Scud

I didn't notice that this was an ad at first. I was wondering what your question was. There's a chance that I have one of those... will go take a look.

I think it's all playful, sort of an inside-joke, and nobody takes the paint-color identity seriously. Though I will say that my Greenie tends to draw more looks than most bikes I've had. It's such a bold and unusual color - one of those love it or hate designs.

My neighbor gave me a motorcycle dolly today. It had a leaky Harley on it for a few years. It cleaned up like new. So the Champagne LeMans has a new, space-saving parking spot while it waits for me to have time to work on it again.

A flat washer might work, but I think the cupped one is meant to reduce potential interference - so just be sure the washer is not hitting anywhere and restricting movement.

Nice to see her out and about again. Docc. I rode 120 miles to retrieve a "Freshly Baked Almond Coffee Ring" from Dudley's bakery in Santa Ysabel. Totally worth it. Anyone who attended the recent San Diego Guzzi (not a) Rally probably stopped by Dudley's. I've been getting coffee and pasty here for close to 30 years. Almost every bike I've ever owned has been here. And for giggles, while doing other maintenance on my ST3 yesterday, I installed green vents as a tip-of-the-hat to Benelli's silver and green bikes. Sort of like Docc's zinc-chromate green as tribute to Guzzi's colors as applied by Carcano.

Looks like fun. The bracket and studs on the spine are for an external fuel filter - they serve no purpose if you have an internal fuel pump and filter. I don't know what the extra wire harness connector is (was) for.

I think there will be plenty of springs to go around - and we can always have another batch made. I suppose they should be arriving next week or so.

Unfortunate accident - but totally avoidable. That is pure operator error, starting with riding in the middle of two-way road that has no divider line. In the slow-mo, you can see that he was not covering the front brake. He goes for the front brake right after the bike is unsettled - which could have been a consequence of locking the rear brake. Too many riders use the rear brake as the primary brake. Counter-steering on a motorcycle is called steering - that's just how bikes turn (along with weight transfer on seat and footpegs). Counter-steering on a motorcycle can be seen when the rear wheel is sliding way out on purpose - as in dirt track racing.

Most states have a law prohibiting the double-occupancy of a lane. California had no such prohibition, therefore what we called lane splitting for a long time was technically considered double-occupancy of a lane - or lane sharing. Making it legal in AZ would be great progress, and maybe encourage more people to ride because they get through commuter traffic. But it's going to take a concerted effort to educate the riders - and to change the attitudes of the car drivers.

You know I think this was an "engineering" topic as much as anything that has now taken on a extra philosophical element which I kind of enjoy:)Some of the best threads end up this way. You learn about the engineering and get the life lessons for free. Ciao I'm enjoying the philosophy too. But ya gotta admit... this is expert-level thread-drift.

Very nice Chuck. Eager to hear your riding impressions and if you notice any difference.

Great bike - obviously well cared for and lots of nice upgrades/additions.

I like the look of that build (although I still prefer the original design). As a rider, I would like to at least have a rear fender and air filters. I suppose that's not needed if you only go to cafes on nice days. On the weight savings, they said it was a top priority, but didn't report the net weight savings... so it looks lighter, but what is the actual weight? Also interesting that they didn't try to cut weight on the rear wheel and drive, with the possible exception of the reaction rod that goes from frame to top of final drive. No lightweight brake rotors... no lightweight wheels. I wonder how much weight carburetion saves vs fuel injection? The bike no longer has the fuel pump, ecu, some sensors, the airbox, and there would be less fuel line and less wiring.

@dangerous - I only bought the tranny from e-bay. Seller said it was from a Nero Corsa. That's all I know.

No apparent reason, but the spring is supposedly the same in all models - at least the replacement spring is. I'm gonna open up my low-mile Greenie, which I believe has the original spring - and will report findings. But that'll be after the new springs show up. Go open 3 beers - I think you can get through 7 pages per beer.

Chuck - find a stubby crescent wrench... maybe 12 or 13 mm... wedge it on the right of the cover where there is a cast "outcropping" to get some leverage and sort of roll it to get the first bit free. The crescent wrench (spanner) acts like a hook. Piece of piss (australian meaning).

Uhhh... Sarchasm - the large conceptual gap between the author of wit and the reader who doesn't get it.

I'm gonna lose money on each one, but I'll make it up in volume. Seriously, I plan to buy some small boxes or padded envelopes that I can just mail with standard postage. Several people have offered to take batches of springs and distribute them to clusters of V11 aficionados in exotic locales. The production cost went down to $2.15 per spring (plus shipping) when we changed to the thinner wire and increased the order to 150 units. I'm gonna stick $1.00 per spring on the cost for a forum donation (in Chuck's name) and maybe another buck for beer. All-in, it should be less than $10 for one spring shipped within the US.

Thanks guys. It's not a lot up front and I have enough "play" money to cover it.

The later tails are very light - nothing but an external shell. The rear subframe is slightly different too - it has tabs for screws to go up from the wheel well, while the early tails have studs molded into them that protrude down through plastic. Consequently, the mudguard/taillight flops around when you remove the tail on the early bikes, but it stays put when you remove the tail from the later bikes. The later one also offers a bit more storage space. You can save 5 more pounds by leaving your tools at home.

SP838 has put his Sport on a diet. He's drilled out some parts to lighten them and is even thinking about a lighter rear axle. Replacing the original exhaust is probably the easiest way to drop weight. The EBC scalloped rotors I put on the front of my red LeMans weighed less than the Brembos - they have aluminum carriers, where the Brembos use steel. This would be true for the rear as well. I think you can save a few pounds by changing to one of the Lithium batteries, such as Shorai. A red-frame bike could probably drop 5 pounds by using the lighter plastic tail section from a black-framed bike - would take only a little work to mount it.

Is that the fix that the KLR people call the "doohicky"? Our springs are in process. They liked Chuck's engineering drawing and the hand-made sample spring. I should have springs in-hand before the end of this month. Interestingly, they will deliver my ordered quantity plus or minus 10% and charge me for the actual number they deliver. I upped the order to 150, so I will get between 135 and 165 springs. I guess it's hard to predict the exact number of good springs at the end, because a few get damaged in each manufacturing step. I don't know what order they apply each feature (coils, bends, cuts) but they do 100% of each process, then change the machine set up and move all of them to the next process. It's fun to learn about how stuff is made.

Thanks Phil - I had to look up Australian slang meaning of piece of piss (something easy to do). We don't use that phrase in the US, but a "pisser" is usually something annoying or difficult.

Yeah - I'd say it was a bit more powerful than my V11s, and significantly louder than my greenie with the Titanium Kit Racing exhaust. You've dropped a lot of weight too - maybe 50 pounds - which contributes to the feeling of power.