RichMaund

I just realized I screwed up. I have Michelin Pilot Street Sport Touring tires in my V11S. Not Pilot Sports. I picked them hoping they wouldn't wear flat in the middle as the "R" compound Battleaxes did. I think they stick great in corners. Their wet performance is great. If they last, I'll be a very happy customer.

I've got 1000 miles on my Michelin Pilot Sports now. They're great! I love the way they handle and they feel better in the rain than the stock Bridgestone BT57's did.

I agree with Carl. Put a couple strong eyebolts into the rafters of your shop and use a pair of come-alongs to lift your bike. Cheap and effective and safe.

You can trim the thickness of the rubber bumper that the sidestand rests against when retracted. That'll give you a bit more room before it touches down!

The riders seat foam on the modified 2002-On pans is thinner than the older ones. No room to go downwards w/o compomising comfort. The mod'd pans have no issues with hitting the taller Bosch relays as some old ones did. (Mine doesn't hit them.)The older ones can be shaved 1/2" and still be OK. There really isn't anything to narrow in the front. You'd be cutting away the pan. You'll have to look at lowering suspension to reduce height.

Check for split intake boots! They can lean out the engine and make it sound like it's missing! Break them loose and rotate to inspect! One of mine split on the inside and was well hidden. Drove me nuts 'till I found it! My bike came with a badly routed fuel hose which pressed into the spark plug wire for the left coil. It shoved it sideways and partially out of it's plug on the coil. That may have abbetted the problem as well. The nice thing about Guzzi's in my experience is that it's often just simple stuff that causes the problems.

I have run my bike in 6th gear on the hiway at 3500 rpm. I had to laugh in my helmet because it pulled it easily and had some torque still on tap. But it did seem incongruous riding a V11S that way. This was at 10K miles and with the PCIII fitted. I agree with you on it being the best of both worlds. But MAN! I never could have done that a year ago! The motor was still loosening up. It vibrated in the 4's and lugged badly in the 3's. If the motor is smooth and feels good, it is probably fine. But if it is showing any signs of lugging, drop a gear and get the revs up! These bikes are great for "talking" to you and giving you good feedback. We need to listen to them! I must say that my bike is a far better runner today than it was when new. It has been getting progressivly better as I "fettle" it and the mileage gets racked up!

This engine really shouldn't be run at such low rpm's on the hiway! You are lugging it by running it well below the powerband. This engine is cammed and set up to romp & breath compared to normal Guzzi cruisers. A regular Guzzi motor loves to cruise at 4k rpm. These are much smoother and comfortable at 5k rpm. I have found that as the mileage piles up, the motor is progressivly happier running at lower rpm's though. Mine will now pull 4k on the hiway way better than it did after break-in. Has almost 11K miles on it now. What's the mileage on yours?

I use Valvoline sythetic and also add the required amount of KalGard Moly additive. You may have to source the moly from a Guzzi dealer.

Sounds like a relay with a worn or burnt contact. My bike did this when new until I fitted the new style Bosch relays.

All of this has been excellent advice. Good guidance all on properly mounting a fairing. It has been my experience that all my fairings have had the effect of allowing me to hear increased levels of mechanical noise. Sidecars do it too. They reflect the noise back at you. Doesn't matter if the fairing is metal, fiberglass or ABS plastic. They're all like big drum heads the way they amplify and direct sound!

Doc If you're worried about a square cut, use a band saw and guide. Very quick that way. If you lack that, I still have 7 feet of that damn pipe here. (It was about $3 for a 8' piece.) Tell me how long you want each piece and I'll cut & mail them to you for the shipping cost. $4 for Priority Mail. I'll be happy to help you out. The tomato plants aren't in yet. Once they're growing well, this pipe will be used to stake them and I will be "out of stock" of PVC pipe. So let me know in the next couple weeks if you need them made!

Doc They are tight. But mine came off OK. The PVC schedule 40 pipe is thicker walled than stock and may support the load from the spring even better. Not sure why they look at funny. Did you have a spot of grease on your nose?

If you want a really good city bike, get a Ural and modify it like mine. 7.5 gallon tank and Harley Police solo seat. Cargo box sidecar. You can carry the kichen sink and the easy clutch means stop & go traffic will never wear you out. Having a real reverse gear is a hoot too! Going from the Ural to the Guzzi always make the Guzzi feel like a real hotrod! Owning a Ural as your city bike will make you appreciate your Guzzi more!

I found that when I prepped the bike when new that Guzzi had built all the linkages and pivots dry. No grease. Naturally, I coated all the bolts with #2 Lithium grease upon reassembly. Mine has a touch of wriggle room when I yank it back & forth to try to rotate it. About 1mm. 5mm sounds quite loose. Perhaps they wore from lack of lube? Were yours dry as mine were?

I once brought one back to life for an owner who imported it from Italy. It IS a tiny bike! (And I am speaking about this before my legs got crushed and I put on all this weight!) The seat is anarrow brick. The tranny is clunky and the rear brake is only so-so. The reversed controls take time to get used to. That said, the motor is really sweet! With fresh cartridges in the forks and good rear shocks, this bike really handles well. It's a beautiful design as well. Timeless. It's a clasic that you can actually ride and it won't mark it's spot on your shop floor! But the power and handling of the new bikes have me seduced. To me the V11S brings out the best of the classic V7 Sport mixed with all the advantages of design that have come along in the 30 years since.

You guys make me glad that I don't ride at a level that allows me to tell the fine differences between good suspension and great suspension. I'd have gone broke by now!

Good point Jeff! I learned THAT lesson on my old BMW 25 years ago! I prefer the brass brushes. They're softer than aluminum and won't mark the castings. Kal Gard offers the Gun Coat in silver/gray as well. The stuff looks great.

I have to say I would take all the accessories they offer you and then sell them on EBay. My large bead blast booth with beads came to about $200 at Harbor Freight. (A large discount tool store.) You could clean off the rear drive and alot more with a bit of labor on your part. The bare sand castings stay nice looking for quite some time and can be touched up with a brass bristle brush and WD40. Another route to take would be to contact the folks at "Turtle Tough" in Pennsylvania and send them your components for recoating in either poweder coat or hi-temp Kal Gard Gun Coat. They know their business! They did the iron cylinders on my Ural three years ago in black gun coat and they haven't rusted yet! The only good solution I see to the wrinkle black paint is to remove it.

If it IS a seal, they tend to get worse slowly vice quickly. Mine started as a mystery drip and ended three months later as a few drops on the ground after each ride. Didn't soak the clutch plates or hurt anything, but did make a mess. Enjoy the ride!

That is a weep hole. If you have gear lube coming from it, you have a leaking seal on your input shaft on the tranny. If you have motor oil weeping there, you have either a leaking rear main seal, one of the metal plugs in the case is leaking or one of the two bottom bolts in the rear main bearing housing as installed with no thread sealant and is weeping. (The holes for these go right into the inside of the case and oil weeps out on the bolt threads if they aren't sealed. Also it could be the breather elbow in there weeping from where it gets attached to a rubber hose just above the top outside of the case. Mine did it too. Turned out to be a tranny seal. No reason it failed. it just did. Was covered under warranty, but they took two months to do the work.

I have read notes on the MGCL from people who swear by drilling the rubber blocks. I have just never seen the need to myself. Many cush drives fail to rotate at all from lack of lubrication on their hubs. They effectively seize. Often, the factory never lubed them, so they rust right up w/i a year or so. Sometimes I wonder if all the glowing reports from the rubber drillers aren't based more on freeing up the hub so the cush drive can do it's job vice the effect of drilling holes in the rubber blocks! I coated the rubber blocks in mine with a light coat of silicone grease so they won't stick or bind on the plate. I used #2 lithium grease to lube the hub. There is even a gracefully machine groove in their to help it hold the lube! I open them (cushdrive) up and re-lube and check them during each tire change. Do them that often, and they'll never bind up.

Adjusting the spring IS a PITA. I'm a heavy guy and dialed in some extra preload myself. But I did it when the tank was off the bike! Yeesh. That is the one complaint I have about it. I weigh 250 lbs geared up and it carries me and my luggage fine. I like it firm for solo riding. When my son or wife ride with me, it softens the rear a bit. makes it feel like a touring bike. But since I ride much more gently when precious cargo is aboard this works out fine for two up. Getting to the spring adjustment is a pain. But worth doing. I doubt you need a new spring. just an adjustment to the old one.

Actually my neutral lamp switch failed just 7 months after I got the bike. I got a new one under warranty from the Dealer. Simple fix. Here is my theory on the failure mode for this switch: Do you always park your bike in neutral? As a habit, I always did. No hills here and it made the bike easier to push around when I needed to move it in the shop. Here's what happens when parked in neutral... The switch's plunger stays depressed to close the circuit and light the lamp. So now the contacts are always forced together. Closing the contact's grounds out the switch to complete the circuit and light the lamp. (Also allowing you to start the bike with the sidestand down if the clutch is pulled in.) The plunger is backed by a spring. When always parked for long periods like this the contacts inside deform and no longer press well against each other. The spring inside weakens from constant compression as well. After parking my bike for over a month in neutral while I lived in Pittsburgh to help Dad care for Mom last Summer, I came home one weekend to find my bike wouldn't start and the neutral lamp didn't work unless I took off the wire and grounded it. I spent the rest of the summer starting it by sitting on it with it in gear and the kickstand up! I didn't get the part until after I came home to Va. I tested the old switch with a meter. No continuity after pushing in the plunger. Dealer said it was a fairly common problem. Since then, I never park in neutral. Always in first gear. It became a habit very quickly. No big deal to squeeze the clutch to move the bike around. I just snick it into neutral right before starting the bike and letting it warm up. No problems since that time! Makes me think my theory is sound on how switch #1 failed. So.. To prevent neutral switch failures, just park it in gear! A minor concession to make in the name of reliability!

Mike Great info on the linkage. I'll have to build one if I can get time. On those connections, try some silicone dielectric grease. Mine used to have problems in heavy rain. This stopped it.