Lucky Phil

All my MV's were the early round pipe bikes with the TIG welded frames. They are absolutely beautiful engineering and go pretty well. Mine were kept in my lounge room and when I was single every woman I brought home was shocked to see a bike in a lounge room. After their first encounter though they all then completely accepted it as part of the furniture. Still wish I had my 1000 but I'm still friendly with the woman that bought it off me about 10 years ago and she still has it. I owned 3 triumphs in the past,one of the original Speed Triples and 2 of the later aluminium framed Daytona's. The ST was a pretty basic,weighty and top heavy old bus but ok. Both Daytonas were of a quality that in the end I wasn't willing to accept considering they cost more than the equivalent Honda at the time. Honda are my benchmark for mass produced motorcycle quality. I got to know Triumph pretty well from a technical aspect back then as I also knew people that were racing them and preparing them for racing and I wasn't that impressed. Having said all that it was OMG 20 years ago now that I count back and from what I can gather the the current triples are very good things. The current Moto2 engines are basically a bored out and hotted up version of the 675 triple. ciao

Sorry Scud, none whatsoever. What issues do they have? Ciao

Brilliant Paul thanks for that the image is perfect for comparison. I havent actually looked at the left side differences I've only looked at the right. Any chance you could take an image of the right side of the centy airbox from the same perspective? Ciao

Ok thats odd as my parts books show different numbers between the models. Maybe they changed over the years or i'm missing something. I'm in a semi rural area to the NE of the city ( Melbourne) and so far the fires have not been an issue. NSW and the Sydney surrounds have been hit the worst with fires just about everywhere. The last 2 days here at home have been in the low 40's C with gusty hot northerly winds. Its like living in an oven but thankfully no fires. Hopefully its a bit more relaxing for your daughter in Argentina. Better here in Melbourne for weather in the late spring and Autumn I think. Ciao

I've owned 3 MV F4's, 2 750's and a 1000. Such a work of art and one of the few bikes that look better with the bodywork off than on. Well to an engineering type that is. TIG welded frame( newer are now MIG welded unfortunately) and even the smallest unseen bracket is designed with form and beauty in mind. The only issue with them is that they are a bit susceptible to frame damage on the cylinder head mount where it wraps around head in a low side crash and the cost and availability of parts. Early models also ran very hot especially in traffic to the point of overheating but the unfaired street fighter versions seemed to be ok in that respect.Oh the riding position is quite extreme as well for the road. Ciao

Thanks for that info Paul, I'm working a lot by scaling dimensions of internet images as I dont have all the various parts in my hand. The part numbers for the airbox rubbers is different between the centy and the V11 and the diameter of the centy inlet trumpets is 9.5mm larger than the V11. I tried fitting the V11 rubbers over the centy trumpets and you can stretch them to fit but I think they are just too tight to work when fitted to the box. I have a pair of new centy rubbers coming so that should be ok. You may be able to lift the airbox a fraction if the holes are only 3mm difference as you say but you cant lift the airbox very much as the rear end of the side covers will then interfere with the tail unit. Without the side covers fitted you could probably space the airbox up quite a bit. I have fitted the trumpets in the airbox without the rubbers and then tried to connect it to the throttle body and it seems to be a long way out. As I said it appears to be around 10mm too low but I havent started opening the hole in the airbox as I wanted to make sure I had covered all the possibilities before I started hacking away at the box. Thought I might be missing an obvious solution by just swapping out parts. Thanks for providing me the info and if you can think of anything else or find out anymore from your contacts in the future I'd appreciate it. The purpose of me posting this is to share the process and solutions for others to maybe of use in the future. I was using this image of the centy airbox to scale the openings. Ciao

Yes the DS is a nice bike and I've used it a few times at Phillip Island as well as the tighter Broardford. I've done a few mods to it as well. Its a nice ride and a favourite of mine although they are a bit over geared. Ciao

I totally forgot about the engine offset effect on the airbox position in the frame, thanks for that info. The 10mm misalignment is the vertical alignment not the horizontal. So as far as I can see with the centy engine in the frame with the centy inlet trumpets and the V11 airbox fitted the airbox trumpet holes are going to need to be raised around 10mm. The V11 airbox holes are also a little smaller than the centy airbox holes due to the centy trumpets being larger in diameter than the V11. So the airbox holes need to be 10mm higher and around 5mm larger in diameter with the engine fitted with centy inlet manifolds(alloy manifolds bolted to the head) centy throttle bodies and centy plastic inlet trumpets. If there is some other combination of inlet manifolds and or trumpets that will mean I dont need to raise the holes in the V11 airbox it would be great to know. Opening up the airbox holes diameter by 5mm is easy but also raising them 10mm is tricky and will require plastic welding. Here's an image of the installation Paul to give you a better understanding of the issue. I've cut a paper disk the size and position of the hole required to be in the V11 airbox to mate with the Centy throttle bodies and plastic inlet trumpets and taped it to the V11 airbox. Note the area that will need to be filled with palstic weld from the 3 to 7 oclock position. As far as I can see anyway unless you have info from the others you know that have done the conversion? It seems some of the 4v/2v conversions also went with pod filters. Not all, but some I have images of. The ones that didnt my images dont have enough resolution to pick the details. Ciao

Yes thats me, my primary track bike is a GSXR1000 K7 (2007) I use that for Phillip Island and secondary Island bike is a Ducati 1198. My 2003 Ducati 1000DS at the small and tight Broardford track. The Suzuki and the 1198 would be too much bike there. My advice is to go for a second hand Japanese 600 thats had cosmetic crash damage and fit it up with race glass, good tires and a muffler. It will be a way faster track bike than you are a rider and will take a beating with almost zero maintenance. The very last thing you want to be dealing with on a track day is doing any type of mechanical work on the bike. At most some basic suspension adjustments. You want to be totally focused on the riding and enjoying the day not the bike and the best way to do that is with a Japanese bike, plus you wont be crying if you crash it. No emotional attachment,its just a tool. Just like a pro racer:) Ciao

I can recommend Harpers even for someone living on the other side of the world. Ciao

Yes Paul I have the Centy trumpets. I wouldnt mind trying a Centy airbox to see if it fits. I'm sure I could just use Ducati style well nuts to secure the side covers. I've got a few images of this V11 conversion and the airbox and trumpets look quite neat but I'm just not sure which way they have gone, modified V11 box or a centy box with mounts for the side covers which I do want to retain. I'm also not sure if the Daytona inlet trumpets are a different shape to the Centy ones and whether or not this would make using the V11 airbox easier. The part numbers are different. Funnily enough the Centy and the MGS-01 trumpets are the same part number. The MGS,Daytona and the Centy all have different numbers for the inlet manifolds but this may be due to the different colours,not sure. Any enlightenment would be appreciated. Ciao

Some of it has to do with "brand placement" you know that perception strategy that your brand is funky,sexy,classy,urbane or whatever the "creatives" in the marketing department think it needs to be. They dictate what your shop layout and look needs to be etc and the demographic you're aiming at and if you dont comply they ditch you no matter how good your history as a brand representative has been . Sorry you're just not part of our overall brand strategy going forward kind of bullshit. Dont get me started, opps I already have,sorry. Ciao

Yes its often more about the length of exposure time. I once had an engine that cracked a cylinder head through the cam feed oil gallery in the head and into the water jacket. Contaminated the cooling system with quite a lot of oil. A friend said to use sugar soap which is a liquid soap you mix with water to was down walls prior to painting. Worked perfectly and after a few brief stationary short runs of the engine and dumping and repeating the system was perfectly clean. I mentioned this to someone else though that pointed out that sugar soap had a component in it that rubber seals might not like which was fair enough but the exposure time was so short it never was an issue. Even if it had been the worst thing that was likely was a few new hoses and a water pump seal. I have no idea how I would have cleaned the system otherwise. Ciao

Good to know Chuck. Of course you could always just pull it apart and clean it out. What else are you going to do with you're life thats more interesting than working on a Guzzi:) Of course the concept that many times this error has been made is a bit worrying. How many people out there think a gearbox fill point is sealed by a simple rubber plug you can pull off with your finger nail. Ciao

What about the front subframe and gearbox mounts? Ones a six speeder and ones a five. The front subfame at the very least is different as the engine offset difference between the 5 and six speeds is 10mm. You will need a V11 front subframe or cut and weld the sport one and when Paul Minnaert did his Daytona 6 speed conversion I seem to remember a lot of rear frame modifications. Ciao

If you invest in a Wilbers rear shock they will tailor the damping and spring to your specific weight and riding style and you can also adjust the ride height depending on the spec you choose. Some other brands can be done as well if you buy from a suspension specialist. I wouldn't bother messing around with the stock rear Sachs unit considering the propensity for the eye end to fail. Not worth even spending the money on a spring and fitting for. By the time you've bought the spring and paid someone to fit it you'll be 1/3 the way to a brand new quality rear shock anyway. Ciao

Hmm, depending on how much 2 bottles is and where the level in the clutch housing came up too I'm not sure exposing the rear main and gearbox input seal to mineral spirits is totally without risk. Add to that washing lube off the gearbox input splines and I just dont know. Time will tell I guess and add to the accumulated knowledge here. I had the flap drive system apart on an Airbus A300 years ago and cleaned up one of the rubber boots that covered one of the drive shaft universal joints in some jet fuel ( basically refined kerosene) and was the horrified to see it had destroyed the boot. I've always been cautious with solvents on rubber products since. Ciao

Bikes are so cheap in the US, I cant believe it. Ciao

Well you could try tightening the clamp but its usually the hose thats split. As far as easy peasy goes I find them a total PITA to replace. Lots of wiring,cables, ignition coils etc to get around. Ciao

I've done quite a few klms around southern Germany and the problem was always focusing on the road as the scenery was so magnificent. Ran into the back of a Carabinieri in Italy for much the same reason once. Ciao

Great quality video, images and sound perfect. Well done you. Ciao