GuzziMoto

The stock airbox will flow better than two small pods at most rpms, and as such will make a better spread of power. But the individual pods do look cool. The loss of performance when switching to pods isn't huge, and it has been done by some. But it is a loss of performance. If you go with pods, do everything you can to retain the rubber velocity stacks that serve as intake runners between the airbox and the throttlebodies. My Daytona has a really cool set of machined aluminum velocity stacks that were made to convert to pods, and I was able to get them to work pretty well. But if I could fit the airbox back on that bike I would. But it is pretty far from stock and the stock airbox would not fit with the V11 rear subframe and seat.

Some V11's came with handle bars like that. But not the red frame greenies (which are the best V11's). However, you can either swap the top triple clamp for one from a V11 that did have the handle bars, or you can simply drill the holes in the top triple clamp and mount the handle bars using either stock bar risers or aftermarket bar risers. The bosses to drill for handle bars are typically there, just not drilled. I drilled the top triple clamp on the wife's red framed silver V11, and mounted the stock risers from a V11 Ballabio. I believe I even used the Billabio bars.

The seller is ExtremeTradingLTD. It makes me think this is a shady deal. I would imagine they imported it from Japan to escape its past. As mentioned, it clearly isn't an original Scura. The question is, why? Is it just the wrong gas tank? Or is there more... I wonder what the VIN says. I wonder if it is a salvage / crashed bike. That is crazy money in my opinion. V11's are not common, but there aren't a lot of people looking to but them either. Being uncommon alone doesn't make it valuable. It also needs people who want to buy one. Either way, I hope it gets a good owner that shows up here.

Part of the reason is the various versions of the forks have different adjuster set ups. And the fork caps have to accommodate the adjusters.

I have the same attitude about wrenching, in most cases I figure I could do just as shitty a job as someone I would pay, cheaper. And maybe even better. Professional mechanics (and charlatans) rarely have the same level of concern for my things as I do. I might do the job slower, or even two or three times to make sure I got it right. They usually just want to get it out their door with the least effort required. If you find a professional mechanic that cares about your things as much as you do, or even close, that is a rare thing and I would suggest taking as much to them as you can. Guys like Pete Roper are not the norm, sadly. And I clearly am not as good as he is. But usually I am good enough.

The extenders do not affect the springs or anything else inside the forks. Not even the air volume inside the fork is affected. They are basically a fork cap with an extra high lip. The adjuster is in the same place, which due to the extended lip, down inside the extended lip. And they do not make universal fork extensions. A fork extension for one Showa fork isn't likely to fit other model Showa forks. They are model specific. Could one for a GSXR fit a Griso? Sure. But it is more likely not. I have a set, as mentioned, if you want to see if it would fit what you are doing. I even have a spare set of GSXR forks, along with the set on the Aprilia and the set on the Daytona. I don't remember the details on the spare set, but if they would work for you you can have them.

Some additional info going off memory (and as I get older, that is less and less reliable). Some model year GSXR's have issues with too much rake / not enough trail. So they make fork extensions for some model years that can help make them fit a larger motorcycle like a Guzzi better. The fork extensions basically add length to the top of the fork leg as an extra tall fork cap. But the forks tend to change every couple years, so a fork extension kit from one model often will only fit those one or two years. And some years don't offer the extensions as there isn't enough demand. When I bought a set for my Aprilia RXV roadracer project I made sure to get a set of GSXR forks that you could buy fork extensions for. For the Daytona I just went with a model year that offered longer forks stock. Attached is a chart that list more specs than just fork leg diameter. It also lists lengths. If you can't read it, I have a higher res copy just let me know.

I find that soapy water like Windex can be good for that. It is a lubricant when wet, helping the hose slide onto the fitting with less effort. But when it dries it is no longer slippery. In some cases, depending on the brand, it can even be a little tacky once dry.

Here is a site with specs on a large variety of GSXR forks. They have different lengths (I wanted as long as possible as the average Guzzi forks are longer than the average GSXR forks). https://www.svrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=135430 I also went with the full fork swap as it seemed easier. I am not sure if it is possible to find GSXR fork legs that will fit directly into the Guzzi triple clamps. But if you do, then you have to figure out how you are going to fit a front wheel. Swapping the entire fork set and wheel made for a simple conversion. The only thing I had to figure out beyond which forks to use was how to adapt the GSXR steering stem to the Guzzi headstock. And all that took was finding out that DRZ400 steering bearings had the right combination of inside and outside diameters.

Not unless your speedo is wildly optimistic. 240 kph is 149 mph. Even downhill a stock or near stock V11 isn't going to go that fast. I could see 135 on a good day (a REALLY good day). A V11 is quick more than fast. It will accelerate really well for a 500 lb motorcycle with only two cylinders. But it lacks the raw power and aerodynamics to be able to pull 150 mph. But it is good to dream.

As a point, that is the crankcase vent. The air and oil mist it is venting go up into the frame, where the oil separates out and is returned to the sump. It is not a high pressure hose, but sadly the stock hose they used doesn't seem to hold up over time. You can replace it with another factory pre-bent hose, or you could just get some higher quality oil resistant hose and connect it to the back of the motor and the underside of the frame. The pre-bent factory hose is way easier, but it is such a cheap quality hose the factory uses.

Oh look, a bot.....

Pressure is typically measured relative to something. The nipple being open to atmo means that the fuel pressure it maintains is relative to atmospheric pressure. A cool example of this is; I have a cool liquid filled tire pressure gauge. I mainly use it for the Jeep. When we travel for our Jeep trips we often end up at a much higher altitude. If you don't "burp" the gauge it will read noticeably wrong. As I recall it reads low when you are at a much higher elevation if you don't burp it to relieve the excess pressure inside the gauge. Most gauges are vented to the atmosphere, but a liquid filled gauge typically has a rubber plug that keeps the liquid in. If atmospheric pressure has dramatically changed, like if you go from 500 ft above sea level to 5 or 6 thousand feet above sea level or more, you need to pull the plug enough to let the pressure in the gauge equalize with the pressure outside the gauge. The have been attempts to connect that nipple to the intake manifolds (to the vacuum port(s) there), but while that idea might sound good on paper it never seemed to work well in practice.

Between the wife and I we have four Guzzi's, but they are all different. The first was the wife's red frame V11. Then I bought the first Griso in Maryland. Next I bought a '93 Daytona from one of my best friends. It was the first Guzzi I ever rode, having went with him to buy it. I told him right then and there if he ever decides to sell it I want to buy it. Finally, we bought an '87 Lario small block. All four are different, and all are enjoyable in their own ways. I don't think it is silly to have more than one of the (basically) same bike. But I don't have the money, time, and garage space for that. The only way it makes sense for me is when they are so different. If I had more money, time, and garage space, I would not mind. But I don't.

They do come apart, at least partially. I would take it as far apart as you can get it, making sure to remove all rubber and plastic bits. Then soak it in carb cleaner or other such solvent. If you have access to a sonic parts cleaner (some use these for carb cleaning) that would be even better. If it is the manual petcock it should be salvageable. They are pretty simple devices.

Somewhere in this forum I wrote something up about how the early forks have basically zero compression dampening. I also talked about how, if you block off one of the two large bleed bypass ports in the cartridge tube, you can force the oil to go through the piston and valve stack and end up not only with dampening but have an adjuster that does something beyond the last inch of travel. The early forks have two large bypass ports that allow so much oil through them that the oil only needs to go through the piston and valving after the piston is past at least one of the two ports. And that doesn't happen until you are something like 3/4 the way through the suspension travel. Changing the oil won't help much unless you resolve that issue in my opinion. New springs are good, but we found that once we actually got the forks to have compression dampening we were OK with stock springs. At your weight, you may want stiffer springs, but I would address the utter lack of compression dampening first. From memory, I was working on the forks and happened to put the forks together without the springs installed. That made it easy to see what is going on. No matter what I did with the compression adjuster the compression leg had zero resistance to being compressed. I looked at it closer and saw the two large bypass ports and figured out that I could block one of them off and that would force at least SOME of the fork oil to go through the valving in the piston. The way it was stock it only really forced the fork oil through the valving after the piston was past at least one of the two bypass holes. So really, it was more like an adjustable hydraulic bumpstop.

The upper triple bolts aren't as crucial as the lower triple bolts. But both should be tightened the correct amount. The reason is over tightening them can distort the outer fork tubes. That would be a potentially bigger issue for the lower triple clamp pinch bolts, but both should be correctly tightened. Lacking a published spec, I would probably tighten them to around 20 ft/lbs at the most. If you are worried, put a little loc-tight (blue) on them.

Pete and Todd do not get along anymore. I assume it hit the fan between them. That said, I also have a bike using a map from Todd ('07 Griso 1100) and it runs well. It isn't for sale, either. I like Pete, and respect his knowledge. But I also deal with Todd and I have not yet had a bad experience with Todd. I don't agree with everything Todd says or does, but the same could be said about Pete. But, in the end, everyone has to make their decisions based on their experiences. If you are using GuzziDiag, as Pete mentioned, you should be able to find a map that will work well. There is a fairly large community of people using that software. If you aren't the sort to do that sort of thing yourself (like me) you can pay someone like Todd to do it for you. I did that with the Griso (paid Todd) and I did that with the V11 (found a local DynoJet / PowerCommander guy, he is long gone). For me, I deal with technology at work, and so when I get home I really don't want to get into something like GuzziDiag. Maybe one day I will have to bite the bullet, but for now all my Guzzi's (except the Lario) have been flashed or tuned and run great. The Lario runs pretty well, but it could use better jetting or even better carbs. I just don't think I need to worry about it on a vintage bike like that. Perfecting that bikes tuning would only encourage me to ride it harder and then it would probably blow up....

Keep in mind that our octane ratings use a different scale than yours do. We have typically the same three grades, but ours go; 87, 89, and 91 - 93 depending. We used to have one brand that offered 94, but they seem to have pulled that. Our three grades should be roughly the same as yours, the numbers being different is due to us using an average of MON and RON while you guys use just the higher number. As to the original aspect of this discussion, high compression pistons, I am a fan. But not so much the FBF version. The Mike Rich version has always looked like a better design to me. FBF increases the compression mainly by raising the dome. That does raise compression, but it hurts the effective combustion chamber shape (the shape cast into the head minus the shape cast into the piston). The Mike Rich design focuses a lot on reducing the squish area (or "quench" as Pressureangle referred to it as). The stock design has fairly poor squish around the perimeter of the piston. I also worked to improve that on the wifes V11, having a machine shop machine down the surface of the heads to increase that lip and machine down the cylinders to set the piston height right where I wanted it. As mentioned, the idea being that when the piston comes up it should right up to the head, just missing it. How close depends on how tight you want to push it. I tend to push it, as that is what we always did with our Ducati's. So to me, the piston should be about the thickness of the head gasket from the head. Others will want more clearance, no doubt. Either way, that closeness increases compression and also increases the swill in the combustion chamber. That allows you to run higher compression without the corresponding increase in detonation. The hemi shape as used in our Guzzi 2 valve motors is OK. It is hard to get great compression and combustion out of it without forced induction. And not many people use forced induction on their Guzzi. The 4 valve / 8 valve Guzzis do have a better combustion chamber shape. How much better I am not sure, especially with the modern 8 valve motors. I say that because one good indicator of combustion chamber shape is fuel mileage. All else being equal (bike size, weight, gearing) a motor with a better combustion chamber shape will get better fuel mileage than one with a lesser combustion chamber shape. And everything I hear about the new 8 valve motors is they get worse fuel mileage than the same motorcycle with the previous 2 valve motor. So, unless the cam shaft is really F'd up, it seems like the new 8 valve motors are not the efficient at burning fuel. This is not about max potential power output, riding down the road the two are doing the same amount of work and thus the power being produced is the same. This is about efficiency. And the newer 8 valve motors don't seem to have it. Odd, because many other similar sized twins can and do get really good fuel mileage. My wifes Monster being a good example. In my experience, higher compression has a direct usable improvement in street use. It gives the motor more snap, more instant response, to throttle inputs. It is more about increasing torque than increasing horsepower. And that is very helpful on the street. While Guzzi's are cool as they are, one thing I like about them is how relatively easy it is to make them better than they came out of the factory. This is completely different than, say, a Yamahonduki 1400 which is already engineered to be about as fast as it could be made to be. There is a lot left on the table with Guzzi engineering. Unlike the modern Japanese engineers, a Guzzi simply is not refined to where you can't really make it better / faster.

While I agree, putting forward foot pegs on a V11 is wrong, to answer the question I don't think these are made anymore. I certainly hope not. There are footpegs you can use to make the foot pegs more comfortable, like these https://www.twistedthrottle.com/mfw-vario-footpeg-mounts-for-moto-guzzi-v11-models-rider-black-or-silver They allow you to use their adjustable footpegs, better for lower pegs than forward pegs.

But welcome to the forum. Glad to have you.

LSB, Least Significant Bit. No? Then perhaps Large Sum Bitc.....

I would call the model a V11 Sport. But the wife's V11 Sport is called "Frankie" after Pier Francesco Chili, aka, Mr "It's justatwoafuckina Crash".

I feel compelled to add that there is nothing wrong with the V11's side stand. A center stand is nice for shop work, but there are a number of stand options that also fulfill that role. I don't think we have ever wished the wife's V11 had a center stand, although some do like having one. To us it is simply something that would drag when she is going around corners. That isn't helpful. My wife is on the shorter side, being a typical female and all. And while she can't flat foot the V11 she does fine with it. Turning down the rear preload, dropping the forks through the triple clamps a little, that helps. But the nature of the Guzzi with the sideways V gives it a decent balance for such a heavy bike.

So, you are OK with oncoming traffic hitting you because your headlight blind them? Interesting. Personally, I try not to reduce the ability of others to avoid hitting me. I do try to be seen, but if that is your primary strategy to avoid being in an accident (hoping the other person will see you and not hit you) I just hope you don't ride in this area. Around here, the main concern is to watch out for others because they ain't watching out for you. Running with high beams on during the day to increase visibility is one thing (although I am not sure how effective it is vs the risk of pissing people off. Yes, I have had people get pissed at me for having my high beams on during the day). But at night I am a fan of having headlights that both light up the road so I can see but also not shine into the eyes of others around me. We also have a Jeep, and we have to pay extra attention to that with the Jeep due to its height. It is sad how many Jeeps you see around here with headlights that blind others at night. It is especially common with the aftermarket LED headlights many of them are sporting.