po18guy

Was actually considering wither a Duc 937cc SS or an Aprilia Shiver 750/900. Aside from cost, both are nearly as heavy as a V11. The Aprilia in particular has always been a disappointment. They do so amazingly well with their Milles and Tuonos and such, but when it comes to the smaller bikes, they avoid taking them to the fat farm.

Precisely what I was thinking. Givi is good stuff, but you pay for it. Sadly Givi offers nothing in their current lineup for the "ancient" V11. http://www.giviusa.com/my-motorcycle/moto-guzzi However, I'll bet a call or email would net something usable.

Guzzis have come both with fork-mounted and frame mounted fairings. Since Guzzi has long had a wind tunnel, and since there were some claims of high-speed instability on the early (short) V11s, one prospect may be that they removed the fairing's influence upon the steering and mounted it to the frame so that any force produced by the fairing would be fed to the frame rather than the steering. Just a guess.

Not that it would directly help, but if you need pics of the Ballabio setup, let me know.

The mount holes appear to be in the correct position for a Ballabio. The left-right adjustment screw relief hole as well. It appears to have 5 windshield mount screws, which is consistent with a Ballabio. Also depends on the original color. If it was red and the silver sprayed over, it might just from a Ballabio. If it was silver and the red sprayed over, well all bets are off. As to the frame mount used on the Ballabio, MG went to an awful lot of trouble to design and cast up/machine the rather massive frame mount, which also holds the signals. But that mount, by itself, was deemed to be insufficient, as a V-shaped tubular mount extends from that cast mount up to the center windshield screw on each side, to steady the top of the screen.

No muffler, that is a reverse cone megaphone on the Wildcat Scrambler. What I did not know was that Parilla used the Gran Sport road racing motor in the Wildcat. Some noise and some fun!

OK, thanks! CBX stuff will go for sure, as many of them are now in restoration.

Fast sale! Any other parts that you can identify?

Quite right! I had just been viewing the Parilla DOHC diagram. Did the Guzzi V8 have so many gears? I must say that 11 years and 20 different chemo drugs have scrambled my egg, so to speak.

Hmmm... let's see: air cooled cylinder, high cam, short pushrods opening valves via rockers - something about it is just so familiar. Ah yes! It seems that Giovanni Parrilla might have had the idea first. But bevel gears* (see correction - thanks Pete) and shaft was his choice of drive. Back in the day, I lusted after a 250 Wildcat scrambler.

Well, I stand corrected! Thank you. As always seems to happen, I should have specified that my experience is limited to V8 car engines.

Way old thread, but back to timing setups. First cup of coffee musing here. HQ gears should last the life of the engine, but such gears - think transmission quality or above - would cost near the value of the bike. Straight cut gears are more efficient than helical (no thrust), but give you that "NASCAR" V8 sound. Lovely for around town, but tiring when droning along. Alloy gears? If we go back 60+ years to the Studebaker car V8s, we find a fiber cam gear! And I know of no failures driving 16 valves for 100K. Rather mild cam profiles I'll grant you, but their performance "Avanti" cam gear was helical alloy. The engineering on the Studes was such that there was crank gear directly meshing with cam gear - nothing in between and no tensioner needed. Where does that leave us? I tend to think that racing engines (fairly frequent tear downs) need gears, while street engines need a good tensioner. Being an owner, have prowled the Kawasaki EX500 forum for many years and cam chain tensioners were a big issue on the gen1 ('87-'93) motors. Fortunatel, the bulletproof gen2 unit swapped right on. They have the silent hy-vo chains and many of them go 100K miles if properly maintained. Says something about the chains in what was essentially a commuter/throw away bike. And this is with the lumpy 180º/540º firing interval they have. I am of the mind that a good aftermarket tensioner will serve me well. Timing setup that Andy Granatelli used to go 168 MPH in a 1963 Avanti. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG8pdR6VAXw

I note that my ''04 Ballabio has distinctly limited steering lock. Makes U-turns quite interesting and something to practice. At full lock, there is at least 12mm/ one-half inch of clearance between forks and tank. Could it partially be the slightly longer frame? Suspension adjustments can make a huge difference. Due to too many back surgeries, I softened the rear dampening and it made quite a difference - but do one adjustment at a time and ride it.

+1 I signed up and have not been disappointed one bit. Once you are used to it, it's a breeze, doing almost all the work for you.

Either way, having a spare is a good thing. I don't care if they're $20 each. What is the value of not having to tear the bike down? Of not being stranded in a single gear?

There is a DOT manufacturer's date code molded into the sidewall of the tire. It will usually say "DOT (1743) or similar - the parentheses actually being a wide oval into which the tire's date code is molded. In this example, the first two digits are the last two of the year (2017) the tire was made, and the "43" being the week within that year: October 23-October 29th, 2017. Examine the sidewalls and tread of the tire. If you see any weather checking (cracking), time for the tires to go. Any sidewall bulging or suspicious cuts/repairs in the tread would mean the same. i have the Guzzi shop manual for my bike, but it is Italian somewhat translated into British - so us Yanks have to scratch our heads until we can determine what some of the terms mean. Never seen a Haynes for the V11, but it might be worth a look. Dust cover, sun cover or rain cover (in L.A. right?)

Time for a few photos in the dedicated thread. After a fairly good sprucing up. In addition to the LED headlight, it now has LED signals with an electronic adjustable-rate flasher. Once my acute bronchitis fades, more miles are waiting.

Gotta ditto on the Avons. I have ridden Avon bias ply tires on my Kawi and they are especially good in the rain. If the ShinKos on his bike are reasonably fresh and he is riding conservatively until he's accustomed to the bike, I would wear them out and look for a deal on some major brands. Unless they scare him - then all bets are off.

All great ideas. Perhaps attach a voltmeter/multimeter to the battery and note the voltage when the light is on and see if it changes when the light goes off. It "may" point to a rectifier problem. The toggle? The bike may have had aux fog lights or??? added and the toggle would control them. Oh, and the rattle with clutch in? That helped me figure out why I like Ducatis: with their 90º exhaust cadence and rattly dry clutch, they remind me of a Guzzi!

I think that Guzzis are somewhat like Colt pistols and revolvers: more the exception than the rule, with each being one-of-a-kind. It seems as though the assembly workers simply grabbed whatever was nearest and bolted it on. Mine has a different ign switch, but it's still somewhat puzzling how to get to lack/park positions without some monkey motion. The toggle? Flip it and see if the charge light remains on as long. Someone with greenie experience will chime in. Back in the 1960s, Ducati singles had a mystery toggle switch on the tailight mount. No one could ever determine what on earth it did, so we assumed that it was Italian law that each motorcycle had to have a toggle switch somewhere. ShinKo tires are probably very good for a "sports-touring" app. I think they would go away on a track day - but that is not their purpose. The universal joint? Virtually every American and most European cars with U-joints left them open. Better to shed any heat buildup, easier to clean and to maintain. A leather cover would be really cool - covering only the fixed (silver) part. Underseat looks very good - not messed with. Funny that my '04 Ballabio has no chin pad on the tank, so they painted a faux chin pad on. Now that's Italian!

It seems that some others and I are late to the game. The price you were charging, while a great benefit to the members, seemed to me to be way too low for the time and effort you put into the project. If no MG aftermarket supplier or even MG itself is not interested, then you should be properly compensated. I would willingly pay much more than you charged for the peace and security of knowing I would not have to limp home in who-knows-which gear. p.s. Love your Piper. It looks meticulously kept. Dad was a pilot - rebuilt his 1941 Luscombe 8C by himself. Bro and I climbed into the fuselage to buck rivets, as we were the only ones who could fit back near the tailsection. He re-covered the wings and doped the fabric in our back yard. Painted it and started the wingless plane up in our driveway. He had to chase the neighbor kids away when they came running to see what all the commotion was about!. He flew it from Canada to Mexico, and we went to many fly-ins. Ah, those were the days!

My eyes are crossed after reading this thread! Chuck, you deserve a free vacation to Mandello del Lario! My '04 ballabio came with a spare spring, but I think it's in Guzzi wrapping. Will have to look - but I'd rather buy a new and improved spring.

Congrats! They are like no other motorcycle. An acquired taste some say, but torque suits every palate. The only thing I see that needs immediate attention is BNP. Badly Needs Pipes.

I hear you. Am giving the Ballabo a pre-flight, removing all of the 'Disney' (Mickey Mouse) parts as well as stuff that tried to turn it into a sport tourer. Bags and mounts set aside. Forward set pegs replaced by OEM. Faucet washers between fairing and headlight mount. Binned. über tacky stick-on horse trailer reflector on rear fender. History. Full LED makeover with a 36W fan-cooled LED unit in the headlight, LED projector beam turn signals (with adjustable rate flasher), along with a clear lens over the LED taillight (was smoked). Surface rust around the drain holes and screw holes in the headlight rim neutralized with KBS Rust Blast and then sealed forever with KBS Rust Seal. Iridium plugs for faster starts. She's getting there.