80CX100

I apologize if I've falsely raised hopes for short frame owners, this worked for me on that hidden grease nipple on my LONG frame bike. Imho, if there is any coupling that MAY work on short frames, this would be it. Take a look at the photo on this link below; that short 4" pipe to the left on the 180 degree swivel coupling with the spring over it, has male threads on both ends;remove it; you now have a 180 degree swivel with female threads. Remove the coupling from whatever type of grease gun you have, exposing the male threads and screw the 180 swivel on, in it's place. On my LONG frame, I could see the top of that hidden grease fitting, but it was welded in so close to the shoulder of the driveshaft, I needed a coupling approximately 45-60 degrees (WAG), this cheap swivel worked like a charm for me, on my LONG frame; I make no promises it will work on a SHORT frame, but for $10 Canadian funds, I'd take the gamble and try, fwiw ymmv. https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/motomaster-180-degree-swivel-grease-gun-coupler-0282760p.html

I can't upload photos here and it's now taken apart and put away, sorry. To get it to fit onto my grease gun, I unscrewed the coupling from the end of my grease gun leaving a npt ? male threaded end; I then unscrewed the straight pipe/spring assembly npt? from the 180 swivel; the female npt? threaded swivel then screwed right onto my grease gun. Does that make sense? I needed to remove the little pipe (both ends were male threaded) so the female threaded swivel could easily attach to the grease gun male threaded end, that the original coupling had been attached to.

I danced around that one hidden grease fitting forever, I had slim couplings, 90 degrees, side fit 90 degrees, 360 swivels,needles, etc, etc. I bought every possible coupling fitting I could find locally. Nothing worked. Here's the one that finally worked for me. It's a very cheap made in China 180 swivel, I had to disassemble it, and only used the swivel part on my grease gun, but very gratifying instant success. I'm sure that your local Harbour Freight or similar store probably has something like this, fwiw fyi https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/motomaster-180-degree-swivel-grease-gun-coupler-0282760p.html

I find my other guzzis much more pleasant to work on, a big part of that is just getting it up in the air to do work. The V11's style of frame, crossover, lack of center stand, and extreme rear weight bias, makes it challenging for me, to easily get things elevated safely. The first time I tried to pull the rear plate out on my lift table to remove the rear wheel with the sump up on a scissor jack, the whole back end of the bike wanted to drop down into the hole. It was a pucker moment while I held the bike up and managed to get the plate back in place. Be mindful, V11s are very heavy in the ass end lol. Right now I've got it up on a scissor jack under the sump, with a Becker Technik Lift (not impressed jmho) under the pork chops. I'm not happy with the set up I have now, it's a work in progress; my scissor jack is worth it's weight in gold and in the future I want to try using that, and different sized axle stands, with a shaped pieces of wood on them, placed under the pork chop/swing arm area and sump, fwiw good luck

Hey Scud, I heard of the clamp trick later on; At the time I'd read of a few people recommending, disassembling the tensioner and mounting the support plate, then reassembling the tensioner in place; that's what worked for me on the second attempt.

It's hard to tell from the photos (scarey), but if that failure was in the area of the little metal rod anchoring the spring to the plastic body, it's definitely the weak link of the design. My first one broke right there, on installation. I'm surmising that tensioner was probably cracked during installation, then failed during use? idk When I replaced the timing chain on my CX100, I had read about how trying to get the blade tensioner into place could be a bit of a biatch; many posters talked of how "just use a little more force to manhandle it into position, it's well made and strong, it won't break" I took their posted advice to heart, and managed to prove them wrong, as I used just enough force to watch my new ValTek tensioner break, while trying to get it installed. I used much more finesse the second go round,lol. It's only plastic, obviously not as bullet proof as I'd like, fwiw.

Some of those solvents are nasty crap, I've seen a few expensive plastic things vanish before my eyes, lol. There was recently a post on WG re Deoxit being toxic to the inner soft rubber sealing membrane of the water proof electrical connectors. I noticed that myself when I worked through the electrical harness on my V11 with Deoxit/Vaseline, membrane turned all mushy/puffy. The cheapskate in me, has kept me from getting an ultrasonic cleaner, but I like that idea of the parts in a sealed bag w solution in a tank full of water, that makes a lot of sense! and sounds much easier to manage.

Tks Docc, It's very evident when I start ripping through all the info, you've done an amazing job behind the scenes compiling the information and the links so it can be retrieved. I've read a ton of really good info and tips but I've yet to confirm what I started out searching for, lol. If I knock off that outside big washer on the Bevel Box, does that inner sleeve from the needle roller bearing pop out without too much drama, and relatively straight forward to rotate the bearing and regrease, or am I likely to end up with a bunch of needle rollers on my garage floor if the job goes sideways? Tia

I was searching for info in some recent posts by Docc on the outboard needle bearing located on the rear axle assembly and stumbled across this gem posted by the man himself over a decade and a half ago. I'm giving this a bump just in case someone else is working on or planning to work around the bevel box; the information and tips by Pete and many others is worth it's weight in gold. Tks to Jaap for patiently ensuring that Pete's original post was documented completely with photos back in 2004, and to this day, maintains this great resource site for the benefit of all spiney owners.

Sorry to hear that Bob, that'll be a beautiful bike for someone, glwts

I'm not very good with electrickery, but I know on my old Tonti frame CX100, when I installed an Eastern Beaver ? headlight relay kit, it was literally like going from night to day. Would it be likely that rather than adding a headlight relay kit on the old vintage bikes; that an LED headlight such as this would make as vast an improvement in the brightness of the headlight, with the added bonus of less electrical draw? Or would adding a relay kit still be prudent to keep the higher draw off the switches and and on the relay instead. I guess what I'm asking, is an LED headlight mod like this on it's own a good game plan on a vintage bike, or should the relay mod still be done as well? tia

Iirc "Astralite" were an option but hard to find, fwiw

I'm not familiar with this phase sensor that other owners with sage minds have id'd as a probable cause, (I'll have to find out where it is, lol) but is this the same part you are describing a/m ? From the description of your sensor it sounds like this o ring collapsing underneath may be why it is now too close to the engine, if it has moved so much that the wires are touching on the outside, is the sensor touching the contact on the inside, shorting out? If it needs an air gap to run it won't. If all of the above makes sense, a simple mcgyver shim job may get you mobile, fwiw idk good luck ps zip ties, water bottle, juice jug etc all make good shims if needed.

They're a special breed, lol You have to be a welder, engineer, usually possess off the charts mechanical skills. They love building crazy sh*t that nobody else would ever try; one of the funkiest rigs I've seen was based on a big old Triumph twin, the builder reversed the cylinder & head assembly, so the exhaust flowed out the back of the engine, just to prove to himself and the world that he could do it and make it work, and he did

I've considered getting a rig a few times; other than piloting a dead one getting towed off a race track once, I've never ridden a sidecar. There's a lot of small engineering details that go into making a rig safe and responsive at speed, things can go sideways in a heart beat, it can be a steep learning curve. I've seen some beautiful looking rigs based on V11 Spine frames, but the consensus from others, that are experienced sidecar builders and riders, is that the Tonti frame based bikes are much better designed to handle the stresses generated, and a more easily adapted platform for sidecar duty. Buying a well built rig is ALWAYS cheaper and easier than building one. fwiw ymmv Good luck

Hey Phil congrats on the new bike, very sweet classic lines, I know you've been thinking about it, glad to see you pull the trigger.. When I first got my California Vintage, I was throwing it around back country curves, it was disappointing. Other than change shock settings, the only thing I changed was my mindset and I began riding it for the relaxing and enjoyable bike that it is. It's my favorite old dependable ride in the herd now, like a comfortable pair of slippers. Wishing you many safe miles, on your new relaxing and enjoyable ride

I saw that post back when Roy made up that stand. I realize that the spine frame is fastened together and loosening the fastenings on a regular basis isn't ideal, that's why I wanted to confirm the correct value. I'm hoping I come up with a better method for getting both wheels off the ground; my scissor jack under the sump for the front wheel is great, but this Becker Technik I got included in a bike deal, for the back wheel is not bad but it's not perfect, still working out the nuances of working around this spine frame. fwiw.

It actually wasn't from a manual (the manuals I'm looking at don't have a value). It was actually from a list of torque values from various sources compiled and posted by Raz on 31Dec2018. He has the Side Plate rod beneath the swingarm @ 49 nm Side Plate lowest/frame to gearbox @ 78 nm In his included chart of standard values for 12 mm he has @ 80 nm

After going through the manuals, I "think" I've found the right spec listed as 78 NM, can anyone in the know confirm, does that sound about right? tia

While on the subject of these frame plates, What is the fastening torque for the bottom large 18mm nuts, that hold the bottom of the frame plate to the frame cross member behind the transmission? I've been struggling to adapt my Becker Technik work stand from my Griso so it will work on my V11; I finally cut down some large deep well 18mm sockets and have fastened them to the BT stand and it looks like it will work, but the sockets are fixed tightly on the BT stand and don't rotate, I need something to rotate in order to use it. My game plan is to loosen the large 18mm nuts 1 turn, so the nuts will spin slightly as the sockets and stand swing into position and lift the bike up; but that means that each time I use the stand I will have to re torque those large frame plate 18mm nuts, curious if anyone knows off the top of their head what that spec is? I may have it buried in manuals someplace I haven't gone searching yet. Tia

Some would say I'm lazy, I like to say I love patina! I've gotten into trouble far too many times diving in deeper than I should've, my motto now is, "if it ain't broke, I don't fix it"

Reminds me of pro boxer turned singer Paul Thorn, in his song about fighting Roberto Duran, asking him why he had to hit him so hard, "I'd Rather Be a Hammer Than a Nail"

Are you sure? There's a ton of info on the subject in here and I haven't read it all; but I was under the impression that it was the ethanol in the gas absorbing water,,, and the plastic in the tank absorbing that water that made them expand and unable to fit. I was sure that I had read that some people emptied the tanks for a while and they shrunk back to normal size and were then able to fit them on? idk

I understood what Gstallons is describing that it's the rear portion cut away. Looking at it from the left side of the bike 1-5 o'clock and from the right side 7-11 o'clock. I've been sweating bullets reading about the deformed tank, because my tank has been off for a long time, half filled with gas, but it's ethanol free so hopefully it's not an issue. In hindsight I should've drained the tank to preclude any problems.

I've read this recommendation before about cutting approx 1/3 crescent shape off the mounting rubber grommets down to the writing,,, just to clarify is that material removed from the top?,,, the front?,,, or the rear?