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For textile restoration, like the V11 Tekno bags, I have found nothing better than professional grade SEM Color Coat flexible color coating. I use their aerosol Landau Black for the Tekno. I learned about this, and the 210 plastics restorer, from a member here that has used these products professionally. Before the 210 I have used Pledge, Plexus, and the Honda polish (also sold as "Original" cleaner/polish). The 210 has more of a restoration capability. They also formulate "210 Plus" for non-abrasive scratch removal. https://www.semproducts.com/products/refinish/flexible-coatings

I had a request to post an underseat picture.

Well, I just had this "delivered" yesterday... seriously, the previous owner rode it 40 miles and delivered it to my house for "free" (well, "included") ...good guy It's a 1998 California V11 EV ...so it's technically on-V11-topic I've never been a "cruiser" guy, but this was just up the road, looked great (Californias have grown on me over 20 years, but I used to really not like them to be honest), and was really cheap. So I thought for the price I could risk giving it a try. Plus it came with bags I've wanted for a while, that would have been 20% of the cost of the entire bike! The previous owner apparently was the national sales manager for MG in the USA in the early 90s when Moto America was the importer, located right down the road in tiny Lillington, NC. He said he almost certainly sold this bike to the dealership (if you can call the small shops selling MG back then "dealerships"), that sold the bike to its first owner, who he then bought it from 2 years ago. This guy has a garage full of BMWs and MGs, and is very fastidious about his equipment, and the first owner was apparently a mechanic who was also very keen on upkeep. So hopefully that bodes well for the overall bike. But definitely an interesting chain of custody. It has 41k miles, and is in excellent condition, with some understandable patina from its 26 years and a few small paint scratches and chips, but overall in remarkably good condition, especially as a "10 footer". Other than the seat and big plexiglass National Cycle fairing, it appears to be completely stock I have to replace the big Corbin seat with something similar to stock though, both for aesthetics (ruins the lines in my opinion), and more importantly because it really is too tall for me with that big couch

Bath day for the ladies.

That overtaking, Luca - Fabio, I bet Fabio had a few swearings going, even busy. And enoyable seeing an old Honda ( VERY GOOD Rins ) picking on Peccos neck. Did enjoy the Moto 2 race to, specially last part. Probably 1 ride of the year tomorrow . Cheers Tom.

Another pic showing the trimmed chinpad. I also had a question about non-E gas. Yes, I only use non-ethanol premium.

I'd read about the HDM Hot Dog Mustard color scheme but had never seen one;If you love it do NOT look at the sidecar rig on this link I love the blue on your EV,I agree the lines of the seat don't work,but what a super comfy looking lounge seat. If you're looking for any stock EV replacement parts, Mark at Moto Guzzi Classics in California(Contact info in link below) is stripping lots of those bikes and making beautiful retro standards out of them;so he has a ton of EV take off parts cheap,fyi. There is a sweet,very well done, EV Side Car rig on this link in that HDM color scheme,if it was in Canadian funds,close by,it would already be in my garage just on principle http://www.motoguzziclassics.com/MGCClassic2bikes.asp seat

I tried pasting the whole post I put into the ADV V7 sub-thread here rather than the link, but failed in several ways to get that to work. Given the Al Rothlesberger content , it's worth your trouble to go elswhere momentarily. Actually, as I mention in that post, I failed to get Al's pic. Well, I thought I took it, but it disappeared from my phone. Maybe he's in a witness-protection program? A great fellow. Here's the link: ADV Post about "Meeting Famous Al" Bill

BTW Bill, I checked and the throttle does have the dual cables, so either it came from the factory with the correct setup or the recall you mentioned was performed. It was great meeting you in-person today!

I'm cheap (he says, snapping suspenders ). Pledge works just fine. Bill

Too bad today won't work. Back to you on your EV questions soon, but here are a few quick comments. I have been attentive to servicing, and thus it's had few issues. One -- "over washing" as a new owner led to a corroded ignition switch and expensive tow. Almost missed a daughter's wedding. Needed TPS in early 20K's; fine since. Only recalls I "recall" were (1) rear wheel had potential spoke problems, but never heard of a real life instance of failure; and (2) to add a throttle=return cable. Recently, I have had "rough running" of the seemed unbalanced TB sort. Finally came to conclusion that it needs new injectors. Ordered those; they await installation. Our Wendell kids and grands are in Hawaii, returning tomorrow. I go home to Virginia on Monday. We come here every few months, so will let you know. Oh, HDM? Hot Dog & Mustard. Bill

Nice to finally see the V11 afforded its worthy presence in Guzzi history… 👍😎

2002 Lemans, 34k miles. Red/Silver. Has bar risers installed, the stock clip-ons included with sale. Pegs are in stock location but I have the moto-bits peg relocation kit which was on the bike when I bought it, I prefer the higher peg location. Has Hepco Becker side bags and top trunk. Will sell with luggage or without. Throttlemeister cruise control (throttle lock). Very few defects. Minor tank bubbling, some engine paint flaking. Runs excellent. Asking $4500 without bags, $5000 with luggage. Dave

Bought a few carbon fenders from Gheezi Brian. they all had the same # 1 quality. Cheers Tom.

Rins is a two time COTA winner. So the track suits him too. @p6x

Hard plastic aging under UVs is relentless over the years. Especially older types. They become brittle and simply transform to dust. The lens of my speedometer is now fissured from sun exposition.

And oh BTW, if anyone runs across on of these genuine MG "Sport" windscreens like Bill has on his EV, let me know. The MG part number for the smaller "Sport" windscreen is: GU03575102 I'll try to remember to ask Mark about that too.

Yeah, I really like the HDM livery quite a bit. I love 70s color schemes, and my favorite colors are in the orange family usually, so an HDM set would be awesome. Maybe I'll run across some HDM fenders, side covers, and a tank one day in great condition and just change out the Blue/Azure for HDM, and back, depending on the season... you know, keep things interesting ...probably not. It's probably cheaper to buy an entire bike! But it would take up a lot less space in the garage rafters But yep, I've been on the phone with Mark since earlier this week. Really nice and funny guy. He has a few seats that he's going to mock-up and send photos of for me to choose. He was very interested in my height, inseam, and weight to try to help pick out the best seat he has for a good comfortable fit. I thought that was going above-and-beyond for someone just selling used parts. I really appreciate the extra effort and clear interest he has in trying to help me out He says he has a matching BMS (Bill Mayer Saddle) main and pillion he wants to show me that he thinks would be a good fit for my height and is a bit better than OEM based upon the previous owner, who is a friend of his. I'm not, well wasn't, familiar with BMS seats, but after doing some reading about them I'm very interested to see that seat Other than getting it registered next week, a seat is really all the bike needs for it to be ready for me to ride. I could ride it with the Corbin, but I don't really want to since it really is too tall for me with that seat. The bike has non-OEM, I think Harley Davidson?, turn signals, and I asked Mark if he had some OEM spares. But he echoed what some others have said, which was that the OEM are junk and even if in good condition or new will likely have to be replaced again in a year or two when the "rubber" stalks crack apart. So he said the HD ones on the EV are honestly probably much better and recommended I just stick with them. I prefer OEM, but with that advice I'll probably just leave them alone then. They don't look wrong, but I do wish they were a little more torpedo/teardrop shaped like OEM. But that's a really minor thing after all. On another note, I wonder if these generations of California/EVs are eventually going to end up a bit rare in totally stock form due to just normal attrition over time and with people converting them to "retro" bikes? I've heard of, and now have seen, quite a few people doing that. Like many things that become classics or collectible about 25-50 years after they've fallen out fashion, people often look back on when those things weren't being preserved or saved and say "wow, if we only knew". Hard to say if this generation of California will be that case, but on the other hand, it wouldn't surprise me. Here are the HD (I think) turn signals that were adapted to the bike two owners ago. He apparently made an adapter plate for the fronts, and chopped off the base of the OEM signals to mount the rears. There are also some non-OEM mirrors installed, but I haven't yet looked closely to see who they are made by. I like the oblong OEM mirrors that are used on the California Vintage, but I'll give these a try and see how they grow on me, and most importantly how well they actually work as functional mirrors

Well, I had no idea I was famous, but then again... (See below, me with "Al" from "Tool Time". I actually met him sneaking out the back of a home improvement expo back in California) Yeah, I don't know how you missed getting my photo, as I clearly remember your trying to get a photo of the Pik-N-Pig sign without my big head in the way But I know at least one of the ADV guys was snapping "proof of life" photos, and I think took a few shots of the length of the tables, so you and I should be in some of those.

Looks like Mr. McGregor is back in the V11 owners club, if the Tenni in the clip is from his personal collection. As his old #133 is still in Austin/TX documented in the registry, i guess he was lucky to find somebody willing to part from his piece of guzzi history.

Correct. In fact, the small block models are the true Tontis, because Tonti was in charge of design for the whole bike, not merely the frame.

Correct sorry for the typo. Shift into first, tighten the switch until you get continuity to ground. Then check that shifting back to neutral opens the connection to ground

Yep. If I were able to have another bike a blue XS650D would be at the pointy end of the list....! Cheers

Shin Etsu grease (has a Honda part #) for rubber. "Plastic" can mean a lot of different things, but generally I use "210" spray cleaner/polish for "shiny" plastics.

@al_roethlisberger stunning beautiful! I love the color blue too.... Looks like the bike to take for a trip in the Pyrenees.

Twelfth South'n SpineRaid, Tellico Plains, Tennessee

Tonti designed the small blocks, too.