Tom M

It seems that the "updated" spring broke on me yesterday . I haven't pulled it apart to verify that it's the pawl spring but the symptoms are the same as the last two times that I went through this. I got almost 20k miles out of this one. From now on I'm just going to change this spring about every 10k miles so I don't get stranded. Since I keep my bike in my basement during the winter It'll give me something to do on some winter night .

A loose battery connection would be the simplest fix but you probably already checked for that. Do you use the kill switch often? An intermittent kill switch could be the problem, but so could a lot of other things. With the bike in neutral, sidestand down and clutch in, turn on the key and listen for the fuel pump priming. If it doesn't try flicking the kill switch on & off a few times with the seat off so you can hear or feel if the fuel pump relay is working. If not I'd check the kill, sidestand, and clutch switches first.

Recall info: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=14680

Maybe for the higher gears (not acceptable as far as I'm concerned), but shifting out of neutral into 1st gear shouldn't require the wheel to be spinning. I doubt you walk your bike forward at a red light or a gas station when you want to shift out of neutral into 1st. I don't think you have a problem here. My bike sometimes won't go into 1st if I'm in neutral with the clutch lever pulled in for some amount of time. I let the clutch out to get the tranny gears spinning then pull it in and it snicks into 1st no problem. I suggest that you try riding the bike to see if it shifts OK

It sounds like you're in the ballpark Dale. When I set up my forks I used 20-25mm static unladen sag (bike only), 35-40mm laden sag (w/rider) as targets. I know your forks are different than mine but fwiw I tried 7.5wt fork oil but it still wasn't as supple as I thought it should be so I went to 5wt and liked it better. Like a lot of members here I also raised the forks 10mm and run a 170 rear tire instead of the stock 180, and I have a short kickstand stop. All of those changes helped the handling.

The top caps screw onto the top of the piston rods (?) and are secured by jam nuts on my '02. The later 'zokes like yours are similar. Once you unscrew the top caps and collapse the forks you can hold the top nuts, loosen the jam nuts, then take them both off to remove the springs and preload spacers. You can set your oil height that way too. Here's a thread with pics of your fork internals by a former member here: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12946&do=findComment&comment=144447

Great stuff Solar.

I got mine at a local Harley palace six or seven years ago. My notes say the 2001/02 Firebolt used the short stalk mirrors that are like the LeMans mirrors. As Skeeve pointed out the Buell bracket that attaches to the fairing has SAE hardware. It's easy to swap it with the bracket from the OEM mirror.

Is $17 too much? http://www.mgcycle.com/product_info.php?products_id=66

Here's a few more thoughts on a possible design. I bought this t-shirt a while back because the design on the front is a little like the LeMans. Something similar to this with a Guzzi jug in the artwork would be cool. Jaap's designs below are really nice but I'd like them more if the Guzzi head and cylinder could somehow be incorporated so the bike would look less generic. If I had some kind of graphics software (and 1/10th of Jaap's talent) I'd take a shot at it. I attached what I think is a good pic of a LeMans that could be a good basis for a design. All that said I still love the beer label design!

Sorry to hear of your accident but glad you're OK! A few years back you could buy Buell mirrors that were identical to the Guzzi items for around $25 each. They also had extended mirrors that fit the LeMans fairing and look very much like the Guzzi stock parts. Here are the part numbers: Buell part number for standard LeMans mirrors= N0161-02A8 (left side) N0162-02A8 (right side) Buell part numbers for extended mirrors to fit LeMans= N0161-2A8 (left side) N0162-2A8 (right side)

There are old Italian bike specialists out there like http://guzzino.com that could help track down parts. Finding a carb shouldn't be real hard once you figure out what the original was. The kickstarter and side cover could be tougher to find. I honestly don't know what something like that is worth. If it was an old Japanese enduro I could see it going for $500 or less, but it's not. It's a pretty rare Guzzi. Value depends on how bad you want it and how bad he wants to get rid of it. FWIW the NADA guide says Excellent Condition= $4730, Very Good = $2630, Good = $1055, Fair = $840, Poor = NA I've considered getting an enduro like an Ossa or something for a project but I haven't yet because realistically I'd probably hardly ever ride it. They aren't good on the street and the suspension and brakes are so far behind even twenty year old bikes that they're pretty useless off road too, unless you stick to mild terrain. That Guzzi probably couldn't keep up with a Hodaka.

That's a cool little Guzzi. If you have a use in mind like riding a Giro event or something I think it would be a fun project.

My current favorites in no particular order are...

Lot's of nice designs here. Good work guys. I like them all but this is my favorite so far;

I believe that Greg Field said that the Mistral is the only aftermarket crossover that works with the centerstand. If you search on his name and "centerstand" you should be able to find his thread on it. FWIW the FBF crossovers are notorious for cracking. I had stiffeners welded to mine before I installed and it still cracked after about 12k miles.

It sounds like you're getting there Toby. Like Doc I have my air bleeds set at one turn out and my idle trim is set to zero. I sync' my TBs at about 1800rpm. My bike runs great with a consistent idle and no coughs or hiccups, but I do have a PCIII. This is the basic V11 tuneup instructions that I use (aka the Micha Method): Step one - Set your valves to world settings (.15mm/.006" intake, .2mm/.008" exhaust) Step two - Set your air bleed screws to open 1 full turn Step three - Synch throttle bodies at just off idle (around 1800 rpm) Step four - Set idle to 1100 using left idle screw adjuster only Step five - Set TPS to 3.6 degrees (530mV) Step six - Ensure idle trim is set to zero. This requires an AXEONE dealer tool, VDST software, or GuzziDiag.

Hi Toby, I don't think the stock map is causing your problems. I've had the stop sign stalling issue in the past and fixed it by by doing the basic V11 tuneup. It sounds like you had a tuneup except you didn't mention a valve lash check. When they get too tight and the bike gets hot it can lead to erratic idle and stalling after pushing the bike hard. The manual says .004" intake/.006 exhaust but most here use the .006" intake/ .008 exhaust. If you have to adjust them you will likely need to rebalance the throttle bodies.

Nice looking Bike there Jim! I have high pipes too and I use Cortech soft bags. They aren't real big but they're better than nothing.

Great Pics Jim! It looks like you had a fine trip despite some less than perfect weather. How did you like the Stelvio?

Hi Ken, There's no such thing as a 2000 LeMans in the USA. They came out in '02. I believe the 2000 V11 Sport harness is the same as the 2001 but I would have a dealer check the part numbers to be sure.

Here's my , No matter what you do the first and most important thing that you need to do is make sure the bike is properly tuned before you do anything with the fuel mapping. Check and adjust the valves to spec, balance the throttle bodies, and verify the TPS is set correctly. The 2004 bikes had decent mapping from the factory. You would probably see a fairly modest gain in performance over stock with aftermarket cans and a PCIII or a remapped ECU. Your money might be better spent on an aftermarket exhaust crossover. They really help get rid of the 4k rpm flat spot in the torque curve that all the stock V11s have. I have before and after dyno runs that show it, but more importantly you will feel the difference. The Mistral will give a heftier boost in the midrange but the FBF or Stucchi will help the midrange and the top end. (Don't get an FBF crossover, they all crack sooner or later.) If you were to go with pods or open up the airbox in addition to the exhaust mods you would need to do something with the fuel mapping to richen it up. A PCIII might be the best way to go for someone who doesn't really want to get deeply into ECU mapping. If you buy a PCIII from Guzzitech and tell Todd what mods you have on your bike he will supply a map that should work well. If you add more mods later you can either modify your own map yourself (it's easy), find another map from Todd or here, or have a custom map done. There are also lots of shops that can create a custom map for your bike. One of the best in your area is Dyno Solutions. They did a real nice job on my bike for the previous owner. The only real downsides of the PCIII that I can think of is it can't modify the ignition curve, and there isn't a very large library of maps available on the web. It sure would be nice if more members here posted their maps to the fileshare section

According to some members here the HyperPro Reactive damper works really well. You will find the Bitubo measurements in this thread if you want to try and find an Ohlins that will fit; http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=14385&hl=damper

Hi Warren, You may have done this already but if not you should disassemble the external shifter linkage and clean/lube all the parts. The bolt that holds the triangular linkage plate behind the shifter can come loose and you won't know it until you take it apart. When you put it back together make sure the shifter isn't hitting the pork chop on downshifts and all the other parts of the linkage are moving freely.

That sure sounds like it's lean to me. If you verify that the intake rubbers and exhaust aren't leaking you might want to make a copy of your PCIII map then fatten it up in that rpm range. If you don't like the results go back to your old map. That's the beauty of the PCIII, it's easy to tweak.