richard100t

For a ride longer than 150 miles I'd have to pick the Breva. The Cafe Sport is a way cooler looking bike, but if you spend more time riding than looking at the thing I think you gotta keep the Breva. Besides with 26k miles its just getting broken in! It sounds like you're getting tired of the Breva & want a sportier Guzzi. Am I right in my thinking?

When its really cold (for riding) like maybe under 30f I plug in my electric space heater & set it next to the oilpan on the kickstand side for 10 to 15 minutes. The difference is night & day...well the bike wont start when its really cold without doing this. It does still have the original battery though Anyway after said amount of time the bike starts up & runs as well as it does in the warmer weather. I think the air cooled engine runs really well in the cold almost like it enjoys it.

You have a good memory as they are wool on the topsides. Rocky River is about an hour north of me. If your brother is a motorcycle guy he may enjoy coming to our Guzzi breakfasts in Kent the second Sunday every month. I'd like to ride to the breakfast this Sunday but I dont think the weather is going to permit it.

I bought these on Ebay & I'm just itching for a cold sunny day to try them out on the bike.

Well the new Guzzi 8valve will have right near 100rwhp & the Griso is a fun sexy looking bike. I'd like to see a what a new Lemans with a single sided swingarm & good suspension would look like myself. Guzzi is probably very reluctant to build a sportbike because they believe not enough people would really buy it. The sportbike market is really tough these days with Ducati selling their hottest bike for just under 15k. I dont think Guzzi wants to try & make a sporty bike with a price that is around or under 10k. If they would price it higher than that, people are going to damn rightly expect the bike to perform as well as most other bikes in the upper price ranges. Maybe we should start a poll to see how many of us would like to see Guzzi build a bike the way Buell is doing. Namely a liquid cooled modern v twin engine from the Aprilia line maybe?

I'd really like it if Guzzi Claus left a pair of those rossopuro rearsets under my tree this year! I dont understand about the vat...I bought stuff from RossoPuro years ago & they never charged for vat then. I dont think you've ever had to pay it if you live in the states. Unfortunately we have a de facto broken government tax in the sense that our dollar is now only worth about .75 euro. Either way right now its expensive to buy european products. That doesnt mean that I wont get them though!

I just love my little guys here. They arent 200lbs but a very respectable 28 & 32lbs which is pretty big for the breed. My dogs are more interested in chasing down squirrells than motorcycles.

I think they're a shade dark, but they do look pretty.

I was thinking earlier that shedding 10lbs off a 500 plus pound motorcycle is kinda like throwing a deck chair off the Queen Mary. However...the louder pipes make the bike sound so much better & faster it could be worth it. "worth" is of course a relative term

I stripped all the original paint off. Then I used a primer from the same paint maker. I'm going to buy some clearcoat tomorrow & hit them with one more coat of red & then a few coats of clear. If I'm not happy with it I'll do it over. I wasnt happy with them to begin with so theres really nothing to lose.

I got tired of that faded reddish orange color of my valve covers so I bought some new paint that says it gives an anodized look. These pictures may not be the best as they look darker than the photo suggests. I'll post more here when I put them back on the bike.

My stock cans weigh 9lbs each. That aint light, but its hard to justify the expense of new cans to save maybe 10lbs. The crossover looks really heavy but I have never weighed it.

Same thing happened to me. I was doing something to the bike, I cant remember right now. Anyway it was extremely hot that day & quit the project until the next day. Then I put the bike back together, rear tire & whatever else I was fooling with & got distracted with something else & forgot about the bike. Next morning I fire up the bike to go to work & halfway down my street POP! You know the deal, its frightening, but a good lesson in paying attention to what you're doing. After all theres no law that says really f'd up things wont happen in traffic at a high rate of speed.

Do NOT buy the older Rizoma reservoir containers. I have one & it leaks through the sight window. This is a common problem. The new one looks like that wont be a problem though. Very good looking pieces if you dont mind paying close to $200 usd for the tiny beauties.

& another

Heres one of mine

If its what I think it is, just zip tie it out of the way of anything too hot.

http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?...ic=8249&hl=

Thats a very good looking Rosso Mandello! I'm thinking about repainting my valve covers this winter & I like the shade of red on that one. I just painted my silver rear drive to flat black last weekend. Maybe I'll do the valve covers next weekend, weather permitting. Weather permitting in this case means if its to cold & nasty to ride maybe I'll make it look prettier. I have a Guzzi breakfast to ride to this Sunday & its going to be pleasant enough to actually ride (maybe high 30's & sun) so I'll let it go for now.

This one gets on the dresser & guards my clothes!

Umm if you look at the top of this web page you will see that RossoPuro is a sponsor here! Just click the ad box & you'll find your sliders & all sorts of other cool stuff.

Isnt the flat paint supposed to pay homage to the green primer that Guzzi used to paint their race bikes with? Its been so long since Guzzi had a factory race team most people dont remember the history of Guzzi's racing past.

Good point! I forgot about the drain plug shavings. I havent had anything on my plug or in the screen in at least the last two changes. I really dont remember back any further than that but I do remember the first few changes had the metal gunk on the plug. Come to think of it the screen hasnt had anything in it since the first oil change at around 500 miles. That may be a good advertisement for synthetic motor oil ymmv of course.

I think the best way to change the oil is to let the bike cool overnight, then remove the sump. Once the sump is removed then you can wipe it clean & dry with a cloth. Also you can remove the oil cooler lines to make sure theres no nasty old oil in there. Fill a new oil filter with oil before screwing it on, then tighten it down with a good filter wrench so theres no tear filled "my filter spun off & now my engine is scrap" thread. Reattach everything, add the 3.75 or so quarts of good synthetic oil & you're good for 5 or 6 thousand miles. My way takes longer, but hey its worth it.

My insurance company asked me if I had any accesories on my bike that I would like to insure. They asked if I had saddlebags or a windshield & such, but the gist of it was for extra $$ up front they would cover the accesories as well if I had a claim. I would imagine that if you told your agent what extras you have put on, had proof of it like a photo or physically show him/her. Then get an upfront replacement value & get a policy based on that. Its not a good idea to hide performance modifications because it may give them cause to deny your claim, should you have one.