[What do you call your V11S?...]

"Gråkråkan" (grey crow) in swedish, or "L'aquila griglia" in it's mother tongue.

[V11 Shift improvement]

Number 2 is even more important if the bloody pawl spring decided to die while in some gear. Which it usually does. I then typically forget which gear the mechanism should be in when I'm about to refit. It usually takes some searing, thinking, fiddling with the play in the forks, and switching gears in the mechanism before everything fits snugly.

 

After a quick check that you can switch gears and can easily find neutral (Two screws to hold the plate in place while testing) I remove it again before refitting with sealant.

[Looking for Veglia Borletti gauge spares]

Lots of technical tips, design ideas, and discussion of options on the Speedhut Gauges here:

 

http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19038&page=1

 

I think the Veglia were used on many other Moto Guzzis of the same era - so you may be able to find one from a different bike that will give you the parts you want.

and ducs for that matter. I fixed my broken speedo by moving needle and face to a unit from a 90's Ducati SS I found on ebay. They are identical inside.

[Italian grammar question]

Why does the Swedish woman sound half dressed and out of breath when she pronounces "öhlins?"

 

Don't know, but the pronounciation is just wrong anyway. I can't really write phonetic, but it should be pronounced

 

öli'ns

 

* ö is pronounced as the i in 'birth'

* the h is silent

* i is pronounced as ee in 'eel'

 

/Anders

[Can't tell left from right]

"Dis side" - ha aha haha ! That's some precious eye'talian'merican stuff!

 

From the latin "dexter" for right and "sinister" for left I believe ...

 

'destra' e 'sinistra' in italiano.

 

Saluti,

Anders

[New Gremlin: Tail and Dash lights?]

 

 

I tried to check out the instrument bulbs, but I can't get the dash apart. I got the 4 acorn nuts off, but it seems like I'd have to remove the odometer reset knob, and I can't figure out how to do that without forcing something.

 

 

 

To remove the odometer knob, unscrew it in the opposite direction compared to resetting the trip meter. I think it's left-threaded.

 

 

 

/Anders

[broken pawl spring]

Any tricks to reinstalling cover?

 

I had a hard time getting the cover back on the first time I had to replace my spring. I found that the easiest way to do it is to shift the gear selector into neutral then make sure that the shifter forks in the gearbox are in neutral. Neutral in the gearbox is when the the bronze(?) forks that slide from left to right in the gearbox are at the midpoint of their travel on their shafts.

 

 

Or, sit on the bike pushing it gently back and forth while adjusting the forks with your left hand. You will feel when it's in neutral. It might also be a good idea to make sure the cover goes into position before putting on the sealant on the rim.

 

/Anders

[!Update 10/15/11! Shifting still bad .Almost killed me !]

The neutral light perplexes me also.It never had a problem before I took the cover off,and has the same symptoms as you since.Something must be slightly miss-aligned.

 

If you aren't careful when assembling the gear change mechanism, I found it pretty easy to missalign the two wheels one cog offset which I guess will deteriorate shifting as well as the neutral light. It's easy to check though by rotating the mechanism to the end points (1st and 6th gears) and make sure the two wheels are correctly aligned. If neutral light goes on somewhere else but in neutral this could be a reason, but if neutral light lights up in several different gear positions I'd go for an electrical fault since there's exactly one position of the lower wheel that will engage the neutral switch.

 

/Anders

[!Update 10/15/11! Shifting still bad .Almost killed me !]

Michael - I took the cover off one more time and changed the pawl spring. It was not broken. Changed it anyway. Same problems - Missed shifts, false neutrals, neutral light coming on when in gear. I have been told by a mechanic that probably cleaning clutch spline would help. Big job. In any case, I believe it is a clutch issue. I have also been told that you have to be positive when shifting, but i don't think this V11, while older (30,000 miles) should shift like an Ambassador. It used to shift better than most Ducs. Been riding my Multi and enjoying it . alas

 

After having just been in there replacing a broken spring, I'd say that at least the neutral light can't possibly have anything to do with the clutch condition. There's a small switch screwed to teh gearbox cover acting against the lower gear change wheel. That wheel has got a small cavity just in the neutral position which changes the mode of the neutral switch. I'd guess that you have electrical problems somewhere from (including) the switch up to the light bulb housing.

 

About the actual shifting problems I guess there are many possible causes. On my bike 4th gear takes some force to engage when coming from 2nd -> 3rd -> 4th. Going down 4th -> 3rd -> 2nd the lever doesn't hook to the gear change wheel, but by pressing down and then release the lever it makes contact with the gear change wheel and I can engage 2nd gear. Works quite well for me now that I've learned how to, but I'll reserve some quality time with the adjustment nut and try to make it better.

 

/Anders

[Suggestions for replacement speedo?]

If your speedo (that is, the needle) is jumpy, I'd suggest you take a look at the speedo cable and the two angled gears first before scrapping a working speedo. The plastic angle gears are prone to brake and the typical symptom before breaking completely is jumpy behavior. My speedo was jumpy when I bought the bike, and then stopped working at all, with a little help from me not mounting the angle gear correctly on the speedo, when the angled gear on the engine sheared. Ordered a new one and now it's working.

 

BTW, the reason I was fiddling with it was that my kilometer counter had stopped rotating, while trip continued to function. Reason was some missing teeth on a plastic gear inside. Found a cheap used Veglia Borletti from an old Ducati SS on german ebay which from pictured looked identical to the MG one (except for graphics). It was identical, so I just adjusted the kilometer counter, mounted the MG graphics and needle, and remounted the ducati speedo in the MG housing (which was slightly different). Works as a charm now.

 

/Anders

[speedo needle wobble]

My Odometer was showing just over 74,000 when it quit on Wednesday, the speedo is still working but by the way it gives a flick now and then I suspect the needle pivot bearing is on it's way out. From the various angle drive bits that came with the bike I suspect it's always been a problem, what a piece of junk these Veglias are, perhaps we need to be looking for an electronic replacement, do away with the cable at the same time. It would be nice to retain the same analog display and round shape though.

 

Mine had the same symptoms. When dissecting the speedo (dremel uzw) I found that the odometer number wheel missed a few (2) teeth on its cog.

 

With a little luck I found a used Veglia, albeit from a Ducati but looks identical except for graphics, at a good price on ebay. The lower angle drive is also broken but I plan to order a new one (made out of gold?) so that I can spend some quality time with l'aquila when I get back from vacation in three weeks. Haven't decided if I'll use the Duc speedo (changing the graphics and adjusting the mileage) or if I'll just pick the odometer wheel from it.

 

/Anders