Chuck

It will help me, I will wait, thanks. Here's a quick sketch, but you can make one from it. It's formed from 4mm piano wire. (spring wire) Dimensions are in inches because all my measuring tools are inches..

Welcome. I'm not sure what you are saying here.. The V11 *can* be made to be faster than your Mk.III by applying money. First, though, I'd just do a good tuneup including balancing the throttle bodies and setting the TPS and see what I had.

Thanks for the info, Docc..

I will make a sketch, take a picture and post it, but it might take a couple of days. I have guests right now.

I'd pitch in some money if someone else will research the customs thing.

I had this very same problem with the Norge, after 2 days of running in the rain in Nova Scotia, and of course, very light braking. Checked them with a dial indicator, and they were only running out .002" Went out and did a couple of stoppies and all was well. It's just pad buildup. On a related note, I put a second rotor on a Jackal back in the day. Bought a "warped" rotor from a Ducati hot shot that just had to have the latest thing. Bead blasted the crap out of it, put on new pads, bedded them in, and it worked perfectly. I've done the same thing to airplane brakes that are pulsing. Pretty darn rare to actually have a warped rotor..

Agreed on all points. Beautiful bike, Onibaka.

No issues with Rosie, and she was abused before I rescued her.. Oh, forgot. The original speedo died. "What is likely to bite me if I find a decent example?" The Guzzi bug.

I run the 80 wt.. http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/category/MotorcycleGearOil

I always do that. It apparently didn't get that last little bit of air out.

I would just like to add to this. I'd been having problems getting *all* the air out of Rosie's rear brake, even bleeding it with the nipple vertical. I had a good pedal, but when I was servicing her before a trip, I noticed the plastic cover on the caliper partially melted. When I bought this bike the rotor was warped big time, and the brake pads were gone. I certainly didn't want this to happen again, so put everything new on it. Obviously, I hadn't bled it well enough, but couldn't get any more air out of it. So... I hung a 20 lb machine vise from the brake lever over night. That did it. I've checked the rear caliper for heat several times now, and it is cold.

Ya know.. you can actually buy metric sockets. Just sayin. 32's a big un, though.. seems like the one on the alternator is more like a 17 or 19. Can't remember, I'm old.. At any rate, when I need a big one that I don't have, I just break down and cough cough buy it.

You said yourself that your Breva got 45-50 so its not an issue of FI versus carb. The issue is whether the bike is properly setup and that goes for the FI too. Agreed. The Mighty Scura (head work, cam, etc.) will get low 40s if ridden sanely. It is capable of getting mid 30s in colder temps and lots of throttle usage. My RC gets high 30s to low 40s, and runs so well I haven't even tried to tune it. I know it *can* get better mileage than that. Both have PCs and custom maps. There's no reason you can't get better mileage if you want to work at it a little. Now.. my Strada with 36mm pumpers was getting a little over 50. It was too lean, all you had to do was look at the plugs. I re jetted, and now it gets low to mid 40s, which as far as I'm concerned is what a big block Guzzi should get..runs much better in the mid range, too.

that seems like it might be hard.. I take off the alternator cover and turn motor w/a (32?)mm socket. CCW when looked at from front. Normal rotation is CW.. right?

I just replaced Rosie's oem Spark 500 (preemptive strike)with an Odyssey. It was still doing the job, but getting tired. I got the Odyssey from Amazon for around 115 bux shipped.

Actually, a low-mileage Centauro is likely to be more or less "unmolested," which explains the low mileage per your observation above about how poorly they ran stock. I have memories of an unrelenting series of complaints from an original owner back in the late 90s. He gave up on it after a couple of years; this was before options like a PCIII or Cliff's MyECU became available; I'm sure he wishes he had it back now. The secret is pretty much punting the original P11? ecu and fitting up something modern that can be tinkered with: even the last reflashed eprom by [whassname, his chips were the only ones that came close to getting the Centauros running right] is just a bodge compared to fitting a better ECU, from reports. Best use for a Centauro I can imagine is dumping the execrable body work on ebay & using the funds to buy Airtech Sporti plastic to make up an ersatz Daytona RS. I've only heard of one person doing this, but they were rapturously happy in the end because they didn't have the too tall 1st gear from the Daytona close ratio gearbox, which wasted on that torque monster of a motor anyway... Still love the brutish good looks of the HiCam motor, even if the Nuovo HiCam that Piaggio is putting out now is a much better engineered donk... I have to respectfully disagree. Mine ran beautifully after many mods which included the Creedon chip on the stock computer and a power commander. I put 42K miles on it before selling it. The two owners since then love the way it runs. I also had a friend's Karsten chipped stock computer bike running very well until he got the V11 sport hots.. so, if I can do it, any one can do it. Certainly, the Nuovo HiCam is better engineered.. the original was kind of a lash up for Dr. John's race bike. And, you're right. The transmission gear ratios are perfect on the Centauro. As far as I'm concerned, getting it to run right is the least of the problems on the engine. The aluminum timing gears and the unbushed oil pump gear, all fixable with a liberal application of money.. are the big problem with them. Not to mention some of the top end parts are unobtainium and it's an interference engine. If I had that red one on Ebay, the first thing I would do is tear it down and fix stuff. Is it worth having?? Yep.

I'll give it a service soon. And let's not forget, this figure is mainly town, and we're speaking rushours and traffic jam here... I'll say again.. that's ridiculously low mileage. Something's wrong. If I wasn't getting mid 30s in your conditions I'd be finding out why..

I was at the Kentucky rally this weekend, and saw a VDO electronic speedo in a modified bike. He was using magnets off the rear rotor to trigger it.

Rosie is doing very well, thank you. She just returned from the Kentucky rally where she was the class of the gaggle. Well, at least I think so.. That Centauro on Ebay is a *really* nice one.. but.. there are things you should know about Centauros if you are planning on putting miles on them. As I said, join the COG, listen and learn. Good examples are slowly going up in value, if that floats your boat.

Ok, in the US, there were the superior Anthracite/Grey, Anthracite/yellow, Maroon/silver, British racing green with white stripes, and Red with white stripes. The green and red were only offered with sport plastic. The others were offered with sport or GT livery. Or maybe neither. My anthracite "GT" came with the GT seat, luggage rack and sport plastic.. Those crazy eye talians.. Low mileage unmolested? Good luck with that. Not to mention that they *barely ran* when stock. It's a really long story. Sign up with the Centauro Owners Group and ask away. Just MHO, but if you're looking for an investment, and you seem to be by what you've been looking for, I'd go for a Daytona.

Well, obviously *something* is wrong. Most people have been reporting somewhere between 35 and 42 mpg US. My son's 8 valve gets high 30s to low 40s..

I am the second owner, first owner had it for 1200KM it came that way, I kind of like them so I have no intention of putting them them back in black I think they look good, too.. just wondered because I've never seen a RC with anything but the dark grey wheels. Ahh, those Italians.. I had a Centauro GT that came with the Sport plastic and the GT tailpiece and seat..

I personally think this falls into the picking the fly sh*t out of the pepper area.. I doubt that these ditch pumps notice a miniscule difference in back pressure from one cylinder to the other. Of course, YMMV, and I've been wrong before.