al_roethlisberger

Hey there SN! You don't mind if I abbreviate do ya? Well, first for a little more info, here are links to the two previous threads that cover Corbin questions a bit: "Old Forum" Corbin Update from Al New Forum Corbin Thread But bottom line, here's my experience and thoughts... Based on various conversations with other owners that have tried to go the Corbin route, if one can not get to a local Corbin factory showroom to have the seat custom-made or fitted, you might not want to bother... or at least be very patient. If you choose to order the seat via the catalog, you are likely to get a very genericized seat in both fit and finish. My experience working with the craftsman in-person was very different though. He spent several hours working with me personally, fitting and re-sculpting(added several inches to rear, and narrowed the sides) the seat until it met my personal tastes and approval.... top notch service. But with a catalog order, there's no real way to get that level of service from them short of sending the seat back and forth unfortunately. Also, I have heard some horror stories regarding customer service, and again I think this is the difference between catalog orders and in-person work. That's not an excuse, but I think it's the reality. When I was there at the factory, they took as much time as necessary to fit the seat to me and the bike, and in the case of my buddy who got a seat for his VFR, they spent another 2 hours reworking the pan of the seat for free when he brought it back 2 months later after finding that some Givi bag brackets were rubbing.... great customer service... and free food to boot! But YMMV, and my experience is completely in the paradigm of visiting the factory direct, and I think that made all the difference. Also, for whatever reason 2002+ V11 LeMans/Scura owners seem to be having issues with fit, especially in the area of latching. I know that while I was at the factory, they fiddled with mine to make it fit, although it seemed trivial. But I've seen several LeMans/Scura owners give up and return the V11 seat, and now I think Corbin is just taking a policy that the seats won't fit the new models. It's a shame, but with such low volume, I can only guess that they don't think it's currently worth their while to work out the kinks... I'd give Rich's seat a thought, and even if it has to come over the pond, keep in mind that the Corbin seat has to as well ... either Florida or here in California. But personally, I really love my seat al

Looks great Rich... as usual What I'd really like to see though, is how it looks installed. Maybe the new owner will grace us with some before and after photos! al

Well, sounds like it will gain the requisite patina without problem then =) Thanks for the info! al

Hi, This may seem like a minor nit to pick, but I though I'd ask about it... I just received my Stucci x-over, and I noticed that it appears to indeed be a "satin" SS finish, but it's more of a stippled finish versus the brushed finish on the OEM pipes/x-over/headers. I was wondering if the Stucchi is solid SS(as this "stippled" silver finish almost looks sprayed on like a ceramic coating) and if over time the Stucci will oxidize to the same gold patina as the rest of the OEM SS exhaust system?? Anybody had one long enough to know? thx! al

Hi Brent, I believe it was the SM-2 "ell-shaped" 2 conductor. There is no special wiring other than tapping into a constant/switched power source for the lights. The kit does the rest =) al

HA! "Besides, England is too small to need a GPS." Apologies to my UK/EMEA friends ... but that's funny Good one Carl al

Hrrmm, that's really pretty cool on an engine-stand, but in practice I have no idea how we'd fit something like that on a real bike, especially a V11 "spine frame" ...maybe on another model? But very interesting none-the-less....

An alternative fused location: If you check out the fuse block, you will find that the gracious folks at MG left you one unused fuse clip at the end of the block . It is completely unused, so you would have to wire it up. But this is what I used for my heated grips. I simply spliced into the battery side of the harness for the lights fuse which is the fuse right beside that last unused one. It ended up all being very neat and factory-looking, provided standard blade fusing, and seems very functional. For higher load accessories, if want to wire directly from the battery, you can simply splice into any of the other circuits to control a relay as well. If you want to take the extra time, I'd recommend considering using this fuse spare for protecting any accessories. al

Porting/flowing my heads, along with possibly dual-plugging them is something I am considering for this winter, but we'll see. I've talked with Mike Rich, who does the head for the Cooked Goose Land Speed Record Team, and he's super nice and will be happy to chat with you about the real benefits and trade-offs for some of these modifications. Give him a call sometime: Mike Rich Motorsports 21 Jerusalem Hollow Road Manorville, NY 11949 631-874-7032 al

What mine look like mounted using Formotion's bracket to the stock fastener location for the LeMans' "dash":

hmmm, I haven't seen any of the Formotion clocks leak, although I'm sure it's possible if there is a defect. It certainly shouldn't happen under normal circumstances. They are a sealed quartz clock, sealed within a SS case, with a Citizen movement, and are guaranteed to 3 atmospheres. I wash my bike with the clocks and thermometers on them with no problemo Now, just a note though... the thermometer is open to the atmosphere, by design. If you *really* hit it on the back/underside with water... or there is a significant change in temperature and humidity, it will get water inside and possibly fog a bit from the vents in the case. But it is desgned this way with quality stainless-steel and brass parts inside, and will "air out" soon after. I've only seen condensation on the inside of my Formotion thermometer once, and that was on a warm day right after really washing the heck out of my bike It was only mild fogging ...and it evaporated away within about an hour with no ill effects. I was told by Formotion that this is normal, and not a cause for concern. Certainly YMMV, but I've found the Formotion gauges to be A+ quality, and their customer service to be superior. But yes, they are pricey al

I've got a similar product from Kisan as well: Kisan Technologies I've got their SignalMinder which turns the signals into running lights, and also is an automatic signal canceller. And I've got their headlight modulator. I agree that regardless of flashing lights, garish colors, etc... if a driver isn't keeping an eye out for a bike, it's a moot point. But I will say that every bit helps, and I know that my headlight modulator get's people's attention, as I've had several people comment on how much they hate it! al

Very interesting solution But generally the problem with LED replacements is their poor off-axis visibility. When viewed directly from the rear, they are quite bright. But even just a tad off-axis, especially completely from the side or above, I've found that even the most run-of-the-mill incandescents are much brighter. A couple years back, I replaced my tail-light on my FJ-1200 with an LED-cluster, but wasn't overly impressed with the result, again unless you squatted down to the level of the lens... then it was really quite bright. One could argue that with a brake-light this was the primary concern, however the visibility issue wasn't just from the side, but also "looking down"... any "off axis". So in reality, unless an auto driver's eyes were approximately at the same level as your tail-light, I found that much of the benefit of the LED's brightness was lost. Keeping in mind that obviously the type and quality of tail-light lens can affect this as well. Agreed regarding durability/longevity though. But I'll have to chime-in and add my kudos to the Kisan solution. I've also got the halogen tail-light flasher, and man-o-man is it bright. I was concerned at first that it may be too hot, or that the durability of the halogen bulb may be an issue. But so far, so good... not a problem In my personal opinion, I think that most of the LED products are a bit over-hyped and marketed.... without any real R&D going into the practical use. However the stock incandescents have generally done me well, and products like the Kisan are quite an improvement. Unless you are having a problem keeping your incandescent from burning out due to vibration, or otherwise just think an LED replacement would fun and cool to tinker with .... I'd just stick with the inexpensive incandescent bulbs, and maybe keep a spare in the kit. But like everything else YMMV al

And finally, here is an "arial shot" ....

...here is how the Formotion clock and thermometer is mounted on my bike. Note that I used Formotion's specific bracket to mount this to the OEM bracket for the dash on the LeMans. No modifications to the bike were necessary, so this can be removed easily, serviced, and returned to stock without problem if desired. It's also quite visible in this location. This photo shows my initial installation some months back. Later I procured a longer metric fastener and added a rubber grommet/spacer to elevate the bracket about 1cm above the dash to protect the dash's finish and allow the bracket/guages to be slightly isolated from vibration. But the look and installation are essentially the same.

Very interesting clock solution Another alternative is the Formotion clock. I got the SS clock and thermometer, and they've worked out great: Stainless Series .....they also have them in black, glow-in-the-dark, and other styles to match your tastes and the newer gauges of the 2003 Guzzis with their black trim. There is only one caveat. The thermometers have had some issues with vibration causing the black paint on the needles to "dust" off and deposit a very fine black powder on the face of the guage over time. Formotion is aware of this defect, and will replace them without question if this happens, as they did with mine. They are also working on a permanent fix/design and will replace all older defective thermometers with the new one once available. Really great folks and great customer service. The products are a little pricey, but they are built tank-tough, and of the highest quality al

Jason Tucker(jtucker@cyberfuse.com) has started a poll regarding our "vapor lock" or otherwise "hot start" problem. Please take a moment to add to the survey. V11 Hot-start Problem Poll As of November 7th(today), about 25% of owners submitting to the survey have run into this problem anywhere from "once" to "frequently".... that's significant. al

...awww shucks! I thought I was logged-in... Hey Jaap, can you add 2 to my message count? al

...dang, something hiccuped. I *was* logged-in

Nice modifications When I first got my LeMans I too had given some thought to modifying the snorkels, and even building a "ram-air" from the snorkels through the fairing behind those black winglets we've got in front of our heads. But feedback from several lists and "tuners" turned me on to the limited, if any, benefits this would provide. Some additional info on modifying the snorkels and any "ram-air" benefits from my thread..... LeMans Ram-Air Thread ...it seems that ram-air, or even rerouting the snorkels has been extensively discussed since the introduction of the Sport1100 bikes in the 90s(which had the same air-box, but with "real" ram-air through the fairing), and the educated consensus from several "tuners" and aeronautical engineers is that there is no benefit unless you could drive the bike to well over 100Mph.... and even then it would be minimal. The unanimous feedback was that "ram-air" on bikes like many out there was merely marketing. However, it was noted that inducting cooler air from somewhere other than above the cylinders would be desireable, and might improve economy a bit. It's too bad really, as I was pretty excited about giving a try al

Rich, et al ..... With all due respect, while I am sure issues such as break-in can affect performance, this issue, etc... and by whatever fortune has smiled upon many(perhaps most) V11 Sport/LeMans/Scura owners that they haven't encountered this "vapor lock" problem... a significant(and by that I mean too many) owners have. I know we've all seen this very question/issue posed too many times on the MG topica list and forums like this for it to just be a fluke. In fact, *I* personally discounted this issue for months to owners not properly relocating the supply hose, emissions, tank-suck, etc... or otherwise not taking the right/recommended precautions.... until it happened to my bike, which had taken all of those considerations into account already. Now, in my case, to be fair: it was a very hot day(100+ degrees) and we had just climbed up to an overlook of Yosemite valley and Half Dome... so it was probably the worst of circumstances. However, it is still a design issue that at best is an inconvenience, and at worst could strand someone for a while. It certainly is an issue that a modern fuel-injection system on a $10k+ bike should not exhibit, and then expect the owner to address out of his own pocket. It's certainly not wear-and-tear =P In my opinion, this should be addressed ASAP by MG with a service bulletin, recall, or free repair. If they've discovered that the only real fix is to relocate the fuel-pump, so-be-it, but they need to fix all of our bikes too... as the redesign is in my humble opinion, an acknowledgement of the problem on MG's part. I'd like to see this addressed by MGNA... somehow... not just pretending it doesn't exist. Honestly, we shouldn't have to deal with this on 21st century bikes, especially since the model is 3+ years into its evoluition. I hope this doesn't come across as rude or too irritated, and I mean no disrespect to Rich and those that have not had the misfortune to experience this defect, but after seeing far too many posts on this subject, and noting the new fuel-pump design... MG should support a fix for current owners trying to track down this elusive and intermittent problem(which is the worst kind). *sigh* al

Brent, Sorry to hear you had the "problem" , but I am glad to hear that it happened to you actually *AT* a dealer, as MG has basically pretended this condition doesn't exist... yet they've mysteriously reengineered all 2003 bikes with the fuel-pump inside the tank While I don't want a pump in my tank(to further decrease capacity/range) I think MG should consider this a recall issue and design a heat-shield(or something) for this condition and take care of it free-of-charge for all pre-2003 owners. Considering the number of V11 Sport/LeMans owners that have experienced this, I would think we have a case to press MG for a real solution. Maybe this example where a dealer actually saw the condition will spur some honest interest, so I'll be very interested to hear what they tell you and your dealer Brent. Please keep us informed. If not, perhaps we need a poll/petition to be sent to MG, especially if 'endorsed' by any V11 Sport/LeMans owner we can find that "happens to be an attorney" .....hint hint... any volunteers?? You can probably deduct it from your taxes since it would be pro-bono thx! al

How often should it, or both, U-joints be greased BTW? al

OK, well I went home and tried the methods described... First, let me say that I did get it to work after some fiddling. However, on my bike, with stock cans, I *cannot* use the stand with the handle pointing to the rear of the bike(on the left/kickstand side). It will not clear the mufflers. And yes, this is the standard red stand from MG-Cycle. However, it works fine on the right side with the handle pushing toward the front of the bike. One thing that wasn't clear to me, or perhaps I simply missed, is that the detents in the stand catch the nuts/bolts on the *outside* of the bottom frame bolts that protrude from the red side plates. All this time I've been trying to hook the stand on the frame behind the plate, but I found that there really isn't any room to do this, plus the stand is too wide to hook both arms behind the plates... which I really should have noticed before. *sigh* So bottom line, this is how my stand worked last night: Stand on the right side of bike The stand has it's handle pointing forward Position the detents of the stand on the bottom nuts outside the side-plate As Rich mentioned, block the wheel of the stand with your foot Push forward on the handle quite hard actually, and up comes the bike I don't know why I have to do this opposite to Rich's instructions, but there is absolutely no way my stand's handle will clear my exhaust cans, so I have to use it on the right. One other concern I have is either loosening the nuts it grabs(not likely) or that if I am not very careful, the side-plate might get knicked by the stand during placement and lifting. So I'll just have to take care Thx for the tips guys! al

Thx for the reviews guys Well, I've got my kit on the way so I'll have to track my mileage, etc. as well. I've currently got my stock cans drilled, and will be ordering my Stucci X-over fairly soon, so it'll be interesting to see performance following the mods. I also moved my left exhaust hanger to the outside of the left passenger peg mount, so from the rear, the exhaust cans are now within 3/4 of an inch "even" instead of the cockeyed/uneven placement with the right can over an inch and a half further kicked-out than the left.... I still can't believe Guzzi didn't even those out when they widened the rear-wheel in 2002 instead of just pushing the whole right passenger peg and exhaust out. It would've been an easy fix to move them both out a bit and recenter them, and it's fairly obvious when looking at the rear of the bike that they are not. Heck, the right passenger peg mount is angled waaay out further than the left... very obvious. Anyway, it's more-or-less fixed from a casual glance now. You almost have to measure it to tell the slight difference. I could make it a bit closer if I modified the actual hangars/brackets to be the same(the right hanger isn't flat, it has a 'kick out' too). But I think it will be fine I do wish the passenger peg mounts/hangars looked the same from the rear though... it's a shame. Anyway ...and ...if funds permit, I'm still thinking about sending my heads off for porting, and maybe dual-plugging this winter. But that will be a $1k bill, so we'll see. Hopefully the weather will stay nice long enough after I get the airbox kit to give it a try and see how these all sound and perform together al