GuzziMoto

If he had been successful and blew the engine up, that could have caused issues for other racers (oil on the track). It also would have been expensive and bad press for Yamaha. Mav doesn't pay for the engines, and when they blow up Mav isn't the one people will think of. So he needs to be sat down, he deserves it. He can blame others for things, but the only one to blame for this is himself. There may be baggage on both sides, but this is a case of Mav doing something that was stupid and irresponsible that risks the safety and well being of others on track. That simply was not acceptable, regardless of how legitimate his beef with Yamaha is.

I would guess it is GRIT as in Guzzi Rally In Texas. But it could be a celebration of Grits, that would be delicious.

Yeah, from what I have heard all Yamaha did was withdraw his entry for the second race in Austria. He is sitting this race out. It remains to be seen if they part ways now or put him back on the factory Yamaha for the remainder of the season. I would not wish Mav on a team I hate, so I certainly don't wish him on Aprilia. They don't have enough money to pay someone like Mav to ride around at the back trying to blow up his bike. I would ride it for free and not even try to blow it up.....

I remember well that incident. I, like footgoose, did not see a kick. I also recall the hate was there before that season, but that gave the haters something to point to. There is no point re-hashing that season, it is long over and done. I think it is much like NASCAR, where Jeff Gordon came along and became an incredibly popular and successful racer. He took his stardom, and the sport, to levels it had never been. But there was also an element of hate there. While Gordon was one of the most popular racers in NASCAR he was also one of the most hated. It is like for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction applies to fans as much as physics.

I'd drink a beer or two with her.....

While I am not a "Rossi fanboy", I think he is / was one of the greatest racers of my lifetime. And I am sorry to see him go. But I totally understand and respect his decision to call it quits. It is strange how he can be so polarizing. While he is one of the most popular racers EVER (arguably THE most popular racer ever), he is also a racer who some people seem to hate (with a passion). I really never understood the hate. I just enjoy watching anyone that good at racing motorcycles race them. It has been a pleasure watching him. He is one of those racers that will end up being legendary, like Mike Hailwood orJohn Surtees. And I will be happy to say I watched him race. And I also remember that inaugural race at Indy (and the TZ750 at the fairgrounds, holy sh!t).

We already have an electric car, a Chevy Bolt. I was one of those that thought I would never drive an electric car. I do love the sound and feel of an internal combustion engine (ICE). But the Bolt does what I need it to do, and it does it really well. It has enough range for someone who drive 190+ miles round trip to go to work and back. It goes faster, quicker, than any of my ICE powered cars. And it was cost effective, it cost us about the same as an equivalent ICE powered car, while being cheaper to operate. Clean electricity does exist, wind, solar, and hydro-electric are all around us. Is some electricity not clean, sure. There are still coal powered plants. But currently in this country electricity production makes less pollution than cars and trucks do burning fossil fuels as I understand it. While I do like the HD LiveWire, it isn't my style of motorcycle. But I have thought about an electric Dual Sport. That would be a great option where I live. Noise is an issue when Dual Sporting around here, most places to ride aren't exactly 100% legal. So having something quiet would be helpful. My KTM 440 doesn't fit that bill. I will pretty much keep our Guzzi's, although I have considered selling the Griso cheap to a good home. It needs a new clutch and I have not found the time and / or money to finish that job. It has sat half disassembled in the corner of the garage for too long now. But the other Guzzi's I will keep and ride until I die. But that doesn't mean I would not also own an E bike. As a side note, we are having solar panels installed soon. A sign of the times. A Luddite like me with an electric car and solar panels, who would have thunk?

Yeah, temperature makes a difference on the exact voltage reading. But AGM batteries like the Odyssey will measure higher than normal lead / acid batteries, and at or just under 13 volts is fully charged. Only charging at 13.8 volts is low, but I assume that was at idle. As rpms come up charging should increase to 14 volts or more.

I am not saying anything about what causes the hiccup. I am just pointing out that throttle position, engine load, and whether you are accelerating or decelerating have little to do with cam chain tension. The cam drive is not in that transfer of power path.

A job worth doing is worth doing twice.....

I agree with Pressureangle. Most of the source of "play" in the cam chain drive is a result not of what the throttle position is or whether or not it is under load. It is because of the valve springs. When a cam is opening a valve spring it is "under load". And that load is in one direction, the valve spring is providing resistance to the cams rotation. Once the valve is opening and begins to close, the load on the cam chain is now in the other direction as the cam is now trying to spin faster than the engine because the valve spring is now pushing on the cam in the other direction of rotation. This dance gets even more complicated when you have multiple valves being opened and closed at the same time. Valves and valve springs make for varying forces through a cam shafts rotation. Those varying forces means the energy required to spin the cam changes as the motor spins. At times the cam is trying to go slower than the motor is, so the load on the cam chain is in one direction. But at other times the cam is actually trying to spin faster than the motor is spinning so the load on the cam chain is in the other direction.

I believe both of those options attach to the bolts that tighten the top triple clamp around the fork tubes.

I assume that is because oil pumps don't pump pressure, they pump flow. It is only resistance to that flow that creates pressure. With no resistance to flow there is no pressure. At higher rpms the resistance to oil flow likely goes down, while flow is going up at the same rate, due to increased motion of the various internal parts like the crank and rods.

For a production air cooled push rod V twin a Guzzi big block makes good power. The newer 8V CARC engines make better power, but they seem to less fuel efficient. The older 4V engines like from the Daytona and Centuaro have their own issues but they make good power. All three are big block Guzzi's, but each of the three has a different character. Being oversquare is only one aspect of engine design. If you make an engine oversquare but you don't have the flow past the valves to support the oversquare aspect you could make less power, not more. Being oversquare alone does not make more power. Being water cooled alone doesn't make more power. Although you can make more power by adding a turbo or compressor alone..... But then you need to be able to shed the extra heat. I do like how Guzzi's respond well to old school hot rodding. Cleaning up the ports, adding more compression and squish, things like that, can make a noticeable difference in power output of a Guzzi engine. Trying to get more power out of a modern sportbike engine is pretty hard in comparison.

I don't think HD is chasing HP. They are after torque, it seems. And feel. HD has built some pretty powerful engines. Obviously there was the V Rod engine. But they also built a 1200 air cooled engine for the Buell that made 101 HP (mine put out about 80 HP at the rear tire, more than the wife's V11, and over 70 ft/lbs of torque). That was a seriously sweet motor. Not like a V11 motor, it was much more of a stump puller that would still rev while the V11 motor is more of a mid-range motor. Certainly HD could build a more modern engine, but really they seem to be doing fine where they are. And the Live Wire is seriously fast. In the end, there is more than one way to make a nice engine. I just wish HD hadn't killed off Buell.

We did install a power commander on the wife's V11 years ago. That was before options like Guzzi Diag came out. The power commander on the wife's V11 works well. but it is old school tech. The newer Guzzi Diag options has potential that the power commander could never have. That said, it should run fine stock, and if yours doesn't I would do as docc suggests and perform a basic tune up. You never know what state a used bike is in when you acquire it. Once the basics are good there is plenty of time to go down the Guzzi Diag rabbit hole.

As mentioned, the key to the fuel sensor is it has enough resistance when covered in fuel (kept cool) to prevent the low fuel light from lighting. As long as there is enough resistance, it really doesn't matter how much there is. When it is exposed, uncovered, its resistance goes down and it can flow enough electricity to light the low fuel light. It is a really simple circuit. Besides testing the resistance of the sensor you can confirm that applying 12 volts to the rest of the circuit will light the low fuel light.

Not only do you not need to flush the old oil out, if you find you are out in the middle of nowhere and need to add a quart of oil and all you can find is dino, you can add a quart of dino oil to your sump of synthetic oil as needed. The two types of oil are fully compatible. In the early days, they sometimes didn't mix well. But those days are gone.

It sounds like the OP is talking about the side to side play in the floating brake discs. That is normal, and as long as there is no rotational play in the buttons that locate the brake discs he should be fine. Full floating brake discs have side to side play. And they also can make odd noised when wheeling the bike around in the garage or driveway. But as long as they have no rotational play between the disc and the carrier you should be fine. I prefer pads that are of a softer material than the discs, so it is the pads that wear. But there are some interesting pad materials out there, some that coat the disc with pad material and then create friction between the pad and the pad material coating on the disc. Very cool, but it does require very specific break in procedures.

First, you have to think about how the horsepower is being measured. If you are measuring it at the rear wheel, there is likely around 15% more power at the crank. So a bike with 100 hp at the rear wheel has probably around 115 hp at the crank. Then you have the old joke about how small Italian horses are.... As a former racer of Ducati's, I know all about inflated horsepower claims. Our Ducati racebikes would make an honest 75 hp at the rear wheel (two valve air cooled 750 twin). We raced against guys with similar motors claiming upwards of 100 hp at the rear wheel from their two valve 750's. Oddly, I don't think I ever had another 750 two valve twin motor past me on pure horsepower. I did get out motored by a guy on a Guzzi, but it was something near a 1400cc Guzzi big block. Wicked fast down the straight. Even compared to a Ducati 996 it was fast. I do agree with Pete, focusing on horsepower is not really what Guzzi's do well. But I really enjoy the power my Daytona makes and how it makes it. It is faster than the wife's V11, but more importantly it is how it feels. It feels like a hot rod, it is raw and visceral. Much like a V11, only more so. Is the valve train a great design? Probably not. But it makes more power than the two valve Guzzi big blocks it is based on and feels like it. And it doesn't eat itself. As long as the oil pump doesn't fail before I get around to replacing it, I should be good. And I hope my Lario holds together as well, less sure about that one than the Daytona. But so far both are doing great. And both are great fun to ride.

Unlike newer Guzzi's like the V11, the airbox on the Daytona was not exactly ideal. So a common aftermarket mod on normal Daytonas was those velocity stacks and foam pod air filters. Mine (not a Dr John) had them when I bought it. They have since been swapped out for better quality pod filters. I have considered trying to fit a V11 airbox to go with my V11 subframe, but I would have to fit the V11 gas tank as well and don't see that as likely. I prefer the Daytona gas tank. But with the V11 subframe on mine the stock airbox for a Daytona isn't an option. So, pods it is. Not ideal, but it works. The stock airbox on an MGS01 looks like a much better design than either.

Welcome to the forum. Do you own a Guzzi? If so, which one?

We replaced the original battery in the wifes V11 with an Odyssey PC545. Ran it that way for years, but swapped it out before leaving on a long trip years back. The battery wasn't dead or anything, just didn't want it to die on the trip (had a bad experience with the original). After sitting in my garage for a few years, the battery in my lawn tractor died. So I grabbed the PC545 and put it in the lawn tractor, where it is still chugging away now. It just keeps going. And it gets very little special care or attention, nothing what some do for their batteries (docc?). I mention it because I am just so impressed with both the original and the Odyssey replacement. I have considered a Lithium battery, but in a 500 lb motorcycle I don't think the weight difference is worth it. I am fine with a heavy battery that works forever.

And that would be a widget in my world.

How do you connect to the ECU without a widget?