Lucky Phil

From what I gather, the OEM oil pressure sender unit is not highly reliable. A basic mechanical gauge can be installed for not much more cost than a new sender. Then you will also know how much pressure you have under various conditions - such as whether the bike is getting oil-starved on hard acceleration or steep inclines. Some people just prefer gauges over warning lights - because gauges give you more warning. @JB - I have an external gauge that you borrow if you just want to test pressure and are not concerned about a full-time reading. Well I guess you may as well fit a Voltmeter, oil temp, and cylinder head temp gauges while your at it. Just to be sure to be sure. The one shown fitted in the photos above has to be in the silliest place ever. If your going to waste your time fitting one you may as well have it in a location where you don't have to look at your knees to read it. As for the reliability of the std switch well you can just replace it every 5 years or so and cover that if its such a worry. What is it with Guzzi riders and gauges.Oil pressure,oil temp, voltmeters.....where will it end. Ciao

Why in the world would you want to run an OPG? Ciao

Doing the rear brake pads on the V11 is easy thankfully. These Brembos are pretty nice to work on. Small though. I am amazed how they threw on such a small caliper on a 550lbs bike. Can't wait to get my Scura with the 4 piston caliper from a V11 Jackal. Should of had a 4 piston from the start. Who the hell uses the rear brake for slowing or stopping on a sports bike anyway. A four piston caliper would be a ridiculous overkill. Ciao

Just a small hammer. I only get it out so the Guzzi knows I'm serious and not to mess me about. Ciao

I'm 6'2'' with long legs and why anyone would want to fit lowered pegs (or worse still further forward) is beyond me. Here is my peg solution ( Ducati 1000ss pillion pegs off ebay) Ciao

So $294 and he didn't spend 5 min painting the needle while he had it apart because he wasn't told to!!! He wouldn't get my recommendation. Ciao

No the Guzzi system is flawed in that the regulator senses voltage off the light circuit and when the lights are turned on there is a voltage drop in the circuit that isn't reflected at the battery. The reg then thinks battery voltage is low and overcharges the battery. Lower draw LED's would minimize the effect but the solution is to either wire the headlight circuit or the reg directly off the battery. I went the former and included some relays in the system to remove the load from the handle bar switch assy. The problem with the reg wired directly from the battery is that its always "live" and will drain the battery over time. Ciao

Never fails to amaze me how easily people are impressed. Ciao

Wrong on both counts, perfectly adequate test using air, crack pressure is crack pressure at 60psi oil or air doesnt matter. If you were interested in the flow rate after it cracked then it would. No its a straight piston and spring,pump pressure one side crankcase pressure the other,so for all intents and purposes its spring preload that determines the crack pressure Ciao

Pressure information without RPM info is a little bit pointless. Ciao

Actually Roy there are 3 springs in the V11 shifter system if you include the detenting spring. For anyone interested I posted a writeup and pictures at wildguzzi on massaging the V11 shifter system. Here's the link. http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=80481.msg1268500#msg1268500 Ciao

Well, who's to say that the std pump isnt a "high flow" unit and although slightly smaller the aftermarket unit is also "high flow". The limiting factor for the flow rate of the std pump might be the restrictive inlet or delivery ports and the aftermarket unit addresses this. There is more than the size of the gears involved. It doesnt say "HIGHER flow" Just saying. Ciao

The oil pressure relief valve is there primarily to protect the system in cold weather starts. If its not present the oil pressure can go over 120psi and do things like pop the filter seal (Ducatis known for it occasionally even with the valve) and rupture the oil cooler if fitted. During normal operation with engine oil up to temp the OP valve will generally be closed even at high revs. So if you add hydraulic lifters and or oil squirtes for the pistons etc you will often need a larger capacity pump to maintain the same OP or as I said drive it faster by a ratio change. There are a lot of design variables here and the limiting factor can be oil pump inlet and or delivery size etc. The common mistake is to value pressure over flow. Ciao

Thanks for the info Roy. Ciao

Cant say, I hardly ever ride at night and when I do its always city/suburban stuff. Ciao

Ok so I ran a seperate fused hot wire to the headlight and a return earthed to the engine block along with the regulator earth as suggested by Kiwi-Roy. Made the reg earth to engine block heavy cable. All fitted up quite nicely so now the headlight switch is only low amperage relay control. Happy to say the headlight circuit voltage is now very stable with only 0.04V drop from battery to the reg sensing point with the headlights on or off and a maximum regulator output of 14.1 Volts with the original reg. Should be kinder to the battery. Thanks to all that helped. Ciao

If it runs well in at various tempriture and riding conditions then leave the std ECU in place. Ciao

There are some things that just require manning up and one of those is how you look when you mount the bike and pull away, especially from the pub. You need to suck it up on those occasions and look totally at ease. Again cycling nicks under the jeans/pants.....descrete and no sore ass. Ciao

Well I'll put your experiences in the "under review" file for future decisions. You may well be right and technology moves forward usually. Ciao

Manky for me just means horrible looking....probably wrong but there you go. The advantage of the cycling nicks is they give you padding and absorb sweat and dont ruin the look of the bike. I mean who wants to park up and enjoy a nice Coffee while looking at some revolting looking piece of furry skin draped across the seat totally ruining the look of the bike. Makes you look soft as well to all the non riders and will scare small children. Dont even go there. Ciao

Why dont you try a pair of Cycling "nicks" under your pants/jeans. You know those lycra tights that finish mid thigh and have a built in shamos gussett for padding and sweat absorbsion? They are the difference on a pushbike between agony and totally no issues after a 75klm ride. I've used them for a few years on the motorcycles also and they work just as well in that application, and no fugly woolly seat cover to get wet and manky. Ciao

I looked into these a few years ago and the general view was that they dont handle the vibration of a Guzzi too well, there are cold start issues in winter, they need a decent charging system and they are expensive. I have one in my Suzuki track bike and its fine but thats not exactly real world use. Ciao

So Roy, all this voltage drop is through the start and headlight relays,is that right? havent pulled the relays and bridged them (my 2000 model has both) to check,but if you say its so,I wont bother. I replaced both with new Bosch relays to make sure one or both didnt have dirty contacts but it seems the only proper solution is as you described or rewire 2 headlight relays into the system.There is an old thread about this tyhat had a neat job I recall. I have already ordered an ESR515 reg which is the same as the 510 but with standard wiring connections. I would prefer to have the reg isolated when the bike is not in use. The Guzzi wiring is such a dogs breakfast I would prefer not adding to the mess of it but I may have to bite the bullet. I note in the later bikes the start relay is only used for switching power to the headlight relay which is an improvement. Not sure how physically difficult an neat it would be to mod the older system like mine to update to this config. I guess the other advantage to the headlight relay solution is the reduced load on the headlight switch also. Ciao

So docc, just confirming the Omron Z2247-ND is the relay for the V11,is that the case? If so why do you recommend these, any particular reason? Ciao That's very courteous of you to ask. The actual OMRON (Sylvania?) part number is : G8HN-1C2T-R DC12 I don't believe this one is "sealed", but you can seal them running a bead of epoxy around the junction of the case and the base. I seem to recall that the sealed unit is no longer available. I've run the original Siemans, upgraded Siemans, Bosch, GEI, and OMRON in my Sport. I've never had relay failure, but have serviced several on the road in other V11. I've never run Tycos, and would advise anyone to change them to something else. The Bosch and GEI are good relays. Yet, I was compelled by the work Ryland3210 did on examining these relays: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12326&p=133211 Let's all realize, even with the best relays, if your V11 is stored with the relay contacts open, they may corrode. Storage in damp, salty, or subfreezing environs may aggravate the contact corrosion. Sealed OMRON are just the best available application. Some of the others are *bad* and some are *ok* - but the OMRON appear to be the very best. And for so little money, why not secure this known fail point on the V11? Very courteous of you to reply...thanks. I currently seem to have overcharging issues, but the relays arent the problem. Howerver I always like to run the best when I can especially when the cost is low. Ciao

How would that look? As in, how would we measure that overcharging effect? Its leaking fluid (water) a byproduct of the charging action I believe. Its normally contained within the case and reabsorbed but due to the overcharging its been venting then leaking onto the swingarm...not pretty as it contains some acid also. Checked my charging system and its producing around 14 volts until you turn the headlights on then it jumps to almost 15 volts. The battery doesnt like this obviously. Checked the voltage drop in the circuit at the regs voltage sense point and its 0.04Volts without the lights on and around 0.75volts when you turn the lights on. Replaced the "lights" and "start" relays just to see and no difference. Is this the dreaded light system/charging sense line voltage drop issue? Is my bike typical,or do I have a high resitance problem thats pulling the voltage down on that circuit? With the lights on the voltage drop across the battery (new) is only 0.02volts. BTW as i mentioned in a previous post a "sealed" battery only means sealed from adding fluid, they can still leak. If you remove the cover from the Oddessey PC545 it just has little rubber caps sealing the cells which are held down in place by the plastic cover(easy to remove). If you have an overcharging issue as I seem to then they can still make quite a mess. Ive ordered a new Electrosports ESR515 reg as the original is 15 years old and probably past its best but I think the voltage drop issue is the real problem. Ciao