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My 86 yr old mentor (James Mariner) has always said , there are better motorcycles , but 99% of Moto Guzzi owners are some type of professional . A craftsman or something !

Bought the bike new at Lexington Motorsports and rode it the first 12.5K miles then sold it to Kale who lives in Nicholasville, KY where it has resided ever since. The bike came with the carbon front fender and fly screen. I added the chin spoiler, side carbon, along with Fast By Ferracci pipes and eventually the FBF high compression piston kit. Since then, Kale added the Mivv exhausts. The motor had a bolt loose in the oil pick up and spun a bearing, leaving the bike idle for over 6 years. In the last couple of weeks Kale bought a low mileage EV motor painted and installed it. The bike is back on the road now running more reliable than ever, this pic on Saturday around Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, was on his "sea trials" shaking out the bikes lasts glitches. Which were a new voltage regulator and some of the wiring to the turn signals. As she stands right now, the bike is good to go.

Ha! Boxing Day temp downunder... funny thing is we still give each other Xmas cards portraying Santa snow scenes! 🤤

"Lambskin leather" smooth wouldn't be bad for my Guzzi V11...My Ducatis are almost as smooth as a Honda 750 Four once off idle. My Triumph Daytona 1200 is nearly vibration-free...smooth like glass, as to be expected from any inline-four. Just four months and I will finally get to put my big Guzzi through her paces. I think about it almost daily. She has such character, this bike.

I would wager it was more off than that. I know I said this before, but you may be vastly relieved by what it feels like after a couple Decent Tune-ups. Also, it is important to balance the Guzzi throttle bodies "at some rpm" (2500-3000 or so) rather than at idle. Not all technicians agree or do this and their balance will be lovely at idle, but perhaps considerably off at the rpm we actually ride. I don't mind a lumpy idle, but want it as silky as a Guzzi gets at 4-5000 and up. (Okay, they're Guzzis, so not "silky." Maybe "leathery" would feel just right . . .)

In the Spring, I will unscrew both side caps and see if perhaps one of the weights, or both, or the rubber bushings are missing within the clipons. Hell, it may have been off just half a degree in tuning, and now is totally smooth. Well, smoother. I only got to ride her 30-45 mins the one time before any reconditioning was done to the machine, so who knows?

Indeed

I owned a Silver 2001 V11 Sport CF version that I bought new long ago. Sold it to a friend that still has it with over 40K miles seen in this picture ridden on Saturday.

we've had great weather in flyover America. Sleeping with windows open, BBQ'ing tenderloin for Xmas dinner. Riding in 75 degree weather. Christmas here was 6 degrees cooler than the last 4th of July. However, you might remember last winter when the power grid gave out, dozens froze to death, we had below zero weather for a week and didn't get over freezing for two weeks? And that was in February when the weather is usually turning balmy.

My Six cents; There is a thread of my looking for a right end bar weight because it fell off. I rode with no weight because it took a long time to locate one, and I can attest the vibrations are unsustainable. Very easy to compare between the left and the right hand side without weight.

I personally apply Murphy's law; you know if it works, don't touch it. Although the temptation to intervene is there, simply because you want to keep up with curiosity, or self satisfaction that you did it too, I have scaled back my ambitions to make my personal V11 closer to the perfection it aspires to be. Of course, I have multiple excuses that I comfort myself with. The main one, is the bike runs reasonably well; and I use it as much as I can. Immobilizing it if not completely necessary does not sound the healthy alternative to me. The current Houston weather is an invitation to do everything on your Guzzi, and that's what I am going to do. My front tire is ready to give up, and it was brand new before I fixed my odometer...

Eat your hearts out!!! riding has never been so pleasant with the Guzzi loving this temperature. Not even a cough at the usual 3krpm. And it has been like this excepted for I think three days of cold in November. But check it out, from Sunday, we finally are going to see some winter days...

Shaun, Interested in the Rosso Mandello.

I have about 5 pounds of lead shot I was going to put in the bars on the '85 LeMans, but after the engine work the vibration went away and it wasn't necessary to try out. Might give it another go in my '74 Aermacchi this spring tho.

For all those late model V11’s (15RC ECU with oem O2 sensor) improving/ maximising your bikes O2 signalling speed pays dividends. Mr Cameron’s recent article expands on how fast modern ECU’s can be... “Digital fuel injection is like having your own highly experienced professional race tuner constantly optimizing the operation of your engine. If it seems impossible that so much computation can keep up with a 12,000-rpm engine, consider that the clock speed of some modern ECUs is 40 mHz; that is, the computer moves through 40 million switching states per second. Remember, too, that the speed of electronic signals is high and the dimensions of a computer chip are tiny. One revolution of a motorcycle crankshaft turning at 12,000 rpm takes 60/12,000 = .005 second, so during one turn of the crank the ECU can perform 200,000 clock cycles. Digital is fast.“ Simply upgrading to the LSH24 unleashes the 15RC ECU from the limiting LSH15 faulty (slow) sensor speed & is paramount to installing a modern ECU & rebooting the refinement level to a hiccup free silky smooth 100%. 👍😋 https://www.cycleworld.com/story/blogs/ask-kevin/motorcycle-carburetor-and-fuel-injection-explained/?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=CYW Sunday Best 122621&utm_medium=email

For these Racebolts in Australia but for the majority of Ti fasteners it's ebay in Grade5. A few years ago I source all my TI fasteners from Toronto cycles so thats another option. Ciao

DO USE anti-seize on this and stainless is a must !

The thing I like about this network of owners , they can discuss any facet of a bike . All other owners need someone to check tire pressures .

When people see the mileage on my >20 year old, uncommon (if not downright rare) Italian (of all places!) funky motorcycle, I am often asked where my dealer is. I used to reply, "My local Moto Guzzi dealer in Seattle, Washington!" (Which is 2500 miles away. ) Since Moto International closed, I enjoy saying, "Varsseveld, in The Netherlands. Some fellow named FieldHorse."

Neil looks like a happy camper. Graham and Steven are having a good time.

Great stuff fella’s! Enjoyed researching this topic. This gear opportunity has been fascinating in gaining a greater understanding of ignition camshaft drives - there’s a helluva lot more involved I had no real appreciation for to such a granular degree. Learning new understandings on concepts which seem, as Docc puts it, “non-intuitive” can be quite humbling! Like for example, I’ll never be quite so unthinking of my RPM’s as just some simplistic spinning speed ever again! “Periodic combustion impulses result in rotational speed fluctuations of the crankshaft. Ignition and combustion within a cylinder cause a rapid rise in gas pressure and an angular acceleration of the crankshaft. Gas compression in the next cylinder causes immediate deceleration. Torque pulsations result in crankshaft torsional vibrations which reach the camshaft(s) and auxiliaries via belt or chain drives.” https://www.rotec-munich.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/torsional-vibration-measurement.pdf As usual, Mr Cameron always offers a compelling motorcycling perspective. https://www.cycleworld.com/story/bikes/about-motorcycle-engine-cam-drive-systems/ It’s Christmas Eve & the missus has got some concert playing on the box - so Merry Christmas!

Back in the 90’s the co I worked for had a mandatory policy of hearing protection. After much grumbling I gradually realized having my ears ring after work wasn’t normal & have been an advocate for hearing protection since then. However this has not prevented the accumulated damage done prior to that point & have a constant hissing in my left ear. For riding I wear plugs & found this co; https://www.earplugstore.com who offer an assortment of earplugs to try, for as they say ears are all different. I did spend the $100+ one time on a pair of custom plugs but found they rubbed against my helmet & amplified the road noise ! Frankly I am horrified how much hearing aids cost. Neither of my bikes have cost that much.