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Thanks for all the useful info on the effects (or otherwise) of ethanol on plastics and hoses etc. What I can say is that with the Titanium Guzzi pipes fitted, associated 'Copa' ECU and filled with E10, the tune at the workshop has resulted in the bike being unusable with normal E5 (5% max ethanol) fuel. The workshop sais this is a known issue. The idle is up at 1200-1300 rpm and the mixture so rich the bike cannot be started 'hot'. At least the local mixture of E10 as sold by Shell is quite different from their 'super 95 E5' benzin. If you want or have to swap between E10 and Super 95 then don't get your bike tuned when full of E10. I personally won't use the stuff ever in any vehicle for the simple reason that biofuel subsidies and the diversion of 18% of world land resources away from food will result in an extra 1 billion starving people by 2025 ! At least that's what the 'economist' (and about 20+ NGOs etc.) estimate. I hope that the Guzzisti start a worldwide boycott of ethanol based fuels that might one-day change the situation!

Does anyone know if you can use E10 biofuel (German 10% biofuel Super Octane 95) on a Moto Guzzi V11 Sport (Ballabio) from 2004? thanks. Jonathan

Original and unopened windscreens from Gustafsson plastics (www.bikescreen.com). Bought by mistake to fit my 2004 Ballabio (which has a different shape fairing ). 1. V11 Sport models, G-force, smoked. (slightly deeper than original). 2. V11 Sport 2000 model, +6" taller than standard (clear, no tint). Original costs were $110+shipping. I am willing to take €45 for each screen + p&p to anywhere in Europe (or €80+p&p for both screens). Paypal or advance bank transfer accepted, or cash on collection from Frankfurt/Main, Germany area. gustaffson bikescreens guzzi v11 ... should get you to the original pictures. Contact me on jschulster at gmail dot com etc. for more details.

Dear Guzzisti, I am looking to go the way of the R90 fairing on my V11 Sport (with raised bars). To get the fairing to fit (with full bar movement) it seems I need to go from wide-bars to clip-ons. the obvious option here in Germany seems to be the LSL Touring set. These are widely available from POLO https://www3.polo-expressversand.com/Shop/t...GroupGuid=14273 However, despite listing 100s of models of bike of course LSL/Polo dont know which one fits a Guzzi V11 Sport. http://www.lsl-motorradtechnik.de/php/kate...php?kategorie=3 They have asked for the diameter of teh fork tubes where they go into the triple clamp. Does anyone happen to know which of the LSL Tour-Match series fits the V11 Sport or what the diammeter of the fork tubes is at the triple clamp? thanks Jonathan

After many months of not alot of riding the V11 is finally back on the road . After a small spill in Oct 05 and numerous problems (oil leaks, right cylinder nto firing etc.) that took until this service to sort out One problem with the original screen (red V11 Sport Ballabio 2004) is of course the nasty vibes at 3500-3900 rpm. This has been eventually cured with some bar-weights (Honda Pan euro/ST1100) and some loc-tite blue on the screen bolts + spring/lockign washers rather than rubber rings. The final problem remaining is the turbulance above 100kmh (I am 5'7", 170cm) - the small flyscreen seems to have been designed without use of a wind-tunnel - the turbulance is carefully crafted to hit right in the center of the riders visor! For that it seems a new screen is ordered. I have a friend bringing back two from the US: both from www.bikescreen.com (Gustafsson Plastics). http://www.bikescreen.com/proddetail.asp?p...GuzziV11SportGF - 2" higher than stock with 6 holes. The other is the 6" (!) above stock... should be good for touring? http://www.bikescreen.com/proddetail.asp?p...oGuzziV11Sport6 I will post pics and review if they get here before winter sets in. Has anyone else tried these? Did they sort the turbulance problems? thanks Jonathan

Thanks to all for the feedback. I shared the view that it seems a pretty normal part of owning a Guzzi , and its certainly nothing serious. It has made a mess of the fins on the right-hand cylinder and given the summer temperatures we can see here (or farther south where I tend to go touring) the over-heating issue could be bad news. I will see how it goes with removing/cleaning/ retorqueing the existing gasket and if that doesn't work try a new one. I'm not being cheap but its quite a trek to the dealer and unless he throws in a Griso test-ride not really worth the trip for 10 mins work! I will try it without any sealant on the gasket as suggested. thanks again. Jonathan.

hi all, been doing a little riding recently with the 'indian summer' over here in Germany. I have an oil leak on the right cyl head/cover gasket. Judging by other posts this does not seem that rare on a V11? It started probably about 6000km and has been getting worse each ride. Are there any other spots I should get the dealer to check for leaks etc. when its in for the repair? I presume this is covered by warranty (new July 2004). I think the oil on the right plug is causing a misfire which has increased fuel consumption somewhat. Any long-term effects this might have apart from this? Oil level seems fine so its just a few drips now and again really. Otherwise its just great to be back on the MG after a summer touring the Alps on my Triumph Sprint ST (which is being sold in the spring for many reasons!)

hi there! I would like to order the Lockhart Phillips Univ. Cafe Fairing for my v11, but live in Germany. Anyone know of a US dealer who would ship to Europe or an APO address? LP themselves gave me the name of chaparrel-racing.com but their website is pretty useless. thanks for any advice! Jonathan

After 6050km on the V11, the OEM M1 - Sportec's were down to the wear limit on the rear, even after mostly curved road riding in the Black Forest. I have to hold them partly responsible for the low-side last Oct. when the rear gave out on a slightly damp road with no warning at all. Above 5000km I would be pretty wary on these. I replaced them on Sat with new Roadtec Z6, also from Metzeler (cost was €280). After 150km on them over the weekend I have to say I am very impressed. On cold roads (+7C) they warmed up within a few km and the grip, handling and ride were all inspiring. These have almost no grooves in the centre 2" on the rear; all of the water dispersion is done by the front when vertical, and this means there is alot more rubber to wearout on the rear in the centre. Mez. claim this allows them to use a stickier rear-center compound while getting better mileage than the previous Z4. I will report later on how its wearing, but so far I can definitely recommend the profile as suiting the v11, at least to my taste For the first time I also removed the front/rear wheels myself, with tools provided by the shop. Its pretty straightforward, but I found it was necessary to remove the bolt/nut on the left swing-arm (viewed from rear) that prevents the rear brake/mount from rotating. The assembly could then be dropped and the rear wheel dismounted from the transmission/gear-drive. Reassembly was pretty straightforward. Jonathan.

hi all. this is in Gross Gerau, just 8km up the road from where I live. It could be from the dealer where I purchased my bike (Stein, Bad Nauheim - now moved to Russelsheim) or very likely from one his customers in this area, as its a way to any other dealer from here. I would guess that German insurance has written it off (new front end etc. is more than the value of the bike!) and he opted to keep the rest and sell it privately as the amount offered by the insurance to buy it off him was lower than what he expects to get on e-bay. I guess if you need a motor/frame/etc. or have space to store a spare v11 its a bargain Jonathan.

Thanks Al and Joe. That's great news. After reading Joe's mail I realised my throwovers would also interfere with the Ti cans if I put them in the higher position. The right can seems fine (vertical) with almost no twist. I guess I will need about 1/2" spacer with the left can but overall it should look fine. For anyone considering the Ti option, the sound is just amazing - very basso and not too loud for street use, although quite impressive in tunnels and underground car parks. Overall the fitting is very easy, although the included instructions are minimal. To achieve fitting on the stock rear pegs its best to mount the new connector pipe first on the bike, then the can to the pipe and twist it until you can align with the pillion peg bolt hole. Jon.

after a long and icy winter here in germany the v11 ballabio is back on the road. I just received and installed tonight a 2nd hand (new out of the box) Ti sports setup with the replacement ECU. Had some questions.... Has anyone else attempted to install this using the original pillion foot rests? It fits fine on the rights-side (due to wider rim?) but the oval is twisted off vertical on the left and does not look good. I wanted to retain the original, longer pillion footrests as my girlfriend is quite tall, and not too confident on the back seat. Another question. With the new ECU fitted is it necessary to get the bike retuned after fitting the Ti pipes? It seems to run fine (short test ride only so far). cheers Jonathan.

as there is no real-time forum or searchable history of mail on the Triumph Sprint ST list (yes, they really are unreliable like the 60s bikes!), I thought I would ask for expertise here, as so many riders probably have a water-cooled bike in the garage soemwhere.... Due to the crappy design of the frame on the Sprint ST it stresses the radiator which eventually developes small cracks. Of course this usually happens well after 24 months by which time Triumph don't honour the guarantee any more. Mine started at 35,000km, with 5 yrs of age. Is there anyway to repair a water radiator off a bike? What do people recommend? A new one costs 1000 euro just for parts. I am loathe to put more cash the way of Triumph after my 3rd machine from them has let me down again (all bought brand-new). Any help v. much appreciated. If anyone knows of someone in Germany who they would recommend to do such a repair that would be fine too. Jonathan

Hi. I have ordered the R90S fairing from Airtech and guess it will arrive in a few weeks/month or so. It seemed there was an easy alternative to the zerogravity windscreen since MRA in Germany make one locally (www.mra.de). They do a standard and a touring version (see attached image). A question to those who have done the R90/R100 conversion: has anyone tried a non-standard (higher) touring screen and would they recommend it? I am 5'7" (170cm) if this is relevant to where the wind will catch me. thanks to all for the helpful tips and detailed advice. Jonathan

Hi Has anyone replaced their worn rear M1 Sportec (Metzeler) with an Z6 180/55, and kept the front on for awhile until it wears out? My rear is pretty much treadless in the middle after 5000km, but the front has no cupping and seems good for another 2-3k km. I understood from other posts that the new Z6 has a profile similar to the M1 Sportec rather than the older generation MEZ4? If so then I am thinking they will work fine together. I am guessing that technically at least its not an allowed combination in Germany but I understood from my dealer that MG are no longer specifying particular tyre types for the MG and that if Metzeler has tested it then it should be fine? Jonathan

I dont know if this is relevant also for the Bridgestones, but the recommended pressures for the Metzeler M1 Sportecs are quite different on the Metzeler (www.metzelermoto.de) site than in the M.G. V11 Owners Manual. When I tried the lower pressures recommended by MG (2.2/2.4 bar) rather than 2.4/2.5 bar recommended by Metzeler the improvement in grip and feel in the wet was significant. From the German Bridgestone website they give vorne 120/70 ZR 17 (58W) tl BT 020 F Luft Fußnote Freigaben hinten 170/60 ZR 17 (72W) tl BT 020 RU(NT) 2,5/2,9 which sounds extremely high pressures compared to the MG owners manual! Hope this helps? Jonathan

finally found the time to take the tank off. the internal fuel pump does not have an inlet pipe as such - just a gauze bag filter, and loop of tube going though the fuel filter, all of which are mounted of a 6-bolt plate on the rear right lower side of the tank. I could not see any way to detach the two fuel lines going to taps on this plate so just flipped the tank and took out the 6 bolts. How do you disconnect these strange pressure/hose connectors? As has been mentioned on other threads there is about 1 to 1.5 litres of fuel that are in the lower left half of the tank that we all carry around with us but can never use! A connector tube would be pretty useful, but perhaps not worht the risk of destroying a tank. might try to find an expert to fit it for me. cheers Jonathan.

Although some sections of the autobahn are still unrestricted they are increasingly few and far between - at 220kph, the (legal) high-speed run would not last that long at all ! To be honest unless you ride at night or dawn you would be very lucky to find a run of more than a few km at this speed - most of the autobahns are just 2 lanes and full of VW camper vans and coaches in the summer (and the outside lane full of Porsches and Mercedes trying to overtake them). From 15 years experience designing, building and mostly flying spacecraft I would have to guess that this is not necessarily a design flaw (with 4 known failures in thousands of single-plate bikes out there). It might be diesign contributing to other primary causes: - 1) substitute (inferior spec?) parts 2) poor maintenance or reassembly 3) manufacturing faults in flywheel or clutch? I can check the german v11 site to see what theories are flying around there, but probably nothing we cannot guess at? Jonathan p.s. if its high-speed related its hard to see why it would happen on a dutch bike (the slowest roads in europe!)

thanks all. this seems consistent as it just feels like its run out of fuel, even though you can still see the stuff sloshing around in the tank at the bottom. I have downloaded the Workshop Manual but have not taken the tank off yet so this will be a challenge. Presumably it should be easy to find the inlet pipe to the fuel tank, even for me Will let you know if I have any luck. Jon p.s looks like a great evening for another route around the Black Forest - 25C and sunny/clear skies (for a change!).

dear guzzi experts I have a 2004 V11 Ballabio (3000km in 3 weeks and still climbing). Its now generally running very nicely, but perhaps the idle is a bit fast. The main problem is that whenever the tank reaches less than 1/3 full the bike is reluctant to start and runs very badly - stalling alot, bad vibrations etc. until thoroughly warmed up. I have checked for vapour lock (opening the lid) and it does not seem to be the problem . As soon as I fill the tank it runs alot better, in fact perfect . This is frustrating as I basically have to refill as soon as the fuel light comes on (about 240-250km) when I know it has another 50-70km useable range. Should I drain the tank and give it a rinse? Is it water or something at the bottom of the tank? Any other suggestions as to what might cause this? All help and advice much appreciated as ever. Keen to get around this and increase my riding time while the summer lasts Jonathan

Hi I am going to do the R90S fairing route (nice job! ). A similar aftermarket fairing is available in Europe from www.Wuedo.de the one that looks most similar is part no. 46-63-60-10 "WÜDO streamline Scheibe für S, CS Cockpit" Price is €108 incl tax. (Mwst). thats about $125 or 80 quid (sterling). I realised on closer look at the Wuedo site that I got the prices completely wrong . The fairing (verkleidung) itself is " cockpit CR45" and costs €283. The windscreen (scheibe) is an extra €108 (standard, untinted). Tint costs €17 extra, and the touring version is €36 extra. If I get one I will order from the US direct as I have access to an APO address (local US postage rates). Why do german firms (making probably inferior products in this case) feel they can charge 3x the cost of the same part in the US? The market for old BMW spares must be quite healthy looking around the streets here! Below is the picture of the Wuedo fairing from their website.

Hi Ray, sorry about the crash. Hope the repairs are going ok? Having failed quite badly to get a 2mm acrylic sheet to bend to the right shape (heat in the oven to about 120C, but you only get one shot unless you have a mould made!), I think the R90S route looks great and seems functional. I have a question. On the 2004 models (cafe sport. ballabio, coppa italia) the fairing is fixed to an extension of the frame - it does not mount to the handlebars and does not turn with the bars. Does this prevent the R90S mod or just mean that alternative mounts must be found for the upper fairing? Two extension brackets exist on the ballabio which mount to the stock bikini fairing bolted at the mid-point of the tinted windscreen blade. I hope that I can use these as the basis for the upper fairing structure. thanks for all the excellent tips on this post (and many others). Jonathan

The benefits of improved lighting with the relay pkg are shared by all Guzzis . Any problem with early relays aside , the headlight current in standard Guzzi wiring ,old and new flollows a ridiculous path through small switches and light gauge wire . A reminder and thanks to Docc ,that the GROUND side of the circuit needs attention as well . Be sure to run a 16 gauge wire from the headlamp to a FRAME ground or ,if you prefer to the battery negative . The short distance from the headlight to the battery makes the battery negative post a viable alternative to a frame ground point . If you have a digital volmeter you can measure the voltage at the headlight before and after the conversion . Use high beam with the engine turning 3500 rpm so you will get a good idea of the improvement. hi. After buying some Phillips Vision blue (+50% brighter claimed) H4s today (will fit the 2nd to the Triumph) I measured the voltage (before doing the headlight mod). With the ignition turned on and the engine not running it was 12.2V. With the engine at 3000rpm it measured 14.4V. Do these figures suggest that there would not be much improvement to the brightness on a 2004 model Ballabio? I still see the light visibly dim at idle compared to 3-4k rpm. I guess the benefits to the lifetime of the wiring will still be worth the effort. Someone on another post recommended the Philips bulbs - the difference is very obvious just in the garage so I imagine the claims are not completely off the mark. The price for two (€18.5) was not much more than for standard quality bulbs. Jonathan

Hi I am going to do the R90S fairing route (nice job! ). A similar aftermarket fairing is available in Europe from www.Wuedo.de the one that looks most similar is part no. 46-63-60-10 "WÜDO streamline Scheibe für S, CS Cockpit" Price is €108 incl tax. (Mwst). thats about $125 or 80 quid (sterling). The direct link to the picture does not work: Go to http://www.wuedo.de/indexeng.htm Click on Wuedo Shop. Search on VERKLEIDUNG (fairing). click on INFO box for the 8th item listed (its the part no given above). The higher, grey tinted screen costs €36 extra, if ordered with the cockpit fairing. It looks pretty good. I will post back on the mods outlined by Jaap and whether they are different with the Wuedo fairing. I dont know if others find the same but the aerodynamics of the V11 Ballabio/Cafe Sport/Scura shield dont really work - the 'double bubble' shape is narrow (little real wind protection) and too tall, creating bad turbulance just at head height. At 110-140 kph it becomes painful to ride after about an hour Either I take the fairing off altogether or I find something else. I am also working on a replacement screen/blade made from the 2mm acrylic (polystyrol here in Germany), bent, cut and drilled to fit. I think about 2" shorter/lower and the turbulance will hit my chest, where it is meant to be, leaving my head in clean airstream. cheers Jonathan.