GuzziMoto

Jim Allen is a tire politician for dunlop. He can shovel it with the best of them. Every time a race tire gets hot then cools down, the rubber goes through a chemical change. This happen when molded using heat as mentioned earlier. It also happens to some extent each subsequent heat cycle. Typically the rubber gets a little harder each time it goes through one of these heat cycles. Different tires react diferently to heat cycles. Racing slicks tend to be the most extreme in this respect. DOT race tires also tend to change noticably within a few heat cycles. The type of tire and the quality of the rider both play large factors in whether this change is noticable.Rossi could probably sense a change in tire performance before any of us normal people could. But rubber compound is only one aspect of a tires performance. Constuction and profile can play huge in how well your bike handles. Some may prefer the feel of sport touring tires and that's fine. But lighter weight tires, maybe with a more aggressive profile, can wake up the handling of a heavy, long motorcycle. Guys pay lots of money for wheels that shed a couple of pounds. Lighter tires can achieve the same effect. Or if stability is what you want, pick a heavier tire with a rounder profile. The choice is yours. The only thing I know for sure is to stay away from anyone who says this blank or this type of blank is the best.

Make it stop.......

Some manufacturers make Qualifiers that are designed for one lap. But most race tires are good for about 6-8 heat cycles before the performance falls way off. However, the first heat cycle is usually( but not always) the best the tire has. Sometimes you will see teams putting a heat cycle on a tire in practice so they can use it in the race with one cycle already on it. However none of this changes the fact that race tires do not make good street tires. I would rather race on street tires then ride on the street on race tires.

Sweet. Makes me feel pedestrian with my DRZ-SM(tho it does have most of the standard engine mods, big bore, carb, TI pipe,etc). I do plan on getting a more extreme SuMo, but the reliability of the Suzuki, even with all the mods, just warms my Guzzi lovin' heart.

Sorry for the hi-jack. Gavin, what kind of SuMo?

Well said.

Touratech sells some nice looking, vibration damping, mounts. http://www.touratech-usa.com/

An unfortunate truth of Guzzi's is that bikes are shipped out of the factory "mostly done". It is normal for a few issues to crop up in the first 1k or so miles. Mine and my wifes were both like that. In addition, I believe you bought a brand new leftover "04. If that's the case then consider that it is no longer a current bike. They don't make them anymore(too bad, they are sweeet). Therefore the parts for them are not kept in stock as much as a new bike would be(you get the same issue with any brand) and there aren't others sitting around that a dealer could "borrow" the parts from. I'm sorry to here of your distress and hope you perservere. I think if you stick it out you will find that after the first few issues are resolved, Guzzi's are well made motorcycles that can out last many other "better" bikes. I will say though, that if you expect your Guzzi to be turnkey like a Honda and you aren't willing to put a little extra time into the relationship, it may be you are not going to be happy with your Guzzi. I'm not trying to discourage you, it's just that they are hand built Italian bikes. They will have issues. Some have more issues than others. But the issues are generally fixable if you're willing. Good luck. I hope you work it out.

I enjoyed it. But while the tire war did not rear it's ugly head too badly, the Bridgestone runners did not do as well as I would have expected. How much of that is just a reflection of the true state of things is hard to say. As far as the power wars, the only way Rossi was able to pass was on the brakes or with corner speed. It was closer, but all he could do to Stoner was draft down the straight and then pass on the brakes. Even the Hondas could only pull up along side the Ducati down the straight. Finishing the pass required using the brakes(or not using the brakes, depending on how you look at it).

I say give it a go. My guess is more top end and less mid-range, but until you try we won't really know.

MAF's have their own problems.Many cars use them because they are cheap and easy to pass emissions with. But cars like my Honda civic did fine without and motorcycles like my Buell which had the best fuel injection I've seen made due without. I would rather have a F.I. system without MAF's then one with. Give me a system with a quality O2 sensor, preferably wide band, that is capable of closed loop running like the Buell system. As for the dip in the powerband, it is probably caused by intake and exhaust issues, not F.I. issues and a MAF sensor would not make a bit of difference. Remember, an engine is just a giant air pump.

By newer, I believe he was refering to the Breva's and Griso's. Not newer V11"s.

There are hi temp powder coatings available. And while copper plating will withstand hi heat, it will discolor. And copper leaf cannot withstand hi heat at all due to the sizings inability to take the heat. As for anodizings ability to take the heat, that depends on the chemical(s) used to dye the layer of corrosion. Most take heat well, some do not.

Speed's cycle in MD. ported the heads on my wifes V11 and gained about ten hp. Maybe could of gained more but the guys who did the power commander tuning aren't used to air cooled bikes and from what I saw they tuned for too lean a a/f ratio. Not that I'm saying Speeds is great, I think any decent tuner could get good results, but they did deliver more power. And it's not peaky or anything. It's just stronger throughout the rev range. I would like more squish though.

Hope you don't overreact, sell it and get a KLR. Disc brakes are amazingly simple devices that should be fixable short of serious catatrophic failure. Hang in there.

Funny thing though, my near stock Buell(the closest I've come to owning a Harley) made almost the same power as his stuff. And the same kind of mileage as well. Interesting stuff reminding us there's more then one way to do it. I think the first line of the last paragraph summed it up well. I'll take flow and squish over turbulent flow, personally.

I'm not the expert on this that the others are, but copper plating it the base coat for chrome plating. The problem would be corrosion without some sort of protective coating. You can also copper leaf parts as long as they don't get to hot and again you protect them from corrosion with a top coat.

Thanks GuzziJack. You da man.

Take care of your Guzzi and it should last longer then most bikes.

The "5" is the low temp viscosity. A low number means the oil will flow better at lower temps. It does not affect the viscosity of the oil at higher temps(i.e. operating temp) And to through my two cents in on filters, I've had no problems with the UFI's. They're good filters, well made inside(where it counts). I have recently switched to WIX filters because they are cheaper and better made inside. There is an excellent web site where a gut cut apart a bunch of different filters and shows how they're made. Forget the site name but I'm sure someone else knows.

I love flat slide carbs, but on a street bike I prefer well sorted F.I..The buttery smooth feel of a F.I. throttle compared to the feel of two flatslides. Not to mention the ability to compensate for alt., temp, etc. And F.I. will be on dirt bikes soon, probably within the next 5 years. I'm sure I'm in the minority on this one, but thats okay with me.

The issue may be even more complicated then just setting the correct air/fuel ratio. Other people on other brands(Honda VFR800's come to mind) have simular issues and the source is believed to be the computer sensing steady state cruising and changing the target value for the O2 sensor. Whether this is true or not I don't know but it does make sense that a manufacter would do that to improve emissions and/or mileage. Their answer is to jump out the O2 sensor with a resistor to keep it from leaning it out. This would not stop the computer from advancing the timing in the name of emissions if that is what Guzzi is doing. All I know is that my Griso knocks and my wifes V11 knocked until I got a Power commander for it. The power commander may have been a band-aid fix, covering up the problem instead of really fixing it, but it doesn't knock now.

Statement retracted humblely.

I think you may be confusing thru with into. When I wash out my K&N's a lot of dirt comes out. You can tell if you use a wash bucket by how dirty the water gets. The one big disadvantage of K&N type filters is that when they get wet, the water can carry the dirt that is trapped in them right on thru to your engine. I remember reading way back in the before time about Mt. St. Helens blowing up, and that the only way you could safely drive a car around with all the ash in the air was to have a K&N type filter. Of course at the time K&N was the only major player in the market.

I believe the original post was not just about peak power but also about the shape of the power curve. Dyno's don't just measure peak power but how much power all the way thru the rev range. They are a useful tool to anyone interested in improving the way their bike(Guzzi or not) runs. Whether you focus your efforts on peak power, peak torque, or size and shape of the curve, is up to the individual. Like any tool, it is up to the user to decide how they use it. I thought the original post was interesting because it did not give the results I would have expected. I would be curious to see if others get simular results.