GuzziMoto

No, but my Griso is dual plugged from the factory and is fine. What did you do with ignition timing to compensate for the dual plugs? We did that with our Ducati 750's, and retarded ignition timing to compensate for the dual plugs. With the Ducati's we did not notice any increase in NVH with dual plugs, but they are racebikes so we don't really look for it.

The thing with the displacement has to do with the difference in rotation of the crank vs the rotors. I seem to recall it is like a three to one relationship between crank rotation and rotor rotation. For every three rotations of the crank the rotor makes one rotation. Compare that to a piston engine, which would be equal to two to one as far as measuring displacement goes (in two rotations of the crank the engine would displace its swept volume of all the cylinders added up). Add to that each rotor has three "combustion chambers", so each rotor could be considered a three cylinder bank. In one full rotation of the rotor (equaling three rotations of the crank) each rotor fires three times. So, it is tricky to directly compare the displacement of a rotary directly to a four stroke piston engine. They just aren't a one to one comparison. But the result is, a twin rotor rotary sounds like an even firing interval six cylinder engine that revs to crazy high rpms. Throw a four rotor engine into the mix and it is getting near old school F1 V12 territory. They aren't really about longevity, but they can pack a lot of power into a small, light, package. And while they do wear out faster, they also have fewer parts to fail so they usually don't suffer from sudden premature failures.

That is a cool sounding bike, both literally and figuratively. There are hurdles to the rotary engine, but it can be so cool.

It is certainly a fast bike, but not a looker like the V11. Some Ducati's are good looking, but some aren't. That one is probably fun to ride, but not one you would look at your own reflection at a traffic light and smile.

I don't have an '03, but it is normal to only have one spacer. The spacer goes on the threaded side of the axle, the other side of the axle is usually stepped so that the "spacer" on that side is machined into the axle. If your axle doesn't have that step on the "nut" side it may be the wrong axle. Perhaps someone with an '03 Cafe Sport will be along. I tried to buy one years ago, brand new old stock. But the deal fell through.

While I like and respect Pete, I guess on the subject of forced induction we will have to disagree. I do agree that forced induction can take additional engineering to get right. But it is still simply a matter of adding the right amount of fuel to the air going into the engine, then lighting it off. Not everyone wants more power, but I am rarely in a situation where I would turn down more power. I usually find more power to make things more enjoyable. Not always the best thing, but it usually makes me smile. And I would say that superchargers almost played a part in WW2 coming out the other way, the germans were good at it and that gave them a major advantage that we had to catch up with.

Spammer. You can see his post in mine, I quoted him and asked what Guzzi he owns. He had included a link to somewhere in his post.

I thought I was too with the hand cart reference. No worries.

On a chain drive motorcycle getting the relationship between swing arm pivot, counter shaft sprocket, and rear sprocket, right are key to getting the rear suspension to work under power. But I assume you know that. The same tricks can be applied to a reaction rod setup on a shaft drive motorcycle. You just fine tune the locations of the reaction rod ends. A little bit of energy being feed into the rear suspension may be a good thing to help deal with weight transfer. But too much is generally bad. I will be curious to see how the details of this bike, and the others that follow, will play out. I am happy Guzzi finally has a proper big block engine. Now to see what they put it in.

Luckily, the front wheels are mainly only needed to get the "tractor" lined up to start the pull. So wheels / tires off a hand cart are all you need.....

I don't really like the look of this bike. But it isn't being marketed towards me. I do like the engine design, so far. I am fine with the liquid cooling and the way the exhaust and intake are oriented. Like others, I am disappointed about the apparent lack of a reaction rod system for the rear drive. It should be there on any shaft drive bike making more than 50 hp or so. And if this motor is making over 100 hp there is no doubt it should have one. I am not sure the suspension will be a winner. On the one hand, it is using a cantilever shock with what looks to be a straight rate spring. The V11 uses that. But the location of where the shock connect to the system is vastly different, and that will likely change the way the rising rate curve performs. I am not confident that it will be able to control the rear. Add to that the torque reaction when you get on the gas trying to extend the swing arm, making the suspension overly stiff and non-compliant, and reversing that when you let off the gas (making the suspension overly soft). I have ridden a fairly powerful shaft drive bike without a reaction rod setup and while you can ride around it you do notice the difference. Given the choice I would choose shaft drive with the reaction rod setup. Just making the rear swingarm extra long helps, but it isn't going to solve the problem. Anyway, I would not buy this Guzzi, but I hope they build a Guzzi on this platform I would buy. I am not overly confident they will, but I am hopeful. It is certainly better than where they were going before now, with only the small block line and those big cruisers. I am happy with the basic premise of a liquid cooled modern Guzzi engine. Now lets see where they take this. Oh, and for the record, the Centauro was not ugly, and the MGS01 was the sexiest Guzzi they are made. The V11 is at best the second sexiest Guzzi they ever made.

I live in the sticks. Out here we do Tractor Pulls. There is a guy who runs the Tractor Pull circuit around here that runs one called Radial Reactor. It is powered by a Curtis Wright radial airplane engine. I think it is 18 cylinders, supercharged. The noise it makes is amazing.

I rode one once. I had a real SuperMoto at the time. The HyperMotard was like a streetbike version of a SuperMoto. You would never want to ride one on an actual SuperMoto track. But it can make for a fun hooligan bike on the street, or up a course like Pikes Peak (sadly, that option is now off the table). But I can see where it would not be for everyone. I knew a guy who had one, he enjoyed it very much. He rode it around Baltimore, it worked well in an urban environment. But it wasn't for me. It had all the disadvantages of a real SuperMoto with none of the advantages. I would much rather have a Ducati Monster or StreetFighter. They have the same level of performance with a more acceptable (to me) seating position.

Single cam in the V, with push rods to the valves is more common on cars than motorcycles. But really I would not call any of this "automotive engineering". Old school engineering perhaps. Once upon a time many motorcycles used similar engineering.

I recently had a good auto parts store experience. I needed a serpentine belt that was a little longer than the one I had (new power steering pump had a larger pulley on it that the old one). The parts guy did ask what it was off of, but once I said that no longer matters, I just need one the next size up, he went in back and came forth with one a little larger. And it worked.

I just use a typical racer paddock stand, one that picks up the back of the bike by the swing arm. Once it is on that, I can lift the front of the bike up with a small jack under the front of the sump.

I believe it was a factory option, but I don't think they actually came from the factory with it. More of an accessory. I am not sure they are still for sale. Likely one of the experts will be along to clear things up shortly.

I am lucky. For a couple years racing the TZ250 my wife was the mechanic. She would jet the bike (TZ250s need proper jetting to avoid seizing), and do whatever we needed done at the track. We tried to have everything good to go, and rarely did anything to extreme to the bike at the track. The worst thing we did was change the internal gearing in the trans once. That was pretty hard. But usually it was read the spark plug, change the jets, and make sure the tires were properly aired up. Later in life, after we started riding the Buells, she would do BattleTrax (which was basically autocross for bikes). She did that on the Blast at first, and then steeped up to doing it on her V11. She probably took it more serious than I did. She didn't like to loose. Sadly, they stopped doing BattleTrax when Buell was shuttered. She did highside her V11 once going for a faster time. And we always said, slow guys lowside, fast guys highside. She was a little proud of that.

She started riding through me. I was racing motorcycles when we met, but I actually did not ride on the street (too dangerous). I raced Ducati's, then a Yamaha TZ250. We did a couple two up rides on a bike we borrowed from a friend. Then Buell came out with the Blast, she read about it in RoadRacing World magazine. She decided she wanted one, no pressure at all from me on that, I still did not own a streetbike. So we bought her a Blast, and I ended up buying a Buell X1. She rode the Blast for around a year, then decided she wanted a second bike that was faster. A friend owned a Guzzi Daytona, so she knew about Guzzi's. And the V11 Sport at the time came in the awesome green with the red frame, she really liked that. She was also interested in Triumph, the Speed Triple. So we did a test ride of those two, there was a dealer not too far away that sold both Guzzi and Triumph. In back to back riding, she liked the Guzzi better. So we bought her a V11 Sport, sadly we couldn't get the greenie, by that time there weren't any still available. But we found her a nice silver red frame V11 at a dealership a few hundred miles away. We rode down there two up and rode both bikes back. We took the scenic route back, up skyline drive. In the years since then, I bought the Daytona from my friend, as well as the first Griso sold in Maryland. We also picked up a V65 Lario, and sold the two Buells. I do wish I still had the X1, that was a great motorcycle when it ran.

My wife is a Guzzi owner, but she isn't registered on this or any other motorcycle forum. Her V11 is really why I am here, I own Guzzi's but she is the only V11 owner in the family. There are probably more female riders now than I can recall ever seeing. But female riders are still the exception and not the norm. Even a few racing.

I got my J&J vaccine shot as soon as I was eligible for it. Actually I got it as soon as I was even somewhat eligible for it, I signed up for it before I was 100% eligible for it but by the time of the appointment I was eligible. I had no issues with side effects, nor did the wife. We still wear masks when indoors among crowds. We still try to be careful. The big concern is not spreading the virus to others. Too many people think the primary purpose of a mask is to keep the wearer of the mask from getting sick. I disagree. I believe the primary purpose of a mask is to keep people who have the virus from spreading it. I don't wear a mask to keep myself from getting sick, I wear it to keep you from getting sick. The surgeon doesn't wear a mask during surgery to keep himself from getting sick, he wears it to keep the patient from getting sick. It seems we as a planet are incapable of doing what it takes to overcome this. So it seems we will be dealing with it for a long time. People are unwilling to make the required concessions, unwilling to do what is required to do. Everyone wants an easy button for this, and they thought the vaccine would be that easy button. But they did not understand that it doesn't work like that.

I get preferring ICE motorcycles. But fire is not a very good reason, ICE vehicles, including motorcycles, are far more likely to burn than an EV. I have watched plenty motorcycles burn to the ground. Not one of them was EV powered. Can an electric vehicle burn ? Sure. But it is a rarer event than an internal combustion powered vehicle burning. If you want to hate EV's, hate them for real issues, like lack of range, time to recharge, and cost. But fire is a lame reason to hate them. A gasoline powered motorcycle is way more likely to burn than an electric motorcycle. Personally, I would love an electric motorcycle. An electric dualsport would be awesome. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy internal combustion motorcycles. They are great. But they are destined to go the way of the doodo bird. They are unsustainable in the bigger picture. So enjoy them while we can.

I agree with docc, modern tires are good and likely more a matter of different flavors than one tire being better or worse than others. Of course, some people think vanilla is better than chocolate, but really they are just different flavors. Someone may prefer the way Pirelli feels over Michelin, or vice versa. But it is just personal preference and the differences are small. I brought up the BT45 as an example of how long it has been since I have found a tire to be less than great, that was probably over 25 years ago. Fresh tires always tend to feel great, in part because you are typically replacing a worn out tire with a fresh tire. Fresh tires feel great. The nice profile compared to the flattened profile of the old one makes the bike feel lighter and handle better. I do like fresh tires. As to Michelin in MotoGP, the tires they make for MotoGP have nothing to do with their street tires and issues they may or may not have with the MotoGP tires has nothing to do with their street tires. A hand made MotoGP tire has nothing in common with a mass produced street tire. But I will say honestly I don't know why any manufacturer would want to be the single make tire supplier for MotoGP. The Bridgestones had issues, lots of crashes due to warm up issues, and only a certain riding style and chassis style seemed to work with them. Now it is Michelin, and while they seem more widely suited to different styles and chassis there are still issues. You will always have issues. And I don't think it helps a brands reputation to be a single tire supplier like that. You get no credit for winning; of course you won, you are the only one competing. And you get blame for everyone that has issues.

I think most all the current tires from the various brands are quality tires. It is more like flavors of ice cream than it is which tire is better. I have used a few different brands and model tires on our Guzzi's. They have all been good. I can't remember the last "bad" tire I tried, perhaps a Bridgestone BT45? It was OK, but I really didn't care for it. It seemed like the rubber was too hard and lacked grip. I would rather have a tire that wore out too soon than had a lack of grip. We also used to have issues with tires not heating up fast enough. But that doesn't seem to be an issue anymore. Progress. I do agree, if you have a 4.5" rear wheel go with a 160.

Looks nice.....