GuzziMoto

Come in @Daveguzzi1 Any news? He has not been on site since March 22nd. That is only a couple weeks, though. Likely not enough time to resolve the 3k stumble.

That is pretty accurate. Less air gap means the compression curve of the air that is there is steeper, so it will have a higher spring rate quicker. Keep in mind that a fork is, for all intent, a sealed system. The oil doesn't compress, so all the compressing has to be done by the air above the oil. That means the air above the oil acts like an air spring. Less air above the oil means that compression curve of the air spring is steeper. More air above the oil means the compression curve of the air spring is more gradual. If the air gap is small enough it can make it impossible for the forks to compress all the way. Been there, done that. A little more oil / less air can make the forks stiffer, especially towards the end of their travel. Less oil / more air can make the forks softer, especially towards the end of their travel. The effect of different oil levels / air gaps will be most noticeable towards the end of the forks travel. It can be a useful tuning tool, either on the track or on the street. It is as important in my opinion as getting the right spring rate.

As docc said, the air gap is the more important measurement for fork oil. Whatever amount of fork oil it takes to get the air gap where you want it is what you need. It is entirely possible the factory volume spec for fork oil is right for someone. But it could easily be wrong. For me, standard practice when taking forks apart is to measure the air gap, and add fluid to set the air gap back to that measurement when re-filling the forks.

We have an Anti-Gravity battery on the wife's Ducati Monster. Not a Guzzi, but it uses the same style charging system the V11 does. So far no issues. And no need to swap the R/R. I do like the Re-Start feature.

That sounds like the battery was not being charged and it ran out of electrons. That is a pretty good description of how a motorcycle stops when it is not charging the battery. It could be a bad ground, as mentioned. Or it could be an issue with the headlight circuit, which is the reference circuit for the R/R to charge the battery.

I wonder why the shock is upside down. I remember talking with an engineer from a motorcycle company, questioning him on why the bike he was showing off had the shocks upside down. He didn't understand.

Joe Roberts has not been that impressive, but he has done better with the switch in tires. Funny how a change like that can make all the difference. That is why I am not a fan of spec tires in GP racing. People say it levels out the playing field, but it really doesn't do that. A spec tire will always suit some people better then it suits others. The only question is who it suits and who it doesn't. As to Joe Roberts, while his results have not been that impressive, the same can be said for Fabio Quartararo. He was not that impressive in Moto2, but when signed to ride for the satellite Yamaha he was suddenly very impressive. In the end, Moto2 is not that good a predictor of how well someone will do in MotoGP. You never know, he could do much better in MotoGP for the right team. I am just happy he seems to be doing better on the Pirelli tires. Sounds like he prefers the Pirelli front to the Dunlop front. Based on my ancient knowledge of the Dunlop front (which is probably no longer valid) I think I get what he is saying. I prefer a front tire that is grippier, more planted, and if there is any slip involved I want that slip in the back. But the difference in tires alone can be a major factor in which series a particular racer does well in and which he doesn't.

I think financially it was his best option. But from a competition point of view it was not. he likely could have signed with Aprilia and had a faster bike that probably suited his style. But he would not have been signed at Aprilia for anywhere near that sort of coin. Sad thing is, Yamaha could have used that money to develop their bike. It is in a way counter-productive to sign FQ for that sort of money when your bike is in need of wheelbarrows full of money thrown at it. But it is true that having him stay will allow them to better evaluate the required changes to the bike better. As long as they can still afford to make all the changes and don't start rationing.

I think it has some well done aspects, but like others here I don't like the seat. It looks like it is at an awkward angle, and it seems like you would be sliding into the gas tank. But aside from that, I like it. But in the end, selling a bike you have customized to that extent is a crap shoot. It may be exactly how you want it, but what are the odds you find someone else who sees it the same way as you. And those odds got even smaller when it was a Guzzi you did that to.

I could see a resistor in series with the LED light being able to reduce current flow enough that the LED doesn't light until the thermistor has heated up enough. But you may need to try various values for the resistor to find one that is suitably high enough to stop the LED from lighting when the thermistor is cool while allowing enough current through to allow the LED to light up when the thermistor heats up. Although I really don't know. I would rather go with a relay or a fuel level sensor that is straight up on or off. The thermistor does not seem well suited to an LED light, as the properties of the incandescent bulb seem to be an integral part of the circuit.

I would think your issue is the LED light takes much less electricity to light then the bulb does, and even when cool the thermistor can flow enough electricity through it to allow the LED bulb to light. Adding a resistor in parallel to the LED bulb probably won't change that, but maybe it will. I am not an electrical guy. Perhaps it would give the small amount of electricity that is lighting the LED bulb an easier path through the resistor so it doesn't go through the LED. Electricity does like to take the easiest path. That is the only way I can see a resistor in parallel help. But I am not sure it will. I know if you used a relay that would switch when 1.2 watts of 12 volt power was applied to it, and put the LED on the output of that relay, that could work. But that is starting to get too complicated and I am not sure about the availability of a relay that would switch reliably at 1.2 watts / 12 volts. What is that, a tenth of an amp? I know this isn't the answer anyone wants, but I would keep the stock bulb. It is tried and true in this application. Anything else is just going to introduce reliability issues, additional points of failure.

Odd as it may sound, I like that the tires fade. I think that can make for better racing. Racers have to use their tires as a limited resource. Use them up too much early on and they may not have enough later in the race. In fact, limiting tires could be a better way to slow down MotoGP bikes then reducing engine capacity (which has already been shown to NOT be a good way to slow them down).

In Moto2 Joe Roberts is sitting second in points two races in. That would be partly due to the lack of consistency by most everyone. For example, Lopez is 5th in points with a win and a 25th place finish. Canet is in first place in points with a win and a 10th. So consistency in the first two races hasn't really been there. Roberts in second has a 2nd and a 7th it seems. I only know all that because when I heard Roberts was second in points and rumors were swirling about him and Trackhouse I looked at the results. I respect Joe Roberts, he works hard at it and has put in the effort. But his results have not been very good, despite being on one of the best teams in the class. He does not seem to have the natural ability that someone like Acosta seems to have. But he does make up for his lack of natural ability with hard work and commitment. So in a way I see a little of myself in him. I never felt I had that natural ability to ride motorcycles. But I was still able to do well through hard work and commitment. So I can relate to Joe in my own way.

I am not a fan of the traction control and wheelie control aspects, but it has been much better since they switched to the standard ECU. Before then, traction control and wheelie control was too big a factor in who was fast and who wasn't. Now, with the standard ECU those systems are much less sophisticated and how good your electronics guy is becomes less of a factor. The playing field is more level. It still matters, look at Yamaha. They haven't been able to get the same level of performance out of the standard ECU, in part likely because they did not immediately hire a Weber/Marelli guy like everyone else did. While I think the ride height control is seriously cool, I don't think it helps the show. And the aero stuff clearly hurts the show. So I will be happier if those things go away. I do think the reducing engine size idea is stupid. If they are serious about slowing the bikes down, they have already proved that isn't going to do it. It will only make the bikes less exciting to watch, as super high corner speeds are less impressive visually then slower corner speeds followed by brutal acceleration. Better to slow their corner speeds down. Slowing them by reducing engine capacity doesn't make them safer. And it really doesn't slow them down. Speeds in the corners will likely be higher, and final speeds down the straights may only be slightly reduced. Again, they already tried that and it didn't work, it didn't make MotoGP safer. Didn't these guys pay attention? What is the saying? Those that fail to remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

When I converted the wife's V11 Sport from clip-ons to handlebars I was able to make the cables and lines work by re-routing them. But I had to be pretty creative. Eventually I ordered a longer brake line as I did not like the "creative routing" required to make the stock line work.

There have been different numbers given for total suspension travel for the rear of the V11 Sport. But the difference between 128mm, 120mm, or 135mm, is too small to worry about when you are only talking 30% of the difference. The forks are easier to measure travel, just lift the front end slightly off the ground so the front forks are completely extended, then measure the distance / length of the exposed slider tube. Full fork compression is when the entire slider tube is stuffed into the outer tube. So the exposed length of the slider tube is pretty much the amount of available suspension travel in the front forks. As with the rear, being exact is not important. Within 5 or 10 mm is good enough. Keep in mind that if you are 10mm off in your total travel number once you take 25% or 30% of that you are talking an actual difference of 2.5mm - 3mm. Just not something that is going to make a difference in the actual outcome of setting sag.

In my opinion, which is worth what you paid for it, there is some wiggle room on oil viscosity but only within reason. And that wiggle room is affected by the environment the motor is running in (warmer climate vs colder climate) That is why on many oil recommendation sheets they list more then 1 oil viscosity, depending on temperature it is being operated in. I am not sure I would run a 10w-60 in our V11. But I doubt it would be a problem, especially once it has a fair amount of miles on it. I would not use it because I am not a fan of 10w-60 oils, they are in essence a 10 weight oil with a lot of viscosity modifiers added, and those tend to break down faster. I would rather use an oil that doesn't rely as much on viscosity modifiers. But that is really just my personal preference. If you are already running 10w-60 oils you are probably fine with it. Also, for the Griso 1100 it started with calling for 5w-40 and at some point later they changed the oil spec to 10w-60 as I recall. I really don't think anything changed.

Clearly it could be coming from either the seal or the breather. Generally if it is coming from the seal there will be more, seals tend to fail and leak a lot, while if it is only a little it is usually the breather. Especially if it doesn't get worse fairly quickly. I would clean the drops off and watch it for a little while. If it is the seal you will know it fairly shortly. If you don't see more than a few more drops it was likely spitting out the breather. If you are really worried about it dust the rear drive housing with talcum powder or similar. That should show you the trail the oil took, and where it started.

CVC was forced to sell Dorna when they decided to acquire F1. That was back in the mid-2000's. We will see how it goes this time.

I am not a fan of this move, but I don't want to bitch and complain until they start F'ing it up like they did F1. There are a number of possible outcomes here. But rather then speculate I will wait and see. Of note, this is both MotoGP AND WSBK. So it affects pretty much all top level international motorcycle racing. If it goes bad, you won't have much alternative. Personally I think letting one company control almost all the top level motorsports is a bad idea and should be prevented with anti-trust rules and regs. That is what those rules and regs are for.

As mentioned, there isn't going to be a number printed on the spring that corelates to the riders weight. There are too many other variables involved to make that possible. The spring only knows its own rate, as well as its length. It doesn't know the ratio of rear suspension travel to shock / spring travel. If you measure and set the sag of the bike with you sitting on it, then measure how much sag there is without you sitting on it, that will tell you how the rate of the spring is. Too much sag without you on the bike after setting the sag right with you on the bike means the spring is too stiff. Too little sag without you on it after setting the sag correctly with you on it means the spring is too soft. That can seem backwards, but it is right. Too little sag without you on the bike means you had to add too much preload to the spring to get the sag with you on the bike correct. That excessive preload means that without you on the bike the bike sags very little. The opposite can also be true, too stiff a spring means you don't need much preload to get sag right with you on the bike, so with so little preload the bike will sag too much without you on the bike. Different people have slightly different versions of the target numbers for sag, but generally you want somewhere between 25 - 30 percent of total travel use up by sag with you on the bike, and only 10 - 15 percent sag under just the weight of the bike. Some people like a little more sag, some like less. One thing to keep in mind, more sag with you on the bike does not mean the spring is softer, only that it has less preload. With less preload, the suspension rides lower in its travel, that can be good, or it can make for a harsh ride if it leads to more bottoming of the suspension. I think you want the suspension to ride high enough that the suspension doesn't bottom very often, if at all.

The Historic plate here in Maryland is still an "every two years" deal. But it is cheaper and avoids an inspection at time of purchase (vehicles here are inspected only at time of purchase unless they get a safety ticket out on the road). So people here are seriously abusing the Historic plate option, ignoring the rules relating to usage and miles. People will buy an old beat up Honda Civic or the like and get a Historic plate for it. That way they save some money on registration and they don't have to get it through inspection (more money saved, plus the vehicle probably would not pass). Generally when people start abusing the system like this the system gets changed. It is why we can't have nice things. Give people an option to keep truly historic vehicles on the road for light duty usage and the next thing you know people are driving dangerous pieces of junk to work and back to save a few bucks. Maryland bases registration date on date of original registration. A trick I used to do years ago is if you are a day late renewing your registration you can move the registration month back one month, the new stickers would use the following month. But they seem to have caught on to that and I don't think you can do that anymore. Now the renewal only gets you a year sticker, your month sticker never changes. If you want them all to renew at the same time in Maryland you can do it, but you would probably have to cancel all your plates (perhaps at the end of the riding season). Then at the beginning of the next riding season you could re-register all your vehicles at the same time (or at least in the same month). That would give them all the same renewal month. Seems like too much trouble to me, but if it really was something you want it can be done. I would think the same trick would work in almost any state.

Yeah, as bad as things are now it does not seem like this is a move for the better of the sport. I guess this is the world we live in now, where things like sport are just a vehicle for those with money to make more money. It is not just MotoGP, many sports have fallen into the same trap. MotoGP is one of the holdouts, perhaps.

There in lies the rub. No matter how good the idea is, no matter that it would actually make motorcycling safer or make cage operators commute faster because it reduces traffic, the simple perception of someone getting somewhere faster then I am is a major source of friction towards motorcycles lane splitting. In this country there will be pushback based on that, based on the superficial perception that someone else is moving quicker then I am. Never mind that it makes me actually move quicker as well by reducing traffic for me. I can't see that.

That is good news for people living there. I could see myself moving there some day, but I suspect my lane splitting days are behind me.