PDoz

Your wish is my command.... I think I might have made a tactical error riding it home in stock trim. That big uggle fairing actually works, and those silly spot lights actually make it easier on a cold, lonely night ride. Even that enormous stock pipe might stay - it sounds really nice. I'll weigh it before deciding. My plan is to do a few road / light dirt trips to wear out these stock tyres and then decide if I really need the v11. If I keep the v11 I'll start stripping back the ntx i to a more useable dirt tourer, but if I decide the v11 is now obsolete I might keep the stelvio stock ( ish)

Oops...a 2014 stelvio just followed me home. Scud, you've got to get a ride on one of these! Sweet motor, nice geometry. The suspension is going to need some tweaking but that can wait until daylight . The stock seat makes my rich maude v11 and renazco ktm seats seem like torture equipment!

I guess that'd make you the guzzisti of the future ( I refuse to admit to feeling old) Ps Scud - how's that poor kid going to explain to dad that his preferences lean the other way now. Surrounded by 4 wheel muscle men, he's developed a taste for a sexy italian mistress.....

Pete, is there any way for you to off load the manufacturing hassle but still bypass the thieving mongrels? As an example, I'd have been more than happy to pay the equivalent of postage + designer fee for a single use cad file that I could wander down to any of the local machinists and get a roper approved plate. Add in a donation to whatever site I downloaded it from ( here / wildguzzi / drs using holidays to do something usefull etc) . If the end price came in more than what I paid for your plate then I'd still get a tax deductible donation AND be able to keep the local guys in buisiness. Shit, even if it came in a lot more expensive it'd be worth it just to bypass the thieving mongrels! It'd also be easier than remembering where I left your plate.

Stolen from adv rider ( oz for sale section) - I'm thinking something like this but based on a stelvio Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I'd love to have seen the look on your mates face when he stepped off the guzzi! My mate was riding his wifes r1 , we swapped and he simply couldn't get his head around the guzzis quirks. Meanwhile, I couldn't understand why he bothered with the r1 - it was like taking a scalpel to McDonalds . Enjoy the guzzi for what it is - the day you're grinding the pipes on every corner AND sliding both tyres is when you need to experiment with knee sliders......

My suspicion is we adjust our technique for the quirks of our bike / body. You look to have a sore back? Try raising the bars a bit so you can relax your elbows? But don't listen to me - I don't start hanging off until the pipe is scraping ( too many years of dirt riding and using my feet to steer) , and this modern technique of dropping the inside elbow - what's that about? My elbows stick up and out like a little kid pretending to race his pw50....

This inside shot shows the " stopper" cam - that off centre screw thing. Notice how the arm that swings up to it has a couple or lumps? Have fun.... Now, if you look to the left, and squint with your tongue pointing out to the right, you'll notice the pawl spring is sitting on a shaft that isn't quite central in the cut out? It took me ages to realise I could adjust this from the other cam I mentioned. Sorry if this isn't clear - I never could find a decent picture with names of the bits. Disclaimer - tongue possition my vary in the northern hemisphere.

The good news is, a post 03 gearbox has lots of adjustment available to fix what you describe - after an hour of staring at my shift mechanism and drinking coffee I eventually worked out the idea and now my 03 can slip up / down the gears like every other bike I've owned. The bad news is there are several variations between 02 and 04 so you'll need to remove the cover to see what you have - and prey you don't have the " boomerang" bracket - it sounds scary. On mine, I found there were 2 eccentric cams that needed fine tuning. I call one a stopper cam - it's described in several posts on here and seems to adjust how far the gear lever swings. Getting it right really helped with gear 2-4 ( don't ask why, I put it down to an itallian thing...) The biggest improvements came from the cam that moves the whole pawl mechanism. I couldn't find a description of how to adjust it on here, so brew some really good coffee, or open up a nice red and leave it breathing for a while.....you're about to understand why guzzi owners are " individuals" ....If you look outside the case, near where the gear shaft exits, there is a big nut with a smaller dome nut over the top - good luck.

Pete was still selling them in Feb - I bought one from him after reading his thread re the uk stealership. http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=18880 ( then I fergot to install it at the last oil change...)

Nah, I'd keep the stock tank , and ideally want a 21 front but would accept a 19 begrudgingly...think long range capable hp2 but without the floppy tits and gas shock. I found the hp2 cylinders caught on my shins wheelstanding up hills, I wonder what the guzzi cylinders would be like? I really do need to ride a stelvio in anger .....

More suspension isn't always better - I just want good suspension. With the bigger dirt bikes, it's a trade between low centre of gravity and good suspension across a wide range. My old transalp had minimal travel, but there was an ohlins in the back and my guru had done his magic up front. It was surprisingly plush over corrugations, AND coped with big hits at surprising speeds. The trade off was I ripped a few different bashplates off the frame. The transalp was easier than the africa twin in difficult terrain - lower centre of gravity. But the @ was amazing in fast whooped out sand. I figure a stelvio with a wilburs in the back, and perhaps some decent cartridges up front? Then remove the fairing, fit a lighter pipe....and go hunting triumphs. Ps I was looking at pics of my old it200 - that thing was down around the magical 200 lb sweet spot

Scud, that 471 is the cast wheel road stelvio, ie the basic bike. Guzzi makes the mistake of listing " dry" weight on the ntx, including panniers, crash bars, driving lights, bash plate etc. Most journalists are too stupid to recognise this, which is why they keep saying " once under way the weight dissapeared" ....and " it feels surprisingly agile for its weight" .... It's a relatively light bike, and lower than similar weight bikes like the ktm, BUT it's got marzochi forks and sachs shock so it isn't a ktm.

Scud, the dct weighs 14 kg more than the standard . Almost as much as a stelvio dry / without the panniers etc! BUT - despite being a devoted Honda v twinner I was never passionate about them. I loved the way they were so plucky / dependable / surprisingly capable....but passion isn't the right word. Strange, really, because most of my amazing motorbike experiences were aboard those Hondas , and I was always content whilst riding them, but I rarely hopped off one raving like I did the first time I rode a 950 ADV or HP2 or even a wr200. Then again...that 2 up landing off a sand dune at 140 ( km) ...or powersliding around a 4 wd on the wrong side of 180 ...or chugging up a greasy hill littered with trailbikes with my wife on the back....or scraping the panniers in NZ ....or the frame at the racetrack....good memories. Bugrit, I'll ride the new africa twin before buying a v7 and converting it - thanks.

The circle of life....about 25 years ago I sold a v50 to buy a honda transalp ( she's 6'2" and a great pillion)....which I sold to buy an africa twin 15 years later....for a while I had the @ and my ktm 640 but wasn't riding the @ so a mate owns it now....and yes, I have considered the new honda....but what I really want is that little v50 mixed with a bit of all of them. Hence the v7 ntx dream. Say, a V7 special with a ktm640adv front end, wilburs longer shocks, and somehow find an ntx 750 tank....but I've been spoilt by the v11 motor so I need to try a stelvio first. AND keep the v11 , and probably keep the 640, and that new africa twin does look interesting.....especially the " basic" one with no abs dct rider elimination gadgetry....

A timely reminder....I've been watching for a post 13 stelvio for a while now, and wondering if I'd keep the v11 if / when I buy one. How many stelvio owners still keep their v11 ? I've currently got a ktm 640 for the dirt touring, and I use the v11 for wandering around the mountains. I've given up on waiting for a v7 ntx

Yeah, we spent 5 weeks 2 up touring through NZ and only clocked up about 8000 km , mostly because there were so many other things to do. I think our biggest day was 800 km and I was stuffed ( we've managed more than that on the dirt in the past). To be honest, I'd be perfectly happy to just revisit Queen Charlotte pass and that magical strip that went nth from there - but without the panniers to scrape in corners!

Dangerous, I think I know what you're talking about, but you said a GOOD rider which confuses me? I grew up with small capacity blue smokes ( ktm 125 / it 200 etc) - that twisty thing on the right bar was the on switch, that lever on the left foot was for speed adjustment.....the quickest I've ridden through the hills was on a wr200 , but I can relax on my gutless ktm 640 and ride the torque curve ALMOST as quickly. So are you referring to , perhaps, an equal rider putting in the same amount of effort? I notice you race a 350 blue smoker. For another perspective, I had a ktm 400 in 2000 - it had a flat torque curve / linear power delivery and produced almost as much power as my 640 but WAY up the rev range.ie it had less peak torque, but a nice wide spread of torque. The 640 has a big torque hit down low, then a down sloping torque curve after that. From about 4000 to 6000 both bikes have similar torque, then the 640 tapers off and the 400 continues until about 9000. The 400 would tractor up hills that my 640 spins then bogs down on, the 400 was faster everywhere, but the 640 FEELS faster because that low down grunt hits hard. Similar thing with my v11 - the stock pipes give a relatively flat torque curve but my madass pipes gives the big torque peak low, then flat afterwards. I'm faster with stock pipes, happier with the madass. ( possibly more relaxed with stock pipes - I'm still undecided on that) . I think I need to fly over to NZ and we can each do laps of the sth island on your bike, say with then without the madass pipes. Then we can sit down over some of that fantastic coffee and realise we need to do some ozzie trail riding to decide? I've got 3 weeks free in September.........

Not really. The guzzi has a fairly flat torque curve - sitting between 50-60 NM from 3k all the way to 8 K , hence the relatively linear increase in power. So if you take a higher revving bike that also has a flat torque curve of 50-60 NM , they'd be neck and neck right up until the guzzi hit 8K , then the HRB would start pulling away AND STAY IN A HIGHER HP RANGE with every gearchange - so it'd keep pulling away.

I guess not every creek crossing has a shallow enough entry to aquaplane across, and not every surf beach has hard enough sand that those solid platforms would be suitable....so perhaps we need a drop stitched inflatable version of those platforms with airbag rapid inflating technology and an acronym so the latte set can fund the R+ D ? Perhaps BFX ( Blow and Flow cross ?) Ok, lame, but it's better than the waffle on stand up paddling I started with

The tt was sold beside the 650 NTX, a 650 NTX came up for sale last week but on the other side of OZ and I was working on the weekend.....it sold before I could organise flights etc. The NTX is a nice package, decent tank and suspension etc, but the TT is a bit messy - sidestand too flimsy, tank too small, just not quite thought out. I've ridden with a guy who was on an NTX 750 , an ex paris dakar bike ....VERY nice. Realistically, my 640 is a much better adv bike but I still have an itch to own a small block adv guzzi. I'll probably just wait until the fuel injected v7 's are cheap enough to convert. Hmmm...the front end from my 640 , some ohlins out the back........

Getting even further off track, I really question if all these " performance" mods make us go any faster? As an example, yesterday I went for a wander along my favourite section of technical road , but with my stock pipes back on. ( they look better) . The motor FELT gutless - slow to respond to throttle changes and very little grunt below 6K. But I was quicker! Mostly because I was working at keeping the revs between 6 and 8 K, so tap dancing on the gear lever....I'd might as well be riding a jap multi! If you look at most of the dyno graphs , the big gains are in low to mid revs. A more lazy, relaxed ride? But the stock pipes were easier to ride with BECAUSE it was gutless down low. So I'm going back to my madaz pipes because they're more fun........I may be slower and having to concentrate on smoother throttle use.....but it's fun

Scud, here's some info on the snorkel removal http://www.bikeboy.org/v11sport.html

Yeah, no worries with dusting a filter in the snow - but you've still got to get up there! It's about an hour of loose steep rocky trail between home and the white slippery sand....so the ktm gets foam filters!

Scud, doesn't it worry you that the filter looks nearly new after 6K ? I guess it might be less dusty where you ride ( I live on a gravel road) , but I get my stock filters cleaned at about those intervals and there is LOTS of dust they've caught! Ps I have a freind who cleans paper filters for the mining industry, although the stock filter is almost cheap enough to just replace as needed.