Lucky Phil

I want a TIG welder. Can someone buy one for me for Christmas:) A really, really good one, lol. Are you listening Santa? Ciao

It's about increasing the area under the foot not the overall length of the stand. Ciao

It has a piece of string tied to it and looped over the l/h bar grip. Get on the bike, retract the sidestand and pull up the string wrap it around the stand plate and put it in your jacket. That's what I'd do. Just off to patent that now. Ciao

There're marketing people not Historians, lol. Ciao

Not quite, she's a bit older these days:) I met Barry about 30 years ago. We were racing at PI and he was staying at the same Motel. Ciao

Barry Sheene helmet and leathers and boots. Ciao

Try leaving the throttle alone and applying the cold idle lever instead before you hit the button. How much you ask? Depends how it's adjusted as they tend to have a fair amount of "dead band" if adjusted properly. Move the lever while looking at the mechanism on the r/h throttle body until it starts moving the throttle shaft to get an idea of the size of the dead band then give it a little bit more for a cold start and crank it and don't mess with the throttle. When it fires it will probably go straight to 2000rpm or so and you can then slowly back it off to a high idle of 16-1800 rpm for a minute and then off and use the throttle. I think playing with the throttle at low cranking speeds isn't the optimal scenario for the ecu trying to apply the correct injector timing duration. Ciao

Yes. Actuating the fast idle lever is the same as cracking the throttle it's basically a hand throttle or variable throttle stop. The engine ecu has a "cranking enrichment map" to add extra fuel for a pre determined amount of engine revolutions at start up. In the case of the V11 it is for 4000 engine revolutions and is at maximum "richness" from the first revolution of the engine tapering down to zero enrichment until 4000 revolutions have been done. This map is adjustable and one I modified on my bike to assist starting which was initially very hard with the 2 valve start enrichment map percentages. It is also active no matter what the engine temp is so even works with a hot engine. This is why when adjusting the CO level you need to start the engine and wait for around 3-4 min before any CO adjustment can be assessed by engine idling. In addition there is also the enrichment determined by the engine and OAT temp sensors which are added to the base map along with the Cranking map. At extremely low temps all this adds up to around 200% extra fuel at the initial hit of the button. This is also why your tank range is reduced quite noticeably with a lot of cold start cycles esp in cold weather. Add to this the TPS adjustment accuracy, wear in the throttle shafts and, how the air bleeds are set and valve clearances etc and it's a wonder they start at all, lol. They all start differently but in my experience all need a little throttle when cold. There is a big difference also between manual throttle manipulation and using the fast idle lever and using the twist grip. My bike starts very well using the fast idle lever before you hit the button but not as well if you try and manipulate the throttle by hand. The difference is quite distinct. Ciao

Welcome aboard docc. Brothers for different reason but still brothers Ciao

Yea I've had a few but they were Italian frame builders so the guarantee was an Italian one. A bespoke frame you'll aim to get it spot on of course but the reality of mass production is another matter. Even Casey Stoner liked the carbon box framed Ducati MotoGP bike better than the trellis framed bikes because he said every trellis bike felt different due to manufacturing variability. I'm no Casey Stoner. Ciao

Is anybody actually in touch with reality these days? Even old duffers are under the spell of marketing spin it seems. Am I the only person that looks at a video like this and thinks "for goodness sake you haven't even ridden one yet" How can anyone get so excited and rave about something when they haven't even thrown a leg over one? It's a big leap from the bike show stand to the production reality and everyday reliability and usability. As for a 90hp 650 single, well not saying it's impossible, but would it be rideable? Ciao

To add to that, the vertical alignment of the wheel is more important then the track within reason. If your chasing a mm or 2 track alignment on a road bike you're insane. Most alignment issues are either a design compromise or manufacturing tolerances unless the bikes been crashed badly. There is a limit to how much you can use spoke wheel offset and hub shimming to correct track misalignment and it would be my view that any slight alterations you could achieve within the sensible range of that wouldn't be worth the effort. Ciao

All true docc but what's the level of maximum misalignment from the pins? a few mm at most. Reading about the the prototype Magni Australia Guzzi's that ran 30mm offset to clear the drive shaft. They later built an aluminium swingarm to get it back to 15mm. My point here is you wont feel or notice a few mm anyway and if your V11 is miles out was it that way from the factory. Some bikes come from the factory with misalignment. I spoke to a a racer that raced a CBR600 Honda back in the late 90's and they came from the factory with 20mm misalignment std. They were all the same. He was an ex factory Honda rider BTW. Did you measure your bikes alignment as dead true with a lazer aligner? I'd be amazed if you lazer aligned 10 new Guzzi V11's and found 1 that was dead true. Both my BMW K100RS's from the mid 80's were misaligned from the factory. Nothing you could do about it. Ciao

Because on an uncrashed shaft drive bike there's nothing you can do about it except live with it unless you want to strip it down and take it to a frame aligner. Which then beggars the question, how much misalignment can you live with or find acceptable? If you know a shaft drive bike hasn't been down the road in a serious way some things are better not to know. Ciao

So whats the plan when you find it's out of alignment? Ciao

Surprising! They don't often leak from here either. Ciao

Yes, for most stuff unless you're desperate. Ciao

He lives in Scotland, lol, so he's got real engine heat related problems. If he was riding it in Perth or a Melbourne summer it would be a molten pool of aluminium in a side street somewhere. Sorry John:) Ciao

I'd be surprised if the original wasn't a double lipped seal. A double lipped seal doesn't seal oil any better than a single lipped seal. The secondary lip is only a dust excluder and in the main doesn't contact the running surface. What is important with these seals in the bevel box, gearbox and engine is to use either OEM seals or a unidirectional seal not universal seals from a bearing shop. As with automotive seals like crank and camshaft seals on automotive engines that are difficult to access these seals are of the unidirectional type. The bearing shop seals are usually bidirectional or universal seals. It makes a difference in the long term. I believe I've covered this topic before a while back. Ciao

Finally managed to source some Ti 10mm button heads in grade 5 for a reasonable cost. Ciao

Yes it's called a hammer and drift. It doesn't need to be too tight. Ciao

Here's some oil pressure info for you with a video that might be of interest to you John. Also on COG Ciao https://www.guzzi-forum.de/Forum/index.php?topic=55424.msg812499#new

Well you certainly have the 278mm correct docc for the std shock. My bike must also be a "crossover bike" then as well. Ciao