GuzziMoto

I like that, down to the F1 pipes. Takes me back.......

I can say that porting SEEMS to have made a decent improvement in how the wife's bike runs. But I have no empirical data (dyno runs) to back it up. I have seen the ports in a Guzzi, and there is easy room for improvement. Just doing a basic 5 angle and cleaning up the ports, matching the ports to the manifolds and seat, can make a good improvement. I try to avoid using my experience as solid proof of the effectiveness of porting a Guzzi, mainly because while seat of the pants experience is 100% positive, I just don't have any good back to back dyno runs to support the claim. I did do dyno runs, but they weren't back to back and they weren't even on the same dyno and / or the same dyno operator. The results were substantial, but they are not scientifically verified. And I long ago lost the dyno chart results. So I tend to avoid quoting the results as fact. But seat of the pants the improvement was clearly noticeable. I seem to recall seeing where someone had cast the inside of a port in silicone, and it showed a fat spot right before the valve, where the port turned down into the valve opening. I could be wrong, but that isn't good port design. Changes in port size like that affect velocity, and that would likely reduce velocity right before the valve. I think in this case a good port job might actually fill the port and not enlarge it. Spending some time improving that area could yield substantial improvement. But even without that, just cleaning up the port as first mentioned should give a good increase in power.

Now, a headlight that uses less voltage / wattage could be useful in a Lario. The electrical system in mine is weak as Bud Light. They put a gauge on the dash to show you how bad the electrical system is.....

No worries. Have at it. I am sorry if my post ruffled your feathers. It was not meant to be so. I was simply pointing out the physical issues of trying to adapt LED lighting to a halogen light. Docs example wasn't as bad as some, but it was still less than a good halogen from what I could see. But have at it, enjoy. As long as you are not blinding me coming the other direction as is so often the case with retro fit LEDs (and sometimes even with factory LEDs) it don't matter to me.

I am skeptical that an LED retro-fit bulb will ever give as good a light pattern in a headlight originally designed to use a Halogen bulb. It is physically not possible. It will always be a compromise, as luhbo points out. Now, a replace headlight made to use LED, that is a different situation. I still am not that interested, as I am not a fan of the horrible light LED currently produces. But at least it is possible to get the required light pattern.

The rake of the front forks is a little extreme, but that looks pretty cool. I like it.

Lucky for me that one is on the other side of the country. Besides, I don't have enough time / money for the ones we have.

Congrats on getting it back together and running properly. I do think that one of the cool things about a Guzzi is that you can get more out of it with some basic tried and true mods. It is hard to get the same amount of improvement out of a modern Japanese engine, they are already pushing out most of what they are capable of. But a Guzzi engine isn't nearly as on the edge. So porting, a cam, more compression, better flow in and out, and you can feel the difference pretty clearly. Anyway, congrats. Enjoy.

Yes, that is an aluminum triple clamp that was painted silver. You can chemically strip it, or you can use media blasting. Then either paint it silver, or black, or clear coat it. If you left it raw aluminum it would tend to corrode. Aluminum is funny when it corrodes, it doesn't rust but it does get a hazy grey corrosion.

If you properly balanced the cylinders with the ports blocked off, how does connecting the ports "balance" the two cylinders? I would say that if you properly balance the two cylinders, no additional "balancing" is needed. I also doubt that little hose could flow enough air fast enough to actually balance the two cylinders. It is too small and too long. By the time a differential is detected and pressure starts to flow from high to low the differential is gone and likely now it is trying to flow in the other direction. Maybe on a parallel twin where the distance is much less.

As Phil said, it is really just another option vs plugging the holes. I don't really see a problem with it, but I also don't see it as any sort of benefit. It brings nothing to the table, no improvement or advantage except it is a way of closing the ports without actually closing the ports, allowing for easy access to the ports when needed. But how often do you need access to those ports, and when you do it is really that big a deal to re-install or open up the ports? The only real risk is if the hose gets damaged and develops a leak. But aside from that it really won't make a difference. I do think it is simpler to just plug the holes. On some bikes I actually remove the ports and replace them with a screw. On others the port is a nipple set into the manifold and all you can do is block it off with a vacuum port plug. It is the latter, the permanent ports, that using a hose to connect the two ports makes the most sense, as you can't remove those ports, and a vacuum port plug is just as prone to issues as a hose connecting the two ports is.

While I agree with you on the Buell thing, you do realize that Indian is Polaris and Polaris screwed over Victory. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonfogelson/2017/01/11/polaris-industries-kills-off-victory-motorcycles/#70416f932175

I say, spend some time riding it. Either it will impress you to where you need to buy it or it won't and you won't need to buy it. Guzzi's are special, they don't feel like anything else. There is a small price to pay for that "specialness", but if they speak to you it is a price worth paying. The issues with Guzzi's are mainly with parts availability and finding someone who knows how to work on them. They way most of us get past that second obstacle is to learn to work on them ourselves. They are pretty stone axe simple. It doesn't take a genius to work on a Guzzi. But they have a few oddities, like having to split the engine and trans to work on the clutch.

As luhbo mentioned, you have to include everything in the final number when comparing different bikes. So, the trans ratios, the rear gear ration, and the diameter / circumference of the tire. Different size tires can make a pretty big difference. But if you have one bike and you change your rear gear to a shorter / higher ratio gear with all else being the same you will gain power and acceleration at the possible expense of top speed (assuming it was capable of pulling the previous gear to redline). And also obvious, it will turn more rpms at any given road speed / gear selected. Racers change gear ratios all the time. We would carry around with us a selection of rear sprockets, picking the right gear for each track. Fancier racebikes allow changing individual gear ratios in the transmission, our TZ250 allowed us to change 1st and 2nd gears while our Ducati's didn't allow that. Gearing is usually the cheapest way to make a motorized vehicle, two or four wheels, perform better. You want more power off line line? You want better acceleration? just give up a little on top and go to a shorter gear. The difference can be stunning. Sadly, it is not nearly as easy to re-gear a Guzzi as it is to re-gear most other sporting motorcycles. That is the biggest weakness of shaft drive.

Yeah, it is odd. But as mentioned a shorter gear is a higher number and a taller gear is a lower number. Another aspect to the math is how the gear ratio works. In a sense the gear ratio in the rear end is multiplying the power output from the transmission. So a shorter gear being a taller number is actually multiplying the power output from the trans more, any given amount of power multiplied by 4.7 is going to be more than the same power multiplied by 4.1. So while an EV with the 4.7 gear set in it will not have the higher top speed of the same EV running the 4.1 gear ratio it is putting more power, more acceleration down to the pavement at the rear tire.

While I don't think a V11 airbox is the best design it can be, I know it works well on fairly aggressively tuned V11's including the wifes V11 which has a number of mods including ported heads. No doubt if you start changing things like displacement it might start be a limiting factor. But with stock displacement you aren't likely to have an issue with the stock airbox in my opinion.

My Daytona has a very nice set of aluminum intake runners that allow pods to be fitted. It was like that when I got it. The original pods were starting to fall apart, so I modified things a little and fitted a different set of pod filters. It was hard finding a set that checked all the boxes for fit and functionality. The aluminum intake runners in my Daytona are on the long side. And that made finding a pod filter that properly fit a bit harder. While I like Spa, and I like the look of pods without an airbox, I wouldn't do that to a bike that had a functioning and properly designed airbox. I would put the airbox back on the Daytona, but currently the battery is under the seat, where much of the stock airbox goes. That is because it has a V11 tail / seat section on it and the battery can't go in the stock location (in the passenger seat hump). I have thought about moving the battery to a different location, like under the trans. That would be a great place for all that weight.

Cheap and fast compared to having a one off part cast out of metal. Cheap and fast is always relative. However, buy your own 3D printer and you can make them yourself. They are getting cheaper, but they are still not cheap.

There is nothing special about adjusting the throttle cable slack on a fuel injected Guzzi. While I appreciate your ingenuity with the washer / spacers it is typical to simply adjust the threaded adjuster on the other end of the cable. As mentioned, if there are two cables (push / pull), adjust the opening / pull cable first. Make sure the closing (push) cable has slack and adjust the pull cable to where you are happy with the amount of slack. If, while adjusting the pull cable, the closing cable no longer has slack you need to add slack back to the closing cable. The closing cable must always have slack or it can cause the throttle to stick. Some slack in the opening / pull cable is required, or when you turn the handle bars one way or the other it may apply throttle. But how much slack is the key. As mentioned, I prefer the least amount of slack I can get away with in the opening / pull cable. But no doubt there is an actual measurement in the manual. Use the measurement, use common sense. It does not matter. As long as you still have enough slack so that turning the handle bars does not apply throttle, which might result in a bad day. Once you have the opening / pull cable where you want it, make sure the closing / push cable has enough slack. It should have more slack that the opening / pull cable. And it should maintain at least some slack during the entire range of the throttle travel. The closing / push cable should have slack the whole time you are twisting the throttle. There is no advantage to running the closing / push cable with a minimum of slack.

As I recall, the Guzzi set up only has adjusters at the throttle / bar end. I personally set mine so that there is almost no slack in the pull cable. I set it up tight, to where the idle just barely starts to rise when you turn the bars full lock. That means there is the least amount of slack you can have without the throttle changing when you turn the handle bars (OK, it changes ever so slightly). I find that the on / off throttle response is better that way. My Griso is really sensitive to it, too much slack in the Griso throttle cable makes it herky-jerky. I always set up the pull cable, the one that opens the throttle, first. Then I set the push cable, the one that closes the throttle. That closing cable is better if you leave a little slack in it. Too tight there can cause the throttle to bind. And removing all the slack you can there doesn't make the throttle feel / work any better.

Yeah. I occasionally toe the shifter to make sure I am in top gear, and I also flip the turn signal switch off as a habit. Having a gear indicator would be nice. But if it didn't work right I don't see how it could be a safety issue.

Clutches slip typically for two reasons. The first, and most common, is they are worn out. Excessive clutch wear (which would be the case if it was worn out in 20,000 miles) can occur if the clutch system is improperly adjusted / set up. It can also occur if the rider slips the clutch excessively. As Pete mentioned, there is typically an adjuster at the handle bar lever, and that adjuster needs to be adjusted so there is a certain amount of free play at the clutch lever. No free play at the clutch lever would be improperly adjusted and could / would cause excessive clutch wear. There is also an adjuster at the back of the trans, where the other end of the clutch cable is. That needs to be set to maintain proper geometry and if mis-adjusted it could put that clutch arm in a positions where it's full travel is impeded by something, like the frame or the swing arm. That clutch arm should not be up against either the frame or the swing arm, it needs to be free to move in and out. There was also an issue with some clutches where they had an issue with the throwout bearing. But that probably is not the case here.

Heck, maybe you could get Patrick Stewart to play you in the video. That would be awesome.

As Pete said, the speed sensor can be somewhat allergic to water. When it gets wet it can trigger that code. You can't clear the code until the issue is resolved. Drying the sensor (perhaps with a hair dryer) will make the issue go away. Sealing the sensor better will keep it from coming back.

I am not sure, but it sounds like it is a different version of the adjuster that connects the rocker arm to the valve stem. It seems it is machined differently so that it maintains proper contact with the top of the valve stem.