GuzziMoto
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Posts posted by GuzziMoto
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As you can see, the definition of sport touring is as varied as the bikes people would choose. I have toured on 3 bikes, An FZR 400, a Buell X1 Lightning, and a Griso. The Griso is an excellent sport touring bike to me. My wife feels the same way about her V11.
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I just got a great chuckle out of picturing someone pulling the fast idle lever to pop the seat and needing a key in the seat latch to set the fast idle.
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The V11 pistons should have a larger valve pocket as well.
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Who in Maryland stocks the odyssey batteries?
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If all you have is 10 volts at the battery, stop right there and deal with that issue before you worry about your starter. Odds are there is nothing wrong with your starter, the battery is probably your issue. Charge it and see if it takes and holds a charge. Then maybe get it load tested at a shop (if it still won't start the bike). If after all that it still won't start but you have atleast 12.5-13.0 volts at the battery. Then post back for advice.
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Not sure about it but I believe Ferraci makes a highmount set that looks alot like that.
The picture on their site does not show the highmount pipes, they use the same picture of the low mount pipes for both sets. But they have an oval cross section and mount just under the tail section much like those.
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That is very good news.
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Well, better late then never. Here's the story.
The wifes V11 needed some work before our trip to Indy for the MotoGP race. The bike developed an oil leak after having the trans recall work done at the local dealer and the clutch would slip under heavy load. I did not have time to do the work myself. I found a dealer on the south side of Harrisburg Pa, Europa Macchina, that seemed like a good place to go. I had a little over a month before the trip to get the work done. Seemed like it would be fine.
As mentioned, dropped the wifes V11 off at Europa Macchina. Very pleasant experience. Well, when they took the bike apart they found a small leak from the rear main seal, a larger leak from a missing clamp on a crank vent hose (where may it have gone?), a worn out clutch, and a broken lower mount on the shock (a common occurence for some reason). Everything except the shock they had fixed in a reasonable amount of time. The shock I decided to replace with a performance version, just did not know which. Turns out the only company I found that could supply me a shock in a short enough time frame was Penske. And as it turns out, They got me the shock in less time then they promised and I was completly satisfied with their service. Michael Himmelsbach was outstanding to deal with. I can't recall ever getting treated that well buying something for a motorcycle. So, after getting the shock to Europa they installed it and then sync'd the throttlebodies. In the end, the bike was done in time for our trip to Indy for the MotoGP race. They did a spectacular job, and I will gladly take my bikes to them for service again if I need to take them to a mechanic.
So, now we've got the bike back about a week before we leave. All seems well. We rode to work a couple times together and rode when we could to make sure all was well. Then on Monday (we are planning to leave Tuesday) we rode to work with no issues. My wife rode the bike at lunch out to the bank, again no issues. We go to leave work (we work at the same place) and she gets nothing but clicking from the starter. I assumed she had left the key on or something. We push start the bike and go home. When we got home we shut off her bike then tried to restart it. No joy. It did the clicking thing. After some testing to determine that the starter was okay, I determined that the battery (not that old, two or three years) took a dump. Tried every where I could think of to locate a stock size battery. No luck. Finally I found a battery that had the same length and width but was an inch taller. Figured I could make it fit. I spent the better part of Tuesday finding the battery and making it fit. I had to heat the subframe with a torch and beat on it with a hammer to make the room. Will try for pictures at some point so you can marvel at the desperation engineering. Finally got to leave after 6 PM on Tuesday evening. Original plan was to take US 50 from Winchester Virginia out to I-79, then south to 33west. That would take us to Ohio, where we were going to follow the Ohio river to Cincinati and then 52 up to Indy. This delay blew those plans out of the water and we blew out I-70/68 to Morgantown WV. in the rain (of course my Griso speedo did not work due to the rain but atleast our Aerostitch suits kept us comfy). Stayed there the night, then went down I-79 to US 50 west. Took that out to Ohio where we picked up on our plan to follow the Ohio. In the end we made it to Indy in time to walk the pits on Thursday and see the bikes. Wow. They sound like crap. Nothing like the sexy sound of a F1 engine. TV does not do them justice on how bad they sound. But they are amazingly fast. We had a steller time. We camped out just south of town and missed all the crazyness, but slept better. The only disapointment was the race day wheather shortend the MotoGP race and cancelled the 250 race. But we will be back next year. Be there or be square.
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Well, better late then never. Here's the story.
As mentioned, dropped the wifes V11 off at Europa Macchina to have a oil leak from the back of the motor and slipping clutch. The bike had recently had the trans recall done at my local dealer and developed the oil leak soon after. But my experience there was less then satisfying and I decided to take the bike somewhere else this time. This shop was the next closest dealer to me. Very pleasant experience. Well, when they took the bike apart they found a small leak from the rear main seal, a larger leak from a missing clamp on a crank vent hose (where may it have gone?), a worn out clutch, and a broken lower mount on the shock (a common occurence for some reason). Everything except the shock they had fixed in a reasonable amount of time. The shock I decided to replace with a performance version, just did not know which. Turns out the only company I found that could supply me a shock in a short enough time frame was Penske. And as it turns out, They got me the shock in less time then they promised and I was completly satisfied with their service. Michael Himmelsbach was outstanding to deal with. I can't recall ever getting treated that well buying something for a motorcycle. So, after getting the shock to Europa they installed it and then sync'd the throttlebodies. In the end, the bike was done in time for our trip to Indy for the MotoGP race. They did a spectacular job, and I will gladly take my bikes to them for service again if I need to take them to a mechanic.
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I like the one that goes "Ducati, making mechanics out of riders for 50 years"
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In that case, what makes a Guzzi a Guzzi? It is not that it is built at Mandello. If you want a "proper Guzzi" then you have to go out and buy one which was built when Guzzi was independent. You cannot tie any badge to a specific place of manufacture. The days of a Guzzi like the types which you are referring to are long gone. Even the later V11s have some Aprilia in them, does that make them not proper Guzzis? Of course not. Guzzi needs to pull itself out of the 1970s and it is only going to be able to do that with Piaggio's money. If that means a relocation, then so be it!
There are many things that make a Guzzi. And I'm sure each person has his own standards. But to me, first and foremost is the transverse engine. I know many Guzzis did not have that, but that is one of my favorite things about my Guzzis. I would not object to water cooling or even more cylinders, but the transverse engine is a big source of the bikes character to me. I also like the hand built low volume aspect of the bikes. Each one is special, maybe not perfect but I can overlook the flaws in assembly knowing SOMEONE actually BUILT it. I also like the out of the box thinking aspect of Guzzi. They don't try and build bikes to compete in the market against other existing bikes. They decide what a bike should be and build it. Catagories be damned. This applies not just to the V11 but the Griso as well. It is alone in the marketplace in the USA. To me a Guzzi also represents the style of an Italian brand without the complexity and mechanical issues of Ducati and more soul then Aprilia. I'm not a hard core Guzzi nut. I never even rode a Guzzi until the early '90s when a friend bought a Daytona and he let me ride his brand new ride. I decided then and there that someday I must own one of these Guzzis.
Now my wife and I each have one.
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Look into Mike Rich pistons. They have a better reputation for power and quality.
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What do you really people want?
Guzzi as Guzzi was in the '90s? With 3.000 maximum production, with bad supply, with financial problems facing bankruptcy? (But still in Mandello..?)
Guzzi must survive. And for this to happen, the factory must become competitive. If Piaggio believes that Mandello can't become/provide a modern line of production, then OK.
Let's face the truth. What do we want? We want Guzzi bikes! Griso 8v, Stelvio, Breva are Guzzi bikes. And still we are at the beginning....
I choose the optimistic version...
I see where your coming from, and I respect what your saying. But in answer to your question, "What do you really people want?", I want Guzzi's that are Guzzi's. Not Aprilias or Piaggios with Guzzi badges. If that is what they get reduced to (not saying that will happen, only that it might), they will lose me as a customer. I would rather see a Harley style rebirth of Guzzi, or even Ducati style. Triumph seems to have found a balance between old and new as well, although it took them a bit long to find it. I not saying the end is here, but I can see it from my house.
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I believe he said he had 9v WITH THE FUSE REMOVED. Sounds even more like a wiring issue. May be some wires melted together or something. Good luck.
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If you have access to a second V11, can you put your ecu (that you think is no good) in the other V11 and see if it runs with your ecu in it? And maybe you could swap the other V11's ecu into your bike just to see if that's the problem. I would not think an ecu from a Ducati would work properly in your V11. Even if it is the same basic hardware, the firmware will be different.
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The 250 race was cancelled. It was not the rain, which contrary to what others have said about Indy, but the wind. A major storm (started as a hurricane) blew thru the mid-west and caused a bit of a disaster. Shame, cause the track was great, and the racing promised to be intense. There were some issues with how the event was run, like Ducati reserving a huge area that would have been bike parking (it was on Thurs) but they only had enough Ducatis show up to fill about 1/3 of the space.
But all in all it was a great event and I look forward to next year.
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A side note on the Z6's the original poster mentioned. I just pulled a set off my Griso, I got 9 and a half thousand miles out of them. Pretty good in my book. They handled well the whole time and really the only fault worth mentioing is that they were the noisiest tires I have ever experienced. Noisy enough that the next set I replaced them with are Conti Force Sports. Don't know how they'll compare. Time will tell. First ride on them will be 750 miles each way to Indy for the MotoGP race. Staying off the highways for almost the entire trip. Should be good.
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I agree that there are other things that effect tire wear more then exactly what pressures you run. In fact, that was part of my point, that as long as your pressures aren't unusually high or low wear will not be increased noticably by your pressures. But if your pressures are outside the normal range in either direction your mileage may suffer.
So, as long as you keep your pressures within a normal range( to me that's probably within 4 or 5 psi from what Guzzi recommends), set your pressures to where you are comfortable with how the bike feels.
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Skeeves advice about pressures going up 10% is an old tried and true racer method, except they use 15%. The only thing to add for street use is to check after a hard ride, not just a ride to work or whatever.
Funny thing about higher pressures equaling higher mileage, I seem to get better mileage then many here and I run lower pressure then most. And while too low an air pressure definetly hurts tire life, I think too high a pressure also has a bad effect on mileage. I would not venture too far from Guzzis recommendations without some sound evidence.
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Tire pressure is a personal preference as well as a technical issue. Higher pressure will allow higher loads and speeds by preventing heat build up. It will also make the steering lighter. The down side is a smaller contact patch and less grip due to the lower running temp. I run lower pressure then most on this board, 32 psi front and 34 psi rear. I do add a pound or two in the rear when touring with the bike loaded.
I think the best thing to do is start on the high side and keep dropping a pound at a time until the bikes handling stops improving and starts getting worse again and go back that last pound. Just don't go below where I'm at or tire wear will increase dramatically.
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Rotate it 90 degrees, so the crank runs north/south, with a counter rotating gearbox alongside and you've got my attention.
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Nope, least if it is, then Honda's v-5 isn't legit...
Actually, that's pre-800cc MotoGP [can you tell I don't really follow it? Too unrelated to real-world bikes, that's why WSB is more important than MGP results]; I don't know if they axed anything over 4 cyls when they revised the displacement limit. There was some complicated formula for displacement vs. # of cylinders under the old scheme, which gave triples & twins the full 1000cc [not doing Ducati any favors there!
], fours & fives got 900cc? and higher #s dramatically less [to discourage Guzzi & Laverda from participating... 
]Anyway, I don't think anyone is currently racing anything over 4 cyls in MotoGP, but that doesn't mean they're forbidden, just that the rules are structured in such a way as to discourage them. Kind of the reverse of what Guzzi faced in the 50s when they built the v-8: the only limit was displacement, and their old 500cc singles and twins just weren't able to compete in terms of power when the brakes & tires got good enough so that their opponents could take advantage of the power from their multis, so let's leapfrog the competition and double their four cylinders... What audacity! Such a pity those days are 50+ years behind us now, and racing is more about whose programming is better. I'd rather watch a spec league so you can really determine who's a better rider, since everyone is on identical bikes!
The displacement limit in MotoGP is absolute. They have differemt weight limits for different numbers of cylinders.
Minimum Weight - MotoGP Class 2007
2 Cylinder 137 kg
3 Cylinder 140.5 kg
4 Cylinder 148 kg
5 Cylinder 155.5 kg
6 Cylinder 163 kg
Partially because they restrict fuel capacity to 21 liters everybody uses a four cylinder engine at present.
Guzzi has no place in MotoGP at present. I could see Aprilia doing it.
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I too have considered having a BMW to chain my Guzzi to as an anti-theft device. But in the end it seemed a little over priced and I couldn't find anyone willing to ride it and follow me around so it could be there when I needed it.
Oil in the Engine Advice Needed
in Technical Topics
Posted
While neither option is the best, between the two of them I would drain it before you leave. My reasoning being old oil can be acidic. But I don't think either option is horrible. And I doubt there is much benefit to one over the other.