Message to Wild Bill

[RichMaund]

I got your e-mail and tried to reply. But AOL keeps shitting my mail back saying my server is on their spam list or something to that effect.

I tried to private message you but I can't find a list of members to address it to you!

I can't waste more time on this, so here goes. In reply to your asking what my thoughts were about trading a Lemans for a V11S:

 

>>All Guzzi's seem to suffer corroded connections after a few years. Best to

go thru them, clean them and pack them with dielectric grease to keep the

corrosion at bay. Bad connectors will cause all sorts of heck and headaches.

I think the Lemans has too much fairing for it's riding position. Leaves

weight on your wrists. The old style adjustable clip ons on the original

V11S coupled with the no fairing or small bugswatter fairing are much more

comfortable for me. Wind pressure balances you on the bike and no pain in

the wrists! Notice that few V11S owners want to change handlebars. Almost

all Lemans owner want to though!

I don't care for the Leman's slowed down handling, crummy finish on the

drivetrain, blacked out frame and cheesy plastic frame covers. Looked like a

K-Mart custom job to me! Yech! The V11S had the red frame to show it off

and just looks more honest to me. The Lemans does nothing for me by

comparison.

Maintenance on a V11S is very easy. Good access to everything. Longest job

is servicing the forks. That's a half day job on all of these bikes though.

The only real problems with the original V11S were the crummy relays and

cheap alloy oil cooler brackets that quickly cracked. Both problems easily

fixed.

Technically, you'd be getting the lesser end of the trade as the V11S is

older and worth less money. But I follow my heart in deals like this. It all

depends on which bike you like better. Very soon the Lemans will be older

and worth less too!

The V11S simply grabbed me and works very well for me. It really pulled alot

of my heart strings. Few other bikes have grabbed me like that. When I first

saw a Lemans I thought "Aw gawd, what have they done?". I thought they did

the bike badly and on the cheap! I love the fairing design, but not coupled

with the low bars. Raise the bars to sit up straighter and you have less

weight over the front wheel. That affects handling.

Everything has to work together as a balanced whole. The V11S was superb

that way for me. I would not consider owing a Lemans.

If you do get the V11S, DO fix the corroded chassis pieces! Corrosion leads

to stress cracking and failure!

Blasting and powdercoating is very reasonable these days and it's tough and

corrosion resistant too.

Hope this helps!

 

Not trying to insult Lemans owners. But to my tastes, they finished the bikes with an ugly stick. Your opinion may vary. Sorry that due to AOL I had to send this on an open frequency!

[wildbill]

Rich, thanks for your thoughtful reply - sorry AOl was kicking you back, not a problem that this was a public reply - as I said I love my LeMans but that green Sport really tugs at my emotions, it's just so damn perfectly Italian! I think I may go ahead with the trade, I suspect that if i don't that in 5 - 10 years I'll be kicking myself for not doing it! One more test ride will probably force my choice, I guess you could say this is a really enviable dilemma as I like both outcomes! Thanks again for taking time to reply...

 

PS, does anyone make touchup paint in that electric lime green? There's a few spots that need touching up!

[docc]

That's not actually paint, but enigma.