where owners have tracked down a paint or powder-coating color that approximates the OEM "anodized" red finish on some of the V11 Sport/Lemans models "porkchop" (sideplate) and valve covers. Since neither the porkchops nor the valve covers were actually anodized, it proved difficult to find a finish that would replicate the OEM faux anodized appearance. And unfortunately the finish on the "porkchops" didn't prove very durable, and the finish on the valve covers often faded as well. So the search for an appropriate finish started almost immediately. And BTW, I was told by an anodizing shop that one can't just get those parts anodized due to the type of casting... at least not the valve covers. Well, I recently obtained a powder coating sample from Prismatic Powders, called unsurprisingly "Anodized Red", that looks remarkably close to the original OEM finish before it faded and cracked: https://www.prismaticpowders.com/shop/powder-coating-colors/PPB-5936/anodized-red ANODIZED RED (Item: PPB-5936) I haven't applied this finish to a part yet, but the sample looks very good. So if you are looking for a finish to repair or replicate the OEM V11 "anodized" red color, this might be an option to consider.

First run and short hop off the ground.. I was just slowly advancing the throttle with neutral controls and suddenly we were 20 feet in the air. I hadn't even done fuel flow tests yet, so discretion won out over valor and I cut the throttle and landed. It has *plenty* of power.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_umQOUVJUQw

No I haven't posted here for years and years, but am looking at pics from 20 years ago (19 1/2yrs more accurate) of collecting Scura #497 in England. Now there are five Guzzis sitting about the place, collected up over the 20 yrs. You know how it is.

I'm hesitant to jump in here but... This bolt's job is not to hold your rod in shear. This bolt's job is to clamp the frame tabs onto the bushing spacer hard enough that it doesn't move at all, and the bolt should never be put in a meaningful shear state. Nobody has mentioned the torque spec for this bolt... Secondarily, bolt hardness and tensile strength are not *necessarily* correlated with shear strength. Toughness is (which nobody quantifies on a bolt, it's a characteristic of the material of the bolt) If the bolt doesn't clamp sufficiently, and is tough enough that it never shears, you'll eventually end up with egg-shaped holes in the frame tabs as the weakest link wears. All that said, a harder bolt with higher tensile strength is less subject to relaxing over time and allowing the spacer to bang it every time you roll on/off the throttle. Meh.

Believe it or not, but this is how it looks now... Only the frame, gearbox and drive-shaft are still original

Time to show a picture of what my V11LM looked like

After a long winter and getting heads rebuilt I finally got my Norge to start! Not too impressive yet but we still have 3 feet of snow on the ground. Should be able to ride it next month.

Newly purchased 2012 Stelvio home with me now. Bought new by PO in 2014 from local Guzzi dealer in in Canada. His wife worked there as saleperson and it has been serviced there until they closed up shop. 7k miles, very nice shape and true to form it seems with every bike I buy, original rubber. Took almost 1 hour to get through customs since nobody there was familiar with bike imports so they had to read the regs and ask a lot of questions with others. First questions asked of me...Moto Guzzi? Is that Japanese? lol Much thanks to the forum members for answering my questions and giving me valuable info, especially Pete Roper. His information was precise and plentiful. After about 30 emails back and forth, I asked if could remove valve cover to confirm roller tappets. The manufacture date was not able to be verified on headstock because all of the stuff in the way but engine numbers were after cutoff. But Pete said only true confirmation was visual, so I asked and owner obliged. I got it for a great price. 600 miles round trip with two nights at my sister's in Seattle to break up the trip. Plus I took care of stuff at her place so she was happy to have me...especially since I fixed her bedroom pocket door that the roller came out of the plate on top of the door. One thing for sure...this bike is not going to see any dirt. I bought it for the highway and that is where it will stay. Tires and CARC bearing service, oil, filter, valve adjustment and fresh non-E gas is on the menu.

Update: All fixed! Finally had some time to get back to the project, have been busy at work and riding the Tour of Texas and other activities so the Scura was sitting waiting for attention. Anyway, a few weeks ago at Gstallons recommendation I took my fuel injectors to get reconditioned...that was excellent advice and both were in need of it, but the left one in particular was quite under performing vs. the right one. All of the other items, wires, coils all checked out nicely with no need to replace but I had bought spares anyway just in case. At any rate, after all kinds of fun cleaning the throttle bodies once they were off, sorting out stripped screws on several of the mounting spots, putting in new hex head screws where appropriate, I got it all re-assembled, set the new TPS adjusted properly at 157 mv fully closed with throttle disconnected, high idle screw loose and idle screw backed out (TPS measures 4.78v at WOT w/o linkage connected) and the tuning began again. What I found: The air bleed screws needed to be set differently from left vs. right and in all of my previous attempts I had kept them identical as per all of the prior write ups. Playing with each of the settings and watching the results on the Carbtune, despite cleaning the throttle bodies thoroughly and the bleed screws as well, there's some inherent mismatch on the throttle bodies, that with an extra 1.5 turns out on the RHS vs. LHS, they balance perfectly at idle without the throttle body linkage connected and it idles beautifully and no cough either. I managed to set the idle screws at almost identical levels as well w/o the linkage connected using a feeler gauge technique Gstallons had recommended. Once the connecting rod was reconnected and dialed in until just one or two threads were showing from the locknut vs. the plastic cup, the bike maintained its balance at idle and was perfectly balanced also at 3k RPM's on the Carbtune. Well...off on a test run we go, around the block seems perfect, so let's go for a longer run. A 100 miles later on a cold Houston day, and it's absolute perfection, beautifully smooth, not a single cough of any sort, and feels like much lower vibrations than before. Dare I say it runs better than before...I believe so. Will get some more runs on it over the next day and weeks and hopefully it stays as good as today. Big thanks to all and especially Gstallons for the time we spent on the phone...hopefully it's set and I can rack up some more miles on it now!

Can't "like" that, @gstallons. I, too, have that affliction, but, as it's on the mild side, I find that aspirin cuts it (enough) to push through. My right wrist is the way more painful of the pair, following a "I laid 'er down" event in 2003. I was attempting to pass an old red pickup on that sweet stretch of ridge-top pavement on Alab. SR 281 near Cheaha S.P. -- yes, flashed lights and tapped horn -- when said bubba turned left without warning of any kind. Told me it was his "reg'lar turn'round point." Bent my right thumb all the way back! Yes, that hurt some. Then rode the EV to a friend's house in Anniston. Said friend's wife was a RN, and he a bourbon aficionado. A nice combo. OK, must go on with (related) Paul Harvey. So, had surgery. Seemed to go well. Then, after wearing cast for a bit, I went in for a checkup. You know it's a bad sign when the doc's assistant starts to heave when she removed the first cast. Next thing I knew, I was in an ambulance headed to the hospital! In the prep for surgery #2, the anesthesiologist -- a stunning darling of a woman who looked (at least in my memory and retelling) like Andie McDowell right out of Groundhog Day -- asked me if there was anything I wanted. I passed over what I wanted to say , and came up with a lame "How about a beer?" She responded with "Let's make it a six pack," and punched the button. Lights out. OK, back to writing that speech on 19th century military law. Call me if you are suffering from insomnia along with arthritis. Bill

I have a Coppa Italia. It used to live in germany. It is now enjoying the seaside living in Portugal.

In the most insidious way, this thread has made it firmly back to fish . . .

Cleaned up very nicely!

G'day folk's Well life has conspired to keep me off the green one for the last 6 bloody weeks.....Argghhh! Finally, an opportunity arose to get a ride in turned up when asked to help out at our Dandenong branch last week.So not only did I eagerly volunteer, I didn't give a flying fornication what the weather was going to do or even if it snowed on Friday.... I'm taking the bike! So up a wee bit earlier in case of trouble starting her,I'm togged up and ready to go at 5 am. Ha ha no sign of any snow and a nice cool morning! Hit the starter and bingo she fires right up! I expected some bother after 6 weeks but warmed her up well as I normally do and pulled out the driveway and through town to the Freeway on ramp.Just as I feed in the power to get up to speed, she just loses all power and dies! So Brrrr Brrrrr over to the side of the road and what the....I turn everything off and try to re-start but all I get is d,d d, d,d d, d,d,d and no go! Weird and just as I'm about to get off and call the wife I thought I'd flick the kill switch a couple of times and try again.BINGO she fires up! Great so off to the servo for gas and she won't fire up again! Another flick of the kill switch and she fires up...Phew! I decide I'll keep going but she's running ok but just not quite right.Can't put my finger on it but give her a bit of the ole Italian tune up a few times when I'm certain Mr Plod's not looking and by about 50 or so Kay's she's coming good! By the time I get off the freeway at the other end she's back to her old self again! She stalled when warming up after work but quickly back to normal and I had a so so ride home. It was only due to traffic on a Friday arvo of a long weekend but I did enjoy a few brief clear patches. After that wee taste I decided I'd take the bike again Saturday to see Dad after we'd done the weekly shopping. She fired up ok but I think she took a little bit longer to warm up and idle ?? Not sure but she was all good on leaving the servo again. Now about this time the cloudy overcast morning gives way to a bright and sunny clear 20 degree wind free day and I hit the brilliant twisty bits between Drouin and Lang Lang! Both of us ( me and the bike ) are running well and we have the road to ourselves....! It was just one of those rides where everything goes just right and made even more enjoyable as it'd been too long ! I was babbling away about it for ages when I got to Dad's but my brother's an ex- rider and knew what I was on about! I could see the wistful look in his eyes and left the subject alone from there. Twas a great catch up but more of the same lay ahead on the way home again.I didn't quite have the road to myself this time round but we still had a bloody great ride home. I'm sure as hell not leaving her sitting idle for six weeks again! ( touch wood ). Cheers Guzzler

Yes, identical loads on each end of the reaction rod, as a single bolt forms a "pin joint". However I think that the forward end of the rod is more exposed to road spray, which explains the number of reports of the forward bolt breaking. Assembly with an anti-corrosion jointing compound like Duralac or Mastinox will reduce rust without encouraging bolt rotation as grease would. Since stress corrosion cracking is more likely on high tensile bolts, I believe that staying with the original spec bolt is a better idea, if you want it to last another 20 years.

This year, I am going to blog it differently; rather than piecemeal following post additions, I will update the first post (if possible; I remember there is a limit to the number of photos one post can contain) as I complete the tour stops. Everything will be in a single post, at the front of the thread. Easier to follow. Here's the map for 2023 50 stops( not formatted for phone view): this year, there are three additional "Alternative stops" that can be substituted for any of the 50 contractual ones. Once I have made a stop, I change the color from red to green. As of reporting on March 7th, I have made three. I should report distance and gas mileage. Trip done on Monday 20th, March 2023; page updated on Tuesday 21st, March 2023. Gulf Loop: around 400 miles total. 40 to 50 degrees F: I will add the fuel details once I have refilled the tank. Stop #33 former Kingsbury post-office: Stop 38 Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum: Stop #20 Edna Movie Theater: Stop 43 Hotel Blessing: I was warned beforehand! one of the best buffet for homemade real food... they only accept cash unfortunately. Stop #ALT1 Pete the Mule (in lieu of Stop #50 Lonestar Rider who is doing a 48 States ride): Stop #02 Buddy Holly Center: Stop #03 12th Armored Division Memorial Museum: Stop #41 Historic Comanche Depot: Stop #8 History of Coryell County Mural: INITIAL Mileage before starting the 2023 tour; Stop #27: Navasota Classic Rock Coffee Co. & Kitchen: Lady #683: I did the same mistake parking with the front end first here. This is an incline and with a heavy bike, you cannot get out anymore. Fortunately, the car parked on her left hand side moved. Stop #25: Houston Red Roof Hotel: Red Roof is a sponsor of the tour; Stop #47 Galveston Naval Museum: Approximate calculated mileage Stops 27, 25, 47: 281.3

Apropos vaginas, I don't own one, either, but I have found them quite useful over the years. Lawyers less so, and certainly are less fun -- well, except for one or two that possessed the subject private part, but that was before my Perfect Pillion & Polish Princess , so the less said about that these days, the better. As for lawyers, I understand how folks can think as you do -- and, occasionally, I even share that view. Still, when I hear such statements, I am reminded of the several times over my 50+ years of practice when I picked up such lawyer-bashing folks at the local jail and how happy they were to see me. Bill Member, Kentucky Bar, since 1971

The 1400 models uses a steel reinforced bottom gasket - to prevent a "blow out" of internal oil - resulting in loss of oil pressure. This gasket has No: B063861 I will advise this gasket to be used on all big Guzzi's from 1965 and up.

If this happened under extreme braking it is unlikely to be pressure loss due to pick up exposure. The pick up on the 'Broad Sump' motors is at the front on the right of the sump. Under heavy braking the oil will slosh forward and there is little chance of it being exposed. It's on hard acceleration, and especially if you wheelie it, that the pick up is likely to be uncovered. In this case, if I'm interpreting the OP correctly, the light remained on for ten minutes after the event during which time the motor was running and the bike was being ridden. If there had been a catastrophic loss of pressure the crank would be toast. Plain bearings simply can't survive without a constant supply of oil at the correct pressure. We are talking seconds, not minutes for irreparable damage to occur. That leads me to think it is far more likely that the cause for the light coming on is far more likely to be something as simple as a dodgy switch, (A well known and documented issue.) or even simply the connector on the wire that goes to it being loose and just the inertia of the cable hurtling forward as the brakes were applied may of caused it to slip and break the circuit. I'd still suggest the installation of a sloppage sheet as it really is very cheap protection for your crank but in this case I don't think it would of helped.

My brother, who got me into motorcycling, performed this valuable life-learning experience for my eternal benefit . . .

It's interesting how when something sits for years it begins to show its age, even if it is sheltered. Paint and other finishes oxidize, as of course do metallic parts, and plastics can do weird things too as they age, especially if they were cheaply made. If one hasn't checked on it for a couple+ years, it is always amazing to find something like corrosion or peeling paint and wonder "how did that happen?". ...time happened For example, my bike has been sitting covered for many many years in a garage, and cleaned and started at least a few times a year, but the garage is not climate controlled. So condensation, humidity, dust, "air" have still taken a small toll on some of the finishes, and in a few cases a more serious toll. One example is the front subframe. The left side where it bolts to the engine has rusted significantly and the paint on the subframe around that bolt has peeled away. I can only assume this is where condensation from humidity settled for years and got under a knick in the paint. It's not a big deal, I actually have a spare NOS subframe, or can just have this one repainted, but is interesting to see how things can deteriorate even when sheltered.

Etsa notta noise, etsa sound. It *is* a radial engine after all. A fair amount of wind noise. Probably will need ear plugs, although my sweetie has ordered me a Lindbergh era leather aviator's cap. We'll see.. but no armored jacket, boots, gloves, etc. for this "flying motorcycle." Sure, it's a cockpit. I wonder where that term came from?? Altitude? Dunno.. whatever seems natural. There's no altimeter, but probably 400 to 1000 feet. Another regulation is no larger than a 5 gallon tank, so it's not for going places although you could, I suppose. They are also supposed to only be able to fly 55 knots wide open, and fuel burn is a little over 2 gallons per hour. It is just a toy with no real use except for the joy of "operating the machine" and maybe looking over the local crops, watching sunrises and sunsets, etc. without worrying about that bluehair in the Buick or brain dead texter that are tryin to kill me on my motorcycle.

Very few A&Ps actually fly. A pilot sits there fat, dumb, and happy thinking, "what could possibly go wrong?"

Not to steal MartyNZ's reply, but . . . . What would concern me about the heavy tape, likely added as a vibration damper, is heat retention. The relays get hot, especially #5 (fuel/ignition). Under-rated or under-built relays get really hot. Hot = bad = failure prone. Lot's of discussion in this lengthy, buy informative thread: I would think it telling just what relays you find under the tape, @activpop . . .

Readying the V11 for brake fluid flush. The clutch bleeder is always the fun part.

China is fully capable of quality manufacturing. Period. They are also capable of making what ever the customer wants at the price the customer wants, too. High quality Chinese parts are as expensive as high quality made in USA parts, however. Commie Nick (RIP) worked at manufacturing AN hardware in China, for instance.

I dropped off the Greenie for a new rear tire, brakes, et al., was told the torque rod bolt in the rear suspension was sheared and was holding on by a nub. I don't know if this is common, perhaps it's worth checking. I know I never looked at it. FYI

Sorry guys..

The base configurations are all identical (Micro-ISO). In that last image of the Picker Components PC782-1C-12S-R-X (left, rated 30/25) and the CIT Relay A11CSQ12VDC1.5R (right, rated 30/20) the size and construction of the two relays are visibly identical except for the Normally Closed contacts that look visibly more robust on the Picker Components (rated 25 amps N.C.) on the left:

A glarish bright orange Kubota or an understated grey V100 Aviazione Navale Hmmm Kathi would understand I’d wager

Yours reminds me -- perhaps because I am dealing with someone whose location is listed as "UK (Oz)" and who quoted an American -- of this from a 16th century Englishman: The Lawyer makes no plea but for privat profitte, and buildes goodly houses, and purchaseth whole countries about him . . . . The souldiour serves his countrye for a small stypende, and would be contended with alowance but to buie meate, drinke, and cloath. **** [Lawyers] affect eloquence to maintain bad causes; they are studiously affable to procure new clients; they are devilishly subtle to cloak inconveniences. Seeming to be ministers of light, they hunt after continual darkness, concluding the truth within a golden cloude, making blacke white, and white blacke, darkenyng all things with their distinctions that should give light, so that in all things they seem civil, yet in all things they are most uncivil. Barnaby Riche, 1577 Best wishes, Bill P.S. On the merits, maybe Piaggio is right to grab better control of its name, V100's seem to be selling very well. I am even considering -- while looking carefully to see if Kathi, who is sitting next to me can see this -- getting one! I really dont need one, and a Kubota calls a bit louder, but, of course, none of that is important when dealing with moto-lust.

I often go to an Ace hardware in Richmond. The owner is very proud of his hardware selection. He claims it’s the largest selection east of the Mississippi or something like that. It truly is an amazing selection of fasteners and things. I chose a M10 shoulder bolt with the appropriate amount of shoulder and cut the threaded section to length as needed. Metric bolts do come in a range of hardnesses similar to Grade 3,5,8, FYI. It seems Ace Hardware is making a strong comeback and I’m thrilled to see it happening.

I don't believe there were any changes to the v11 Lemans fairings and supporting framework for the entire run, but one would need to check the parts diagrams for each year to be certain. That being said, I suspect any would work if you were to get the entire assembly from one bike. Not that any of the following is completely helpful with your exact question, but I was just Goggling around about that "Coppa Lemans"/"CoppaMans" about a week ago out of curiosity, and it appears that more than one conversion may have been done or considered. So the links below may be interesting. There were some links to other forums from some of the threads here, but those are apparently dead now. The fellow ( manuelbig ) that did his was a member here for a while, and although he has been inactive since 2012, Jaap may have his email. If so you could reach out to him to see what he remembers about the conversion and any lessons learned. https://www.v11lemans.com/forums/profile/9233-manuelbig/

I'd fully serviced my relay connections with DeOxit, tightened spades and installed genuine (?) Omron relays per much discussion. I was in Daytona this weekend (not preferred, but old friends in town) and after a half hour of stop-n-go traffic in hot sun, 88*, just as I approaching a parking lot I began losing power, eventually barely moving, then only idling, then sputtering to a stop. Fortunately I drifted into a parking spot. I immediately removed the rear seat and felt the relays (1100 sport has 4) 3 were hot, #2, fuel pump, was too hot. I restarted twice, both times with sputtering and dying. I installed one of the spare relays we all carry and it seemed all was right again. Obviously, the air, pavement, and engine temps were very high, with no air movement under the seat. Also, my bike only holds 12.4 volts at idle, so current through the relay was higher than at RPM. It's rare that I enter any sort of traffic, but I thought a simple enough solution is to mount a computer fan to blow across them. There's plenty of room outboard in the tailpiece, so I'll be doing some discovery on that pretty soon. I'll see if I can't engineer some test scenarios with heat gun and pictures.

Yes

Wasn’t the spark plug experience mandatory growing up all over . Some things just need 1experience to be remembered. Cheers Tom.

I had to look up that “Burning Man” reference. I then saw that "smells" at one had nothing to do with the other. A noncombatant in the sexual and other revolutions of the '60's and '70's, I have never been into druidical gatherings of the Burning Man sort, tho my parents, both closet bohemians and hippies, would have loved to attend the early ones at least. For me, however, the term evoked another “burning man,” and I was puzzled by the connection until I did the wikipedia thing and learned about about the one @docc mentioned. The "Dead Man’s Corner” in my head was this: I visited that spot in May 2018 with five other Old Flatulent paratroopers like me who, at least in our fading memories, “were soldiers once … and young.” We toured several battlefields and cemeteries where, in particular, our “alma mater,” the 82d Airborne Division, the 101st, and other airborne formations had fought in WWII. Many are still there. As I started my Army life as a tanker, and my father was an armored crewman in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy in that unpleasant international event of ’39 - ‘45, I was especially drawn to the affair at Dead Man's Corner. By now, if still reading, here’s that story: Dead Man's Corner God bless all those brave folks. Feeling (somewhat) apologetic for thread drift, Joe & others, I did do some Guzzi-sightseeing, too. Met these folks at a rest area at a rest area: And stopped here to kick tires: Jaap was, regrettably, vacationing in the UK when I was near his home Nijmegen/Arnhem, of “A Bridge Too Far” fame, so we couldn’t link up. Ciao, Bill

The V11 Sport/Lemans is now apparently considered a "Historic Model" ... well, according to Wikipedia at least I guess that is fair, since the oldest V11 Sport is now 26 years old if it were built in 1997 for the 1998 model year. Even the newest model in 2004 would be 19 years old. Hard to believe, but how time flies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Moto_Guzzi_motorcycles And the link from the main article takes one to the French entry for the V11. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moto_Guzzi_V11 (Here is a link translated to English via Google: https://fr-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Moto_Guzzi_V11?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp ) And so, we have the following review, covering what is now considered an "Italian Classic". It is interesting watching this younger fellow describe the V11 in terms of a vintage motorcycle, especially commenting on how he's never ridden a motorcycle without features like traction control and ABS. In contrast, I've never ridden a motorcycle with those features!

It's winter here my friends. Not riding my V-11, rather my MXZ. Put 144 miles on this weekend in some crisp, clean and sunny, cold air. .

Thanks for bringing up this topic; UTAC used to based in Monthlery France, where I happened to do my High School. UTAC stands for Union Technique de l'Automobile et du Cycle. Monthlery has a racing track where Grand-Prix F1 and Motorcycle took place when I was a kid. While in Monthlery, we used to go to the track to watch cars while they were being tested, and spoke with the UTAC technicians. UTAC has grown and has an international footprint today. However, the headquarters are still based at the Monthlery racing track like they were in the 60's when I was there. The track is no longer certified for racing, but it is used for numerous events of all kinds for cars and motorcycles. UTAC is the company you would use to do all your testing including certification. They can be trusted for impartiality, even if the test was paid for by Bridgestone; UTAC is a private for profit company. Glossary: the report mentions "on the ring"; the "RING" is an oval with banked curves. The Monthlery circuit is not where they did the test in the report. The test was conducted at Bridgestone Italian tracks. As you can see in this very old diagram made by UTAC (look at the telephone numbers with only two and three digits), initially the track was long; 7.765 miles when you include what is described as "boucles des Biscornes (Biscornes Loop). Look at the two videos herewith: the one on motorbike is done on the Biscornes Loop. The second video is shot on the oval. As pointed out in the second video, during tests, they run the oval counterclockwise. For races, clockwise, and they omit the Biscornes loop. They take the short cut turn at "The two bridges". I have driven on the Biscornes loop, not with a motorcycle though. The track is very representative of all you find on road. The oval is also very bumpy, because with time, it has degraded. This is the reason why they have added so many chicanes to prevent drivers to go too fast.

I hate bleeding brakes and clutch. Even with an Ezibleeder kit I can’t seem to get all the air out. Usually end up with the brake lever spongier than the wife’s home made cakes

I was in Cuba about 13 years ago and there were police officers on Moto Guzzi Nevadas 750 at the time. photo: Wikipedia

Also installed Joe Kenny head guards, they look good against the patina'd Rosso valve covers..

I like my motorbikes to look like they came out of the assembly line yesterday. Independently of their millesime. I am not so much on time erosion. My V11 exhibits plenty of signs it has been here and there, and some of them make me cringe and unhappy. My right hand side initially immaculate exhaust has a small scratch, after I dropped the bike. Each time I wash the Le Mans, I try to ignore that it is there, but I can't, and it brings pain. I considered replacing that exhaust just for that, but Stay in Tune did not Stay in business. When I was young, a friend of mine had her nose broken playing sport. The patina rationale did not hold water. The nose job did.... There is also a great debate on artificially aged guitars. All my guitars look like new. I take great care of them. If you follow a little bit the guitar market, you will find out that people are willing to pay more to purchase a guitar that looks like it was used and abused for several years. So, I guess Patina makes sense. Not to me though. I like my glaciers to remain as they were before...