[My guzzi is totaled]

The ankle is healing well. It has full range of motion ect. I have ligament damage to my knee though that have small children chanting "GIMP,GIMP,GIMP!"... a temporary thing and not the new normal I hope. Thanks for the good thoughts.

 

I have ordered parts before from the company that seems to have my bike. A phone call will get human being, and with niceties and luck who knows the possibilities!

 

The new bike is a monster 1100 (used). I haven't fallen in love yet... not it's fault. Maybe total disassembly, paint.......

[My guzzi is totaled]

The cluster I made from scratch using VDO gauges... The stock one was too plasticy.  It was twisted in the crash and the buckets got dented. It would make a nice template though and the gauges themselves might be fine. The sending unit is perfect but is a totally obscure item that the hot rod industry has specially made in small numbers, not expensive, just hard to get. Details and item #s are in "my gallery". I am glad the parts are finding loving homes! If you have the wheels, you might care to have the diagrams that I made for putting them together. My posts about "wire wheels" will have everything. The offsets and spacer sizes are there.

[My guzzi is totaled]

I have been away from the forum for a bit while trying to get myself excited about the new Ducati. I am still not sure. 

 

But man! I come back to find my bikes carcass being picked over like that blasted deer the next day. I knew this would happen, I just thought I would be less sentimental! Clearly I need to be less western in my thinking and let its atoms return gracefully to the great Guzzi one-ness. If anyone has any questions about the parts feel free to get ahold of me for specs. Somebody really should grab the speed sending unit and petcock as both are optimum and have one off adaptors. On that note, If anyone wants to collect all the bits and put Humpty back together again and give her back to me, that would be ok too

[My guzzi is totaled]

Not unless the doctor isn't telling me everything. Maybe it is the lack of baffoonory or manic posturing; but (and it might sound corny) this is a community that I am happy to be part of (and I am not a joiner). I just bought a Monster 1100, but it was a close call between that or a v7 special. So I will continue to sip my beer and hang with all of you if it's all the same.

[My guzzi is totaled]

Thanks to all again.

[My guzzi is totaled]

Humor is best medicine.

[My guzzi is totaled]

I feel very lucky! This wasnt my 1st accedent but it is the only one where afterward I feel like death was narrowly avoided. The deer is extra dead to be sure. There is a 35' line of blood and a 150lb pile of venison at its end. My ankle broke trapped against the bike from the mass of the deer.

Their buy back offer was $2900. I know between the wheels and driveline it was worth more, but sometimes closure and forward movement are what matter. I will make another bike and continue to enjoy riding but perhaps one day I will stop and do something safe like bull bating or base jumping.

Oh, and I can't help but feel my bikes altered geometry helped in some small way;)

[My guzzi is totaled]

Thanks for all the support! I am opting to take progressive's money on this. It wasn't an easy choice but their check will cover most of the loss and I just couldn't get excited about going through the entire process again. I must have been saving up my karma. The deer wrapped around the front of the bike, its head caving in the left side of the tank, its body came around the right and got everything on that side. The wobble that resulted cracked off both steering stops. After the impact I found myself looking at the pavement before me as to where my body would crumple... But it settled down and I looked up at the oncoming mailbox posts as I left the road. The front end didn't wash out and the bike was on asphalt again before another collision.

 

Thanks again to all of you and to my girlfriend who also rides and has been making extra tasty dinners.

 

My only wish is that moto guzzi would hurry up and come out with a v11 version of the v7 classic!

[My guzzi is totaled]

Last week I hit a deer square on at 64 mph. Walked away with only a broken ankle... Somehow managed not to lay the bike down. But this was the bikes end, at least in my hands. Just saying there is one less v11 in the world tonight (this is where violins and sobbing begin). On the other hand the wire wheels and engine were untouched so keep an eye on eBay as they are sure to show up from the insurance breakers.

[front brake piston seized]

You can now get overhaul kits http://www.gutsibits...0&search=SEARCH

Thanks Guzzirider, when I have the overhaul kit, is the method of removal of the seized piston as I described, albeit with some other releasing agent? Also loving the look of your cafe racer!!!!!

 

I am no expert, but I would recommend pushing it out from the back or take measures to not scratch the cylinder finish.

[front brake piston seized]

Hi - one of my pistons is seized, a bit strange as I have had the bike 3 years and reckon it has been seized all the time. Bike gets used very little so I guess I have got used to slightly rotten brakes. I have never fiddled with callipers before, apart from changing pads and bleeding. I propose to remove the calliper from the bike, tie back the 3 good pistons to prevent them from moving, soak the offending piston for about a week with wd40 or similar, then try to wiggle the piston free using molegrips, being careful not to damage the piston or calliper. Any thoughts? Will this work do you think?

 

I had a very similar problem that caused one of the pistons to not be seized but nor would it completely release. After much exterior cleaning with no luck and even considering a replacement, I went ahead and split the caliper, removed the pistons and flushed the thing multiple times... far less work than one might expect. The pistons have a non-stick corrosion inhibiting coating worth protecting. The unit works fine now. I did check for a rebuild kit at the time, but found none available for this model brembo. Annoying since it was used on many of my favorite machines! Lesson: always clean the outside of the thing before retracting the pistons to change pads.

 

Good luck!

[pics of the parts]

These are some of the parts for sale. I can send more detailed pics of each directly to emails. Thanks, and good luck with your bikes!

[various v11 sport parts for sale]

What I have to offer... I hope they find a good home I just don't see a reason to hold onto them any longer.

 

-BUB race pipes- Black finish, not dented, stainless end caps, cracked but repaired (until they crack again)

-left and right stock silencers- excellent shape, black finish, these have all the packing and baffling removed and TIG welded back together... actually sound better that my mistrals.

-stock crossover- excellent shape for a cows bladder

-left and right front round hole rotors- 7K miles on them, very slight shudder upon coming to stop, I had a sticking caliper. The rotors were replaced before I discovered the piston issue.

-front and rear silver wheels- like new condition, rear is the early/narrow 160 tire style.

-bikini fairing in Guzzi green- very good condition, stock item from 2000 sport

-early style stock clip-on bars, excellent condition

 

Offers are welcome but please don't be ridiculous. I will also need any shipping costs of course.

 

Regards,

~Dave

[performance mod comparisons]

My wifes V11 has had some work done on the motor (and the suspension).

So far the heads have been ported, the cylinders machined to match deck heights, the heads skimmed to increase squish and compression. It has a oiled cotton air filter, slip-on mufflers, and a Power Commander. I have a set of gears for the cam drive yet to install, and would like to get one of the cross-overs in the future.

So far the bike makes about fifteen more Hp then it started with. It wasn't cheap but all in all it was much cheaper then getting that kind of % power increase out of a more modern motor. It is pretty fast, but if some is good more must be better.

 

Thanks! That is a good start. Can you say if you lost any power from the bottom end?

 

Thanks again

[performance mod comparisons]

Reading Greg Field's account of the development of this engine (Moto Guzzi Big Twins, MBI Publishing, 1998), I am left with the impression that the designers and engineers brought it to a pretty high state of tune for a big, air-cooled, push-rod twin. Properly tuned, they do run very, very well, yet benefit from free flowing exhaust cans and, perhaps, a little better air flow.

 

Beyond that, it looks like big bucks and high effort for rather incremental gains.

 

Being an incurable motorhead, a good friend finally convinced me that turning my attention to the bike's suspension would give me far greater performance gains than anything I could do to the motor.

 

I could not agree more that handling is vastly more important and a better value than pure power. That said, it does not keep me from being curious or grinning to myself over the possible fun to be had by tweaking the motor. If the gains are incremental but the outlay high, it will still be interesting knowledge. If there are some real world gains for reasonable outlay, all the better.

[performance mod comparisons]

I cant help but be curious about engine mods. While I support clean living, I am also a romantic about internal combustion engines... burbling spool downs, the smell of fuel in the air, ect. I have been looking over old posts and the dyno thread for a while but am having trouble piecing together a clear picture of the gains and trade-offs of different tinkerings. The main monkey-wrench in my ointment (love me a shaken metaphor) is that while there are clearly folks out there who have done their homework and know, the background noise is too much. I particularly like the threads that some of the clearer thinkers have methodically collaborated on only to meltdown into goo. I have spoken to Mike Rich but would like to understand why one bike with cam, port, twin plug and tummy rub will dyno similarly to one that just has a dialed in ecu and exhaust. I understand all bikes and test conditions are different, but after 12 years there should be a bell curve showing up like a shimmering rainbow somewhere. .

 

Any pseudo scientific insight would be welcome both as data and just for an enjoyable read by a non-racer who appreciates those who do.

[Pingle Fuel Valve]

I've been dliligently researching without success for information about what type of Pingle and adapter can be fitted to replace the electric fuel valve on my 2000 Greenie. Would appreciate hearing from those who have converted to a Pingle, what valve and adapter is best. Thanks for your help.

 

Just put a manual valve on- Guzzi ones are very cheap, work perfectly and are not fragile like the electric version.

 

Cheers

 

Guy

 

I went to pingels web site when I did mine. Eventually I settled on their power-flow dirt valve #4220-ah425ang. They make every combination of inlet and outlet direction combined with lever position... but this one works with my right sided petcock position. I have taken apart every valve used and new I could get my hands on and there is a BIG difference in the passage sizes (especially at the elbow if it has a 90 degree bend). The guzzi manual one I had calls for 3/8 hose, but its internal i.d. is not even larger than 1/8". My bikes fuel pump would whirr and strain every time the ignition was primed, now it sounds quiet like any other modern bike. I have to agree completely with Baldini; the stock units are one of the things that cheapen a beautiful machine and are needlessly annoying. I posted a pic in the gallery section.

 

I almost forgot, the Pinglel does need an adapter. I made one by metric tapping a brass male pipe fitting. The doing is easy, knowing what to do is the M#@** F*&^$# time waster.

 

 

Hope this helps,

dave

[Tacho rebuild]

Hi Andy!

 

That is really shitty news. Did it start working again after it dried out at all?

If I come across one I will send it your way.

 

Cheers,

Dave

[sticking shift lever]

Hi Dave, this problem could be the same one as was discussed a number of times maybe 5 or 6 years ago, but unfortunately no reason or solution was ever found. From time to time I and some others had severe problems with the shift lever sticking in low gear and not budging. It was horrendous on a trip down through Ireland where I couldn't get out of second gear. So bad that I stopped on motorway and opened transmission to check if the shift spring had broken. It had not. This problem is not to do with badly adjusted linkage or dirty oil. Both those things were and always had been regularly checked and kept 'perfect' by me and others who experienced the problem.

 

The best that we could come up with at the time was that it might have been connected to heat. That's very tenuous. When this happened to you was there any unusual circumstance, such as being stuck in slow traffic for a long time?

 

There are a lot of small variations in the V11 gearboxes over the years. I can't quite remember now, but I thing that on the forum here we have seen something like 5 different versions in small details. I think that there has clearly been something not quite right with these boxes and Guzzi tried various small mods to make it better. But dear knows what they were up to. Mine is from the infamous 2002 year when just about everything that could be wrong, was wrong.

 

Please report back if you discover what is wrong. Maybe it is just a simple thing that you have overlooked. Hopefully it's something that can be diagnosed and fixed.

 

David

 

Thanks for the help. It is nice to hear that others have had the same mysterious problem. It does happen on hot days in the summer only, but with no relation to how the bike has been used. If i come up with anything I will chime out.

 

~Dave

 

 

[V11 Center Stand Dimensions]

Then I too am interested, I tried to make one of my own, was'nt pretty or very effective.

 

I have been debating whether to make one for a while now. If they are still available at the right price I might be tempted to just buy one. If I end up making one it would be worth making more if there is a real need and enough folks want them.

[Dealership says Petcock wire sheared in half?]

I bought and returned the standard manual petcock offered for the V11 because the through hole was less than 1/8 inch (why have 3/8 hose to a car sized fuel pump, eh?) and the castings were crap resulting in terrible action. I found Pingle made a high flow unit that just needed an adaptor to the tank. Works brilliant.

[Rear brake pad installation]

Firstly, clean the whole caliper, especialy around the pistons with brake cleaner and a toothbrush. Debris could cause a piston to stick later when the retract. If you have the space to get a credit card in, find a thin piece of cold finish steel the same size. I will mail you one if you need. The pistons not want to go in evenly when they are near the end of their travel so a screwdriver is likely to cause binding. Slide the shim stock in place and alternately compress each piston in turn until a larger gap in made.

 

Let me know how it goes,

Dave

[V11 Fuel Consumption]

I'm don't spare the horses either, on the pushy side, but my stock V11 Le Mans' mileage in the 37's (the lowest I'd had on anything in years!).

 

The Michelin 2CT tires are 2-3 lbs under the recommended pressures of 36 and 42, just because it's hot this summer. To each his own, I always say, but recommended pressures are worth trying on today's tires. It's also possible that as I learn the bike I'm a gear high in some situations, although not for long.

 

When I put a Termi system on my Ducati PS1000LE, the included ECU just dumped fuel through. Mileage dropped 5-6 mpg. I went back to the stock ECU and installed an O2 Manipulator, www.fatduc.com, which sorted everything. The idea comes out of the HD community (!); it's a simple inline rheostat that fibs to the ECU. But you need a Lambda sensor in your system...

 

Freer flowing exhaust, crossover and air cleaner should lean out the system. But if you're running rich (black plugs/sooty exhaust) it could be you'd benefit from tweaking the PC3.

 

Thanks for the info. My plugs did show a little carbon build-up this last change and I do get soot at the exhaust exit. It is sad when the girlfriends car that seats 4 gets better mpg. Thankfully she rides too so no grief is ever given, just a smirk at the pump when I fill up twice as often.

[V11 Fuel Consumption]

I ride assertively, but certainly like no racer hooligan (though that can be fun too), mostly on secondary roads and get about 32 mpg. I would love to get more. My 2003 monster 800ie would come in at 48 mpg. 32 seems low in my opinion for a midrange tuned V-twin. I do run my tires at 31-front 35-rear because I like the way it turns that way, but I think that would only account for a couple more mpg. Everything is fresh on the bike. One big caveat, I haven't remapped the PC3 yet to go with the new pipes and crossover. The old ones were race pipes and it runs well enough that I can't bring myself to leave it in a shop for a week and lay down the cash. I am a cheap bastard sometimes.

[sticking shift lever]

Thanks for help. The pivot bolt is lubed stainless and fastened with a nyloc nut with free movement, so no problem there. Is it normal for when the spring fails for it to be an intermittent issue? or is this possibly something else.

 

Thanks Again,

~Dave