audiomick

You should be able to find something that fits in the existing thread, or is there no mounting point on your bike?

@mikev My V35 Imola and my Breva both have the same thread on both mirrors. That is the critical point. Some manufactureres have right-hand thread on both sides, some have one right-hand and one left-hand. Screw your mirrors off and have a look, and measure the diameter. It is likely to be a fine pitch thread, I think. The mirrors on the Imola are that for certain. On the strength of what you find you should be able to tell if the mirrors from other models or suppliers will fit or not. @Lucky Phil I'm a bit interested in this line of products. Stupidly expensive, but the mirrors are made of polished aluminium. No glass, so nothing to shatter. https://motogadget.com/collections/spiegel-englisch

Yeah, no worries mate. Like I wrote, that's Germany. I've been here about 27 years. I'm used to it.

Thanks for the picture of the Rizomas @Lucky Phil. I'm looking for some mirrors for the V35 Imola, and the ones in your photo might be an option now I've seen the photo.

I think I'm looking at about €14,-. Customs want something like €7.50, and the post wants a €6.00 handling charge. That's Germany. If you don't like it, go and live somewhere else...

for the sake of completeness.... The man's name is Roland Däs. The two dots above the "a" are called an Umlaut, literally "sound changer". If writing that letter on a keyboard that doesn't have the ä (or ö or ü), the correct way to write it is with "ae" (or oe or ue). So Däs becomes Daes (or könnten becomes koennten or Müller becomes Mueller). You may find that searching for Däs Mototec works better if you try Daes Mototec. Apart from anything else, "das" is the neutral article in German ("the" for things that are "it" rather than "he" or "she"...), so Das Mototec has a literal translation as "the Mototec".

I got a notification from the post that there is something waiting to be picked up. It wil be at the shop around the corner as of 11.30 a.m. on Saturday. There is import duty to be paid, so I reckon it must be the plate. I might be able to pick it up on Monday, I think.

It simply means "currently not in stock". This: "Die bestellte Menge wird schnellstmöglich von uns geliefert" means "we will deliver the quantity ordered as soon as possible". That means, the things are available, but it might take a while to deliver. I reckon it is likely that they are manufactured on demand. If in doubt, send the man an e-mail. I spoke to him on the phone once. He seems like a nice bloke.

Where did you see that? There is no indication on the Däs site that they are no longer available. https://shop.daes-mototec.com/de/Fahrwerk-7/Lenker/DAeS-Lenkerstummel-Kit-fuer-MOTO-GUZZI-V11-Le-Mans--alle-Mod--V11-Coppa-Italia---Scura---Naked-02-.html

You did reset the valve clearances after changing the head gaskets? I only ask because you didn't specifically refer to that. That is also on the route of checks I would make in your situation, i.e. go through and check (again) the valve clearances and ignition timing, and make sure all the wires are plugged in where they belong. Even if you didn't deliberatly do anything to them, something may have inadvertently become loose. Given that the bike ran with the bigger jets before the heads came off, I reckon you could leave them in. Anyway, once the basics are all checked again, then you can start looking for more complicated faults.

It is not "fluid" in the literal sense of the word, but rather strictly regulated. I'm guessing a bit, but only a very little bit. Fact is, according to European law, a vehicle has to meet the emmisions laws (and whatever else, like how wide the blinkers have to be etc.) that apply at the time of its first registration. That is regardless of when it was actually built, and which requirements it met at the time of production. Apparently there is a government instance which can decide to allow a special exemption for things like the brand new still-in-the-crate Daytona that was mentioned here a while back. Without such a special exemption, however, such a "brand new but 20 years old" bike would not be able to be registered here in Europe, or at least here in Germany. I have also heard of manufacturers, including Moto Guzzi, I believe, being granted exemptions to clear "old stock" over the phasing in of a new set of compliance laws. Anyway, and here I am guessing just a bit, in the face of that it makes sense that the date of first registration is recorded in the registration documents, as opposed to the date of manufacturer. That way the inspection engineer who does the bi-annual roadworthy inspection knows immediately which emissions laws apply, for instance. So I reckon that is why the date of first registration is recorded rather than the year of manufacture. That seems "fluid" at first glance, but when one thinks about the regulations involved, it makes sense. I think. Incidently, when I was still in Australia, it was the year of manufacture that was recorded on the registration sticker that has to be displayed on the vehicle. It is a sticker, readable from the outside, on the inside of the windscreen for a car/truck etc., and in a dedicated holder on a bike. As far as I know, that is still the case. Perhaps someone who still lives in Australia can confirm that?

Might it be this picture? I should add that I pinched it. It was up-loaded to a german language V11 Forum. The copyright on it is apparentely owned by Tony Foale himself. I hope he doesn't mind it being posted here.

Ok, but de-pressurising the system before one removes the fuel lines still seems like a good idea to me.

I was advised by someone who really knows his stuff to pull the plug on the fuel pump so it is de-activated, start the bike, and let it run till it stops. That relieves the pressure in the system, of course, and is the trick to easily getting the snap-on connectors in the fuel lines open to, for instance, remove the tank.

Except, on second thoughts it doesn't. The closed loop goes back into the tank, but it draws from the tank as well. So, theoretically, the net pressure difference around the complete loop, including the tank, should be zero. Unless the venting on the tank can draw air in, but not release back out. Seems unlikely, but who knows. As Phil said, there are too many variables. However, changing the pump and filter seems to be a sensible idea, and checking the venting can't hurt.

The pump delivers into a closed loop that goes back into the tank. If you do have a venting issue, it could mean that the closed cap increases pressure in the loop above what the pressure valve is set to. With the cap open, the venting problem is no longer the dominant factor, and the pressure in the loop is that which the valve is set for. Maybe...

I find there is much to be said for focussing on the things in life at which one excels.

Now that you mention it, it might have. But I'm not sure. I wont be able to have a look until the end of the week, either. Away from home for work from tomorrow until Thursday. EDIT: I had already uploaded a photo. Not that good, but enough to see that the manufacture date is apparently not on there. Incidently, date of first registration was May 2003.

Sad to see him pass.

"Youbastard" springs to mind...

Coming out of the discussion that arose here (that I don't want to continue there to avoid de-railing the thread completely...) I've been thinking once again about the originality of my V11 Le Mans. As mentioned in the other link, it was built in 2002, has the crinkly engine paint, long frame and tank without the chin pad. The forks are the 43 mm Marzoccis with pre-load and rebound damping on both legs. Rear shock is Sachs with a white spring and blue adjustment ring. The ECU is one of those with a paper sticker on it, a 15M. I've been reliably informed that those ECUs were not uncommen for a while. They were originally installed in a California model, were wrongly programmed and recalled, and used after re-programming in the factory in V11s. All of the above seems to fit, going by what I have read here, for a 2002 "transition" build. The combination that I haven't seen on any photos anywhere yet, and haven't heard mention of, is the dark grey colour with the slightly purple coloured mufflers and grey stilettos. So I'm wondering if it was really built like that, or if it is a bitser. Does anyone have an opinion?

Dunno, mate. The VIN is ZGUKTA0102M111xxx, if that tells you anything. Here you go. The left one is the same as the right-hand one visible in the picture:

Yes. I would prefer to have adjustable compression damping as well, but there are so many bikes that only have rebound damping. It occurs to me that one could experiment with different grades of fork oil with the focus on compression damping, and then adjust the rebound damping to suit. My logic says that this would work, but I'm not a suspension expert. And that is a fair way down the list. The handling is ok to be going on with, and I have a few other things to sort out first. First up is getting the 2,800 r.p.m. cough and splutter sorted. Then there are a shift spring and a shift extender to install, and a soon to arrive Roper Surge Plate to install. And riding it occasionally wouldn't be bad either.

I went down and had a look, and checked the papers again. The tenth digit in the VIN is "2", so built in 2002 according to the collected wisdom here. The front axle is hollow, and has a fastening nut on the outboard side of the left leg. And this is not the case. The fork adjustment is as described here on page 482 according to the document viewer. The page number printed on the page is section R page 20 https://guzzitek.org/gb/ma_us_uk/1100/V11_1999-2003_Atelier(Compil-GB-D-NL).pdf