GuzziMoto

Stunning....

If there is a recall on yours, for sure do it. But at this stage in the game it would be pretty rare if it hasn't already been done. The wifes red frame V11 had the recall done ages ago. It had no issues before the recall was done, and really we saw no change in operation. But there was a good safety reason to do the recall as I understand it. Beyond that, making noise idling in neutral isn't something I would worry about. Perhaps there is more to this, but if it only makes funny noises in neutral that is normal. I agree with @po18guy

we have fit darn near 5.5 gallons in the wife's V11 tank. Where as my Griso tank would typically hold about a gallon less. Italians seem to be funny about fuel tank capacities, they typically only get close.

Yeah, my experience is different as well. The vacuum bleeders work, but the power bleeder works better. The vacuum bleed tends to suck air past the threads on the bleeder fitting. Also, an old trick after bleeding a system with a vacuum bleeder is leaving the bike overnight with the brake lever pulled in to apply pressure to the system. That pressure seems to help trapped air make its way to the top. When you release the brake lever the next day the air comes out into the reservoir and the brakes are firmer. Pressure seems to help get ride of air bubbles.

I believe mine ('93 Daytona) has a Will Creedon chip. But I am not sure. I am not the original owner and can't ask the original owner. But I seem to recall him saying it had a chip. And I seem to think it was a WC chip. I guess I should look into that some day.

Yes. Exhaust flow is a thing. But Pete hates the term "back pressure". I really don't know why, but I assume because it isn't technically correct. But if you ignore the technicality of it and focus on the intent of the term I think its fine. But Pete seems to hate it.

It could be worth a try, but I would rather take that money and spend it on a better solution. Trickery like that is almost always a compromise. All it can do is fudge your fueling. It isn't going to "optimize" anything. But it may run a little better. Nowadays it is fairly simple to remap you fueling. So many people around here can help you if you need it.

No price in particular. I assume he paid a decent price for the Cafe Sport, which is usually higher than a standard V11. Maybe he paid a better price than I assume, don't know. What I do know is I like the bike, nice Guzzi.

While that was a fairly high price for a V11, being a Cafe Sport it will get more money for it than a normal V11. The extra money gets you better suspension (as you know) and carbon fibre bits. I would happily pay that for a Cafe Sport if I could, and if it was in as good a shape as that one looks to be. Nice purchase.

The wife and I are also Aerostitch fans. I started wearing them when I was given a hand-me-down two piece suit from a good friend. I wore that suit for a long time, until I replaced it with a second hand-me-down suit, again from my friend. Then we bought one for the wife brand new from them (also two piece). Finally, I retired the hand-me-down suit and bought a brand spanking new one of my own. That was years ago and the suit is still working great. Every so often we wash in some more waterproofing to restore the waterproof nature of the suit. I was never a fan of the one piece version. My friend tried a one piece version, it seemed to work for him. But I prefer the two piece version. I find that even when I am wearing both jacket and pants I like to use suspenders with the pants vs having them zipped to the jacket. It improves air flow and makes moving around easier.

Yes, mainly the aluminum gear sets are bad. There may be a bad set of steel gears, but I don't know of them. The steel gears Joe does are art, and work brilliantly.

That is a cool engine.....

Just had to dig this thread up, where Docc found that valve clearances opened up slightly when hot vs common sense that says they would close up. Great resource of info.

Yeah, while I like the V twin of a Guzzi there is something special about a triple. And one that likes to rev can be amazing. The new Yamaha triple is nice, I also looked at an FJ09. I certainly would not mind owning one. The Triumph Street Triple is my favorite based on what I know of them. But I have not rode one yet as I don't want to know what I am missing. A little triple that revs over 12,000 rpm, what's not to like. Parallel twins have a nice cadence to them as well. But I think a triple is my favorite motorcycle engine configuration. A very close second is a V4. Then there was the guy who built his own V8 by siamesing two 400cc inline 4's together. That must sound fantastic. And yes on the Laverda.

I could see owning a Triumph. But I don't. I think our Guzzi's keep attracting more Guzzi's, so there isn't really room for a Triumph. Otherwise I probably would own one. But these dang Guzzi's keep showing up and hogging all the room in my garage..... I could see owning either a Triumph twin like in the OP or a Triumph triple. I am partial to the smaller triple. What a glorious sound, three cylinders and all that rpm....

It isn't nicknamed "the lump" for nothing.....

That is the right order. If your springs are too soft, you will have to crank in the preload to get the sag right with the rider on board. This excessive preload will cause the free sag, how much it sags under just the weight of the bike, to be too little. Where as if the springs are too stiff you will have a minimum of preload resulting in too much free sag under just the weight of the bike. It can seem backwards, but it is right. It is all based on you adding the required amount of preload to get the race sag, the amount of sag with the rider on the bike, correct to start with. The amount of preload required will affect the free sag, and thus show you if your springs are too soft, too stiff, or just right.

As mentioned, I have used them, only not on a V11 so I don't know about fit. I think the K&N oil filter is a quality oil filter. But the "nut" is just a stamped piece of steel that is spot welded to the rest of the filter body. I had issues with the filter body rusting at those spot welds and around the "nut". One filter rusted through and started leaking when the motor was running. That was when I stopped using them. If you want to try one, give it a go and post up the results. It is not quite yet riding season around here. At least not for me, too cold still. A younger me would ride in 50 degree weather. But not the current me.

I don't know about all of the V11's, but I know the wife's '00 V11 has cartridge forks. It is not a completely sealed cartridge, it has bleed holes that allow the oil to bypass the piston that moves up and down inside the cartridge. But technically it is a cartridge fork. As mentioned before, if you block off one of the bleed holes on the cartridge body and force more oil to go through the piston valving you can get better control over the suspension movement. The linkage for the rear drive box is supposed to separate the torque of the rear gears and it's rotational effect from the suspension movement. So getting hard on the gas doesn't make the rear suspension try to extend. But it doesn't mean the rear suspension works perfectly. The shock can still have issues, and the massive weight of the rear drive box hanging on the end of the swing arm also adds it issues. A normal chain drive set up has much less weight on the far end of the swing arm, making life for other shocks much easier. It has been a very long time since I had a set of V11 forks open. But I find that if you take it apart it is easy to see how it works. From there you can figure out how to make them better. That is what I did many years ago. Setting sag should always be step one in setting up suspension. Make sure your race sag (my term for the sag with the rider on board) is right. Then check the free sag (my term for how much the bike sags under its own weight without the rider on board) is where it should be. Usually free sag should be around 10 - 15 percent of total travel when race sag is set to 30 - 40 percent of total travel. If free sag is too much that means your springs are too stiff, where as too little free sag means your springs are too soft.

I have not tried the K&N filter, but being too tall would be my main concern. There are so many good quality filters out there I don't know why you would pick K&N. FYI, I have had issues with K&N oil filters rusting away, even to the point that the filter housing leaked. The rust was centered around the fake nut that is welded to the end of the housing. I reported the issue to K&N, including pictures. They sent me a new filter to replace the bad filter (nice of them). But my main concern was the issue with the filter design. While I have no issues with the company as a whole, I am not likely to use their oil filters again. But to be fair, since the V11 oil filter lives inside the sump and would be covered in oil both inside and out it is likely that it isn't going to have rust issues when used on a V11. But the big question would be whether or not the filter fits under the manhole cover on the bottom of the sump. I tend to use either NAPA Gold or WIX filters.They are fine for a V11. Other brands out there are also fine.

That is a sweet looking hybrid. What a combination. Nicely done. Of course, I am partial to the Greenies.....

That is easy to say until you hear them talking about how their brakes were "gone" from about halfway through the race and the had to run the last half just downshifting to slow down. No worries, I have great respect for those that do. But I will stick to racebikes with good brakes.

Well, we drive it to and from work around 200 miles, mostly on interstates, on a single charge with some left over. If we take a nicer, non-interstate intensive route th erange goes up as running 70 - 80 mph on the interstate drains the battery faster than going the same distance at 55 mph. It also seems to loose a little range when we head west deeper into the mountains vs heading east from where we are like to work. Our level 2 charger (240 volt) charges it in 8 - 10 hours. The dash is interesting. It includes some sort of light up accent stripe. Very nice looking to me. It has heated leather seats and steering wheel. That actually helps the range as heating the seats takes less energy than heating the whole cabin.

Well, so far so good. My younger brother bought one like a year or so ago. He has been happy with his, but he is a more urban type person. He lives something like 8 miles from where he works. So he drives it for days without needing to charge it. For us, one trip to and from work is most of what it can do on a charge. So we charge it more often, and we use a level 2 charger while he just uses the 120 volt level 1 charger. We went skiing this past weekend for a few hours. The place we go is only around 100 miles west of us, so I thought it would be easy there and back on a charge. But the combination of highway driving out and the mountain terrain meant by time we got there we had used over half the charge. Not good. But we took back roads coming back, roads we would ride motorcycles on in warmer weather, and the lower speed pace stretched out the range a huge amount. We stopped for a late lunch about 20 minutes from home, with what might have been enough charge to make it. But there was a fast charger there so we charged up while eating. Next time we take the EV to ski we will likely avoid the highways most of the way to stretch the range. Live and learn. And honestly, I think GM has some of the best tech of the American three. And that hurts me to say. I am an old school Plymouth guy, Mopar all the way. Dodge too. But right now Plymouth is gone and Dodge is way behind in tech. Ford is perhaps better, but I don't think they have near the tech that GM does. The new C8 Vette is amazing. GM has great high performance tech as well as great economy tech.

Our newest car is the opposite of sexy. A 2020 Chevy Bolt (aka, Opel Ampera-e). It helps balance the carbon footprint of the Jeep Wrangler four door with 37" tires and a coilover 4" lift. Our drive to work is just under 200 miles round trip. I never thought I would own an electric car. It seems wrong. But they finally got the range up to where it is feasible for us, being able to drive to and from work on a single charge without worrying. Not as cool as the Riviera, but it can cover our commute with $3.50 worth of electricity. Even our Smart car used $12.50 worth of gas to make the same trip.