GuzziMoto

Yes, too loud is right. But they both still sounded excellent. Back in 1990 I was standing next to Fred Merkels RC30 as he warmed it up in the pits at Mosport. The racket it made was mechanical music to me. Also impressive was how quickly it rev'd up and down. It was instant, like a switch. My buddies 851 was too loud. But it still sounded great. It had a more aggressive sound than most later Ducati's I have heard, not counting racebikes.

Yeah, I can see FQ doing well at some tracks beyond this past weekend, tracks like Jerez for example. But I also can see him struggling to even be in the top 10 at other tracks. That could be his downfall in the championship chase. Joe Roberts is not related to Kenny Roberts, it is just coincidence that his name is Roberts. He raced in the Red Bull Rookies Cup series for a few years, but really didn't do anything amazing. He came back to the US to race back in 2014, 2015, and 2016. He did well. But was running lesser classes like Stock600 and SuperSport. Then he jumped back up to the world stage, getting a ride in Moto2. I don't think he has really raced at the top level in this country. His focus seems to be on Europe and the world stage. He seems to be well connected, his friends include people like John Ulrich it seems. And he is talented, but I am not sure he has the talent required to win a world championship. I would like to see him do well. But he has had a shot on some of the best teams in Moto2 and so far he hasn't put it together. But the reality in motorcycle racing is it isn't just the rider and their talent. And it isn't just the quality of the team and bike. It is the right combination of rider, team, and bike. It takes all three, and often some luck as well.

The Guzzi V twin does sound nice. But I have heard better sounding motorcycles. Without getting into obscure options like the Honda 250 six GP bike, one of the coolest motorcycles I have heard was the factory RC30 superbike of Fred Merkel. Also high on my list is my old friends Ducati 851 with LaFranconi reverse cone megaphones. It was a little too loud, but boy did it sound great. My Griso has a two into one exhaust with a sweet aftermarket set up and it also sounds really nice. The two into one set up makes for a more aggressive sound. There are so many great sounding motorcycles, but I can say I like the sound of the Moto Guzzi V twin. I just can't say it is the best sounding motorcycle.

I get that. And to an extent that is a good idea. But when I put a Lithium battery in my '07 Griso 1100 it didn't work that way. Like many fuel injected bikes my Griso will abort the start attempt if the voltage drops below the required threshold. And it doesn't turn on the headlight when not running, only the running light. And that doesn't seem to have enough current draw to warm the battery. Later versions of the Griso would run the starter anyway if you held the starter button down. But the early versions would not. So, on my Griso, the Lithium battery was a fail. And the weight savings was unnoticeable, a few pounds saved on a 500 pound motorcycle is insignificant. The technology is improving. And not only for weight savings but for energy density. The amount of power they are fitting into such small packages is amazing. We are currently running a Lithium battery in the wife's Monster and have two 100A Lithium batteries in our RV. I can see eventually all our battery applications could end up being Lithium. But currently for some of our applications a lead acid battery is still the better choice. The Odyssey battery that got pulled out of the wife's V11 is still running my lawn tractor. It is easily more than ten years old. It just keeps going. That said, our EV has a Lithium battery.

That was a crazy race. Good on FQ, he really made the most of the Yamaha. Clearly he is the only guy able to get that sort of speed out of the Yamaha. No one else on a Yamaha has that sort of speed. But I can't see him being able to do that at too many tracks. This track allowed him to do that, in part because it doesn't have any long straights that you come out onto from slow corners. When FQ went by the Suzuki he flew by down that short straight. He must have carried so much more speed onto that short straight. Wow. The Moto2 race was something of a disaster for most of the fast guys. Good on Joe Roberts. But I was more impressed with Cameron Beaubier. He seemed to have some serious pace.

For sure adding non-ethanol fuel into a tank that is already half full of ethanol fuel is going to result in a tank of fuel with half the ethanol in it the ethanol fuel had. The two fuels are 100% mixable.

I run Odyssey batteries in some things, like the V11 and our Jeep. I run Lithium batteries in other things where appropriate. There are times when a Lithium battery makes sense. But there are times where the increased cost and cold weather issues don't. In some applications the reduced weight of a Lithium battery is an advantage. And applications where the small size required means the Lithium battery is the better option. Like the wife's Ducati Monster. There is no good lead acid battery that will fit in that small space and deliver the desired power. So it now has a Lithium battery. That said, I can't see as much of an advantage to putting a Lithium battery in a V11. But to each their own.

The system is basically, fuel pump to left injector to right injector to fuel pressure regulator. The fuel pressure regulator regulates fuel pressure by controlling the flow back into the tank. The more it restricts fuel flow back into the fuel tank the higher fuel pressure is. The less it restricts fuel flow the lower fuel pressure is. The system is pretty much constantly flowing fuel and recirculating it from the pump past the injectors and back into the tank. It is not designed to be a dead head system. It is designed to have a supply and return. The return is at the fuel pressure regulator. Of note, that exposed nipple on the fuel pressure regulator is just a reference to atmosphere. It is supposed to be empty, to not have a hose on it. It give the fuel pressure regulator a reference to atmospheric pressure.

I have ordered a bunch of stuff from MG Cycles recently, and all three orders have been promptly shipped and arrived as quick as I could expect. And they had a surprising collection of parts in stock. I am happy to support people that are semi-local and keep this stuff in stock.

I agree with footgoose. It could be something else, but it really sounds like water in the fuel tank. I had that on my Buell. The water sits at the bottom of the tank. When I would go up hill the water would run to the back of the tank where the fuel intake for the fuel pump was. It would misfire. Then once level or downhill again it would stop it after a minute or two. One of the joys of buying a used bike this old is fixing all the stupid stuff that is wrong with it. But this could be an easy fix if it is indeed water. Drain the fuel tank into a translucent fuel can and look for water in the bottom. If there is water in the fuel it will settle to the bottom. While paying someone a bunch of money to fix a motorcycle can work, it is often better to learn how to do it yourself. And with the smart guys around here and all their experience you can learn. If I can learn from these guys you can.

I don't remember the details, but I remember reading in Roadracing World about a guy who built his own V8 racebike using a pair of 400cc cylinders and heads. He just made his own bottom end and fitted the stock cylinders and heads. I want to say it was from a Kawasaki ZXR 400, but I can't find it. I have a lot of respect for people who can do that sort of thing. Very impressive.

V4's often sound good. Not always, but usually. It depends on the crank configuration and the angle of the V. But a V4 is usually a good sounding engine while an inline 4 is usually not that good sounding. They don't really sound bad, just not really good.

In line 6's do sound cool. Inline 4's just don't typically sound that good. But I had an FZR400 with a race exhaust that sounds like it was ripping air apart at 13,000 - 14,000 rpm. Way back when I remember hearing them warm up a Honda 250cc 6 cylinder GP bike, it was an amazing sound. The older F1 engines also sounded amazing, back when they were V10's and V12's. Even the V8's sounded good.

When I was at the dealership looking at Husqvarna's I was amazed at the cool electric bikes they had. Being they were also a dealer for KTM and Gas Gas they had a few really cool electric dirt bikes. I would absolutely love to have one. I do love internal combustion, but electric power isn't without advantages. The instant torque they have is addictive. And the convenience is a huge advantage to me nowadays, I just don't have enough free time. If I live long enough to retire I have plenty of internal combustion projects lined up waiting for time. Having something that is turn key / push button simple is not always a bad thing. At Supercross races they race a kids race on KTMs. All the kids are on the same spec KTM bike. It used to be little two strokes, but now the KTMs are electric. The kids still seem to enjoy it. And it is just as much fun to watch.

We ended up buying a pair of the Husqvarna's. The wife bought a Svartpilen and I went with the Vitpilen. I came close to buying the Svartpilen, but in the end the low bars are more me. I am getting old for that sort of riding position, but I figure I won't be riding a bike that small over any vast distances. We have larger, more comfortable, bikes to ride from one state to another. The baby Husqvarna's are fun. Super easy to ride, with a quick shifter that works both on the up shift and down shift. So far the only mods we have done are bar end mirrors. The stock mirrors are fairly useless. And the bar end mirrors just look right, especially on the Vitpilen. It seems Svartpilen means Black Arrow and Vitpilen means White Arrow. Really funny to me, it seems they named them after the color of the bike, the black bike and white bike.

Wow. That would be some pretty bad wheel bearings. Way back when I hopped on the wife's V11 for a ride and it scared me. The rear wheel bearings had failed and there was considerable play in the rear wheel, making it ride like it had rear wheel steering. I said to the wife "what the hell, why didn't you say something". But it had happened slow enough over time that she had just adapted to it and thought it was normal. Amazing what some people can adapt to. Sometimes it takes a fresh take on something.

Here's a stupid question. Why does the timing rotor have two locator holes in it? It only needs one hole for the dowl, the other hole would allow the timing rotor to be one rotation of the crank out. I assume that would be bad.

Suzuki already won a championship with Mir only winning one race. And he nearly won the title without winning any races. Marquez did have the pace to run with the leaders. But I am not sure he would have won if he hadn't blown the start. He would have had a shot at it for sure, but a sure thing? No. As it turned out, it was an enjoyable race to watch. And I was happy to see Bastianini win again. I just wish Aleix Espargaro could have done a little better on the Ape. Gotta root for the underdog.

Well, I tightened down the crank nut, cam nut, and oil pump nut. I used orange loctite on the crank nut and cam nut, and tightened them down to torque, or slightly over. I am a little heavy sometimes on torque. I used red loctite on the oil pump nut, and tightened it down to 16 ft/lbs (22 nm). That seems barely tight after the other two. Sometimes I get overly paranoid about things coming loose inside an engine, way back when I was young I wrecked a motor by not properly tightening the bolts that hold the cam to the cam sprocket. On the test ride I wondered what that ticking was. It stopped ticking before I made it back. I have spun the motor over by hand a few times and nothing seemed to hit anything else. So that is good.

And it isn't always because they are cheap bastards......

The wife and I enjoy Steve playing banjo. He is actually quite good. His singing is OK, but he is a talented banjo player.

I don't know. I am more afraid of my table saw then that. But then, I am a better racer than a carpenter.

No knock sensor on any V11 I am aware of. So that functionality, retarding timing when running lower octane fuels, isn't possible. For cars or bikes that support that functionality, they have no idea what the octane of the fuel you just filled it up with. As I understand, it simply starts out with the timing where it was (100%) and pulls timing when it senses knock. It is purely reactionary. After pulling timing it will eventually try to put it back, pulling it again if knock is detected. It wants timing to be at 100%, the most advance it is programmed to use. But it will pull timing when knock is detected. Then it will try to put the timing back. The piggy-back ECUs used to be state of the art. That was a long time ago. Nowadays it is better to just use the right ECU with the right program. That said, we still have a Power Commander on the wife's V11. It has been there for near two decades. But even I am finally planning on removing it and simply loading the right map into the ECU and setting it up correctly. It ran well enough with the Power Commander, but as mentioned it is another failure point and it can always be better.

With the level the Honda is at this year (it is one of the better bikes, finally) it seems that if he can't go well at COTA he can't go well anywhere. He should do well. But Pol has been as fast or faster on this new Honda. Marc may find his biggest competition is from his teammate.

I do like flatslides, but I don't get going backwards. They are a great step forwards on most carbed bikes. But from fuel injection they are a step backwards. Good luck.