Dan M

Wow. How much material are you removing? I would be worried about the two surfaces not being parallel. We often remove the glaze from the surface of the rotors with a "scotch-lock" pad by 3M on a die grinder while the rotor is turning on the lathe. We also "finish" rotors this way after cutting. The surface is better for bedding-in new pads. It does not remove any significant material, just cleans up the surface. The only way I would remove more than a few thousands material is on a lathe. Most rotors will have a minimun thickness stamped on them or specified in a manual. You can go that thin safely. If your grinding has not produced any pulsation in the braking then what the hell, go for it.

Hey Ratch, We've chamfered pads to eliminate chatter / squeak many times. Usually it's only needed on specific situations where the rotor is worn and shows a lip on the edges. Then the chamfering is not so much required on leading and trailing edges, but the sides, as the pad gets "trapped' between the inside and outside lips of the rotor causing it to vibrate. If your rotors are flat and the pads do not overhang the edges, I doubt that chamfering wil have much effect. I'd start by cleaning with brake clean and roughing the face of the pads with 80 grit sandpaper. Then when installing, tweak the clips that apply pressure to the pads. Their function is to eliminate chatter or squeal. Hope this helps. edit: I'm with you on the anti-squeak pastes and sprays. They are just a bandaid for brakes that are not right, be it faulty parts, installation or both.

You will not find a kit. The system is far too complicated to "ad on" My RT has BMW's power assisted, linked system. The feel or feedback is completely lost with power assist. The linked feature is unwanted at times as well. It does activate when not wanted, in my case almost every day. There is a fairly bumpy intersection on my way to work. If I'm approaching fast and brake over the bumps the system will engage and it actually increases stopping distance. It is enough of a nuisance that I've adapted by braking up to the bumps then releasing and braking again after crossing them. These bumps are not an issue on the MG. That said, when not braking over sharp bumps the system works well and rarely comes into play. It did save my ass once when going into gravel too fast and needing to brake hard. I'd prefer the non linked version that the new BMWs have.

I'm always afraid to apply heat to a spring. If you watch the action of the lever and how tight the spring gets on the down-shift. You can see that if you bend the tang on the spring slightly to have less tension against the lever it is much less likely to break. The function of the spring it just to keep the lever against the pins. There is no need for excessive pressure. I bent mine when replacing and it works fine. I'd be very surprised if it broke again.

Hey Crooz, The spring acts on the shift lever. It is always tensioned some but the tension increases when shifting one way and decreases when shifting the other. I'd have to look at the manual to see which way (upshift or downshift) increases tension. One way the lever is pulled, increasing the tension and the other it is pushed relaxing the spring. It doesn't matter what gear you are in. Edit: it is under the most strain when downshifting

I thought she was a nazi with that 'stash

Yea, with that adjuster bottomed it should be pretty stiff. I don't think it should be able to reach the threaded rod. The actuator rod stays proud of the threaded rod on mine. I haven't got a measurement but it seems to be about 1/16" when pushed all the way down by hand. Good luck & post what you find.

Not yet Tom, the motor is together but I'm waiting for my plastic parts to be painted. Hopefully (and I've been saying this for weeks) I'll have the stuff back next week.

Before you take it to pieces, try this. With the fork caps off, springs out and the forks blocked up, grasp the threaded rod and feel how much damping action there is in each direction. You will see the center actuator rod "float" as you move the assembly. Then, while moving (I'm trying my best not to tell you to stroke your rod) the rod, apply pressure to the center actuator rod that acts on the damping valve. When you hold that actuator in (down) there is substantially more damping. You can compare the action from each side, obviously it only makes a change on the push stroke on the compression side and on the pull stroke on the rebound side but the change is quite easy to feel. If you get increased damping while holding the center rod down then perhaps the adjuster in the cap is not acting on the rod (too much gap between the adjuster and the rod). If there is no change then you may indeed have a faulty valve.

This is odd. Is it possible your caps are swapped? How does the rebound damping compare off the bike? If your rebound leg has more damping in both directions maybe there is a restriction in the valve. Mine are clearly different (opposite) off the bike.

Sounds like what was stupid was that particular GPS rider, he probably got hopelessly lost with paper maps too.

When I first installed mine on my RT I had the same worries of split attention. The truth is you spend less time looking at it than a paper map. Since the display always changes to show where you are, there is no time wasted finding you place. The prompts for an upcoming turn can be set up so just a glance is needed to get ready. Once you get used to using it, you'll love it. Planning and editing rides on your PC is easy too. I've always been a paper map guy but the GPS is the way to go especially if your are leading a group.

I & the guys who work for me use torque wrenches on anything critical. Which is to say internal engine, differential and transmission. Other than that you develop a pretty good "feel" for how tight things should be.

Not needed.

I'm not certain but it is possible that 03 models that don't have the crossover are actually rebadged 02s. There has been much discussion about leaky problematic crossovers. And finally, Todd E. (RacerX) is doing these: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10643

Yes indeed, great stuff.

UFI likely gets the bad rap because it is most widely used. It is what the typical MG dealer sells. The average DIYer who goes to the dealer to get his filter usually walks out with a UFI, so it is the one that is on most V11s and if there is trouble for whatever reason odds are this brand is installed. I still stand by my original post on the matter of loose filters quite some time ago. - A filter that comes loose was likely always loose. - I just changed mine as reported in a prior thread, the UFI was, as was all the other UFIs I've used, still tight. Tighten it tight, relax and ride. Other bikes and cars for that matter with spin on filters that are not tight enough leak. When they leak they can loosen. The only difference is with an exposed filter, you'll notice the leak and tighten it. On the MG, you'll never know if it is leaking and the long term result is the monster that has been created here.

There you go, the easy route. I just did quite a bit of work to my LeMans getting ready for the season. Tha last thing to do was drop the pan, clean the screen & change oil & filter. Much to my dismay after all of these posts, the UFI filter I installed last year was still tight. I dropped to my knees and said a prayer of thanks as I had not added a clamp of any kind and all that was under it was oil. Whew, dodged a bullet.

I'm with you Ben, my phone plays no irritating tunes, just rings. And I'll never, ever "wear" it. Watches on the other hand are something I can't live without.

Couldn't agree more. I called it silly in my first post on this matter.

Only if you have a vivid imagination. The difference from 128mm to 114mm is not even 10 percent. At 114 he is already 14mm larger air gap then specified. The larger the air gap, the less air spring effect. With enough air gap, you'll bottom mechanically before any air spring is realized.

I'm sure there is Dave, I bought CRG's from Todd H and the package said "Ducati - 12MM". I'm sure he could cross reference the number and see what the actual application is. Edit: Did a little cross referencing myself. Ducati Monster to '03; ST2 97-03; 748 / 916 96-98 are the same according to CRG's catalog.

Good one Ben, My pants were getting tight for a minute. Just think about it, R&D, parts availability, dealer network.... Na, then were would the fun be?

I think it is unlikely that 14mm difference in air space is going to cause the fork to flex. I also think that different air spring space from leg to leg is about as silly as different spring rates from leg to leg. What you are going to realize is an average of the two. Tuning with different oil viscosities in each leg for compression and rebound damping (spelling OK ratch?) is an option although I don't see it as necessary in most any situation. There seems to be enough adjustment in this area to go from too much to not enough in either fork leg. Having different fluid in each leg to "fine tune" is, well, just a bit over the top.

lol