docc

Hey! Who you callin' a knob? Worse yet: I see that this Friday, here in America, is National Boss Day. Is that the same as National Knob Day?

I was thinking your specification fit the latest generation Triumph Tiger "Roadie". But, no, hey, that Valkyrie . . . nice ride! But who's the then? (Kidding, DBG! Just be sure to fit a big windscreen since you'll be sitting back on your bum.)

I only know of one "Chatanooga" and it ain't in Bungendore. When would that put you here in Tennessee/USA? And is there any chance of buying you an ale? (Chatanooga is a couple hundred miles from here, but it still isn't like popping up in Bungendore (sounds like something that could happen to Harry Potter). oh, Gawd, yer not having it shipped?

Oooh! It makes me want to fiddle with it, tune it , fettle, make it "better', cause a leak, short it out. Order parts. Drink. + =

Agreed regarding the correct voltages. How old/what model is your battery? I found my poor running problems to improve immensely by freshening the charging system. The ECU does not operate well at these low voltages.

Thanks for the reminder. I'm in! Here in Lower Middle Mule Town, people ask, "Where do you get that serviced?" "Why, at my *local* Moto Guzzi dealer in Seattle, Washington, and V11LeMans.com." and and don't forget:

I'll bet my mV at idle is on the high side also. Last time, I set the idle "by ear." Seems like last year I passed you on the way out of Barber's on Sunday. It's always fun to see you burning up the roads on that LeMans! Better fun , yet, to sit and chat and bend the elbow. Hope to see you again, soon! Ride well, Perfesser! docc

There seems to be no downside (oiling, charging, or otherwise) to a higher idle. Docc (with the Veglia tach that reads 300 rpm too high)

What are your voltages 1) key on 2) idle and 3) at 2500 rpm?

My CO was -27 and we moved it to 0 (zero), which settled the idle and helped the running immensely. Does the VDSTS read degrees opening? Where is your millivoltage now that the TPS is set at 3.6 degrees? ridetobarbersridetobarbesridetobarbers docc 68,338 mile Sport

Cold we just continue this on the original thread? All the history would be there . . .

The "little ball" goes in the hole of the brake lever bracket. It wants to be there. It is "its purpose." Without it, the switch is on full time.

Whups! Six posts there now while I was trying to choose words. One of the strangest things is I see Greg saying that "Some know how to slay them" which I take to mean that the difficulties and challenges of these bikes can be addressed/tuned/managed. Then I watch Ratch' try to force the issue and get Greg to admit that the suspension challenges can be tuned; that there are no mysterious flaws; no completely unexplainable bad v11 Sports. I'm not sure we're watching a disagreement as much as two guys that refuse to agree. So, are there unexplainably bad V11 Sports? Or should we otherwise get down to detailing the process of setting them up properly?

I always consider it ungood when the last five posts are back and forth between the same 'contenders.' My apologies for (again) offering "moderation" unasked for. I support the (RH) thinking that these machines could be properly set-up to ride reliably and safely. I do not ascribe to the idea that some units are somehow 'flawed' or otherwise defective to the point of being unridable. There are a finite number of parameters that could be systematically tuned. I acknowledge that there are many riders that just can't get it done and don't have access to tuners that could do it for them. (I believe) this is not an easy bike to ride hard. I trust the judgment (GF) of a guy sitting in the cat bird's seat of Guzzidom. Greg sees and hears and helps keep serviced many more Guzzis than I'll see in a lifetime. Sad that where I live, there are a pitiful few of these bikes compared to the Pacific Northwest. So, if Greg says he's seen or known of four bikes to have crashed out, I accept this. I believe we've 'discovered' quite a number of the contributors to difficulties in handling the early V11. If there weren't any 'contributors', none of us would have had to work our way through any "set-up" to begin with. The real conflict, and perhaps the entire impetus for this thread, revolves around the assertion that (I paraphrase), some of these bikes are just 'bad' and the position that effective and thoughtful tuning will resolve contributing issues. While I remain in the "tuning" camp, I would not dispute that some riders crashed their Guzzis out, but because they never, or couldn't, achieve a proper set-up. At this point, I wonder if we've reached a Darwinian point in the evolution of the V11. All the riders whose badly set-up V11 with the soft tires, soft springs and too much sag have pranged themselves into the tarmac and sent the riders back to R1s and VFRs where they belong. For us, the fittest of us, that remain, seeing to the complex set-up of your early Sport is a very satisfying experience. Yet, one which you cannot safely neglect. You simply do not want to become Number Five.

And the time has come again. I can't believe this thread is three years old! I hope many of you are planning on making this event. Two or three of us are riding down from Columbia, Tennessee, (about an hour south of Nashville) Friday noon. Let me know if you're going to be in the neighborhood. (We're going the "back way", no Interstate Highway). We're staying in Irondale (Hampton Inn) about 6 miles west of the grounds. I really hope to see some of you there. No question, this is a World Class event!

I'd have to go back and do some reading, but, were those Ambassadors or Eldorados? And, finally, are there any absolute reports of 1999-2001 V11 spine frames causing that same level of instability?

Just to make you (well, ok, and me) feel better, I must admit to being "mechanically inclined." (i.e: "I can screw up anything!") While it can be most poignant to throw sparks, bleed, or otherwise double your vocabulary while doing some (seemingly) simple task, there are greater measures of true shade-tree knuckle dragging. (don't ask me how I know): -At 2am before taking your family on a 2000 mile round trip (to visit the Italian in-laws), pungent smoke with a green flash (yeah, that one) bursts from the back of your car's instrument panel as you (*wisely*) have attempted to repair the dash illumination. For greater safety and all. You find it is all hell to get the smoke back in the circuit board. It makes getting smoke back into wires look like a cheap parlor trick. -While a friend graciously dismounts your (awful) Pirelli Dragon, you decide to take the silly bracket off that held the doubly silly double hoses from the double charcoal cannisters. Removing the 6mm bolt above the exhaust crossover spews the most beautiful red fluid (from the gearbox) you've ever seen back lit by a drop light. Your only option is to stick your finger in the dyke, rather Dutch-like, and advise your helpful friend that you think you've wet your pants. -Trying to save a few bucks, you spend a week dismantling, cleaning, ordering parts, and reassembling a hateful garden maintenance device (that doesn't love you anyway). Upon reassembly (fifteen man-hours of labor), it will not roll. Your twelve year old son suggests, "Did you put that one-way gear in backwards?" (Of course, I had). I let him live, but he's still on thin ice ten years on. -Your Guzzi sticks in 'second'. You cleverly nurse it into 'first'. Now, it's stuck in 'first.' You long for 'second' and the kind of predatorial mindset that would have prevented you (while leading ten other bikes) from sticking your gearbox in 'first'. You ride at 6000 rpm with your carbon Mistrals through an (otherwise) sedate neighborhood on a Sunday morning profoundly affecting ordinary reasonable pedestrians and their pets. Reaching a safe stopping point at a major highway, (and sound in the presumption that it is The Pawl Spring) you bring the group to a halt and crouch to inspect the appropriate linkages. Whereby, the leg zipper on your Aerostich pops open from the ankle to the crotch. This (new) development requires that you lie down in the road beside your Guzzi (stuck in 'first') to forcibly coerce your leg zipper to release you from its cruel and untimely clutches. Your "friends" refuse any offer of help. In fact they rather turn away and pretend that your not lying there writhing on the tarmac in a hopeless wrestling match with Team YKK. Motorists begin stopping. No explanation seems complete; although I think I heard the words "withdrawal" and "lap-dance." I'm not sure what they had to do with one another. I rode home alone. In 'first.' Within seven to ten days I had a new pawl spring and a new Aerostich. And new friends. -You decide your plumbing makes too much noise as the faucets upstairs (where the Real People live) are shut off. You begin anchoring them with a big bag of special pipe fasteners and a big hammer when you make a big whack into the little/brittle pitiful PVC pipe which begins to demonstrate just how big the water pressure really is. In the greatest of fortune, your toolbox catches most of the water. Your wife is curious what was actually wrong with the pipes before you started beating on them. The pipe glue takes three hours to dry. You take everyone out to eat. I work on lawn mowers and gas grills, too. Oh, and then there's the Volvo. Save us, I gots tools. :luigi:

Okay, well, swapping the springs (unfortunately) puts the stiffer return spring on the fast idle, making the seat easier to remove (and it does). Trouble is, this will just push your fast idle off with more gusto. I'm not so sure what "holds" the fast idle on. It is easier to deal with a "stiff" lever by lubricating and swapping springs. To me, it feels like all the friction is in the handlebar lever itself. You say you had the bars apart?

S'E: Have a look at this thread on the leaky Bitubo: Bitubo Steering Damper . . .

I really can't see the difference between the "fork tube angle" and the "rake." Isn't that the rake of the fork (tubes)? Anyway, I am not not aghast that Guzzi may have tried some interim changes leading to a substantial frame change in 2002. And, yet, I am (aghast). In fact, it is quite surprising to try and catalog or otherwise comprehend the continual development in this series. I'm impressed with the factory's attempts to address "issues" with the product. Whether it is press, or customer feedback, or nasty crashes we, perhaps, will not know. Nonetheless, Moto Guzzi has continually addressed and improved its product. I like my RedFrame and appreciate its "compromises." Sag this, damp that . . . I still believe its greatest drawback "as delivered" was the Pirelli Dragon Corsa tires and soft springs. Weavy devil woman at 90 mph; like dancing with a really large, drunk woman on very high heel shoes; somebody's gonna get hurt and it could be you.

Paul, congratulations on the new ride!! Has the tan and black "TT" with all the accessories ever officially become available?

As much as I like graphs, that one makes me a little dizzy . . .

That, I agree! I'd like to see one of these skewed-triple RedFrames. Any one ever see one? Have one?

"Sleep" works for you? I always have to drink when shit doesn't go together right on my Guzzi.

Last time my Sport wouldn't behave, I found the right coil wire munted: