Leaderboard

So I have to agree that if you've done all you can in a personal physical sense to keep ride fit then some mods might be in order, but seriously managing 6-8 hour rides at our kind of ages is pretty good with regards to the suitability of the bike ergo's. Just make it your short ride bike and the BMW the road trip bike. There's no law saying a bike needs to be ride-able for 8 hours per day for X days. If I used your criteria for my bikes I'd have none at all and I would never have bought my 1000ss and 1198. Short rides have been my preference for at least the last 20 years and back in the mid 80's I did two 3 month trips around Europe and Britain with my wife living off the bikes, each trip doing around 25,000 klms. My dream is to tour Europe again in a motor home with something like a BMW R1200GS in the back. Stop and find a place to base yourself for a week and then do day trips on the bike around the local area seeing the sights. 250 klms a day max. Anyway, back to the point. If you can manage 6-8 hours on the V11 over a day and feel decent after it you're doing ok. Save the Guzzi for the fun short day rides and the BMW for the multi day trips. Ciao

Quit calling me Shirley, but that's blue (removable) thread locker that you are seeing. I use it..sparingly.. when I think it will be useful. Most people use way too much.

I'm 51, and 2 hours on the LeMans is enough for me. PO installed 2" risers on mine, extended hydro lines too. While they were a little more comfortable, the bike had electrical malfunctions. Sometimes wouldn't start or crank and might die when at a stop. I figured the wires were stretched as he didn't lengthen them. Brake and clutch reservoirs would rub fairing and he buggered the aluminum mounting bracket so it wouldn't hit the fairing. Took them off and the electrical gremlins pretty much disappeared. And, it handled better too. Even though it was a little more comfortable, I like it stock better, mainly because of the better handling. As others have mentioned, it's a short trip bike for me. I have a Buell Ulysses with luggage and throttle lock for the longer rides. Although, I'm lusting at the new V85tt's 🥴

When I had me V11 Le Mans Rosso Corsa, I mounted DÄS-Mototec handlebars. You can see them here: They are quite expensive but were worth every cent. https://shop.daes-mototec.com/de/Fahrwerk-7/Lenker/DAeS-Lenkerstummel-Kit-fuer-MOTO-GUZZI-V11-Le-Mans--alle-Mod--V11-Coppa-Italia---Scura---Naked-02-.html

if a person wants the "safety" of a thread sealant , you can use an amount of weatherstrip adhesive to the ( clean ) threads on a fastener , allow it to dry and install . with a lot of new parts such as front hub assemblies , they come with new bolts and have an adhesive on the threads . This is a form of Loctite and will keep the bolts from rusting / seizing in the threads . Phil's statement about lawsuits is about as true as it gets as far as keeping things tight !

No thats true. When you think about it very little stuff really needs thread locker. All the engine bolts dont have any and dont fall out all the time. If the engineering is right and the fasteners are good quality then the stretch on the fastener does it job. There are always outliers though of course like the nut that holds the oil pump drive sprocket on. The other common reason is if you are fastening down an item made from a soft material like a plastic and you cant achieve the fastener stretch because it would crush or distort the component then you basically undertorque the fastener and the locker stops it loosening. Locker is also good for protecting fastener threads from wearing due to severe vibration and the fastener losing its stretch. The automotive world uses thread locker on lots of stuff these days which is pretty much all about litigation protection. To the point where if you read the shop manual they tell you to discard many fasteners and fit new ones and they aren't TTY fasteners either. The reason? because the new oem fastener comes with thread locker already applied. They don't even trust the average mechanic to apply it themselves, on top of the fact its not even necessary 95% of the time. It was very rare to use thread locker on aircraft components I can say that and I rarely use it on cars or bikes either really. Ciao

45-50 Nm = 33-37 ft-lbs should be fine then?

Uhhhhhh . 45 ft lbs is about as tight as you would want on a 10mm or 3/8'' fastener . If you need that torque going into aluminum , you need to use a stud instead of a bolt .

I learned to be cautious using loctite, the hard way. Manual didn't call for it, but I justified the use because it's a Harley V-twin (Buell) and they vibrate fasteners loose, lost a few lower fairing screws because of it. Didn't make it to torque spec of 45 ft-lbs and the threads pulled out of the cast aluminum threaded hole😫. I reckon the loctite "altered" the friction kinda like oil would, and now the torque spec was too much . Had to helicoil it, and, no loctite this time, lol. YMMV

Any time you do anything to a bike , you have to look at ALL the side affects . Look at all the wiring routing and connections . AFA the v85 , You can $atisfy that lu$t any time you want .

That looks like a store I could spend the day in !

I really think it is the micro switch at the front brake lever. Loosen the tiny bolt/nuts and wiggle the the switch some, making sure there is no binding, pull the brake lever and let it flip back... if the light goes out, you found it. Flip the lever as you re-tighten the bolts to be sure the light stays out, without tightening 'too' tight. This has happened to me twice on different V11. Once just loosening the bolts made the light go out. It is a sensitive little switch. If this doesn't fix it, I still think it's the switch.

Not at all . There is a reality we cannot escape . being able to run with children ALL day long in the hills of Giant City State Park , hauling hay or cutting tobacco , going from a 6 shooter to a single shot , etc. I had a friend that was on the back of a boat at Green Turtle Bay with some friends late one afternoon . He remarked to all the men standing around the stern , "do you realize we used to talk about all the drugs we were taking , and now 40 yrs later we're doing the same thing but for a different reason" !

That's a big day for sure. I reflected once on my Euro trips and long haul rides in general and came to the conclusion that back then it was about a couple of things. One, "being different" and two the challenge of the journey facing the "elements" that those in cars and tour busses would shy away from. A bit like the guy in the wild west that crossed the country on a horse as opposed to a stage coach or a train I guess. Now days I'm indistinguishable from the hoard of middle to past middle age "born again" bikers and that depresses me. I weathered the storm of negative comments and attitudes from "sensible people" for 30 years that either gave up riding or didn't ride in the first place but at least I felt like a bit of a Maverick, someone that took his own path and stuff the rest of you. Now I'm just identified as some old guy that's having a delayed middle aged crisis with all the BMW, Harley and mega dollar Ducati Panagale posers at the coffee shop sipping lattes and discussing share portfolios, damn it. People like us should have something to identify us as "worriers for the cause" that sacrificed for years so all the relative new comers could enjoy respect and equality from polite society. Have i gotten off track? Ciao

Disconnect this wiring to see if the brake light goes out . You will make sure you are going in the right direction . I will try to see how mine works in the A.M. and let you know

Wow, what a lovely story, but a sad ending. I see people trying to have stores that "look" like this now. But they aren't really genuine.

You know docc up until very recently we had one of these exact shops in the heart of the Melbourne CBD run by a lady in her 90's. Imagine in a City of almost 6 million you are walking down one of the main streets surrounded by skyscraper and you come across a small dusty wooden floored shop front full of stuff for 1950's British bikes with a 90 something year old lady serving at the counter that had been there since 1955. This from 2013, she died a few years ago I believe and the shops finally gone now, mores the pity. https://talesofbrickandmortar.com/2017/10/01/modak-motorcycles-est-1930/ https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/about-melbourne/celebrating-melbourne/lord-mayors-commendations/previous-recipients/Pages/-2013-Platinum-recipients-.aspx Ciao

It's the remnants of Blue Loctite. No Loctite is required on any of these bolts and nor are those poxy schnorr washers, plain washers is all thats required and the fasteners properly torqued with a little anti seize on them. Ciao

do what you gotta do ! Do you go to a chiro ? Start . Talk to him/her about things and get recommendations ! I have gone to a chiro since I was born , w/o one I would not be able to move . Until I get them replaced I get Cortisone shots in my knees every 91 days . I know what pain feels like . Start working out , lose weight ( if you need to ) and get a positive attitude . As far as the modifications , I hope others will jump in on this .