GuzziMoto

Look for something like that first. If the bike was running well then it wasn't, did you refuel the bike at that time. I have known of people accidently filling their bikes with diesel. Another thing to check is did anything get unplugged?, like the cylinder head temp sensor? Or did the bike get wet? Relays are also a common issue on these bikes, but normally they stop it from running altogether. Check the common obvious things that could go suddenly, first. TPS setting or TB sync usually go slowly over time, not "It ran great yesterday and now it runs badly".

These are sweet. http://trailtech.net/vapor.html

YES.

My wife has a MG tank bag for her V11 that uses a harness that straps over the tank, tying to the front motor mounts at the front and to the bolt that the tank is held on with at the back. The actual bag the attaches to that with a zipper and a clip.

There is a company that makes silicone valve cover gaskets. They do not crack and are reusable http://www.realgaskets.com/

The heat gun would likely be used to heat the outter tubes so the seals come out and go in easier. Putting the new seals in the freezer also helps.

Was the choke on when it happened? That's for Ratchet.

That is a sweet bike. I am not mature enough to ride a bike that fast and powerful on the street yet. Not sure when I'll grow up.

If you changed the fork oil and the forks worked "perfect" afterwards and then over time went down hill, I would venture a guess that it is/was not an oil level issue. It would sound to me like a mechanical issue. The forks may be binding due to the tubes being twisted in the clamps(easy to fix) or the bushings may be worn out(harder to fix). If the bushing have too much clearence, the forks will not work right. Don't confuse the bushings with the seals. When the seals go the fork leaks oil. When the bushings go the fork will have play in the fit between the tubes( which will typically cause the seals to go and then the fork will leak oil).Adding or subtracting oil is unlikely to make a difference if the forks worked well and then did not without a change in the oil level to begin with. If the bushings are worn out, I would pull the forks and have a pro re-build them. Replacing bushings in a fork is one of the few jobs on a bike I will not do. If the seals are leaking, they are not to hard to do but many would still take it to a pro. I would change them myself but I hate paying people for something I could have done myself.

The stock marzochi forks on a Guzzi are pretty poorly setup from the factory. The design of the forks is also a little weak. The compression adjuster does next to nothing as the compression dampning is only at the bottom of the stroke. Most of the stroke allows oil to blow out of the damper tube freely. This leads to a fork that easily blows thru the stroke and slams at the bottom into the one part of the stroke that actually has dampning. This can make you think your forks are too stiff when in fact they are too soft. One way to check to see if this is indeed what is going on is to tighten a tie-wrap around one of the tubes(skinnier inner tubes, aka the shiney ones) right under where the larger outter tube is. This tie-wrap will be push down the tube as the fork travels thru its stroke. Take a ride, and if when your done the tie wrap is at the bottom of the stroke you know the fork is blowing thru its stroke. If the tie-wrap did not move very far down the tube then you may have issues like too high an oil level in the forks or binding, etc. Setting up these forks can be done in a few ways. A good place to start would be to get springs made for your weight and set the sag.

New Guzzis have chips. V11s do not as far as I know.

Goverment cheese?

I'll buy one. How's your bike running with your "blended" map, Dimitris?

You may have ethenol added to your fuel year round(or whatever emisions additive is the flavor of the month), but I would be suprised if you actually have winter gas at all. Don't confuse emissions additives with winter/summer gas formulas. For cold weather use the blend gas differently so that it will work in cold weather better. Basically it has elements that evaporate at lower temps(lower vapor pressure) to help the engine start and idle. Summer gas has the opposite.

I had a 1200cc Buell that easily got 50 mpg. H-D may be a backwards company in many respects but they have a very efficient engine design that gets great fuel mileage and low emmisions. Guzzi could learn a few things from H-D, as long as they don't pick up on H-Ds bad habits as well(like oil leaks).

I would agree that the poor mileage is not due just to evaporation. Iwould think that is only a small part of it. But the things that help the fuel evaporate at lower temps so your engine can run in cold weather also do not contain the energy that fuel components that do not evaporate as easily contain. So gas formulated for winter driving will not return the fuel mileage that gas formulated for summer driving will. Plus the engine tends to run cooler which contributes to another loss of efficency and thus mileage. Most of the tanks that build pressure in the sun, in my experience, are non carbon can equipped.

Not positive about the V11 evaporative system because it's been off the bike so long but most systems are not sealed. There is a in to the carbon canister(s) and an out. The carbon is supposed to trap fuel vapors. If the tank was sealed, on a hot day it could rupture. That would not be enviromentally friendly. I know for sure my Griso had an in and an out to the carbon canister.

Your friend was not entirely wrong but he was wrong. Use of an engine will greatly influence service life. But F1 stuff is so far out on the edge that I don't think it would have worked. But as an example, the old Hart V10 F1 engine was retired to become an endurance motor mainly be restricting revs. So it could be done. As far as Ti rods, the early ones had short service intervals. They have gotten better now.The Ti rods in our Ducati 996 could last a whole season. The MGS01s service intervals are no doubt in large part influenced by the bikes intended use. And using one on the street should see more longevity out of it. The same thing applies to Aprilias 450 and 550 v-twins. The service intervals are way high but that is because the bikes are built for race use and people who ride them on the street get much more life out of them. Still, it is not going to be as reliable as a V11. But I want one anyway.

Pete seems to have a decent grasp on the power thing. If you want more out of your Guzzi, focus on improving the things the factory did poorly in the first place. Squish and port shape/blending are easy things to improve that do not effect reliability and can make a significant improvement in the output of a Guzzi motor since they were not done well from the factory. If you are happy with the output of your Guzzi motor as it is stock, then save yourself the time and money of those mods. But for crying out loud, someone please make those two quit going at it.

Oil in the collector sounds bad. I would either run a compression test or pull the head. But you may want to swap the injectors to see if the cylinder not firing moves with the injectors. If it does you know you have a fuel system issue. But I still don't like the sound of oil in the collector.

Any place in the U.S. and probably in Europe as well where you get a cold winter season and a warm summer season will have different gas formulations for the seasons. You may have had 10% ethonal added during the winter and now it's all year long, but that is not the only difference between summer and winter. Winter gas has a different blend so it evaporates at a lower temp, allowing easier starrting in the cold. There are other differences as well. So I have found that my mileage is lower during winter as a result. Petes question about the cylinder head temp sensor is a good one as well.

My wifes V11 did something like that a while back. Turned out to be the bearings in the rear wheel.

Don't go to a Hardly dealer, go here. http://www.americansportbike.com/shoponlin...dshow/5352.html

When you were installingthe plate, did you make not of where on the oil dipstick you oil level should really be. I could be wrong but I seem to recall the dipstick not being to accurate to begin with and then the plate changes it a little more.

What you gain with the Ohlins is smoother action with less stiction and less unsprung weight. Valving can always be adjusted to suit the rider. The biggest problem with the Mazochi fork for me was that the compression leg stock has no valving. It has several holes in the cartridge tube that work like a damper rod in an old fashioned fork. The oil does not have to go thru the valving in the piston until the forks are compressed 3/4 of the way. Changing the valving will not help unless you force at least some of the oil to go thru the valving. How you do that is up to you. You could just keep increasing the weight of the oil until you get some resistence to the oil going thru the holes in the cartridge, but by the time that worked, the oil would be pretty thick. Thick oil is more prone to foaming and fade. It is better to run the thin oil and inrease the resistence thru valving. Ohlins are sweet. But you can get a Marzochi fork to work almost as well for alot less then the cost of the Ohlins. If you have the money the Ohlins is better. But if you don't, it's okay. The Marzochis have potential. You just need to refine the details. Just like anything else on a Guzzi.