RichMaund

There's another solution to V11S bar vibes. This was brought up on the MGCL a few years back. Sorry I don't remember who to credit for it. First, make sure the bike is in excellent tune and the throttle bodies are balanced. See how the bars vibe. Now take off those stock rear view mirrors. They're the heavy rubber mounted ones that give you such an excellent view of your elbows. The bar vibes should be gone! Take off the stock bar weights. The vibes should still be gone! Amazing, huh!? The source of the vibes was the stock mirrors bouncing up and down in a harmonic with the engine at certain rpms. Heavier bar weights can dampen that, but eliminating the source of the vibes is even better. And now your bars feel lighter due to having much less mass/weight at the ends. I installed a set of Emgo bar end mirrors and never put the bar weights back on. I have read reviews on Manic Salamanders products and they have a great reputation. But on this bike, curing the vibes was a better choice for me.

Todd If you can remind me of the date I built it, I can look up the receipt. I often note the build details there. i.e. Type of cover, height changes, gel installation. etc. Just let me know and I'll send you that info.

$305 is the price of a standard rebuild for this seat. That includes some minor reshaping, gel padding the entire front of the seat for best comfort and overnight FedEx/Ins. back to you. But Va. customers will need to add another $14.25 for sales tax. His seat did take some extra work to un-do the stuff Sargents did. But I didn't charge extra. You folks here provided alot of business to me in January and I thank you for that. That sure beat being unemployed as I was through most of December! Another member here donated the seat hardware to him to attach the cowl. Very nice bit of Karma building there. It was missing from his old Sargents rebuilt seat. Spring is just around the corner and business is ramping up here. By March I'll be booking work a couple weeks in advance. So if you'd like a job done, just contact me off list at rgmaund@netzero.net Thanks!

Let me guess.... A Steven Wright joke? Sounds like him. Reading a list of his stuff has reduced me to a hyperventilating mass on a chair. Brilliant commedian!

Those brake levers are sand-cast brittle junk. You'd do better to cut a new one from 5/8" aluminum plate. You can do this with a bandsaw and a drill press. But if you have access to a mill, you can make an even nicer one! Might be a good time to do the rubber topped Kawasaki footpeg conversion I documented here a few years back! I still have the measurements for the bushings needed for that to be a drop in fit if you need some made.

Suzuki 500 twin. Or better yet a Ninja 500. Better suspenion there. If you can find a early 80's Honda CM400/450 twin, those were outstanding bikes and easy to handle. Try to find a bike with light clutch pull. Most women don't have the grip strength men have. Or, if you want to go kind of crazy... Get her a Ural Retro Solo like I got. Super low seat height, easy handling, low effort clutching, low center of gravity and a good Brembo disk brake up front. The four speed is higher effort to shift than most Jap trannys, but it's not tough to shift.

I had a '97 Cali 1100. I never ran it out of fuel. But I did have to change out almost all the rubber fuel lines on it because Guzzi screwed up and used some Gates fuel line that wasn't rated for FI systems and multi fuel use. In a year the thing was weeping fuel from fittings and the crimp on connections were loose from the line deteriorating on the inside. I installed better fuel line from a NAPA store rated for FI/multi fuel use. Long story short... The fuel filter on the Cali is mounted in such a way as to trap air inside it if you just install it and then run the bike. It sits angled. It trapped some air, which then later, bit bit, got entrained into the fuel line for the injectors and gave me fits out on the road. It didn't seem to want to stop doing this on it's own. There seemed to be an inexhaustable supply of air in that filter! So I had to take it apart and fill the damn thing on the vertical with a syringe of fuel and tap it to get the air out. I even pulled the lines off at the injectors and cycles the key switch to pump fuel through there for a solid line of fuel. That finally solved it. When I changed out the filter on my V11S, I filled it solid as I installed to prevent problems. It worked fine. No hiccups. Just another reason for me to enjoy my Ural with its carbs. It cut the crap outta my hands changing the hoses on that thing. Very tight spaces to work in. I remember I started quite a flap on the MGCL when I brought this up as there were many guys out there with leaky Cali's. But none had yet found the reason (Improperly rated fuel line used) as I had. My friend's Cali was a year older than mine and was leaving puddles of gas under it when parked! He had our old Dealer, Ken's Cycles in Richmond Va., change his out. Ken's was one of the good old Dealers who got tired of Guzzi screwing them and dropped the bikes after many years. And that was a shame. The Dealer who picked them up just 20 miles away was a jerk who ruined many people to Guzzi's with lousy and incompetent service. Now Winchester is our only Dealer in the state. 240 miles away from me! I won't hesitate to own another Guzzi. But I'd rather build my own to bypass all the headaches the retards that Guzzi hires as bike assemblers cause! OK.... Rant mode off. I'll try to calm down now. I do love seeing all the photos here that Paul posts on his performance and custom built sport Guzzi's. That is really inspiring! And I bet they work better than factory bikes when he's done too. That is quality work!

Thanks Tex. It's been over a year now since I sold the V11S. Although I often have a bad leg day and should stick to sidecars, I'll have to stay on two wheels if I ever want to have my wife ride with me again. She hates sidecars and gets motion sickness in them. I'm getting an urge to find a old Tonti framed 1000cc Goose to restore for two up touring. I can make an extra large touring tank from 16 gage steel, repaint the bike and I even have a old 1970's Pacifico touring Fairing. The Shadow Classic set aside in the rafters. That's the thing about these old bikes. There's nothing on them I can't rebuild better than new all by myself. So they make terrific projects. Soon as this freeze is over, I'll start cutting steel for the power hammer frame I'm going to use to shape sheet steel. Much kinder to my hands than hand hammering! I've had the sidecar rig done for a couple weeks now and I'm already planning more projects. It must be a sickness.

Remember Folks... I'm a retired Navy Nuc Plant mechanic. An "Uber Geek" of the wrenching set. Only the Navy Missile Techs were bigger/better geeks than us! My neighbor is one of those. (And he owns a Harley, but I don't hold that against him.) We joke about it often. He retires in a couple years and can't wait for the more relaxed lifestyle us older folks have. Compared to the "data dump" (i.e. Empty everything in your brain onto paper.) exams I used to take to qualify for plant watchstations, the questions here are easy by comparison. And the great thing is they don't leave me exhausted and with a headache and a cramped up right hand from four hours of intense writing! So I'm happy to help. The first V11S's were the best of these bikes in my opinion. While I owned my 2000 model, the Lemans owners here were always bringing up problems with their bikes that mine didn't have. Made me even gladder to own it! Not only that, it had the cool red frame. Yep, the originals had some weak points. All easily addressed. But they were a very "pure" design in the best Guzzi sense and worked extremely well with few compromises. Too bad I'm not wealthy and can afford to keep all my bikes over the years! But in this case, with the complications of years of on the job injuries getting worse every year plus the problems from my legs getting crushed almost ten years ago, I really belong on a sidecar. Sometimes I think it was all those data dump exams that gave me the bad arthritis in my hands. If you all want to see what I've been up to this Winter, go to my home page below and then to the updated Retro page in the upper left corner. My rig is finished! I made the custom windshield and canvas for it this month. Just waiting for the freeze to end now. This is how us Uber Geeks spend out free time in the shop.

I love the Eastwood catalog. Very cool stuff. They make "clear" powdercoats. So no doubt that special red and a clear would work. But it's been my experience that powdercoats aren't as UV resistant as good catalyzed urethane paints are. They chalk up with sun exposure. Kind of like the way most CF accessories do. I think I would try that anodized red powdercoat and then use a good catalyzed clearcoat atop it done with a small HVLP gun.

Clattering noise at idle.... sounds like a big end bearing...... goes away when clutch lever is pulled..... Is this NORMAL?? -Yes. A dry clutch will rattle like that. Manual says 0.002 valve lash on both sides for "American Spec". Rest of world is 0.004/0.006. Now that the bike is free of y'all.... can I set it to these more intelligent lash settings? -I always used the world specs with good results. Is the electric fuel solenoid a frequent source of fuel leak? -Yes. It's a POS. The dripping fuel will remove insulation from the wires and make it REALLY interesting. Replace with a manual petcock like the newer Guzzi's came with. Is the throttle butterfly shaft a common source for fuel drips? -Yes. Probably some crud in the injector. Then it seeps and drips. Mine did this if I went too long between riding it. Run some injector cleaner through it during a ride that uses up the whole tank of gas in one day. That'll clean the injector and won't let the nasty cleaner sit in the tank longer than needed. Also, change out that electric petcock. Damn things weep anyway and don't seal well. Closing the manual petcock when you park will prevent weeps like this on the throttle bodies. Here is the vacuum take-off for sync'ing the throttle bodies?? -Should be a vacuum hose connected to each rubber throttle body fitting between the TB and the head. They go to the charcoal cannisters. Just diconnect them for a bit and plug in your balancer meter. Is there ANY vacuum take-off, anywhere? -See above. Is that retarded battery placement correct?? -Yes. Works fine as long as you don't overcharge the battery from an external charger. That can build pressure up in the cells and acid will come out! Many owners convert to a gel cell battery. Hope this helps.

I thought the covers were anodized and then clear coated. Correct me if I'm wrong. But if so, a close match is all you can get. No touch up paint can replicate a multi layer finish like that.

I hung 36 liter Givis on my V11S. They stuck out big time. But right up to 90 mph the bikes was stable and no problems. Even in cross winds. I never tested them at higher speeds just because I'd tend to run out of road around here.

He built his from SS tubing and had it coated dark to match the bike. It was made to use BMW bags. He triangulated it similar to how I did the rack on my old V11S. Mine was made from steel 1/2" tubing and would only deflect about 1/16" when you picked up the rear of the bike with the rack. So I would guess his system was quite strong. Triangulated structures, like Ducati frames and bridges and such, are very strong. I thought his system was really well done. The bike's tailpiece keeps the rack system from tucking in real tight. Mine was quite wide with the Givi E360's installed. But that's the price of hard luggage that actually HOLDS something! If all you wish to carry is a rainsuit and a bag lunch, get a set of Corbin Beetle Bags. These bikes were on the market for four years before the doofus's at Guzzi came up with a hard luggage system. (HB) A number of us had to build our own back then to get what we needed.

All I can say is that Harley has a long history of doing "trendy" things with their styling. Their bikes in general are highly styled and "function" is often the last thing they consider as only a small percentage of their bikes get real miles put on them. The local HOG Members in my area think 3k miles a year is high mileage and are afraid it will hurt the "investment" they made in their bikes. Sounds like a pyramid scheme to me! :!: Keeping that in mind, I am in the habit of deeply questioning anything they do to their bikes in the name of comfort. In the past, many of their "comfort" accessories just looked cool and did nothing for actual comfort! Unfortunately Guzzi has followed that route too. Their "touring" EV has the worst seat ever and the $600 accessory touring seat they sell is little better. I have met a few people now who are pissed they spent money on them! I could do to a seat like what they did on that Harley. But I'd have fab and polish a piece of SS to make that strip idea work. Steel or alloy would corrode fairly quickly. And still, there is no way around the problems of water getting in and the cover quickly wearing through and ripping open where it contacts the strip. I just can't in clear concience take on a job that I know will have problems soon after. Sorry. I learned some hard lessons in this during my first year in business.

I think you buried the gel deeply enough that it had no effect for you. It is best placed over a firm and well shaped base. You must sit on it. If it is buried deep, it's just buried. The soft 1/2" foam I use on top bears no weight. It is a thermal barrier only to slow down the rate of heat transfer so you don't get cooked or frozen by the gel. Putting gel on and then foam and then Ensolite really negates the purpose of the gel and foam layers. Putting a strip like that and fastening it down to the pan makes a great rain gutter and will soak the seat material leading to damage and mildew. It would also stress the cover and will lead to cutting/breaking of it where the strip contacts it. I have gone over much of this before. that's why I stated that my materials won't support this seat architecture. I notice the current Motorcycle Consumer News has a good article on this topic.

Guys When I reshape the front of a V11 Lemans seat I shave off the crown that presses into your tailbone. Then I gel pad the entire top of the seat and bevel and blend the gel to the seat shape so everywhere you sit, you're suspended by the gel. No harsh transition between gel & foam to form a pressure point. I cover this with a 1/2" layer of soft foam to act as a thermal barrier to slow down the heat transfer rate between you and the gel. That, because the gel has mass and will get hot & cold. You wind up with a well shaped firm seat based shaped for good support and the gel and soft foam atop that help eliminate pressure points. This IS ecnomically buildable and makes most seats much more comfortable for most riders. But the gel won't take steep compound bends and so can't be used in some cases. I have no good way to carve and upholster over steep indentations like this to allow a zero contact area near the genitals. My materials won't support that type of seat achitecture. Being very naturally well padded on the backside myself, I have never had this problem with pressure there. But I don't do long distance rides in the IB style. I take breaks every half tank of gas to stretch. I also prefer back country roads to interstates. So I tend to stop for more traffic lights that give an opportunity to stretch. Sorry I can't be of help on this.

That portion of the seat can be radically reshaped for better passenger comfort, But that means the cowl will no longer fit on the seat. There are a number of photos of these seats on my site below. Go to the seat photo page.

I've installed VDO volt meters on my bikes for years. They've been stone reliable for me. If you wire it to the ignition switch, it'll act as a auxillary turn signal indicator and fluxuate when the signal's on. Wire it to the battery with some 16 gage wire and it'll give you a great indication of your charging system status. I once had a old amp meter fail. The generator's output went through the regulator, then the amp meter and then to the battery. When the amp meter failed, so did the charging system. I was only 17 at the time. Took a while for me to find the problem. I just jumpered across the meter so I could drive to work until I could afford a new meter!

Will do Man! just give me a heads up before you want it done! I'll make sure I have the materials in stock.

The problem here is if the steel fittings that the cowl attaches to that go into the seat are gone, you'll probably have to buy a whole 'nother seat to get them. Check with a good Dealer to see if those fittings have their own part number and if you can order them. There's a number of folks here that I did two up shaped seats for over the years. The hardware won't fit back on those seats so I just send it back with the seat in a baggie. perhaps one of those owners here would be willing to sell you the hardware if they don't plan to use it again. If I had the seat and the hardware and the cowl here, I can recover the seat and reshape the rear as necessary to reattach the hardware and have the cowl fit again. Let me know if you want it done after you get all the bits together. As a courtesy, pleas don't confuse my work with Sargents again. Those morons really f****d up my Mille GT seat back in '95. Charged a bunch of money, some of it just because it's a Guzzi, and butched my seat and sent me back a POS that didn't resemble what I had ordered. Rebuilding that seat after I was sort of back on my feet after my accident (I was run down by a crack head welfare queen a week after having the seat done by Sargents. Thats when my legs were crushed.) was the impetus that started my present business. To say that I want no association with their company would be putting it mildly.

This is really tearing me up. Bucky's was the first Guzzi Rally I ever attended and has been my favorite ever since. He was one wild character and a heck of a guy. I'm gonna miss him.

Thanks Jaap! I much prefer to be busy and productive. Keeps my mind off my aches and pains (My legs were crushed in a wreck almost ten years ago so I have plenty of hurts!). Today is sunny and mildly warm. 50's. feels like a Spring day!I've been cleaning the shop, my truck, gearing up to do the three Guzzi seats I have out there to rebuild. (I'll start those this afternoon. I can't ship until Tuesday anyway as I need to get that leather here Monday.) I spent 15 minutes just standing in the sun shine on my driveway talking to my wife on the cell phone. That felt good! I'll be working hard and riding this New Years weekend. We have a all brand bike meet tomorrow that should be a fun few hours and Sunday morning we have our monthly Guzzi Breakfast that I have hosted for the last eight years. So when I'm not riding my bike, I'll be working on them. And that's fine by me! Here's wishing a Happy New Year to all of you out there too! And thank God I finally finished our bathroom shower stall! It gets "christened" tomorrow. It's the sixth bathroom I have had to rebuild over the years. I did all of them in ceramic tile. Kind of like upholstering a wall, but much more brittle and dusty.

Folks Had to change servers so we now have a new address. First change to this in five years so I figured I better get the word out. I have changed it on the Board so you can e-mail from here. rgmaund@netzero.net

Lex Thanks man! I could build a seat and ship it to you prior to covering it. It'll cost you some more time and shipping. But I'm happy to work with folks that way. That way after trying it uncovered, I can make any little changes you want before the cover gets tailored and installed! For some folks, this is the best way to go. I tried to get the leather today, but my supplier not only closed for the Christmas holiday, they're gone 'till Jan. 3rd! I guess I'll head back next week. I got an order in today for some sidecar work that will keep me hopping for an entire week! Cool stuff to build too! I love projects like this! Jan. is loking really good. As an aside, I may be changing internet servers very soon. I bought a month on Netzero to try them out and like them so far. Only $9.95 a month. My local company's connection has been hit and miss for the last year. They have had other minor disasters strike as well that has affected their service. (Direct lightening strike in July, they got hacked and became an involuntary spammer. So now some servers still refuse e-mail from them! I could go on... Have a Happy New Year folks! I know I will. Heck, my bathroom remodeling is almost done too! I did all the grout work today and have the blisters to prove it.