pShenk
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Posts posted by pShenk
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Looks very nice, and I commend you on your frugal approach to style. I like the look of Ohlins, but I'm not sure I want to spend the money for new ones... I'm taking the bike to Aftershocks in Palo Alto this afternoon, and see what they recommend.
ANyway, very nice looking bike!
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Nice one.Are you using the optimate then?Let us know how you get on,I'm making plans to get one in the New Year.
Yes, I'm using the Optimizer... for now. I'd like to not have it on the bike forever. Once I get the O2 sensor installed, I guess I'll ride around for awhile in closed-loop, and let the map, well optimize itself. Then, I'll disconnect it and just ride with that map unless I change something.
Hmm... I'm not exactly sure if there is an easy way to apply all the O2 offsets to the map, in one go. I'll have to ask Cliff.
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Just pull man
Nice!
Y'know, I've broken more parts on my bike with that philosophy.
I've learned to be cautious. No, I mean I'm *learning*... I just snapped something today. 
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take a look at how a little color from the Sargent seat looks like on a dark S4Rs...
Is that what you call her?
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While installing the My15M, I noticed these wires (B1 and B2) and this connector (A). I don't see what they would be for, does anyone know?
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I had the day off, so I finally got to install Cliff's My15M. First I balanced the TB's, as best I could, using the instructions posted here (I used the TwinMax). I'm really glad that this place exists, as a knowledgebase. THere's no way I'd be able to do any of this stuff without it.
Anyway, first run with the My15M was awful... it sputtered, and the tach wavered all over the place. I was starting to get worried, but a quick email to Cliff resolved it in a matter of hours. The dip switch inside was set to use closed-loop, which I'm not doing right now. He apologized for the issue, but honestly I should have figured that out myself. The instructions clearly list what the dip switches do, and I just forgot to check them in my anxiousness.
So now, it runs very smooth. I was running the race chip before, which is already a huge improvement over stock, but it's even smoother now, especially at low rpms (under 3k). Rolling on after shifts is much smoother, and it's about 75% eliminated what I was previously thinking was "drivetrain lash". Engine braking is also much smoother. I can engine brake, and roll on again with almost no abrupt jerk! I'm pretty excited.
Next step is to install the LC-1 O2 sensor that I ordered. I'm going out of town for a few weeks, so I don't know if I'll get to that before I leave. I'll post again when I do though.
So far so good though!
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jedione and I both had our tank and rear cowl butt pads recovered by the same local guy. jedi used the same red as his seat and I had Rich Maund give me some extra carbon fiber material from my seat re-work. I posted some pics in the following link (post #14).
http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8541
cheers
Hey gh67, I'm getting my seat done by Rich next week, and I had him reserve some "cf" fabric like you suggested. I'm wondering how your upholstery guy approached this. He stretched it over your stock parts right? Do you know how he fastened it to the rubber?
And how do you take the tank pad off? He's down by you right? Can you pm me with an address or email for him? Maybe I can ship it down there, if I can't find anyone up here to do it.
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Reading April 2006 "Cycle World", an article by Phil Schilling on the Moto Parilla, he states, "No Italian motorcycle would be authentic and complete without its Grand Quirk. For Ducati it's the desmodromic valve system. In the case of Parilla, it's the high-cam engine . . . "
And in the case of the V11 Moto Guzzi?
Did he mean "quirk" like it's a bad thing? Desmodronic, I thought was kind of a breakthrough for Ducati. Sure, it's hard to maintain, but it set that engine on the map.
I'd think the transverse-mounted (is that saying it right?) twin is the main quirk of the Guzzi. Or, just the engine itself. I met a guy up at Alice's once that had built a small old sports car powerd by a Guzzi engine. (Maybe it was one of you people?). That was before I was riding Guzzis, and I didn't really appreciate it at the time. But it DID make an impression on me.
It's certainly the most visually distinguishing trait.
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It still has a dry clutch- and if you realy wanted you could buy an exhuast kit to have a pipe each side.
In the UK, S4's go for really cheap money second hand- you can get a good one for £3500, and if you are lucky you can still find the old S4 Challenge race bikes which had £7000 of Ducati Performance extras but have still proved reliable.
And yes- I use my Guzzi every weekend too!
Guy
AH, my bad... for some reason I thought they had moved to wet clutch. Well, then, an vented clutch cover might be in order
I keep my eye open for S4's on the market, but there aren't very many of them, and they aren't particularly cheap. Maybe the Monster wasn't as popular over here at that time? Now, the roads are lousy with them. Seems like every 10th bike is a Monster some days.
My fear would be though that if I bought a Monster, I'd ride the Guzzi less. I know I want a second bike, but I'm still up in the air as to what. I've been thinking about a 916 (or 748 maybe), a Sprint ST, Daytona 675, or maybe even a GSXR 750. Of all of those, the ones that really call to my "soul" are the Ducs or the 675. I just don't know though.
Out of the bikes I've had before, the one I miss is the 748. I'm not against trying something new though.
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It looks a lot better with the new slip-ons and the bar-end mirrors. I think a custom seat with some Italian colors would look pretty good also.
As for the V4..meh. I'm not a huge fan of the bodywork. My favorite Duc superbike is still the original 916. To me, nothing beats the sound of a Duc with free-flowing pipes and the clinka-clinka-clinka of a dry clutch.
In FACT, if I were to ever get another Monster, I'd opt for the original S4, with the 916 motor. I think it was the last year they still put a dry clutch on a Monster. Plus, it had the pipes on either side, which I also still prefer. The dual muffler arrangement looks ok, but I think the traditional style looks better from the back, especially with high-pipes.
Yours is real nice though Guzzirider... but, do you ever ride the Guzzi anymore?
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Well yes, but just because I was moaning doesn't mean that there isn't some high-class garage space out there in Europe. Paul omitted to show his inner sanctum workshop when he posted above. In there, he makes sweet music with his Guzzi, as you can see.
I mean, mass produced posters of old MG line-ups are one thing, but lavishing 'real art' on your Guzzi ––– well, that's the European sensibility.
Hmm, is that carpet? Suspiciously looks like the guys own flat. <_ it doesn really help the space argument if your bike is roommate src="%7B___base_url___%7D/uploads/emoticons/default_biggrin.png" alt=":D">
But of course, there is NO question that the Europeans have us beat for style. Like I said... just look where we get our machines from
What I find amazing is exactly how serious of a tinkerer's operation it is... I remember starting out with a simple set of hand tools, and now over there I've got access to everything from engine hoists to gas and wire feed welders to air grinders to a forklift. I've found over the past 10 years or so that I've started buying (little by little) industrial tools I never have to replace, and then, started into specialzed stuff: port-a-powers, pipe benders, 7" air grinders, etc. out of necessity for the latest scheme. The best part is that it's all operated on an extremely limited budget.
My father and I would hang out there on the weekends and do all kinds of crazy things; I've got an old Yamaha YZ50 with a 175cc CT1 motor in it
, I've cut out and replaced the floors and trunk in the car on it's side, (it's basically stripped to the last bolt) and it's ready for reassembly. That shop has seen the transmission swaps for a truck and a 1967 Camaro, and the resurrection of many a dead motorcycle, some of which are still on the racks or floor waiting for further tinkering. Fond memories, but I know the next time I head for home it will be there just as I left it, all the projects ready to be resumed, till then, I'm out here in NorCal without a garage of any kind; even the poor V11 has to sleep outside under a cover
Such is life.....Sounds like it has a lot of memories, which makes it even cooler, I'm sure. Where in NorCal are you?
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Just pinned am I. I'm sure there are more folks in CA with Guzzis. I know if for a FACT
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Beuphonium, that's actually more of what I was expecting to see when I started asking. Looks like a real "serious" tinkerer's operation.
I can't get over the variety of workshops, and I really feel for the European guys with such little space. Kind of makes y'all want to go settle a big country eh?
The ironic thing is that we have the space, but we mostly end up buying and riding the bikes from the small countries.
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Bill, that's a GREAT garage!
Something like that is almost doable for me, just scaled down a little. Where did you get that lift? Do you like it? Can you remove the bike's wheels when it's up like that?The urinal is a nice touch, although a little distrubing just out in the opening like that.
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I lived on the east bay (Alameda) a while back, and i know...stuff is crazy expensive out there! what i could think of doing is, buying a tiny piece of land out there by sebastopol or something like that, were you could build one of those things....keep the bike there, so when friday afnoon comes along you drive there, spend the night and early sat you go out and ride the wine country all day, you could ride all that extra time you would use just for commuting there!...you know the roads...they make the tx hillcountry look like kansas
then on sunday afnoon you just drive back home.lol, I doubt my wife would like that. That's the main issue actually, my wrenching time is usually in the evenings, or on the weekend, between more domestic activities. I can't be taking off to some bachelor pad for a weekend of biking.
Anyway, my shop is looking pretty good compared to some of the others here. I think I just need to get it set up better.ideally, i'll get some other bike buddy or buddys who would be interested on going in / investing with you... if you were to rent it, the same, there's always some motorcycle nut like us who will be interested in living there, plus it'll take care of the propierty and the bike/s...
Yeah, in fact my buddy that races AMA has been talking about just that. I don't know if that's financially feasible or not though. The thought was to get some warehouse space in the City, maybe lease out shop space to other bikers. Who knows... it's kind of pie in the sky thinking right now. What would be REALLY cool would be to get one of these dock warehouses here in San Francisco. Hell, we'd only need a small part of one. Nothing would beat hanging out working on bikes, drinking beer and looking out over the bay. It would sound awesome rumbling through the big open space also, with some free-flowing twins. Anybody got about 10 million to drop?
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(it's actually two) you lease one and put your stuff in the other, it pays itself!
actually i'm leasing both, the one with my stuff in it is occupied with another guy who has a 748,....That sounds really cool. So, to be clear, there are two of these structures on that one lot? One that is live only, and the other that is bike shop/storage + someone living there? And this whole operation pays for itself? Very interesting...
If land wasn't so expensive out here, that sounds pretty good. Still, might worth looking into.
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here a picture, more isn't there to say:-)
Thanks Paul, that's perfect!
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that's cause...it is!....
Staedtler, that's awesome.
You've got the best space going so far. You need about 6 more bikes though!BTW, you DO have AC in that shed don't you? I can't imagine working in a metal shed in the middle of Texas.
I agree with Belfastguzzi, that us Americans probably are spoiled. Hell, I FEEL spoiled after seeing the other pics. I think what I need to do is cover the walls with shelves and stop moaning about it.
It's really cool seeing everyone's shop though. There's quite a variety, and it kind of brings it all to life also. It's a context to all these words in all these posts. Pretty neat.
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Hey all, I had an idea as I was puttering around in the garage this weekend. I've been vaguely discontent with how "my" half of the garage is set up, and have been thinking about better ways to turn it into a real moto-friendly workshop. I started wondering how other people set up their space, if indeed they are lucky enough to have a dedicated space. Do you use bins for parts? How do you set them up? Do you have a dedicated workbench? A lift? How do you store your tools?
My "shop" is half of a two-car garage in a town home. I'm lucky to at least have half the garage, but it's also taken up with a lot of misc stuff that is just stored there. I also have a lot of woodworking equipment, that I'm not using very much, if at all, right now. I've been thinking of putting that stuff somewhere less accessible, but at least out of the way.
99% of the time I'm either getting something out of the rolling tool chest, or out of the wooden cabinet where I keep bolts, bins for electrical stuff, cleaners, solvents, etc. Everything else is pretty much in the way.
I'll post pics here, in hopes of both getting some tips, but also maybe others will be inspired to post pics of their own workspaces. I'd love to see how other's set up their garage, where all the crazy Guzzi shenanigans happens
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pShenk:
I just attached the three grounding wires to the same grounding point.
Having three different ground wires is just an attempt to make the device act corectly on vehicles that have multiple ground voltage levels, due to bad engineering or neglect.
Make sure your Guzzi have proper grounding wires (lots of models dont), and you will have no trouble when you connect the three ground wires to the same point.
Thanks. I'm at little at sea when it comes to how the Guzzi, or any motorcycle, is wired. Where might I find the grounding wire, and/or how might I tell my bike has a proper one. When it comes to electrics, I'd rather not make any stupid mistakes..
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Good advice Ratchet.
In this case though, I'm 99% sure that the plastic disentegrated due to vibration. The intrument cover is rigidly mounted to the face of the dash, and that's the only thing that the plasitc bulb holder is mounted to, behind the dash. My theory is that two 2 years of front-end vibration just shattered the plastic. There were stress cracks all over the place, and the plastic was all brittle and crumbly. The only thing I could do was remove it all and stick on a bunch of epoxy.
It was made worse due to the way the previous owner had the high-bars mounted. When I took delivery, the front-end vibes were so bad they made my hands numb in 5 minutes.
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Jens, when you mounted your LC-1, where did you attach the three grounding wires? I notice in the manual that they want two different locations.
Also, you don't happen to have any schematics for that little electronics juntion box you made, do you?
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I have the height, but the question is this... is the part that sticks out the same diameter as the bung, er, hole
? Or does it taper narrower? If it's NO wider than the actual hole, then I might be ok. If it tapers, even better. It looks like it tapers in the picture.Thanks for the info!
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You can get red anodized caps for your brake/clutch resv.
I tried to get in to my inst. and encountered the "free rotating" bolt problem.
I was tempted to drill in from the back but resolved my "charge" light issue elsewhere. (sorta)
Anyone else "been there-done that?"
I thought about the caps... still might do that.
Did you ever get the housing open? I did finally get mine open, obviously... I had to remove the four nuts at the rear (or front... front of the bike), disconnect the speedo cable, and unscrew the trip odometer reset knob. Then I pushed forward on the four bolts coming out of the housing. These are mounted to the tach and speedo, so they will wiggle out of the face plate. The whole thing should come apart then. And inside, you'll find the white plastic bulb-holder with the crumbling plastic.
The PC-7 epoxy works great. You can smooth it with a wet finger like I did, just for fun.
I posted before that I wondered what the plastic tab at the back of the intrument housing was for, and if it's supposed to come off. I snapped mine off... looks like it was plastic welded on. I'm not sure what it's supposed to be for... it covers up a small hole. I epoxied it back on as well.
Trade it for shiny aluminium fluid container caps (if some one lets you).
Yeah! Now you're talking. Are these a standard item?
What are these wires for?
in Technical Topics
Posted
Thanks dlaing, that makes perfect sense (the test port). I'm still curious what the "B" wires are for, if anyone knows for sure.