tricatcent

Be very happy that you are OK. I think this is the reason why it is ideal to have two motorcycles. (I have 6 or 7 that is too many) One of my bikes is a VTR 1000 Honda. It is fantastic. You can buy one for $3,000 easily. They last a long time Almost as long as a Guzzi. The maintenance is rather complicated though. It has the same torque as a V11, it has 25% more horsepower and about 100 lbs less weight. I still prefer my V11 though. Despite what you will read about them my VTR uses less gas than the V11. It is way faster. It handles better to, but the brakes aren't quite as good. I think it would still cost $5,000 to get a V11. Nigel Nigel

In Vancouver I have been riding since January. It is actually colder here now than when we had the winter olympics. There is lots of snow on the mountains now. The thing I find funny about Guzzi V11 owners is that so many of you are almost the same as me! We are all mostly the same age range. I bet 45 is the average. We have mainly all owned a few Nortons or Triumphs before and maybe a Ducati or some other European bikes as well. Many of use still own a few other bikes. I think that most of us are in engineering or mechanical trades. I think very few of us would have ever owned a Virago, or would even be seen riding one. Probalby none of us think Orange County Choppers are cool. Some of us might appreciate or own Harleys. Most of us are pretty experienced riders. Most of us put on a fair number of miles. This guy on the Red V11 looks almost exactly like me except my bike is a Red VII Lemans. Probably if he took his helmet off I would find out he looks a lot different than me, but maybe he is my doppleganger. Nigel

My bike sometimes has the slight backfire at 2800 RPM. One time it got really bad. It happens only when the throttle is just barely open. Usually the bike will be slowing down. I have had an airfuel ratio gauge on the bike and it shows that this backfiring occurs when the mixture goes quite lean. I think if I remember correctly that is when the ratio goes to about 15 to 1. I have found that this leaness is due to incorrect balancing of the throttle bodies. I learned how to make the bike do this backfire. Once I could make it do it, I fiddled with the plastic nut that syncs the throttle bodies until the problem when away. You can fiddle with the nut at stop lights. Make a mark on the nut to keep track of the starting position. The first time I did this I found the nut had to be turned one full turn to correct the problem. The trouble with a fuel injected bike is that if the throttle bodies are not synced then the mixture on one cylinder will be wrong also. This is because the throttle position sensor is on one throttle body only. Of coarse if the throttle position sensor is set wrong to then you have even less chance of the machine running well.

I have a very nice set of Tomasselli adjustable clip ons for sale. They came with my Lemans. They can be adjusted to a huge number of different positions by moving two different tapered connections on each bar. One of my bikes previous owners had used them on this bike. He liked them. They develped a crack in one of the tapers. He took them off. I repaired this crack by installing (shrink fitting) an aluminum sleeve over it. It is a perfect repair. I thought I might try them. I have slightly altered my stock handlebars and changed the grips (to proper barrel shaped ones) and I am happy now with my positioin on the bike. I can ride 1000 km per day now without discomfort caused by the bars anyway. I have ridden 18,000 km this way now. I know I won't need these bars. Maybe you would like them. I think for someone with shorter arms than me they might be just perfect. They can also be adjusted to suit someone with really long arms. For me the stock bars are fine, just raised 1/4" and turned back a bit. I think these bars cost about $200.00 new. MG cycle shows some similar ones on thier site, the same make, but for 40mm tubes. These ones fit onto the forks on a V11. I am in Canada, I can send these anywhere you want, you will have to pay the postage. I take pay pal. Nigel

I found it made a big improvement to my bikes cranking speed when I changed to 5W 40 oil from the 20w 50 that I had used previously. It started cranking pretty slow when the weather got a bit colder. At first I thought it was the battery, but after changing the oil it cranks fast now. This 5w 40 is actually what Guzzi recommends anyway. When it was 40 degrees C in Nevada in September I think the 20w 50 was OK.

My friend who is a guzzi mechanic told me that the coughing is cause by imabalanced throttle bodies. He also told me that a power commander is generally not required on a road bike with only a pipe and crossover like mine. Mine is a lot better without it thats for sure. I decided to balance the throttle bodies by ear, reasoning that I couldn't make it worse because I could always turn it back to the initial position. I fiddled with it a bit on a ride tonight and now I have it perfect. No more coughing. It is really nice now. Nigel

My ECU has the plug facing down. There isn't much clearance there really. After removing the power commander I have put about 700 kms on the bike trouble free. The gas milage is now running about 5.5 liters per 100 km instead of 6.5 or 7 as before. It is running at a good air fuel ratio, usually in the low to mid 13s. The only time it runs lean is at about 3000 RPM with the throttle almost closed. It goes over 15 to 1 air fuel ratio and coughs back through the throttle bodies. It is irritating but you get used to it. I just gear down so the engine is going 4000 then it doesn't do it. Thanks for all your help with this problem guys.

Tonight I disconnected the Power Commander. Now the bike is fixed! The part that was faulty was not even a Moto Guzzi part. I think there must be a pinched wire in the harness for the PC. The thing that surprises me most though is how well the bike runs. I think it runs better than it ever did. I knew the map I had was not that good. My bike has Mistral oval carbon cans and a Stuchi cross over, as well as K&N pods. You would think it might run lean, but I have an air fuel ratio gauge and it indicates between 12.9 to 14 air fuel ratio. Usually it is 13.3. The only time it runs way to lean is just for an instant when the throttle is wacked open suddenly. I don't think I will put the PC back on. Nigel

Yes I realize that a poor connection would probably not result in the trouble I am having. It may be there is a short though, of an intermittent kind. Or perhaps a bad connection to something like a temp sensor. Who knows. In BC we say ground, but I am English, and have owned many British cars and motorcycles so I understand earth as well. It seems as though there are a lot of Triumph and Norton owners in this forum.

Tonight I am going to try cleaning all the connectors to do wtih the PC and ECU with contact cleaner. I did ride this bike a lot when there was salt on the road. The problem can occur at start up, but sometimes it happens when you are cruising too. I am sure the injector is stuck open because the amount of fuel that comes out the joints of the pipes is huge. It looks like the same amount of flow as I saw when I cleaned the injectors. That is one of the reasons I don't think the problem is with the spark. Nigel

It isn't the injector! Tonight I swaped the injectors right for left. The problem stayed on the right side. What would cause this? I guess the next step is to remove the power commander to see if it is the cause of the problem. Mainly I have this problem when I start the engine. After a brief warm up it goes away. It does it more often when the engine is warm. It may be worse in the afternoon when the air is hot.

Adding the solvent to the fuel line did nothing. I think it just went straight back to the tank immediately and almost none of it went to the injector. I removed the injector yesterday. It was easy to remove the injector once I took the airbox off. I have now temporarily replaced the airbox with pods. I think I like it better that way. I cleaned the injector by attaching a hose filled with solvent. I put an air hose onto the end of the hose, and cycled the injector. That didn't seem like it did anything either because the injector still sticks, especially when starting the engine. Once the engine settles down though it runs great. I went for a 180 km ride last night on the Squamish Highway and it was fantastic. I was averaging 120 kms and I was runnning mainly in 5th. When I first got this bike I thought it needed taller gearing. Now I realize it is perfect. I haven't done one other thing that I must do before I buy an new injector which is swap one injector for the other to make sure that it is not an electrical problem. Maybe I will do that tomorrow. The injectors seem to be pretty expensive.

Tonight I removed one of the fuel lines, shook the fuel out and then re filled it with Mopar combustion chamber cleaner. Then I started the engine and ran it for a few seconds. Hopefully the injector is now full of this mopar solvent. I will leave it overnight. The fuel line connects to the injector and then there is a tee and the line continues down towards the back of the bike. Where does that line go? Will the cleaner be forced into the injector or can it by pass the injector by this other line.

I put one can of seafoam through the bike, in about 3 tanks of gas. Maybe I should try more. One of my friends, who is a Guzzi and Triumph mechanic, says he has cleaned horribly dirty Guzzi injectors by removing them from the bike, installing a length of hose that he filled with Mopar combustion chamber cleaner, (he gave me some) Then you hook an air hose to the system to pressurize it and cycle the injector with 12 Volts. He says he cleaned up a bike that had been sitting for about 5 years and was all green in the tank. After this work it ran perfect. I was thinking that the injector had some close tolerance pieces that were hanging up from some gauling that may have happend from dirt. If the problem is really only varnish, and not wear or a bad spring or something, it should be possible to clean it. maybe it just needs a really good soak in some concentrated solvent. how do you remove the injectors from the bike? do I have to remove the throttle body? Nigel

I haven't really fixed my problem with the right hand injector sticking open yet. It will still do it every once in a while I think really I will have to replace the injector eventually. The Seafoam did make the bike run better. It cleaned the injectors so well the bike started running richer. (I have an air fuel ratio gauge) I had to re adjust the TPS and the Power Commander to make it run properly again. I think the TPS had always been set to high and I had been compensating for this by leaning it out with the power comander. I have found out though that if I add some of Lucas' Top oil that also contains injector cleaner, it eliminates the problem, until I fill up with a fresh tank of gas, then the problem returns until I add more oil to the gas. I think that almost any type of oil that would mix with the gas would temporarily solve the problem. Has anyone else ever had this problem. Nigel

The seafoam is working. I put about half a can into about 5 liters of gas, I ran to the gas station and filled it up with gas. It made a small improvement right away. This morning my bike ran better than it ever had. It felt smoother. It did always have an occasional stumble at very low throttle openings. I had set the mixture a little rich to reduce this. The seafoam sems to have eliminated this problem. Maybe now I will be able to lean it out and get better milage. Once it is running well again I will put the air fuel gauge back on and see what I can do. I think the right hand injector had been sticking open and also sticking closed. This aftenoon when it got really hot I did have the problem again, but it went away pretty quickly. If it doesn't stop I will have to change the injector. Thanks for the advise guys, Nigel

Thanks for your advise guys. The bike ran fine this morning. It was only 70 degrees. It may have something to do with heat. I would love to get my milage down to 5. I will put some cleaner through, that can't hurt. Maybe the injector sticks open. That would explain the incredible quantity of fuel. It really was almost enough to make a puddle, except it evaporates to fast. I maybe I will buy a new cyl heat temp sensor as well. I don't want to add anything to that thread though. I am sure everything has already been discussed.

I am calling this topic flooding, which really is a term for carburetors. My bike a 2004 Lemans has been running very well. Since December I have gone about 4000 Kms, with no trouble. I have Mistrals, stucchi and a power commander. I have set up the power commander with an air fuel ratio gauge. I found I had to set the low speed mixture a bit rich to reduce the low throttle opennig occasional misfires. I get 6.5 to 7 liters for 100 Km, which apparently is normal. On Monday it was very hot. My bike started sometimes running on just one cylinder. When it does this it is obvious it is getting a huge amount of fuel to the right cylinder. Fuel can be seen pumping out the gaps in the exhaust system, on the right side only. Then sometimes it runs normally. I changed the spark plugs, because although they mostly looked white to light brown, on one side there was quite a dark and shiny band of carbon. That didn't make any difference. The spark seems quite strong anyway. There is so much fuel that must be the problem. The plug wires seem to be ok. I looked up other posts with te topic flooding and for some reason some of them mentioned the right side being effected only. One of the topics mentioned the solution to their problem was cleaning the contacts on the throttle position sensor. It seems that if the throttle position sensor was the problem, both cylinders should be effected. Some of the topics mentioned the cylinder head temperature sensor. This would effect both cylinders as well you would think. Also you wouldn't think it could have such a gross effect. What do you think is wrong.

I don't bother doing it that way. On all engines the valve clearance is measured with the piston at TDC. It doesn't matter much if it is plus or minus 10 degrees. What I do is take out the spark plugs and move the engine by pushing the bike back and forwards in gear. I think that it muche easier than what you did. I feel for top dead center by sticking a screwdriver in the spark plug hole, and checking that both valves are closed. I set my valves a .005 and .008, because that is the way it was when I got it and it runs well that way. Nigel

I am sure it is a good idea to have the wheels lined up. Plus or minus 1/16" should be close enough though. A laser is a good way to do this. Having the front wheel centered in the forks would seem to be even more important. One thing that is a bit surprising though is that some bikes are not made to have the wheels lined up. Even fairly gross differences with rear wheel alignment don't make that much difference. Years ago I was riding behind my friends Triumph chopper. I noticed it was leaning to one side all the time. When we stopped I asked about it and my friend said oh yes, when you put a 5 X 16" wheel on the back of a Triumph you have to offset the wheel away from the chain. I have seen some of the wide tire choppers that are much more extreeme in this way. I guess that is not that amazing, those bikes were choppers. but more amazing another friend of mine has a Harley Heratige Springer. The stock location for the front wheel is not centered in the forks and the bike will turn suddenly off the road when you take your hands off the handlebars. When your hands are on the bars it is not noticeable. I think the factory designed it that way for some reason. It has to do with clearance for the single disk brake. My old 1979 Guzzi 850 Lemans is faster than that Harley with it's 96 cubic inch engine ( about double the Guzzis displacement) Nigel

I know Moto Guzzis are heavy. I don't think this is any great disadvantage. How much does the Moto Guzzi engine and transmission unit weigh? I think that may be where most of the weight is. It must weigh over 200 lbs maybe 250? Please post the weight if you know it. What about the wieght of the spine frame. It must not weigh more than about 20 lbs? A Ducati ST2 owner sat on my V11 last week and said it felt lighter than his Duc. I am sure it isn't, but maybe the weight is a bit lower. Nigel

Is there any way that, while the forks are apart, a hole could be drilled and tapped for a plug near the bottom of each leg, so that the next time it is time to change the fork oil, all you have to do is take out the plug and pump the forks up and down a few times. That is the way all motorcycles used to work. Changing the fork oil was about a half hour job. Or is there a way to suck the oil out from the top? Nigel

I am a new V11 Lemans owner and I have been brousing this forum often, and enjoying it very much. One thing I don't understand about this thread is what does this sensor in the head control? I think there is also an air temperature sensor, isn't there? Would it not be the case that the cylinder head temperature sender would control only the warm up. And the mixture control after a certain temperature had been reached would then be controled by the air temperature sender? I notice that my bike idles fast until it has been warmed up for about two minutes. It is clearly running very rich during this time, it makes black smoke when you rev the engine. Once the bike is warmed up for a very short time the idle speed suddenly slows down. It is like a swich is being turned. I think this is the head temp sender causing this. Obviously if this sender is not working, it will cause big problems, but does the exact temperature of it's operation really make all that much difference? Nigel

I just sold a 78 Darmah 900 that I had owned for over 20 years and bought an 04 Lemans. I think the V11 is really the perfect replacement for someone who was very used to an old Duc. There is still something that I miss about the Duc though. It seemed almost as fast as the Lemans and it always felt like it was going slower than it was.

I have just bought a 2004 Lemans. I have been enjoying reading this forum since I have only been able to ride 200 Km so far becasue of snow. What I need to know that I haven't been able to find out from all of this information about the Roper plate is whether or not I need one. Do the 2004 bikes require this or did Moto Guzzi change something in the engine so that this mod would be of no benifit? I also have a 1980 MKII Lemans. I am selling my Ducati Darmah 900ss, to make room in the Garage for the New Lemans. Mostly I have always ridden old bikes. This is my first modern bike. The Moto Guzzi is still retro enought to appeal to me. I chose it over a Ducati ST which would have been my other choice becasue of the ruggedness and simplicity, of the Guzzi. Also after owning the 850 Lemans for a while I realize that light weight is over rated. The weight gives you stability and momentum, especially when it is low down like on a Guzzi. My wife calls this new bike the Porco Rosso. Nigel