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Eh, the forum has set the limit on my "likes&thanks " for today. So, back home from a "true" SpineRaid, and what an honor to attend. Welldone @Joe and @kalev11 ! What an outstanding effort! [pictured,L>R, Bill Hagan/ Joe ]

. . . plus the people, and places, that give us inspiration . . .

If a "SpineRaid" includes proper "TechSessions" . . .

She was born a Greenie, yes l like Greenie's. The Dynotech.de edt soon ready, waiting for a c built seat. Cheers Tom. Sent fra min SM-S906B via Tapatalk

It was great to see old friends and make new ones ! The group from Michigan were super cool with great equipment.

Found a couple more pics from the SpineRaid. Although I had the "idea" everyone contributed to the cause and turned the weekend into a epic time.

Only at a SpineRaid . . . Bellissima !

Welcome back @docc, hope you’ve had a good raid!

Thanks mate I have a Shendengan Mosfet Reg/Rec with another earth too which would help by the sounds..? As we have a bloke here in the Guzzi club who has had an electrical fire on his Tonti Le-mans many moons ago it's something I'm not keen to replicate! Don't know the cause of that though. Will consider one when time comes... Cheers folk's

I've been away for the weekend for a V11 meet-up. Both @Revilo's posts and the @audiomick's Ford fuel line connectors should be their own topics, IMHO, rather than in this menagerie thread. I am quite busy catching up, but will try and focus those topics ASAP . . . [edit]:

Josh, thx for making it to the inaugural spring KSR! The V7 Sport looked and ran awesome 😎.

Class begins……

Haha! Glad I wasn't the only one!

Voltage shouldn't exceed ~14.5 at any rpm. You can test at the battery terminal with the bike running. Idle voltage will be 12.9+ rev the bike. If you see 15+ as the revs climb , shut er down and don't run it until regulator is replaced. Worth confirming regardless which route you go with replacement instruments

I repainted the tach needle with some orange acrylic paint and sealed the tach back up using a clamp to hold it down and lightly tapping all around the bezel with the rounded side of a ball peen hammer. Went to reinstall it on the bike only to notice I put the face plate on upside down... So I opened it back up again, rearranged the face plate to the correct way and sealed up it a second time... I replaced all of the relays for preventative maintenance. I'm not sure how to check the proper function of the voltage regulator, but I did confirm that the 30amp fuse looks good with no signs of overheating and that I am getting the expected signals through the tach wires. At this point I am officially giving up on getting the tach working and will continue with my original plan of ordering Speedhut replacements. On the positive side, I played with the routing of the speedometer cable and noticed a significant reduction in the amount of needle wobble. Its still not exactly stable, but definitely allows me to make a better estimate of how fast I am going!

Good move changing out the red valve covers, looks better now.

IMHO that's a good way to go, I don't know what's in the V11 but the Sporti's Ducati Energia Regulator I'm told is a Series type (thanks @Kiwi_Roy) I've also seen reports of guys installing shunt type regualtors and have not had any problem, so I guess you pays your money and takes you choice. Ducati recorded quite a few fires and melting looms with LiFe batteries and the Reg/Recs on those bikes were known to be weak. The common fix was a Shindengen Mosfet Reg/Rec replacement and I've not heard of any problems when using them @audiomick advice also is useful, the problem with them overheating is because of the low internal resistance, meaning they can pull or push large amounts of current, so an undersized or marginal battery doesn't sound like a wise move.

With an over-voltage failure like that, watch your relays for signs of damage and malfunction . . .

To be fair, a record cold temp at my place is only -8, and even so I'm too soft to ride in freezing weather. The bike alternator keeps the battery charged. The picture shows that the battery needs 20mm packing on each side to stop it rattling about.

Lesson #1 is? How to set TPS with a Casper cable while simultaneously admiring a fleet of V11’s!!

Check voltage regulator, main fuse and relays. Also check all your grounds. My tach died by the same method, wires detached from posts with some burning around the solder joints. I don't have the hands of a surgeon and my resoldering attempts were unsuccessful. A bad ground likely fried my Voltage Regulator. I was returning from a long ride when the tach died, when I got home and pulled the seat I had 18 volts across the battery terminals and a melted 30A fuse! Fortunately I didn't incur any other electrical damage and my ecu survived. Grounding issues are now fixed, voltage in check and I'm getting the 'right' frequency off the tach wire but haven't put a replacement tach in to confirm. Good luck!

I 2nd to the looks of great riding close by, have never focused on this part of SW VA. I would note that if they are still trucking coal on those roads it can make for a miserable day, dusty, slow and hot. However, I imagine most of that area has stopped mining coal by now. Following....

Used my reactions up too. Great job, Joe!

I've been running a BC LiFePO4 battery in my V11 for the last 7 years. It is 1 size smaller than BC recommend for a V11 (mine is a BCTZ14S-FP-S 12V, 54Wh) but I needed this size to fit in the Ghezzi Brian tail. It is incredibly light. It puts out loads of cranking amps. I measured it using special resistive shunt and an oscilloscope, and the initial peak current was nearly 500A before it rapidly subsided as the engine cranked over. Yes they do seem to put out less current when cold so I agree with previous comments. But they do keep their charge remarkably better than a lead type, assuming there is little or no small leakage current to drain them. One thing to bear in mind is that their capacity is not as large (they are, after all a fraction of the weight and about half to 1/3rd of the volume). The 12V, 54Whr of the LiFePO4 battery corresponds to 4.5 Ampere-hours, while the original equipment lead battery fitted is 13Ah. This is really only required to make the lead battery big enough to reduce its internal resistance so it can give enough cranking amps. The LiFePO4 battery can do this from a much smaller size because it has a fundamentally much smaller internal resistance. Obviously, you don't need much capacity to start, so the smaller capacity is fine, but if anything does drain the battery while it is not charging (like leaving the parking lights on when parked or if your charging circuit has a fault) the battery will become flat about 3 times quicker. I have a voltmeter fitted to the dashboard so I can see exactly when it is charging as I have had overheating problems with the small 30A charging mini fuse holder but I have cured this by putting in a new, much larger, Maxi fuse-holder on a dedicated flying lead that is capable of taking 100A fuses: obviously I still only put in a 30A fuse but it has cured the tendency for the charging circuit to fail due to degradation of the fuse holder contacts. This brings me to my last point which is that when I put the bike on its intelligent charger its self diagnostic does not like the leakage current the bike takes and it says the battery is faulty. This is due to leakage current through the diodes of the alternator rectifier (I think more modern bike rectifiers have diodes with much lower leakage current), so I remove the 30A fuse to isolate it and all is well. This would seem to me to be a good precaution if you use a LiFePO4 battery if it is being laid up for any time, whether you put it on the a maintenance charger or not. In fact, for a standard V11 the rectifier is probably the only significant current drain and once this is removed, the LiFePO4 battery seems to maintain charge almost indefinitely.

Thanks folks, I will order a new switch tommorrow. Got the old one off and i am now replacing the tank to pump fuel hose. This forum is great. I would be lost without it

KY Spine Raid cookout

I've had Shorai batteries on all my bikes for the last 12 years..Norton's,KTM's,Harley's,Ducati's , triumphs,BMW's, Aprilias,Moto Guzzi's...Probably more than 15 bikes..I have had nothing but great use from them.., they crank exceptionally well.I wouldn't have anything else. The only people I know to have problems with them are people who don't follow the charging instructions that comes with them , or..if they happen to let it go totally dead the people don't follow the instructions on how to wake them up..which Shorai will gladly send to you if you call them...They are easy and simple to maintain if you read the instructions. As far as I am concerned..buying one of their charger's will be well worth it in the long run.., they are about $60 USD As Marty Said..When its cold.turn the key and lights on without starting for a few seconds to wake them up..and then then off for a second and before strarting they will give you a stronger crank.

I have a Shorai lithium battery in my bike. LiFePO4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) is the most stable and least likely to catch fire of all the battery technologies. For cold starting, I have never noticed any problem, but Shorai says: "If starting at 5°C, headlights on for 30 seconds will help wake the battery and increase cranking performance. If at -17°C (1°F), leave the lights on for 4~5 minutes before cranking. The result will be a better first crank, and longer battery life. If the engine fails to start on first crank, that first crank has warmed the battery, and the second attempt will be much stronger." I've been told that it needs a "balance charge" once a year or so. It comes with a dedicated charger that plugs into a tiny 5 pin socket and manages the voltage of each cell. The charger also has a "storage" button that holds the battery at 70% for longer shelf life. The Shorai LFX21L6-BS12 cranks my V11 well after 7 years. LiFePO4 is also in my electric car, but outside temperature is not an issue as it has a liquid battery temperature management system.

Hope springs eternal! But, whatever the weather, watching those who know what they’re doing wrench V 11’s in the garage is pretty fun and fun, too. Bill

Revilo I have some parts that might fit. Mostly from 2000 era California bikes but may be the same as used on V11. Ignition barrel and key, fuel cap with key, they don’t match. Left switch gear. Also a clutch lever and perch but I think it’s different than the V11. If you send me an email I can send you pics to verify if any of these parts will work. Might not be too cheap to ship to UK. I’m in USA. But you can have the parts no charge just pay shipping. Brad

You blokes take care you have a great weekend. Looks like it has started off well.

Becoming the tech session…. Hmmm I remember pulling over on the Cherohala, someone had front brake issue or something…..instant tech session on the fly.

Thinking outside the box, Docc

Hey Joe, Thanks for all the help/info. We reserved a lakeview room at the Lodge. How far is that from your cottage work shop?, walking distance? I'm going to bring a spare 02 SCURA ECU, connecter cables and computer. If there's time maybe we can play with some V-11 tuning mods to go along with those Decent Tune Ups. SKIP

Slainte

G'day fella's Yeah it started with me about 10 or so years ago in my hands... I couldn't open a twist top bottle because of the pain in my hands! Then I remembered Mum going on about cod liver oil and having to take it daily when she was a girl so thought I'd give it a go.Not the most pleasant thing but thought gotta be a better way so started taking fish tablets 1000g x 4 daily. This really works for me maybe because I got onto it straight away? I have forgotten to take them on the odd occasion and within days the pain returns.... so now I don't forget! I have noticed a few more aches and pains of late and had a touch of it in my toes and feet/ankles as well. At one stage I could hardly walk (left ankle) and thought maybe it was Gout but turned out it wasn't thankfully. I read somewhere that Vitamin C is a good anti-inflammatory as well and have taken to adding the juice of half a lemon to my bottle of water lately and this seems to be quite good too.So far these wee remedies work for me and I'm hoping they continue to do so and I don't have to start taking meds for it! I know others who have to as these natural remedies don't work for them and thank my lucky stars they do for me. This gettin old caper's not funny at times eh. Cheers Guzzler

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

Enough of this Osteichthyes chatter. I am still trying to sort out which Guzzi I will straddle, and none of them will have fishing tackle aboard. My present plan -- which as with those in the Army, is unlikely to survive first contact -- is to trailer the EV to Atlanta where Guzzi god & guru Wayne Orwig will ensure it is ready for the cross-country trip I probably won't make anyway. I'll get it back in April or so, then ride it to Kentucky, the PNW, or just back here. Kathi will be in Italy then PNW for almost all of May until early June, so I will be unsupervised. So many opportunities. If only I can find someone to mow our dandelion and ragweed farm. Seriously, the EV has lots of storage room and is the ideal mount in my moto-harem for LD missions. But, it has a leaky front tire, which I can probably fix myself. More troublingly, it also has a spark issue of some sort that is maddening. My grasp of automotive electrics is, aside from creating unintentional light shows, primitive, whereas Wayne "knows all" and is also well acquainted with my EV from our Atlanta days. OK, back to the fishing forum. Bill

Well, I still think we should loop out of The Lodge Saturday morning and take the bikes across the Cumberland River on the free ferry. Bring yer poles, but fish fast. The river is pretty narrow up there . . .

Cherry bombs were the lures of choice when I grew up in western Kentucky. Bill

I am very much interested in making May Kentucky Month -- tho the thought of any centerfolds from this bunch skeers me. Anyway, as those who care know -- an exceedingly small group -- I have ridden for many years twice to Kentucky annually: in late May (Memorial Day weekend) and late September for "Mutton Runs." As I ride exclusively on entertaining backroads vice the slab, the most practical way to make both of these events is to do the sKSR first, then head up to Daviess County. That mean$ lodging co$t$ ju$t as $everal of our 13 (ga$p) grandkid$ have birthday$. The days of those little shixes being happy with empty boxes are long gone. Moto Guzzis are my hobby; buying things for grandkids is Kathi's. As my newest Guzzi is a 2017 model, guess who spends more. 😳 The biggest impediment to being gone that long at that time of year as it's prime weed-growing season! That sounds like a joke, but I'll need to hire a bush hog instead of my zero-turn if I don't get lucky. I only wish that dandelions and the like were cash crops. I can mooch for a few days in Eddyville with an old friend, and possibly with some other unsuspecting high-school or college friends -- tho Kathi has a no-fly list that includes a Greensburg redhead from days of yore -- that I might lean on for free lodging between the events. Still, a 1500-mile roundtrip -- something like the map here -- is otherwise enticing. I sent a PM to Joe about that cabin's room, but if that is taken or all of this is in my too-hard-do box, I'll reserve a room now at the lodge and cancel if I must later. Bill P.S. I am still licensed to practice law in Kentucky, but as an officially retired Old Flatulent and "Senior Counselor," I'm exempt from paying bar dues. If any of you end up wearing an orange suit, I can return to "active duty" for your court appearance and would only charge you those bar dues.