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You did such a nice job painting the damaged parts, repainting the whole thing should make it perfect.

My first trip longer than a couple hours on my '97 1100 Sport was 10k miles. Rode up to meet the guys at the SSN, rode the Dragon etc. Big long heavy bit of work, that. But generally nice. Then I got to Hwy 2 from Kalispell to Spokane. Man, the sweepers... 70-90mph and so, so stable... one long right hander, going *very* fast, saw too late a set of deep groves in the pavement where a semi had overturned, crossing the road at a shallow angle to my path. I didn't have time or space to make a correction. I thought 'Welp this is the end of the trip, at least' but the bike went across them as if they were simply shadows, leaving me stunned and amazed on the other side. Never rode a better bike for 50mph+ riding.

I rode Highway 49 back in the 80s a few times, riding a 1985 Honda Interceptor 500, while I was stationed at Travis AFB. Lake Bariessa is where I first learned to counter-steer. You mentioned "the LM seems happier in the long sweepers"; true. After acquiring a V11, I was surprised by how slow the steering was compared to my 2010 V7 CC. I raised the forks 15mm, made all the difference, so much better, yet still very stable at speed. I arrived at this height with much back and forth trials. After I was happy with this, I discovered Todd at GuzziTech had clearly posted this 15mm recommendation, duh!

Today on the Mighty 190. This time of the year it's better to get a early start up to Ponderosa. Not many cars, pretty much have the whole road to myself-except the occasional very large Kenworth grill out of a blind corner hauling dead trees. Used to it. Where my Ducati 999S was in her happy place in the tight twistes, the LM seems happier in the long sweepers. No worries we have plenty of both around here-and I knew that going in.

If they came out that easy, I would have serviced mine already!

I haven't ridden a long frame, but we have some pretty good but crappy in parts roads round here, gotta say though I'm constantly surprised at how well the short frame handles them.... I've mentioned my set up elsewhere, but 01 greenie with correct weight linear springs, Guzzimoto fork fix, + 12 mm up thru triples with Hyperpro shock and 160 rear tyre. She steers quickly but is still very stable. I recall reading an article in Classic bike a few years ago about Dr Johns spine frame racer. It mentioned how well it handled bumpy circuits at lean if you were committed and not shy with the throttle and I find this is true now with my bike set up properly. The racer had a wheelbase of 1460mm from memory so not far from our shorties! This wasn't always the case though as prior to sorting I clearly remember one particular corner scaring the bejesus outa me when the forks couldn't handle it and bounced up a couple of inches and deflected sideways about the same....I made it but I've never forgotten it ha ha. HUGE difference in road handling now and love the way she goes about it now! Cheers

Trying to get a LeMans up and going to bring but it may not be ready.

Thank you for that encouragement and I will do

Well, a lot of things had to align before I could commit to the RAID. But alas all have come together so Gus with his 07 Norge and my 02 LeMans will make the drive down. Will also bring Guzzi Diag with related gadgets and gismos. Looking forward to good times and good riding ! See Y'all there, SKIP

Final pictures of the finished paint job and to be honest I’m not thrilled, Phil was quite right re colour match. Very pleased with the paint application so will ride it till winter as is and then repaint all of the front fairing come winter. Tail piece is great, should have its decals come Monday.

Sure: it's a SpineRaid . But, yeah, there's always more going on than just that . . .

Oops, I should have mentioned that pic is Wgmd's bike and paint, not mine.

I want to give credit, and a thank you to @v7cafe of https://imgzeit.com/tour and also a member of the forum, for building and maintaining a superb web hosting site. Nothing else like it for simplicity and cost. I use the "direct" posting option of the 3 format options.

I'm reintroducing myself to this forum. I was on it around 2004 or so when I owned a V11 Ballabio. I sold that bike to help with the down payment on a house. Since then I've had several bikes mostly Ducatis including a black 2005 999S. At 69 y.o. that bike, although I loved it dearly, was just not working for me at this time of my life. I sold the 999S and had always wanted a V11 Le Mans. I searched around for a really nice example and located this stunning 14,000 mile 2002. Rode it home from Sonora via hwy 49, one of my favorites. Looking forward to re-joining the group.

If this thread, discussing the changes to triple clamps over the V11 range, has not already been cross-posted to this topic, it is germane to the changes between the short and long frames:

Fascinating. I see Dr.John's first SpineFarme was 1460mm wheelbase with 26º steering angle, versus the short RedFrame Sport: 1471mm/25º. It would be very interesting to know the fork offset to the steering head on the Dr.John racer as very early production V11 Sport were 45mm and changed to 40mm to increase trail/stability. [edit: Some careful measuring on an image of the racebike in the MotoItaliane.it book "Dr. John's Moto Guzzi" suggest the racebike's offset was likely similar to the 45mm Sport 1100.] There were, yet, more changes to the V11 LongFrame and its triple trees . . .

I dare say he's trying to put that throttle body back in after it fell out on the ground.

At this point it looks like I'll be on my 2013 Norge with the leaky oil breather tube

You are aware, I hope, that the English that is spoken in Australia is the only remaining pure and unadulterated English spoken anywhere. The rest of the world just doesn't realise, because they are too used to hearing the mongrelised English that is spoken where they live. Fuckya.

One of my favourite comedians Carl Barron. BTW he's actually to be 100% correct talking about "enhancing" the English language there. Phil

Sew... My V11 is still wearing the OEM relays after 25 years Thought I'd put spares on the shelf, the 1100 Sport uses the same relays Ordered 10 from DigiKey , packlist says 10 ordered 10 shipped Came in a rack of 15. I'd ask WTF but I never look a gift horse in the mouth.

The outrigger bearing in the bevelbox is particularly weird in that the inner race has a hole in it that seems Al mostly deliberately chosen to allow water ingress! You can of course buy an standard aftermarket bearing without this interesting *Feature* for a lot less than a ‘Guzzi’ bearing. Also just as a heads up if you’re having trouble getting the rusted, munty old bearing out of the box the factory expanding puller for the needle roller bearings in the old five speed gearbox works a treat. Just take your bevelbox to some crusty old fart who never moved beyond five speeds and, if you can stand being sprayed with phlegm for not riding an Eldorado, they’ll be able to pull it for you in five minutes.

Ah! "liquido speciale, tipo: 'shine " Beware SSRaider Kentuckians posing as Virginians . . .

I'm in Springville, so the 190, Western Divide, Parker Pass and Greenhorn Pass/155 are home turf. I've also done Sherman, Tioga,Sonora etc but not for a while since the 999S wasn't much of a distance bike. There are some fantastic under the radar rides around here!

Welcome Back Kotter !

Well if you change the bottom tree offset and leave the top the same then the fork leg bores need to be bored at a slight angle so they align. So now on the later forks the stem and the fork legs are not parallel. Just like an RC30 Honda and others for example. So the top and bottom triples are a matched set between the earlier and later. Phil

No I have always thought the v11 have 40mm offset. But it can be that they put NOS 1100sport I clamps in the first 2000. In the manuals I know they are 40mm.

Things will never be the same

Agreed. The 190 is right out of my driveway, so it's my backyard ride. The 190 has had some challenges in the last few years, specifically in March of 2023. We had a severe fire that previous Summer, and when a warm rain came in March, mudslides took out huge sections. 190 was closed for a year or so. Then, on top of that one of my favorite spots, Ponderosa Lodge, burned to the ground that Winter. The owners couldn't get insurance and now only a slab remains. I'm happy to report that CalTrans did a excellent job on the repairs, and many sections have been repaved. Don't know if it's allowed, however here is a photo of my 999S on the Western Divide Hwy on a stellar day (I haven't had the Guzzi up there yet). Also a photos of the 190 between Camp Nelson and Ponderosa after the storm and Ponderosa Lodge on fire. P.S. The 245 out of Woodlake is great too!