RichMaund
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Posts posted by RichMaund
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When my V11S was new I remember getting 30 mpg on the first tankful. That was a mix of city riding here in the flatlands with short bursts on the hiway.
The bike continues to run better and better as I pile the miles up. I consistently get 43 mpg loaded on the freeway at speed on trips. 6th gear and cruising at 80-90 mph. Funny thing is that if I slow down or run below the sweet spot at 5k rpm, the gas mileage drops! Love those italian bikes! They love to run!
Around town in a mix of riding, I get a pretty consistent 33 mpg.
My absolute low mileage was this summer living in Pittsburgh. All those short runs around town in the steep hills killed the mileage. I got only 25 mpg on a couple of the tankfuls!
But on the other hand (You have different fingers! 
) the bike proved to be a terric urban assault bike. It handled tight traffic and the twisty roads and bad pavement better than any bike I have owned. It was alot of fun to ride while I up there.Guzzi's are notorious for being tight when new. I have found this to be true on my personal bikes. As long as it runs well, no worries! Just ride it more and it'll get better each time!
BTW; I'm wrapping up my 9000 mile service tomorrow with a valve check and fresh balancing with a Twin Max synchronizer. 'Can't wait to take it out when I finish it!
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The electric petcock on my 2000 V11S began weeping a few months after I bought it. The solonoid screws into the valve body with nothing to seal it. Just sloppy class two threads. It weeped gas. Not enough to drip. Just enough to give me a whiff of gas sometimes while I was in the shop. The fuel that weeped out deteriorated the insulation on the wires for the solonoid exposing them. With those wires so close to the metal solonoid body and gas fumes around them, it was a recipe for a typical Guzzi maintenance disaster.
I called my Dealer (Winchester Motosports) and described the situation. I didn't know that the owner there had once suffered a garage fire. To say he took this seriously would be putting it mildly. :-) In less than a week he got and shipped to me a new style petcock used on the 2002 bikes. The screw to shut type. Great service there! Easy fix. Mine doesn't dribble. Reading that here was news to me. The Dealer told me that the new petcock was a "improved" model and said the official company line was that nothing was wrong with the electric ones. The company simply improved it. ;-)
Now the real problem!! How do we put that "dead" half gallon of fuel in the right side of the tank to work for us? It cannot be sucked into the fuel pump and effectively reduces the tank capacity to only 5 gallons.
I have envisioned a milled steel block with a spigot and inline valve to layer under the fuel pressure regulator. Put it between the regulator and the tank. There is just room for such a device. Plumb it in with a "T" to the fuel pump suction line. Then we would have a true 5.5 gallon tank. We'd be effectively doubling the capacity of the "reserve". Mine will travel about 15-20 miles after the low fuel light is on solid. 30-40 miles would be nicer.
I plan to look at this as a winter project. I have the machine tools. If it works and is economical to produce I may offer some up as a retrofit kit. It wouldn't be difficult to install.
Anyone else entertain thoughts on this? I'd love to hear it.
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Folks
I have read a number of letters in different places about premature rear brake wear on the V11S type bikes. Mine has always had a slight "wup......wup" sound at slow parking lot speeds. But the rotor wasn't warped and the brake functioned well enough. Not strong. But OK. No signs of overheating and melting anything either. So I never gave it any more thought.
Last week with 8K miles on the bike I tore into it for some preventive maintenance. I flushed all the hydraulic systems and tore down the rear drive to grease everything. Actually a much easier job here than on a Tonti framed bike. :-)
I found one rear wheel bearing felt notchy. That was depressing, but I was happy to have found it before it completely failed. The local bearing shop sold me two bearings the next morning for under $17 to replace them. Smooth as silk now. The real surprise was finding the rear brake pads worn to under 1/16" thickness!
Here's how I believe the problem came about.
The rear caliper mounts upside down. So the vent for it is on the bottom. Air bubbles float up right? When I bled it, I did so by removing it and placing it upright to get a good bleed on it. I did find some air trapped in it. Any chance the factory bled the system with the caliper installed so that the vent was on the bottom when they vented it? I think so. Sheesh! If air was trapped in the caliper, it would be warmed by the hot brake pads/pucks and expand as I rode the bike, thus making the brake drag a bit. Remember I mentioned mine made a "whup whup" sound at low speeds? Apparently it was dragging a bit ALL the time. I just couldn't hear or feel it.
I did check to see that the pucks moved inward smoothly as I pumped up the rear brake. No problems there. No binding. After reassembly the unit worked very smoothly. NO dragging and no more noises. May be my imagination, but the rear brake has better feel and power to it as well. 100 miles later now and it continues to work quietly. No more dragging noises. I believe the air in the caliper was the problem.
It's very simple to remove, flip right side up and bleed the rear brakes on these bikes. I recommend you try that if you have noises similar to what I have experienced. It could get really expensive if you wear the brakes down to bare metal.
Joe Eish got me a new set of rear brake pads in today. (God bless Joe!) I'll install those tomorrow before we ride up for the MD Rally in Hagerstown this weekend. Hope to see some of you there!
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They are $30 each plus shipping. They are made from thick upholstery grade leather. So the outside has been factory treated for moisture resistance. I use heavy #138 black poly sail makers thread and double stitch them all around. Up top at the flap it is gone over three times. The hardware is all chrome over brass marine grade.
I like to spray Ballistol on the inside before I store my tools in it. Helps prevent rust. Amsoil MP works for this too.
A good friend of mine, now passed away, used to make tool rolls and pouches from duck canvas for his friends here in our Guzzi Club. The duck material frays easily from rubbing when stored in a bike and absorbs moisture too. Keep it treated with something! We used to joke that you knew you were "somebody" in the Club if you'd been given one of Norm's tool rolls! He was a great old guy and I miss him. I still use the big ugly frayed blue tool roll he made for me back in 1993. Many good memories in it. He's actually the one who got me into sewing seat covers. He even gave me a machine and said to practice on other peoples stuff. Then, when I got good, he wanted me to cover a seat for him! If I did that, I could have the machine. What a character he was! I made some neat stuff with that old Singer. But it would only handle three layers of vinyl before dropping stitches. That really limits what you can make. Back in 1996 when I went pro I bought a professional model Consew. (20 layers of nauga or a 1/4" of belt leather were now no problem to sew!) When I decided to go full time 4 years ago I moved up to a even better Juki machine with large bobbin and reverse. You wouldn't believe the tooling I have now! My shop qualifies as a light manufacturing facility! But it's the upholstery we do for customers. The machining, welding and other stuff is just for me and my son to play with. Have you seen the rack on my V11S? That was one of many projects like that we have done for ourselves. Great "quality time" with my son!
Rich's Custom Upholstery is on the opposite end of the country from me. Back when the gel product was invented the first company to market it mistakenly sent shipments (Large shipments!) of product meant for them to me. Stupid morons actually crossed out the correct address and wrote mine in.
Then I'd have to call them up and tell tell them to get them the stuff out of here or I'd charge them storage. I always wondered what Rich's in Wa. thought of that problem. But no, I am not affiliated with them in any way. I am a sole propriatorship and operate out of a large home shop behind my house here in Chesapeake, Va. 'Been in business professionally since 1996!I have the bone colored leather pouch here ready to ship. Let me know if you'd like it. Thanks!
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You will see many problems here because forums like these are where people bring their problems to be solved. That needs to be kept in perspective. I have owned 12 Guzzi's over the years. And 12 other bikes of Japanese or Soviet origin. My Honda's have been the most reliable. But they also bored me. Each one was sold because I lost interest in the bike. My Kawasaki's and Yamaha's were great fun and on a par with Guzzi in reliability. Meaning that some stupid stuff occassionally occured that you never see on a Honda. But none of it ever left me stranded. The Guzzi's are almost the most easy to service bikes I have ever owned. Only my Ural and Dnepr were easier to work on. The have proven themselves to be way overbuilt where it counts. Most of my problems over the years have centered around failing cheap electrical components/wiring. Especially on my early 80's Guzzi's. Cheap painted finishes that peel. Guzzi knows how to lay down a beautiful coat of paint, but prep work seems to be beyond them. The newer bikes see to have problems with cheap fasteners that corrode easily.
As a mechanic, I consider these to be very minor problems. I have fun upgrading and personalizing things on the bike to make them better.
Every Guzzi I have owned was sold to me for a bargain price as well. That deal on your Lemans sounds like a good one too. I can tolerate debugging a machine if I got it for a good price.
My V11S has been a blast to run and is easy to work on. Best Guzzi I have yet owned. But it has needed new upgraded relays and oil cooler brackets. It had a bad seal on the transmission. A neutral switch died. I found a bad wheel bearing this week while greasing the drivetrain components. I have had a crack in a sidecover and the starter cover as well even though I carefully mounted them when the bike was new and their grommets were I fine shape. I smeared JB weld behind them and live with the hairline crack in the finish. (I bought the bike new in the crate and prepped it myself for three days. I'm a careful and thorough mechanic and believe careful prep will head off many problems down the road.)
Frustrating? Yep.
Most of it was covered under warranty. All but one thing, the oil leak, was fixed very quickly. Only the oil leak kept it off the road for a while.
Funny thing about Guzzi's... I have never sold one because I was bored with it. Usually a new one gets me so excited I have to sell a old one to afford a newer one. They are easy to become passionate about.
I ride an average of 6 to 12 K miles a year on my bikes. I'm no LD rider, I am very busy working and raising my two teens, but when I tour I regularly ride 400-500 miles a day on back roads. My Guzzi's have been great tools for backroad cruising as well as blasting very fast from point A to B on freeways. They make 80 mph seem like a relaxing walk in the park. Great brakes and handling too.
I have had a love-hate relationship with Guzzi for 11 years now. But it has been 90% love and that makes the hate part easy to forget about.
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Folks
Another of the mods to my bike was to make a more useful tool pouch for it. The one in the photo was the first I built and I still use it. It is 2X larger than stock and fills up the space provided perfectly. Assuming you have removed the charcoal cannisters so you CAN carry a tool pouch!
I carry a full set of allen wrenches, small open end wrenches, a multi tip screw driver and even a CO2 inflator. Much nicer storage than the stock pouch provides!
I have sold a number of these. I have one in stock now in a bone colored leather. But if there are enough people who want one to warrant putting a whole hide to use, I could do more in red leather like the one shown in the photo is made from.
As a professional mechanic and tool junkie, I always look for ways to carry more useful tools on the bike. Funny thing is though, I can't remember ever having to work on my own Guzzi while traveling. But there have been many times I have helped people with sick bikes at Rallies.
So at least they do see their use!
Comments or suggestions for improvement are always welcome!
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Sorry Tim, no web site. I have no advertising budget. Most of my business comes to me from word of mouth/keyboard referrals.
But I do have pictures of many of the seats I have built. If you need a job done, I may have a pic in the files of that seat or a similar one I could send to you in jpeg format.
If you search my name "Rich Maund" on a search engine, you'll turn up all sorts of hits. Many are other peoples web sites with photos of my work on them. Other are of me busy with the NARMA Club. (Russian sidecar bikes mostly.) I'm as deep into those crazy machines as I am into Guzzi's.
That group is known as the "foil heads". I'm member number 9. Of course, I'm a life member of the MGNOC as well!
So many neat bikes, so little time!
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Those seals on the bearings aren't perfect. They don't seal tight. They just hold grease in. Often you can even remove those seals, repack the bearing and then reinstall the seals if your are careful with them. But they are so inexpensive, I don't spend time on them.
I picked up new FAG Bearings (From South Korea. Stock bearings came from France.) today at a local shop. Less than $17 for a pair. Good light press fit into the wheel hub. (.005") They feel smooth as silk. I disassembled the cush drive just to inspect it. I have seen these assembled dry at the factory and then they lock up with rust as they age. One problem, the cheesy shallow headed grade 2 fasteners holding the plate in it were stuck with red Loctite. That was stupid. Red is appropriate for the grade 5 fasteners on the brake disks. But not on this application. Ruined all six heads removing them. :-(
I bought new grade 5 (metric 8.8) hex headed fasteners to replace them at $.25 a pop at the corner Ace Hardware. Blue Loctite was used for re-installation. At least the cush drive hub had been oiled when built. But I prefer to use lithium grease there. Sticks around longer. I burnish a light coating of silicone dielectric grease all over the rubber wedges too. Allows them to move more freely against the steel plates and preserves the rubber. It all went back together very well.
I just got home from the test ride. It felt great!
One other thing I did, which I haven't done in ten years, was to use a Bondo file to take the edge off the flat spot on my rear tire. I put the bike up on the work stand, started it, then ran it in third gear at a fast idle of 2000 rpm to get the rear wheel moving well. You hold the Bondo file firmly against the tire and save off tiny bits to take the edge off the flat area and give the tire a rounder profile again. Took about 3 minutes and worked like a dream. I haven't done this since I wore a flat spot into a Dunlop Sport Elite on the rear of old Mille' GT back in '92 from three back to back freeway tours to Rallies! I had forgotten how well it worked! This is something I saw written up in Motorcyclist back in the 80's.
Now at least the bike handles well again while I use up the rest of the tire!
No other surprises in the job.
The new rear brake pads are on the way from Eish. That'll be an easy fix when they get here. The V11S is back on the road running like a champ again, the weather's beautiful and all is right with the world.
Not a bad day!
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I tore into my bike today to get some preventive maintenance done. A customer canceled a seat job so I actually had a day free to do my own work!
That doesn't happen often.I purged and changed all the hydraulic fluids. They were turning a bit dark after 2 years in the system. No problems there although bleeding the clutch slave cylinder is a bit tight. I'm glad I have small hands. I then pulled the rear wheel to pull the swing arm to better get to the zerk fitting on the forward universal joint. With teh swing arm off thebike, it is simple to flex it upward and get a grease gun on that zerk. But I had a problem pulling the rear axle out. I finally beat it out with a mallet and it took a wheel bearing out with it! Pressed it right out of the wheel. Funny thing is, the bearing remaining in the wheel on the left side of the hub felt very notchy when I tested it. Bad bearing.
The bearing that was knocked free feels fine. But I always replace them in sets.Has anyone here had a wheel bearing go bad in only 8000 miles? I have to make a trip to the local bearing shop for a new set tomorrow morning.
Another joy. My rear brake pads are down below 1/16" thickness. I called Joe Eish. He had a set in stock and they'll be on their way here tomorrow! God Bless Joe. He is terrific! I did check that the pistons move freely in the rear caliper. No problems. But they wore out in just 8K miles. That is a new low record for me with a Guzzi's brakes.
Tonight I plan to tear into the cush drive to make sure the factory lubed it properly. I have seen these assembled dry by the factory before and then lock up with rust. And I will measure the wheel hubs ID and compare to the OD of the bearings to see what sort of press fit they had.
Hope I don't find anything else.
My tires will be worn out w/i another 2K miles. I'll check the front wheel then. Hopefully no surprises before then!
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I have found with my V11S that if I add the required amount of gear oil, it goes to the top of the sightglass and I have to deal with weepage from the vent after hard rides. My Dealer's mechanic confirms this happens and said to fill the transmission until the oil level "just" shows in the sightglass. That cured the problem. No more weepage from the vent.
When I work on my bike, it is on a level concrete garage floor and the bike is on the factory workstand to level it.
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I bought my 2000 V11S a year and a half ago from Carl at Winchester. Though they are 240 miles away from me, I consider them my "local" dealer.
The most serious problem my bike had was a leaking oil seal on the forward transmission shaft. They took about 6 weeks to repair it. That about drove me nuts. But that was during the time frame that MGNA was in the pits as far as warranty approvals and parts delivery to Dealers. The other minor problems the bike has had (oil cooler brackets, relays, neutral switch) were all handled well and they sent me new parts under warranty.
They have two outstanding Guzzi Techs there. Rob and Dave. The $90 I paid them for two hours labor to "nail" the tuning of my fuel injection was money well spent. They run a great shop and have taken very good care of me as a customer. I love my V11S like none of the eleven other Guzzi's before it!
Rich Maund
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Jim
The samples were mailed to you Monday. Big brown envelope. First class mail. You should have them soon.
After rebuilding over 160 Cali and EV seats, I welcome new projects like this! There's been a few times that I found if I had to look at another EV seat... I would scream. I don't like doing the same thing over and over again. I finally compromised and refused to do more than 2 of those a week with other projects in between. A couple years ago when demand for my EV seat mod peaked, I stayed booked up three months in advance with folks wanting them.
Hard to believe now I have done this for seven years and for the last three, I haven't held a "real" job. ;-)
Life is good!
Rich Maund
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Folks
Here is a good photo of the two up seat on my own V11S. The rack system holds a pair of Givi e360 bags. The passenger backrest bolts onto the rack. This is a very comfy set-up. 500 miles days are fun on it. The front has had the step moved forward one inch. The passenger portion was raised and reshaped for best support. The front of it is cpvered by a sheet of gel as well. I cut it, blend and bevel the gel to match the shape/contours of teh seat. Tell me what you think.
Rich Maund
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Al and All
I am very much back in business. I took most of the summer off to care for my Mom when she was in the end stages of her cancer. She passed away at the end of July. I have been back hard at work since then. There have been times I have been booked up three months in advance. But that isn't the case now. I am booking appointments a couple weeks in advance right now. I turn most jobs around in a few days.
I have to get back to work right now. But I will get back on here later to post some photos of my work.
Great forum!
Rich Maund
Premature rear brake wear
in Technical Topics
Posted
Al and all
I replaced my badly worn rear brake shoes a hundred miles after I did the service to the hydraulics. During that 100 miles the rear brake never dragged again. Now I have gone almost 900 miles on the new rear brake shoes. At first, they dragged a little. Tapping the rear brake pedal solved it. I took the caliper off at the campground and cycled the pucks in and back a few times and put it back on. (I did lube the pins when I replaced the pads.) Problem solved. It hasn't dragged since then. I don't fully understand why it helped, but it did. Works beautifully now.
I completed my 9000 mile servicing today. Both intakes were .001" loose and the exhausts were spot on since the last check. I checked the balance with a Twin Max and it was still perfect. The bike runs like a dream!
Just to make myself feel better, I re-polished my valve covers and buffed up the alloy cans on the pipes while I was at it. Now she shines!
(I rode through so much torrential rain in the last year that the paint started flaking off the fronts of my valve covers. Not covered under warranty. So I bead blasted the paint off and machine buffed them. They look really sweet and aren't too much trouble to keep up!)