Leaderboard

Oh C'mon now. I did 10k on this. You can make Tellico from Houston in a day, if you leave at 4am.

More Pics

OK well, I finally got a chance to sit down with the computer. First I'd like to say hats off to Doc For everything that he does.(BIG hug My friend} Gus and I had a fantastic time this year At the SSR. It was great to see and talk to everyone that showed up Including Kevin, A fellow Michigander Who Rode his O2 V11 Le Mans All the way down.(Kudos) Gus and I trailered ours. Because it's just too much saddle time And so Few days. My older son Josh, came up from Atlanta And met us at the lodge On Friday, early Afternoon. We all spent the rest of the day and evening. Behind Hardy 's.at the. large field, Where we flew RC gliders. Josh. also spent Friday night, Which gave us a chance to mingle in the garage, and then at the pavilion, were everyone all told stories and shot the breeze. Gus and I managed to ride 180 miles on Saturday, even though it was a little damp at the higher elevations Up in the Appalachian Mountains. We ended up with a cruise through the dragon's tail and stopped a few time for some pics, which I'll try to post. All in all it was a great time with friends and fellow riders And already looking forward to next year. Everyone stay healthy and ride safe! SKIP

If you're not already comfortable with this type of work, a cylinder head is maybe not the best place to learn. I'd phone a friend or take it to a shop. But if you do want to try it yourself, a picture would be helpful so we can see what you have to work with. Meanwhile, it would certainly not hurt to apply some penetrating oil to broken stud - and set some anti-seize compound out for your re-assembly.

Oh, one other thing. Unless the rings are bedded perfectly or the bores have been changed to Nicasil it will need a sump extension and the oil moved away from the crank otherwise it will pressurise the case too much and fill the airbox with oil. After a few miles at higher speed it will suddenly go B-l-a-a-a-a-hhhhhhhhh! and slow down while producing a cloud of smoke like a WWII destroyer laying a smokescreen! It’s very disconcerting when it happens. First time it happened to me was on a motorway in blighty! I thought it had blown up! I pulled over, waited a few minutes and it fired right up, the smoke cleared and it was like nothing had happened! I rode off and a few miles later it did it again! I had no idea what was happening, I was only about 22 at the time and new to Guzzi but luckily someone showed me the breather system and explained it and it all made sense! After fitting the sump extension it never did it again. Crankcase pressurisation has long been a Guzzi bugbear. It effects the 1200-8V’s as well and they too will pump oil out if you try to keep it at the ‘Full’ mark on the stick.

If I recall the lore correctly, that faring was the last outcome from the iconic Mandello wind tunnel.

My first big block was an SP1000, I’ve owned a couple more over the years. They are yer basic, small valve, short head Tonti from the late seventies/early eighties and have one of the best and most effective fairings ever put on a motorbike. They are a mile muncher par excellence and will sit all day at 85-90mph. Most important thing to remember is that they are now all 40-45 years old and, unless they have been loved and refurbished, will invariably need work. Most likely things are frame bearings, all of them and a UJ support bearing and possibly a UJ. Fork dampers and shocks will need replacing if they haven’t been already. A camchain and tensioner for the motor at a bare minimum and the carburettors will be shagged out. Expect to buy a wiring loom from Greg Bender and replace the original that will likely crumble to dust when you touch it! My last one I built a mid valve 950 motor with a K cam in it and ran 36mm PHF carbs. It had an 8/33 bevelbox and an Eldorado flywheel. It was an absolute hoot! My mate Steve from Moruya owns it now. It’s a peach!

Small report. Yes l like her, she loves curves, very good seat, exelent suspensjon. Headlight actually good. Just spend 5days in Germany, like 2500km. Handle bars a bit big to my liking, and wind screen to low for Autobahn, l'm 6.2. Do start her a lot in 1gear, but are a good friend with the tranny now. 233km in Road mapping, probably a bit more in Sport mode, nicer in towns in Road. 9800km, not a lot, but enough time to strech the rods. I never liked buoys on a bike, so travelling light. Cheers Tom. Sent fra min SM-S906B via Tapatalk

I am probably going to take it to a shop, not sure this is the right learning opportunity for me, but will post pics for you all to review tomorrow.

Let's have a photo. As stated, left-handed drill bits are a good investment. If you're ham-fisted and meat headed as I am. *if* you have anything protruding above the gasket surface, you can clean everything spotless with acetone and JB weld (or actual weld, if equipment) a nut to the broken part. A handy welder can make it happen even if it's a bit below surface.

But before you blame the regulator, you *must* verify the system voltage value the regulator sees. The way an electronic regulator works, is not to control voltage absolutely but rather to deliver rectified (DC) voltage to the battery in very short bursts (PWM, or pulse width modulation) So your battery will actually see much higher voltage than your multimeter reads for very short periods. Your DMM, unless a very high-end one where you can choose, will default to measuring by RMS (root mean square) or a fancy way of saying 'average voltage over time'. If your regulator can't actually see what's happening at the battery, it just goes WFO hoping to see a signal to turn itself off, rinse and repeat in microscopic intervals. Message is, verify your voltage regulator sensor circuit. Replace the LED bulb with an incandescent one for testing. Doesn't have to be the same size even, just plugs in and something around 50-100 watts.

Way too high. Looks like you have a reg issue. Phil

It is so the brush issue is not a factor. This t/shooting is being done the wrong way around. Whats needed is the reg output to the battery and if thats bad then worry about the alternator output. Personally I'd ditch the LED headlight and go back to the original headlight and see what happens first just to get a base line. The reg senses voltage via the headlight supply so there is an effect there. What reg did you install? the hard wired one to the battery or the original style that senses from the headlight circuit? If the latter that connection might be a place worth looking at as well. The alt light comes on when the alternator voltage drops below battery voltage so at elevated rpm the battery is doing all the work. Sounds like a dud reg to me. Phil

It's late and I'm speaking out of turn because I have neither my VR nor a schematic at hand to review. The voltage regulator has to know, by some circuit, how much voltage it 'needs' to put out. If the 'sensor' circuit has high resistance, that will tell the VR that the 'system' voltage is low and it needs to output more, when in fact the battery is charged but the regulator can't see it. I'm going through a well-worn 2000 V11 right now, and one thing that seems consistent is the ignition switches festering internally. Poor connections cause high resistance and low voltages across the board. The switches are not difficult to disassemble and clean. First things first, get a multimeter and a note pad and record what your static, or key-off battery voltage is; what your idle battery voltage is; what your 3000 RPM battery voltage is; and whether, and by how much, the battery voltage changes when the charge lamp comes on.

I see two issues there. The first one, overcharging, is generally the regulator, and you have addressed that according to what you wrote. The second one sounds like an issue I had with my V35 Imola. I only noticed it when I rode in the dark for the first time in a while, and what I noticed was that the charge warning light was coming on a bit with increasing revs. I don't know for sure that this transfers to the alternator on the V11, but I reckon it probably does. The alternator in the V35 was a Bosch. My research turned up the following causes: The brushes are worn. The surface that the brushes contact with on the rotor is out of round, causing the brushes to float at higher revs The springs that hold the brushes in contact have gotten weak, allowing the brushes to float at higher revs. Generally a combination of all of the above, particular the second and third mentioned. As I wrote, I don't know for sure that that will help, but I hope it does. PS: regarding this I would assume that the tech knows his company's products, and don't assume that such a tech would automatically bullshit a customer. It's an aftermarket part, and most likely they have built a "high performance" stator, i.e. one that delivers a bit more than the standard part. The alternator in my V35 Imola is just such a beast, bought to solve the above mentioned problem. Not because it was the only, or cheapest, solution. I just wanted to have that one. It, in combination with the regulator from the supplier (Silent Hektik) starts charging at lower revs and delivers more Watts than the standard Bosch in the V35.

What Pete said, of course. I rode one out to SoCal several years ago to leave out there and ride in the canyons. It needed rewired, and that was maybe 20 years ago. (!) It's a great traveling machine, and the old Tonti frame was awesome for the day.

This is one of those cases where only back probing the loom will isolate it probably. From personal experience I’d look carefully at the loom to the lights where it runs around the steering head and front sub-frame.

Thanks for posting that, Kevin, as I had not realized I might have captured you not "looking your best." In my own case, my best has been pretty low rent since the '90's! Seriously, I have been chronicling SSR's since the first. I take (quite literally) hundreds of amateurish pix and then cull those down to (still too many) ones and post them here and, occasionally, another Guzzi forum. That culling process is often hurried. In this case, commitments and chores on our return meant I didn't even get to add captions to the pix. I like those as if the pix don't insult the victims enough, the captions add a coup de grâce. But, "sneaky," no, at least ever intentionally. Now, as do all "historians," I may take liberties with the truth, but that is almost always in the sense of not posting unflattering pix of me, e.g., a sullen look, picking my nose, or one that highlights my avoirdupois. Heck, maybe that's why I take the pix anyway, i.e., to have few of me and delete any that I get that others take -- at least with my camera. For example, Kathi -- who ALWAYS looks better than I do -- asked someone to get a pic of the two of us. This: As always, Kathi looks great; I failed to "suck it in," so ... yup, I didn't post it in the slideshow, thus proving that I, too, am not immune from vanity. Finally -- OK, almost -- I often take pix (especially of the posed kind such as the one you complained about) in "bursts," and then choose the one in which the fewest people are blinking or whatever. In the case of the one of the three of you, Josh, and Adam, I only took two, did not study those intently, thus posted the one you did not like. Here's the other: As I peck out this TLDR response to your concern, both the original and this are in the slideshow. Unless I hear differently from you, I'll sub the second for the original, as I think it does show you in a better light without making Josh and Adam less handsome than their actual selves. [Edited to say "done." ] Now, happily for all reading this, I have to go tend to one of those back-home tasks. The plumber crew will be here in about 15 minutes for their second day of work on our septic system. They are “renewing” our Alternative Septic System’s peat mo$$, and will leave with $12K of our moto-money! I now know why scotch whisky is so expensive. I wish I had known that peat moss was so dear when I chose my legal career. But “Greta” wasn't around then, so I had no idea that to save the Chesapeake Bay I need to pump the contents of our fluids’ tank to an ASS — a fitting acronym — with its pricy peat moss before it was declared clean enough. Grrrrr. Bill P.S. Nothing above, Kevin, is meant to make light of your knee pain. After a career in the Army, involving as it did, routinely running in boots on pavement, jumping out of airplanes in the 82d Airborne Division, and other "fun," my own knees are shot, so I quite literally "feel your pain." Best wishes with yours, with the hope that both of us can ride for a long time to come.

@Sempervee1, comparisons are great, especially from someone who has both to live with. That's what we do here...we talk about bikes.

Open House Moto Guzzi 2025 Click on the photo ⬇️

Did we have this one already.

A dab about the size of a worn pencil eraser, a couple times a day. Rubs right in, no burn - no smell. Accept no substitutes, get the "S" product . . . https://www.apohealth.de/en/products/traumeel-s-creme-50-g-creme-1288865

If you can purchase a lh drill bit you can use a centerpunch to get the center of the broken bolt. then use the lh drill bit to snag the bolt and spin it out.

26v at the battery ? Heii yeah that's too much ! that light gives you an undercharge or overcharge status. When you call to inform them of the bad regulator be sure to give them these V #s. Don't ride this until you get this fixed.

Factory accessory. They are more exposed on an air cooled head. Anything happens, just get a new head . Looks, oh well. Cheers Tom.

My new reg is the Electrosport ESR515, not hard wired to the battery. The DC volts at the battery are: >13.2-13.5 ignition off >13.0-3 ignition on >26v revved to 3-5K (this seems too high, no?)

Acessory and ones I wouldnt fit in a million years. Better some header pipe heat shield damage than the cylinder head damaged. Here's what happens to a Dayton head with a 2 bolt head protector. Header pipe to head connectors like the Guzzi and Ducatis have are incredibly strong and robust and can take a beating without any issues. Phil

Let's specify the alternator output voltage is AC. Not sure it makes any difference to the discussion, but the voltmeter must be set AC for the alternator output and DC for the Regulator/Rectifier output. Also, isn't the V11 alternator some kind of induction device (no brushes) with the crank spinning coils of wire within a permanent magnet?

I don't know, and don't recall any discussion or discovery of what conditions set the 'charge' lamp other than insufficiency. There may be some sort of current-limiting self-protection routine? I can't find a logical way that a permanent magnet generator can stop producing at higher RPM, then return to producing at low RPM. It is perfectly possible, though, that the charge wires from the generator to the VR get very hot at high RPM and the resistance cuts throughput. <shrug> only the DMM knows for sure.

I will have to look back through my stash and see about the V output at different RPMs. The MG manual (I think) gives these V output at specific RPMs. You say the light comes on at 4k RPM? Does the light go off when the RPMs drop?

I'm always amazed to find that ... most? MG riders, at least those who put on a lot of miles, simply ignore cleaning their bikes. I'm not a museum keeper, but the BMW GSA I've put near 20k miles on was not near this soupy, even though I never washed it more thoroughly that a quick sponge and ride in the rain. This thing looked like a big block chevy out of a 1975 motorhome with 100k miles on it. Not trying to be harsh, but DANG boy.

. Over the years,I’ve ridden to the SSR on a Ballabio, Griso, EV, Stornello, V7 III, and Norge! Bill

I would like to have seen the factory airbox in the pile to "return it to original" . . . Chicks run off with these things all the time.

Bill? Sneaky? Say it ain't so . . .

Looking at adding a 1979 1000 SP into the stable beside the V11 Café Sport. Does anyone have one, or had one and can point out some known issues/things to look out for? Cheers

@Sam P wrote which seems to confirm that the manual states specific r.p.m values for the voltages and before that From Sam's post, I assume the light does go back off when the revs drop, but confirmation would be good. It would also be interesting to know if the 60V at 3,000 rpm drops off when the revs go up to 4,000 and higher.

https://fredericksburg.craigslist.org/mcy/d/fredericksburg-2000-moto-guzzi-v11-sport/7877372121.html

Because it is understood.

Because peeps come looking for information and I had no other experience with Guzzi other than my first RED Norge, I thought it if was interesting to me it might be interesting to others how the two compare. They are worth about the same money these days it seems if someone were looking for one what to expect even as it is completely subjective on my part.

well, this is an old thread... but @bzane are you in need of of the retaining plate for a rear caliper? I have a couple complete rear calipers and I am also in San Diego County. Let me know if you want to swing by Carlsbad and collect one.

. Just made reservations for Friday and Saturday nights in our "usual" room, 301. Have a moto-spot reserved, too, but may be caging it with Kathi. I have hernia surgery -- my sixth! -- on 7 August. Yes, I am obviously defective. My first such surgery was after my first unplanned dismount ... an honorable "I laid 'er down" -- from a tricycle in San Antonio in 1949! All since have been from lifting things I should have known better to call for help, but, well, didn't. So, as for riding a day or two short of a month after procedure, not sure surgeon will "let" me (or that I'll care about that ), but it may be an issue of reality then, something I do care about. Even if I do ride, Kathi will cage it. I'll store the (selected!) Guzzi in Hiawassee and we'll head out on lengthy "Visit Old Friends in the South" tour. On the way back, I'll retrieve the Guzzi and we'll see how tall the grass is back here by our return. Be all of that as it may, we look forward to our reunion at SSR XXI. Bill

Before the garage spaces were "subdivided", Guzzis still made friends . . .

Chuck, I've got fugly bags on my LMIVSE, I don't give a hoot how they look, I always have to have a place to carry my stuff! Art

The GTS is going to remain in it's current state. It was restored about 20 or 30 years ago and has plenty of warts. It runs so well that I just can't bear to tear it apart. Plus the patina that the old restoration has acquired has grown on me.

I just picked up a Tonti I have always wanted, a T3 California. I like the funky 70s look they have. It is pretty rare to find these in the USA as the California T3 model was not imported. They were common on the Continent and the UK though. This particular bike was imported by a Brit when relocating to the San Francisco area. It will require a full up restoration. Hopefully I will have it looking like this in a year or so.