FreyZI

The most encouraging thing is that I didn't have any parts left over after it went back together. Thanks for the nice pic, Docc. Per instructions, grounded wire and got neutral light. Filed connector, put on some dielectric grease. Neutral light all good.

I got Bubbles put back together. I started with the rear, as I swapped out the badly peeling anodized-looking red pork chops for a pair of dark silver-ish pork chops that came with the bike from PO. Though I had considered a "one side at a time" approach to pork chop replacement (i.e., take as little apart as possible), I ultimately decided to just take everything apart. Now that I've had the rear apart, the good news is that most of it seems pretty serviceable. I did not break into the rear drive, but oil looked fine and magnetic plug looked fine, too. All the joints in the drive train looked good enough. Known problems: Shock eye at swingarm has some play Torsion bar rubber jobbies are shot Right muffler mount bent Torsion bar has been eroded at the connection to frame (I suspect one of the frame tabs was bent inward at some point and it since ate slowly away at the torsion bar where it's pinched Also, the most rearward part of the fairing (above the cylinder heads) is not a tight fit to the fuel tank. I suspect that, in the fall on the right, one or more mounting brackets were bent, and then bent back, but not quite to original shape. I have a half inch or so of daylight. In the outdoor light, it sure seemed to me that the fairing was a different color (a bit less gold) that the tank and the seat surround. I suspect that the fairing had either been replaced or repainted at some point; and that there was a second accident in which the fairing got a little minor road rash. Yes, I think this bike has been down a couple times. Moving on to the front: I took Bubbles down from laundry room suspension and wheeled it outside. Started right up. Runs a little rough. A bit more (valve train?) noise than the Tenni. I let it warm up a couple minutes; did not ride it. Began leaking fuel from the right throttle body. I noticed this after I shut it down, so I don't know if it was leaking while running. Also after shut down, I noticed that the right muffler only smoked for a while. This is where I will be most happy for your thoughts. One other gremlin to note: Neutral light does not come on and dropping the kickstand in neutral results in engine cut-off. It's a good thing I'm having fun wrenching and learning about V11s, because I'm feeling like I made a pretty poor, sight unseen, Covid Times, boredom purchase. This may end up being the rat bike I always wanted.

Bolt is straight. Just seems a little sloppy, like the swivel bearing of the shock is a little enlarged.

Unfortunately, I have no idea what they might have come off of. I have been calling them silver, but they aren't really. More of a gun metal color, but not so dark.

Y'all are saying 19mm and 22mm. My caliper says 19.9 mm and 21.8 mm. I would call the smaller one a nominal 20 mm. Confirm that the locking nut is chromed on the smaller and stainless on the larger. Not to worry, @Scud, I just hadn't taken the tape off that drain plug washer seat. The paint (VHT Wrinkle Plus) does not need to be baked: take your pick, let dry or cure. Instructions say that baking may make the crinckles smaller. 200F for an hour. I baked.

Wrapped up a work marathon early this afternoon and treated myself to an evening with Bubbles. What did I do to my v11 today? Started putting the back end back together. I picked up this slovenly V11LM earlier this year and have started cleaning, checking, and (the reason for taking the back end apart) replacing the very badly peeling pork chops with a pair of silver chops PO threw in. So, I'm putting the swing arm back on and I'm having the damnedest (sp.?) time getting the swingarm pivots to seat in the swingarm bearings. Got the flashligh, lined up the holes, tried again and again, switched sides, flashlight line-up, tried and tried again. Now, I read a post recently (sorry, I can't attribute this at the moment); poster said grind a little bevel around the edge of the pin so it goes into the bearing easier. Well that sounds like a pain in the arse. Anyway, long story short, I'm thinking -- it can't be this hard. Well, you've heard the expression you can't put a square peg in a round hole. Also, you can't put a round peg in a round hole when the peg is of a significantly larger diameter than the hole. Even a hammer would not have helped. Who would have guessed that the spare pork chops take a different diameter pivot? The other project for the day was painting the final drive case. I had some advice (thanks, folks), which I ignored, and went with the crinkle paint. I did buy a rattle can of a semi-gloss, too, and shot a test piece of both. Crinkle was a good match to original, so I went with that, knowing: 1) it doesn't look as good as smooth, 2) it's a PITA to clean. What can I say? Turned out pretty well. Far from perfect, but perfect on this hard-used bike would be like lipstick on a pig. Anyway, a couple of questions (apparently I don't know how to search on this forum, because I can only get zero results of 4,000 results): 1) Torque on swingarm pivot caps? 2) How much play is acceptable in the eye of the shock mount at the swingarm? Cheers, Frey

Amen

Returning from thread drift>>> I posed a question about Grisos in another thread that garnered no attention. Will try again here. I seem to remember when Griso leftovers were around. My search on cycletrader.com today had just 2 Grisos listed -- an '07 and a '17 (the prior with reasonable miles and great condition for under $4K). Are these ending up in the hands of people who appreciate them? Anyway, question is this: would you buy an '07? On paper, seems like the 8V is the way to go.

I've prescribed myself a ride in the old stompin' grounds of Colorado this summer. Heading out for a wedding end of June near Vail. I bought a one-way ticket to Denver and have left the way back itinerary-less. I'll either rent a bike for a week or.... If I find the right bike, turn it into a fly-and-ride. I'll have a lot of miles to cover in the fly-over states. I've made many trips across I-80 between the front range and PA (by car), but never taken the more southerly route. After a few days of riding in the mountains, I could strike out across the plains, try some different BBQ, see the Arch, then into the Monogahela. A couple months too early to start looking at bikes in CO for the end of June, but why should that stop me? Ideally, the bike would be something with wind protection and cases (or at least mounts). I did see this thing of interest: https://fortcollins.craigslist.org/mcy/d/fort-collins-2007-motto-guzzi-grizo-1100/7445282042.html. '07 Griso, low miles, adult-owned, with screen and cases, aftermarket seat, for $5,400. I know there are lots of threads out there on the 4V vs. 8V and rollerization, which I'd have to look at if we were closer to June. Would you buy an early Griso?

200 miles would put it damn near the PA border. If I hadn't bought Bubbles (an '02 V11LM) a couple weeks ago, I'd be making a call.

https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/2003-Moto+Guzzi-V11-5020373013?cmp=email_cycle_search-alert Maroon '03 sport naked in Lynchburg, VA, $3795.

+1 more on overhead straps. If the bike comes down on me, I have other problems, because the dining room table is next. I'm using the Canyon Dancer tie down (er, up) device, which is really convenient.

Great. Now that we've decided that I will not screw around inside the final drive, I have to decide what paint to use. Here's a shot of the torsion bar bracket thingy with a cast alu piece I shot with some VHT wrinkle paint. Looks a pretty good match to my eye. I think I'll give this stuff a shot on the final drive. I had been leaning toward matching the swingarm, but this is so close to original I have to go with it. This particular paint can be air dried, but to "cure", the instructions say to put the painted pieces in an oven at 200F for 20 minutes. I did that with this piece. I'd like to do that with the final drive, too. I don't see any reason I can't stick the whole final drive in the oven at 200F for 20 minutes. I'd remove oil drain bolts, of course. I'd imagine most grease (P.O.x2 seems to have been a fan of red grease) would be okay up to that temperature. Cheers, Frey

Hopefully no Karens out there ...

Oh, I forgot to mention the other V11. I haven't actually ridden "it", yet (currently sans rear wheel, drive, and swingarm), so it probably doesn't deserve a name. But, I've taken to calling it "Bubbles". I suppose that could be a lady's name , but that wasn't the inspiration.

I have (had) all three: women, men, and neutral. The first two are BMWs and ladies: Ada (R1200R) and Brunhilde (R1100RL). Ada is nimble and quick. Brunhilda is a mother, carrying her one-wheeled cub on her right. And then third Beemer (F800GS) is a dude, Carl. I think there was a bit of a leap in finding that the F8 was male, to wit, getting past the idea of straddling and gripping a male. Out in the wilderness riding the rough stuff and getting dirty, though, I want to be with a dependable, rugged buddy, not a lady. So, Carl. Interestingly, the Italian beauty in the fleet is just "the Tenni" or "the Goose" or "the Green Goose". And the V1000 is "the Popemobile" or "the Rototiller". Both genderless. Just MACHINES. Maybe there's some grace in that: synergy between rider and machine; no need to personify. Well, with the V11 at least. The V1000 might as well be a tractor... Cheers, Frey

This is what I see: I haven't cracked the final drive open. I wasn't going to go there. But, I gather you're going to tell me that would be foolish...

Final drive is stripped and about ready for paint. Some unsightly areas where there was a lot of corrosion. I have both a semi-gloss and a crinkle paint. Will shoot a scrap of alu and see how they look.

Man, Scud, your Scura is impossibly clean (nice Turismo Veloce behind yours, too). I do see that the final drive is flatter than the swingarm. Maybe I'll just paint my swingarm, too (it cleaned up pretty well).

Well, the more I thought about, the more I thought it's going to be a PITA to strip out everything. No obvious issues with the rear drive; oil looked unremarkable. Plus, I don't have a ring nut socket and I don't want to start whacking the thing with a drift. Stopped by Adv. Auto on my way home from work today and picked up aircraft stripper and paint. I got the VHT wrinkle plus, thinking it may be a decent approximation of the original fuzzy finish. That said, I have reservations about the fuzzy finish and thought I might instead use a semi-gloss black to (try to) match the swingarm. I know there are some threads about the wrinkle/crinckle paint for the engine, but I haven't read up on them. I'll strip tonight and think about the paint some more... Happy to accept any thoughts on the paint options. Cheers!

Powder coater is going to love me: Remote clutch hose and bleeder valves arrived today. Unfortunately, much (job) work ahead. Probably two weeks of shite ahead before I can devote much attention to Bubbles.

After a couple weeks well below freezing, it 50 degrees today in Happy Valley! Too much salt and gravel on the roads to take the Tenni out. Champagne is in too many pieces. So, pushed the GS across the skating rink/driveway and rode the pork chops to the powder coater. They'll order a pound and shoot a test piece for me. I'm thinking the color ("anodized red"), if it matches the swatch, is not cherry enough, but the finish looks good. Got the swing arm cleaned up today and it looks reasonably good. It will be a shame to cover it up with the ridiculously large hugger -- maybe I'll look into CF. No, no, no! This is a parts bike. Clean it up and ride it. Don't throw $$$ at it unnecessarily! We'll see.

The Tenni doesn't have this washer. I believe PO (x2) had advertised this Tenni as having "expensive" aftermarket foot controls. I have no idea if the "expensive" part is true. Works well and looks tasteful. It will be good to have the chops back from the powder coater and an excuse to take the Tenni apart for a good cleaning and polishing. Let me know if you have a spare washer, @Scud. Otherwise, I'll go to Ace and pick something up (maybe sister a couple washers).

Thanks. Loosened. Will try snugging everything down slowly and doing seat subframe and long arms to engine block last. Of note, when I took it things apart, there was no washer (#6, below) between the shoulder bolt (#5) and the pork chop. I gather that one is necessary to get a tight fit with the subframe there. Anybody know the thickness of that washer off hand? I saw a site that appeared to indicate it's 3mm thick. Really?