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Hi from the new guy.

Typical Dutch river delta landscape. In my pictures there is usually a Guzzi somewhere.

The problems have been fixed! -I replaced the oil pressure switch. -I did a diode test on the regulator - which interestingly had not been suggested in this thread - and the test results indicated that one of the diodes was blown, or was otherwise not working. Discussed the test with Electrosport, and they asked me to send in the unit for further testing. -Rather than wait for the Electrosport people, I bought a new Ducati Energia (OEM) regulator from MG Cycle and installed it yesterday. -Fired up the bike a few hours ago. Oil and battery lamp come on with key on. At idle the battery terminal test at 14vdc +/-, and increase when revved. Went for a 100 mile ride: South St. Vrain Cyn - Peak to Peak Highway - Coal Creek Cyn - Home. Had a blast! Foliage, not much traffic, no battery light at 3-4000rpm, and the bike just roared along. Thanks to everybody on this thread who offered thoughtful troubleshooting suggestions. I really appreciate all of the time and effort many of you have put in trying to help me out. Cheers, Sam

Perfect October weather here in the Sierras.

Just a gentle reminder that a "Spine Raid " is (loosely) defined as an > idea < that involves two, or more, spine frame Moto Guzzi, in any combination with "Spine Raiders " (Moto Guzzi spine frame enthusiasts) who may, or may not, attend with a SpineFrame Guzzi, various springs, relays, fasteners, grappa, Islay Scotch, Märzen bier, Kentucky Bourbon, multimeters, special tools or other creative encouragements. Have yourself a Spine Raid, where ever you are! Get There. Bring Tools.

Well after 23 years I sold my V11. It was sad but it went to a good home. This forum has helped me through a lot of v11 issues. Thanks for everything, its been fun

We were all a new guy once!

Yes a little involved. Everything serviced. And yes l like my ladys cleaned. 98216km. D IPA time. Cheers Tom. Sent fra min SM-S906B via Tapatalk

. But, wait ... there's more! As I was culling those countless pix, I ran across a few of our cameo appearance at the Kentucky Guzzi rally near Frankfort. Saw this fine fellow, @Chuck! Bill

No. I used AI. See attachment.

I really was there, I swear! MUTTON is delicious.

You find now with older machinery that is now supported by the aftermarket because the OEM is no longer available that you can't judge the quality by the retail price. A $200 dollar part you buy in your home country or the western market is still the same $20 item that is made in China for example. The often massive price difference is simply down to retail margins and sales volumes. The ignition pickup is an example. When I went looking for them for the Daytona engine 5 or 6 years ago the commonly available aftermarket ones varied in retail price enormously but were all the same Chinese manufacture. The difference between the direct cost from China and what the retailers were selling them for was massive. So from memory the aftermarket wanted 80 or 90 dollars for them and I bought direct from the Chinese manufacturer for $10 each. I bought 2 and the Chinese one fitted not only looked identical to the OEM original but has worked fine ever since. Things change. Why pay a hefty mark up for the same item from the same manufacturer.

I thought the same thing, narrow engagement point on my '07 Norge, but bleeding the clutch yearly has kept it nice and crisp even as the next ride takes me over 50,000 Miles!

It’s exactly the same clutch that is in the V11 and all other big blocks since the end of the Cretaceous. If he is finding that the clutch is only starting to lift at the very end of its travel the most likely cause is that the plunger on the lever, (NOT the span wheel.) is maladjusted. Also all the CARC bikes, (And V11’s.) are murder on their clutch fluid. If it hasn’t been changed regularly the bore of the master cylinder may be damaged limiting the efficacy of the piston’s stroke.

I would make certain that you have a good earth. That cable ends at the transmission housing. It can be reached with some dexterity. I would clean the cable end and the transmission surface, then use some Caig DeoxIt or similar to protect the connection. That, and the underseat relays are legendary for going on strike at the most inopportune moments. Good replacements are not that expensive and they are plug and play. Then, a check of running voltage. OH! The voltage rectifier is adjacent to the oil cooler. Trace the wires from it to the frame. There is a multi-pin connector that is susceptible to rain water and corrosion. I had a similar problem that went away when I cleaned that connector.

Hi audiomick, Thank you and docc for taking the time to respond, I will probably take it to the local bike shop for them to have a look for me as I said I am not mechanically minded Cheers Dell OptiMate 1 Duo 12V Lithium and Lead Acid Motorcycle Automatic Battery Charger Maintainer OptiMate 1 Duo 12V Lithium and Lead Acid Motorcycle Automatic Battery Charger Maintainer 200+ bought in past month

Thanks docc! Yeah, this one feels like my version of the find that others make. Plus the owner shipped (as far as I can tell) almost all of the original take-offs. From the VIN it was an '04 Ballabio that someone put a lot of thought and care into. I need to go through and catalog everything. Something tells me I'm in the right place for help with that.

My son had a volt meter i can borrow. Forgive my ignorance if the battery is dead would it not charge up, I left it on the optimiser over night and the following morning the bike started without any problems. Regards Dell

I’ll be keen to get input on this machine. For instance, Daves pipes look great, and am interested in details on those. Etc. I’m new to the 50+ year old bike category, other than bikes i rode as a kid, so even things like any hacks for the clunky center stand that wants to fall down to vertical, or the clutch engagement which is beautifully simple but clunky… are there hot tips on any of that floating out there in this group? Link to @Dave Swanson's thread:

Not the same as on Dave's I think, but Mistral has something similar https://www.mistralspecialparts.it/en/product/classic-exhausts-moto-guzzi-v7-700-special-eldorado-850gt/

(new thread here to unclutter dave swansons thread) I may have accidentally ended up with this machine. Oops. A friend wanted to unload it, and offered it a few times over the years, with me declining, but finally circumstances, an adjusted set of desires, and price aligned, and now i have it. I honestly had thought it was a ‘72 V7 from just eye-balling it casually in passing a couple times, but it’s a ‘68 V700. Need to strip the paint and redo the tank (etc) paint scheme to something stock, or stock-ish, and am loving that red/chrome. the chrome would presumably be harder to reproduce. probably will be a while till i actually do much with it, as this was not a planned thing. Need to clear out some other projects first. Will be eye-balling stock or close-to-stock paint schemes, how to clean up the semi-hacked rear fender on this one, getting new fork seals in, ways to maybe enhance/improve the clutch activation, etc.

i have not heard this before, good tip. thank you...

I'm going to make some more oneofthesedays.

@Goofman speaks about this stickering business as if there is plausible deniability . . . Happily, the matter met the approval of the cheerful Sp'Honda-Raider . . .

[First, an apology about the largish typeface font size. I write such posts in an email first, then cut & paste to forums. I have never quite figured out the protocol here to make my "email" posts appear the same as "standard posts." Yes, I see the "Size" options, and select "Default," but still fail. As a geezer who frequently almost always misplaces my reading glasses, I don't mind the larger print, but regret if that bothers you. ] Three Muttoneers — a smaller group than usual — rode for mutton at this fall’s church picnic at St. Mary of the Woods in Whitesville, Kentucky, last weekend. These are semiannual events, usually held on the Memorial Day Sunday in late May and the last Sunday in September. This time, Bob W., rode down from Rochester, N.Y., to the Moto Grappa on his Moto Guzzi V7 Classic. Then, he and I rode to Maysville, Ky., where Scott M. rode from LIma, Ohio, on his Piaggio P3 to join us for the rest of the trip to “Mutton Land,” Daviess County. While in Whitesville for the picnic, another Guzzisti, Rick C., of Celina, Tenn. -- @Goofman here -- did a day trip to join us before heading home again on the same day. The pix of this trip always seem to show that all we did was to eat, drink, and be merry. We certainly did that. 😊 Yet, we regret not having more “on the road” photos. Having once nearly committed accidental suicide by fiddling with a handlebar-mounted camera, I have since stopped taking such pix from the terror that followed the disaster I was lucky enough to escape that day. OK, if it must be disclosed, I also gave up on-the-move photos after trashing a Nikon DLSR when I did not stop soon enough to get it covered before the rain got to its $600 innards. 😱. [Yes, thank you, I know that one may “harvest: stills from Go-Pros and clones, but I’m not going there, either.] That said, I do miss the nice shots, e.g., this, taken in the Wisconsin Driftless area c.2012 … … but not enough to go back to doing it, so these will have to do for my photo memories and your travelogue … unless, of course, and quite understandably, you leave now! 😄 Here are two samples … Bob at launch - Across the Ohio River from Maysville, Ky. … the rest at the link, below. ============== As usual with my smugmug sets, the link opens in “landscape collage,” so you don’t have to go to the larger pix of the slideshow. Hovering your cursor over individual photos reveals the underlying captions. If you use the slideshow version, the pix are obviously bigger and all captions appear. But, inexplicably (to me), unless you manually move the slideshow along instead of letting it roll automatically, the captions might disappear unless you leave cursor in place in lower left corner. I’m a Luddite. 😉 ============== https://bill-and-kathi.smugmug.com/Mutton-Run-Fall-2025/n-CQqNwp Bill

You got that right ! I just finished a 2014 Altima that had a lot of codes. The alt. was putting out 15.54v at all times. Ran a multitude of tests . Found out it had about 4 alternators installed over the years. I tested the hell out of the battery and wiring system . Installed a QUALITY alternator and got a little over 14v at idle and then settled down. I think I read anything over 14.7v and you got troubles!

World Spine Raid next year!

I do believe that Texas (myself, P6x, PressureAngle) just had one of these precious Spine Raids following the illustrious long standing Tennesse one and the recent California (Scud & LaGrasta) one. So that leaves several other states and countries that can now follow suit! Post 'em up! Imagine if we had a National Spine Raid somewhere!

Looks like you may have missed this: Thanks to everybody on this thread who offered thoughtful troubleshooting suggestions. I really appreciate all of the time and effort many of you have put in trying to help me out.

I got back Tuesday from the 2025 Fall “Mutton Run.” As usual, I’ll post a “too many pix” ride report when I finish culling and captioning the “even more than those” photos. In the meantime, I’ll note that we did have Spine Raider Goofman join us at the picnic. Regrettably, my phone cam decided to give up on focusing for a few days, so you’ll have to trust me that it was, indeed, the Rickster -- @Goofman -- from Celina, Tenn. After the picnic, we visited some of my relatives at the cemetery, did a local ride in and around Daviess and Ohio Counties, then thanked Rick for visiting before watching him head home. Bill

Will do, ordered new rectifier today Cheers Dell

That makes sense, the original ducati one is still available however it's over £200, I have looked on the Internet and they are selling from £25 upwards so my first thought would they be any good, its a 23 year old bike , so as you say over the years aftermarket parts would have become more available. Thanks for taking the time for your response, Dell

I'm in South Jersey near Philly.

Found out the problem, rectifier was fried, its a ducati one, energia 343637, as these are expensive has anyone used a cheaper one that works well cheers Dell

The difference between the red frame bike charging systems and the black frame charging systems. To SamP and all others. The charging system wiring on the red frame bikes has the red/black wire going from the battery (green/black wire) to the F5 , then (blue) to the start relay to the headlight relay and then to the V regulator. ) The wiring on the black frame bikes goes from the battery to the (red/black) headlight relay and then to the V regulator. This looks like the only difference in the wiring diagrams of the charge circuit. The red/black wire goes to the batter through F3. The blue wire goes to the GEN light in the instrument cluster. The two red wires either join ant the connector of the V regulator or join at F3 in the fuse panel. The last two (yellow) go directly to the stator. Wire colors are a suggestion not an edict ! Trivia . The rotor is the rotating field and this is why it is called the rotor. The stator is stationary and this is why it has the name stator.

SamP , have you done anymore about your alternator charging problem ? It has been a couple of days since I have been on and just checking .

Do you set tps voltage with the engine warm? when scying TB do you set basliine with rod disconnected using air screws?Thanks

I'm not a bike mechanic either but had no problem installing a new battery in my V11 when i got it, (still use the old one on the outboard motor). I also replaced all the relays with the recommended Omron relays discussed elsewhere on this site. Found good ones on Ebay. Bought extras. I applied Craig Deoxit to the terminals and dielectric grease to pins when installing the new relays. I keep extra relays and fuses in my tail bag just in case the bike decides to get funky somewhere inconvenient.

If it were a Ballabio, there will be original headlight/instrument brackets that would mount to the frame instead of the forks. Also, handlebars (not "clip-ons") . . . .

Looks like a pure and true "Sport" rather than a converted Ballabio. If it is, indeed a converted Ballabio, it is very nicely done! Looks like a great score! Love the high mount Titanium canisters!

Gorgeous Sport, @105Gunner! That has a lot of cool things going on!

The Becker-Technik work stand is great, the problem is that BT won’t ship directly to the USA (or North America?). Stein Dinse will, but with the crazy import tariffs in place, it might no longer be a financially viable option. MG Cycles is the US Importer ($$$) ==> Linky

Hi @dell. Looks like @docc is heading in the right direction, but so's you know where he's heading: The symptoms indicate that the battery is not delivering properly, i.e. dead. 'Nuff said, do what docc says.

@Gmc28, I hope my effort to help set up your thread came out okay. Sometimes that be messy. I did try to add back your second photo, but not sure that came through.... Looking forward to your V700's progress!

beautiful. I may have accidentally ended up with such a machine. Oops. A friend wanted to unload it, and offered it a few times over the years, with me declining, but finally circumstances and price aligned, and now i have it. I honestly had thought it was a ‘72 V7 from just eye-balling it casually in passing a couple times, but it’s a ‘68 V700. Need to strip the paint and redo the tank (etc) paint scheme to something stock, or stock-ish, and am loving that red/chrome. the chrome would presumably be harder to reproduce. Link to my "eventual project" . . .

Potential failure of the aluminum flywheel in the Tenni and Scura, and 'possibly' the Rosso Mandello, but maybe not

I'm not sure if that is an A.C. tester ?

docc, this has been over complicated w/the DVOM and overthinking. Testing this w/a simple incandescent test light is the way to go. To prove a press. switch is n.c. just turn the ign. key to the run position. If the light is indeed off , remove the wire to the sensor and touch it to a good ground. If the light comes on. The switch aka sensor is bad. To test the sensor to be sure , connect the test light to a 12v source then touch the test light to a good ground. Light comes on and you have a good circuit. Touch the test light to the tip of the sensor. If the light comes on your sensor is good. If the light is off , the sensor is bad. I have about 4-6 Fluke 77,87,88 DVOMs and 2 Simpson 260s and a SnapOn MT 406 analog meters. What I do most test work w/is a simple NAPA test light. This test light will do two things . It verifies V and verifies a good circuit (because a DVOM will not introduce a load int the circuit) by loading the circuit w/a test light. A good wiring diagram and step by step testing will help ruling out possibilities and verify what is good and bad. Good luck Sam , do take notes and take steps. You will be doing this a lot. MotoGuzzis will have lots of quirks. Inop lights are just one of them . Light connections are just one. Have plenty of vaseline ,De-oxit . contact grease or whatever gooey you rub on contacts are. Charging V is imperative , lights are a luxury . If my bike starts and runs: good. Brake lights and turn signals are not needed. I live in Ky. You drive through the state. You will understand.