gthyni

Thanks for the replies, I found a "overhaul kit" at Motomecca that I think fits. I will check tomorrow if my local Ducati dealer can supply me with something like that else I'll just order from England. Luckily I seldom use the rear break. just feel a bit of uncertainty not have it available.

I have lost the rear brake, a small leak has been getting worse to last days. Now I have no pressure an the leak is so bad it is impossible to bleed. After bleeding I got a moment of pressure and then its gone. I suspect that the leak is from the gasket around the hydralic pistons I this fixable (have look for repair kit but have found any) or must I replace the whole caliper?

OK, next Q: it says (on www.ghezzi-brian.com): " Eccentric adjustable steering bearing, Rake reduction: 1 degree" I don't see have they could be adjustable, any clues? Can I mount them backwards to increase the rake a bit?

This is a good read about dos and don'ts of Powder Coating for Motorcycles

Lowering to compensate for a shorter fork, to keep to geometry. An inch lower seat height would be nice when riding in town. I think I'll drop the fork an inch through the yokes some day just to get the feeling of a 730mm fork

Paul, any tips about how to lower the back an inch or so, besides cutting the feather slightly. BTW, (hurry, hurry, 24 hours left) there is an 730mm Öhlins for sale on the british Ebay if anyone needs one. It's from a Aprilia MilleR which AFAIK also 730mm and Brembo caliper mountings. I am quiet happy with my Marzocchi for now since I was out driving and fiddling with the suspension settings today. The fun roads around here are very bumpy so I loosened up the settings quiet a bit before I was happy.

I found this post by Cliff and had to try it myself so I removed the steering damper. Conclusion: at least for me it is a great option , better handling at low speeds and no problems what so ever on bumpy winding roads or at high speed runs (up to 160 km/h).

This is mounted an the bike with the fork compress 35 mm or so by the weight of the bike I presume. Agreed that lowering more than 30mm (just over an inch) would probably be too radical. Lowering the back-end to compansate would be a possibility, problem is that the stock rear shock on the V11s is quiet short (one of the shortest in the Öhlins catalogue) so finding a good shock which is a little bit shorter could be hard. Buying a new expensive shock and cutting the feather a bit is not an attractive alternative.

A clarification, reading Öhlins product guide it seems most Ducatis has 730mm forks except Monsters 2001 and on. These have a shorter fork (700mm) which probably is getting too short for a V11 (stock fork 760mm, we think)

I wasn't thinking of running gravel races with my V11, just getting resonable stability at resonable speeds. On the Beeza I have Avon Roadrunner AM20 90/90-19 on the front rim and get much better stability then on the V11, Of course the rim diameter, seating position and lower weight makes for better "gravel characteristics", but a still think the narrower tyre also plays a not insignificant part. Also I think the wide tyres on modern bikes is more a question of styling then road-holding With 3.5"/4.5" rims it should be possible to go down to 110/150, at least according to Avon.

What about the front tyre? I find the 120 tyre very "slippy" on gravel What do you think about trying a 110/70? According to this Avon chart it should be possible to go down to 110 and 150 on my rims.

Paul, you haven't lowered the back-end then? I guess it is not a problem. With the standard rake my V11 is not "fast" in the streering department. I have loosened the steering damper and have no instability even at 160 km/h. with a steeper rake I might even get some use of the steering damper

Al, if you not happy with your Marzocchi fork an economic alternative would be to buy a Showa fork from a Ducati Monster. Since it was concluded that an Öhlins fork for M900 would fit our V11s, the original Showa part from a monster would probably fit too. Get one cheap from a monster owner upgrading to Öhlins.

Sure you get pissed by a new bike not looking it's best, but that's why I wil never buy a new bike/car. (OK, my bike IS new but since it was a left over 2001 I got a great deal). With a new bike you - get dissed by manufactoring weaknesses - hestitate to service it yourself since it might loose the warranty - hesitate to rebuild for the same reason - hesitate to rebuild since everything is tip-top On used bike the weaknesses is known and the price is lower which makes it easier to overcome with the points above. I'm with Baldini on this, my and I will probably have a long life together. Many thing will change over time but I rather rebuild everything then go out and buy a new MGS/1. Of course I will not give any advise about the options since it not my business but I think that MG is trying to fix the problems at last. Be happy Just my 2c, hope noone takes offense.

... or hackish home brewed ECU, check out this thread FIM has a software - Ultimap - to remap the stock ECU.

I read up on the 4V-engines i Guzziology (should have done that before asking stupid Qs ) It is a SOHC contruction (Single OverHead Cam) which needs rockers as the camshaft is placed between the valve rows. A DOHC (D = dual or double) has one camshaft for the intakes and one for the exhaust valves and can be placed above the valves. The weight of the rockers is very small compared to the pushrods so most of the extended "RPM capabilities" is gained with the SOHC solution, the extra gain won by a DOHC solution is small.

a 4V OHC head compared to a 2V pushrod one has the following advantages: - optimal placement of ignition - larger valve area possible - less mass in valve mechanism makes for higher RPM You could probably raise the redline from 8k RPM to at least 10k and port it so it could supply enough air to make us of those RPMs. Well over 100HP on the rear wheel should not be too hard to get.

tip: remove + cable from battery before fiddling with electr(on)ics.

overhead cams will make it very hard indeed. As you say, if I really must have a 4V:ed motor I be better of buy a whole new motor or a whole new bike.

If the resistances is in serial that gives: 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 = 20 ohm if cables and plugs are 5 ohms each. if in parallell: ((5 + 5) * (5 + 5) ) / ((5 + 5) + (5 + 5)) = 100 / 20 = 5 ohms a third option would be to have 2 colis in one box in which case in would be no different from a single plug system. You don't get a weaker spark on the 2nd plug, you get a equally weakened spark on both plugs.

What does it take to do this? What about - piston clearence? - pushrods? - intake manifolds? - exhaust ports? inquiring mind at work

The throttle bodies diameter is 52mm, gives you som choices from the K&N list. Personally I prefer the look of the conical filters (K&N calls them "Tapered").

Thought I would try to adjust my clip-ons last night just to test for an optimal ride position and rear mirror view. A loosened the 2 bolts holding the clamp but the clip-on would move. Suprise suprise - a 3rd bolt from the bottom locked into position against the steering head. The bolt pointed to on the 2nd image: I removed that bolt and the clipon was adjustble OK, but this 3rd bolt has a fixed position against the steering head, so if you want to adjusts the position of the clip-ons you have to do without this bolt. Anyone tried that, I don't want to experience and slipping clipon at 150 km/h

... and the engine should be warm when draining. I always change/clean the oilfilters on every oil change.

Unless we got a radio on our V11s (I sure do ) we don't need resistors at all