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Other than riding Guzzis, of course! Election news gets understandable first place in the media here today, but this also made our local daily, the Winchester Star! 😄 If you care, here’s a link to the “rest of the story," which even has some Guzzi content. Old Guy Collects Flags Bill P.S. Apropos the second part of this post's title, the newspaper reporter who wrote the story collects ... drum roll, please ... sink stoppers! Yes, really. Has 600 of them! Made me seem darn near normal.

It's a little more relaxed than my V11 Sport. Handles great. I've got panniers for mine. 18k desmo service interval.

Here's mine, no makeup or expensive jewelry.

I can, with herculean effort, grease my front if I lift the bike. When I'm done I look like a bulldozer mechanic after a final drive rebuild in the field. It's far more humane to remove the wheel, and I get to clean all the bits you'd otherwise have on your arms and face.

Needs mirrors and front signals. Going with bar end mirrors and led signals above the running lights. Ordered passenger pegs mounts so Lisa can ride along.

@mikev You’ll likely get different answer from people on that. Personally I think if the bike’s running nicely it doesn’t matter.

IIRC , the black frame is not too hard to grease all the fittings. The red frame , no. The front joint is impossible. As in , I gave up . And I have a Rube Goldberg grease tip.

As an addendum, After installing my gears I developed a front seal leak. I blamed it on the seal, but it turned out to be the seal between the spacer and crankshaft. There's an o-ring inside the spacer sitting in a groove that I didn't see- which was hardened and came out in pieces- and on my '97 there is also a tapered relief in the crank end which was perfect to fit another o-ring as insurance. See # 7 & 8.

Taking the tank off to service the air filter is a pita,,, but it's a treat changing the filter compared to the old cylinder paper filter on early big block Tontis (Reason why most have K&Ns) If the bike runs good & strong, I think it would be a very personal choice. If you're not bothered that it's not stock and some purists may look down their noses at you for deviating from the design for poorer filtration; Is that a headache you want to take on, or is there possibly some other job that the bike might benefit more from? I remember how simple it sounded when I removed the air box from my Tonti, I'm glad I did it, but it was the job from hell, with a lot of little pieces that had to seal well to work properly. It may look easy to reinstall the stock air box, but there are probably little fastening bits,brackets,boots etc etc, possibly other things have been moved to or installed in that empty space by previous owners as well. fwiw ymmv

Finished up and they will go out tomorrow. Probably.

it's not a big deal if it runs 'ok'. If you want to rest assured that you have a well engineered and optimal air intake, use the stock airbox. Pods are for those who are tech savvy enough to tune for them.

Its the turquoise ring on the rims that sets it apart. Docc, at least he fixed the front fender issue you have been suffering through.

The V7 is a little jewel. Light, handling is superb, you just notice it running out of a little oomph when you up to speed or accelerating for passing.

He lost me at Power Commander....

For what it's worth; My first year roadracing was 1987 on a Suzuki GSXR 750. I raced production, where no modifications beyond suspension were allowed (LOL) but a lot of guys rode the same bike in Superstock, where you could ditch the airbox and use a premium exhaust. Scott Russell showed up with a separate bike for each class; but the Superstock bike still had the airbox and stock exhaust. Since he was sponsored by Yoshimura iirc, I asked about it. His chief said the bike made more power with better delivery with the stock airbox minus filter and the stock muffler gutted than any other combination they'd found. I remember a couple years where the Yamaha FZR 1000 guys kept the stock headpipes and just put cans on the back. Sometimes it's smoke and mirrors. I have Mistral cans on mine, because the PO put the stock mufflers back on and I wanted the noise but I'd be interested in a true side by side dyno comparison of stock vs modified vs cans only. Crossovers have been done.

You're not the first. This for me is a "sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug" scenario. If you check other brand bikes, decent aftermarket exhaust are all ridiculously expensive. One either has to pay the piper or figure a work around. Also consider that few are making new stock for the V11, too old a bike. The "work around" is going to save $ but cost in effort. #1 the easiest is 'hopefully' finding used in good condition, Slim chances, but possible. #2 Build it. with slip-on cans not meant for the V11 but are "close". So a straight through can of the correct/similar inlet diameter designed for a 600, 750, 1000cc bike, wouldn't technically be so different that it couldn't be used. Then what's left is the 45'ish' degree mid-pipe that will require fabrication. (and tuning) example, ...while waiting to find MG Ti pipes I found these... Kaw ZX 10 ?year? once very pricey, now on close out $175 each. Ti, nearly same size weight as MG Ti, has removable mid pipe (Kaw midpipe won't work) and an 'anywhere' CF hanger ...AND are usable on either side of a V11 with the logo being left off and the seam is at the bottom. I got some stainless 45 degree bends from a pipe maker and the id/od and od/id all lined up with a little work. The bend needed some finesse and while I was doing that I found the MG kit, and this project went back on the shelf. I had considered cutting the mids off the stock cans but.... I'll get a round tuit. So it can be done inexpensively but it takes some effort. bonus, these came with metal logos for rivet install, or vinyl stickers. bonus bonus, they're Italian

Heh heh--"nipple access"😂😜

Docc’s point about the lever adjustment bears reiterating- I’d say take a bit of time to find the setting that gives you the smoothest action- my experience is that makes a surprising difference.

@kalev11, I don't have a PM with your mailing address yet. To those that have asked, once they are finished and made it through the extensive inspection by the Chief Inspector, the Shipping Department will send them out and tell me how much each package cost to mail. I will then PM you with actual cost. The easiest way is Paypal, especially overseas shipments.

Drool..

+1 on footgoose's flush/bleed advice. The only adjustments in the clutch are at the lever. There is the matter of setting the "reach" of the Brembo lever for your hand size and engagement preference. And there is a lever adjustment that contacts the master cylinder plunger. Having to change this contact may indicate a possible broken spring inside the master cylinder.

Hey @stewgnu Thank you so much for taking the time to do such a great job on this schematic,especially the excellent color detail. I was working on my bike getting ready to dive into a possible, relay/wiring nightmare, and I have a severe aversion to electrickery. I had misidentified all my relay locations and couldn't understand why my wiring colors, didn't match your schematic,figured it was just an Italian glitch. But I looked at your schematic long enough to properly identify the relays and confirm that everything was in order,no need to break out the wrenches and dive in any further. Extreme gratitude, very well done Sir

While in Owensboro, I visited the statue of Nicky Hayden, #69, I think this is from his victory lap at Laguna Seca after winning the Moto GP Championship against Valentino Rossi. He later hugged his dad and started crying, epic. Anyways, "in these parts" he's a legend, and deservedly so.

Like the translated-from-Italian wiring diagrams are more legible? (not)

Here is an excellent image of the 2002/early-2003 "carry-over" LongFrame with short tank compared to an early ShortFrame/short tank Sport. Notice the amount of exposed frame between the front of the tanks and the forks. That is where the V11 frame was lengthened. A trim piece ("panel" 01 57 59 60 ) covers the otherwise exposed wiring/etc crossing the space. Later "long tanks" (internal pump/filter and no chin pad) obscure this area. Image (and Sports!) courtesy of @Guzzimax

Finally, a clinically derived solution to properly treat That Bloody Farking Front UNI Joint on of the early ShortFrame V11 . . .

The shop manual is a bit average on this subject. It says "assemble in the reverse order to disassembly". Guzziology doesn't specify a torque that I can find. So, if it was my bike, I would tighten the pivots up evenly until the swing arm binds, then just fractionally back off until the swing arm moves freely without binding through the full range, and without any sideways movement. Then align the front and rear wheels with string or straight edges, whichever is your preferred method, but keeping in the same clearance. Marty.

Good tip, threading the pivot pins in from the inside. My old uncle, a plumber taught me to start large threads by turning slowly backwards until you feel them click off the end of thread then go forward because the threads are lined up. Sent from my shoe phone!

Heh: yeah, I used to want a "vintage" motorcycle. Now the ones I bought new have arrived! "Works of Art" they are! BTW, I don't think "mass produced" applies to any of these models. "Hand built in small batches" maybe . . .