Info about original equipment.

[audiomick]

1 hour ago, gstallons said:

Also , IDK if my triple trees are drilled for bar mounts or not ?

I'm fairly sure mine shouldn't be. Others here have said so. Mine had a handlebar instead of the clip-ons in the hands of the owner 2 previous to me. The papers I have confirm the number plate as being the owner from Feb. 2017 till May 2022.

The mufflers are also different to the ones on it now. I think the previous owner flogged them off seperately when he sold it to me.

The photo was passed on to me by someone I know from the Germann forum. No idea how he got the photo.

 

PS: I'd rather like to know why that luggage rack wasn't on it when I got it.

Edited Friday at 10:48 PM by audiomick

[audiomick]

6 minutes ago, gstallons said:

Well , it is an official 2003 and it has an internal fuel pump. 

Yours, I take it?

[Tomchri]

1 hour ago, audiomick said:

I'm fairly sure mine shouldn't be. Others here have said so. Mine had a handlebar instead of the clip-ons in the hands of the owner 2 previous to me. The papers I have confirm the number plate as being the owner from Feb. 2017 till May 2022.

The mufflers are also different to the ones on it now. I think the previous owner flogged them off seperately when he sold it to me.

The photo was passed on to me by someone I know from the Germann forum. No idea how he got the photo.

 

PS: I'd rather like to know why that luggage rack wasn't on it when I got it.

How many racks do you want ?

Cheers Tom.

[po18guy]

2 hours ago, gstallons said:

Well , it is an official 2003 and it has an internal fuel pump. 

Wouldn't an '03 have the 43mm hollow axle forks and better discs?

audiomick, Were it mine, it would be worth a couple of letters or some internet sleuthing to contact the owners, for some PEACE of mind.

[Lucky Phil]

8 hours ago, audiomick said:

Mine both have compression damping adjustment.

 

Umm, don't you mean rebound Mick?

Phil

[audiomick]

3 hours ago, Lucky Phil said:

Umm, don't you mean rebound Mick?

Phil

Yep, you're right, of course.

[audiomick]

I posted I thread in a german forum posing the same question as here, and got these two replies today:

Quote

You have a so-called Zwitterelfe (that means something like "halfway between the two"). This is the 2002 Le Mans model. It has all the same parts as the 2003 cat models, except no catalytic converters, no lambda but already an intermediate pipe, in-tank pump, 43 fork, the plastic instruments, the new handlebar switches and the colour scheme of the 03, but still the 01 ripple paint engine. The 03 models then had smooth paint in silk matt.

There are two spare parts catalogues for this 02 Le Mans, the first even lists the fuel pump nozzles as a spare part. The holes for the tubular handlebars in your bridge are retrofitted, they were not on this model

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Quote

You have a so-called Zwitterelfe. This is the 2002 Le Mans model.

 Welcome to the club. I have one of these in red. The flaky wrinkle-paint on the engine is visually crap.

But otherwise everything the later ones have and no annoying catalytic converters. The best of both worlds.

Did I mention that I love mine....

Both posters are very well informed, so I'm assuming the comments are accurate.

I've no idea if those "transition" Le Mans models made it out of Europe or not, but it seems that the combination is not unknown here, perhaps even normal for a 2002 model.

Edited Saturday at 10:50 AM by audiomick

[gstallons]

Do both of your forks have R on them ? IT should have C on the l.h. fork and R on the other. My red frame and black frame have a (maybe) 20mm nut on the fork caps. my 2003 has an external fuel pump. DO NOT be too concerned about your bike. The only problem I see is maybe having two R forks on your bike ? 

[audiomick]

8 minutes ago, gstallons said:

Do both of your forks have R on them ? IT should have C on the l.h. fork and R on the other....

It has an R on both forks. As I understand it, the version with compression in one leg and damping in the other was the 40 mm fork. Mine is the 43mm version, and rebound in both legs is correct for that. I don't see that as a problem, either. Lots of bikes only have rebound damping. If there is anything that remotely resembles a problem, it is only making sure that both legs are adjusted the same.

I've thought about it, and come to the conclusion that if one were to want to alter the compression damping, using a different fork oil would be the way. Get the compression damping where you want it with that, and adjust the adjustable rebound damping to match. Haven't tried it, but it should work, I reckon.

And I'm not at all concerned about the bike. The package seems to be, as mentioned in the quote further up, "the best of both worlds", apart from the shitty engine paint. I'm just curious.

[gstallons]

I have not seen the newer fork models so I will leave that alone. Mine has the krinkle paint too .

[gstallons]

 Can anyone here with the newer bike(s) verify their forks having R on both forks ?

[O2 V11]

audiomick, 

This is my VIN number ZGUKRAKR53M114957.  There is no question yours is a Euro spec 2003 LeMans while mine is a US spec 2002 Sport Naked model. Both of our bikes follow the accepted format for the VIN number up to the 9th character, ZGU for Italy as country of origin then Moto Guzzi as manufacturer.  Next yours is KTA01 designating a LeMans, mine being KRAKR, a Sport Naked. Then we have differing free numbers, 0 for you and a 5 for me. So far so good then the wheels fall off completely, the last 8 characters of your VIN show 2002 as the year of manufacture, Mandello del Lario,  as the place of manufacture and 114956 as production sequence number. Mine however indicates the following year of manufacture, 2003 but it's production sequence number being 114957, one after yours.

Here's where it gets really murky, with our bikes being made for different markets our VIN tags are formatted differently , my US spec tag also has stamped on it the date of manufacture as 2-2002 but the VIN number clearly shows a 3 as 2003 being the year of manufacture, which one is incorrect? I am going with my VIN being incorrect having a 3 instead of a 2 as year of manufacture. Also is it possible for your 2003 LeMans to have been built next to my Sport Naked in February of 2002 as our production sequence numbers are consecutive? I don't know, when was your bike first titled, was it in 2002 or 2003?

Rob

 

[audiomick]

4 hours ago, O2 V11 said:

... I don't know, when was your bike first titled, was it in 2002 or 2003?

First registered in 2003, in May I think.

Thanks for your post. Very interesting, even if it doesn't clear the fog much, unfortunately.

[ScuRoo]

16 hours ago, audiomick said:

First registered in 2003, in May I think.

Thanks for your post. Very interesting, even if it doesn't clear the fog much, unfortunately.

If O2 V11 is correct - sounds like it could easily spec up to a Euro bike fitting a 15RC ecu and a O2 sensor and have closed loop adaptive fueling

Obviously if you haven’t resolved all hiccuping issues as some owners seem to experience… it’s a nice possibility to ponder 🤔 

[audiomick]

5 hours ago, ScuRoo said:

...sounds like it could easily spec up to a Euro bike fitting a 15RC ecu and a O2 sensor and have closed loop adaptive fueling...

Mine has a 15M ECU and no Lambda sensor.