Leaderboard

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I took out the Green Goose today! Rode into Amish country, avoiding horse puckey on the road, took a mountain (well, what passes for a mountain in central PA) pass (lots of gravel and salt -- I almost walked around the 10mph hairpin switchbacks), and got back into town following a magnificent sunset. Stupidly, I didn't think to get a pic until too late, but I snapped this image after before it was lost completely: Look at that!!! Where is the "jaw on the floor" emoji? What a beautiful piece of machine art. You can walk around these V11 for hours trying to find the best angle to look at them from. And riding it is just as special. I can't make claim to being a great rider, I don't have any idea how to dial-in suspension settings, and I've haven't ridden scores of bikes for comparison purposes. What I do know is that the grin on the face sets in just after rolling out of the driveway. Literally. One moment it's a hooligan; another (around the ton) it's stirring milk tea. Pretty great combination, that. Cheers, Frey

This is a no brainer seriously. Repair the cracking with some fibreglass repair kit if it's minor and possible on the back of the cowl. So a fibreglass repair patch to regain it's strength and fill any slight issues on the visible face with the glass resin and the sand it back with wet and dry carefully. For the matching matt finish buy a can of matt clear 2 pack and spray it. Quality carbon will always have a clear coat to protect the resin from the sun and all the differences are is if it's clear or gloss matt. I've done several carbon repairs this way and even patched carbon parts with carbon cloth scraps. I bought a set of carbon side covers from a member here and he had cut out a keyhole section of the L/H cover for a rear shock reservoir hose. I repaired it with some fibreglass resin and some scrap Carbon cloth I have laying around. I just put a patch on the back of the panel and let it dry then cut out a couple of keyhole shaped piece of carbo matt and resined it in place to fill the cut out and level it up. I didn't even bother with getting it perfectly flat with resin and sanding it back and shooting a bit of clear over it as it was so good I didn't bother. I've taken an image in the worst possible light and angle to show the repair and then a general shot of what you'd see from a foot away fitted to the bike. 99% of people wouldn't even spot it when fitted unless I pointed it out. Another hour of messing about and it would be nigh on a perfect repair. Almost no skill required and a $12 fibreglass repair kit and some give away carbon matt offcuts. Ciao

@FreyZI's sunset Tenni deserves a place here:

Thanks for the suspension tips, I need reminding of taking care of some of the basics. I have to agree with your impressions of climbing a mountain with a guzzi at full boil. The first time I really experienced it, was a few years ago early in the spring on my CalVin. The snow had been melted around my house for quite a while and for the first time ever in my life, I started riding up the Opeongo Rd at Dacre,with no snow on the ground. The Opeongo Rd winds it's way up the mountain, cutting through deep isolated bush to the highest civilized point in Ontario at Foymount. The pipes echoing off the wilderness were nirvana, but I went into full panic mode 2/3s of the way up, when I couldn't hear the pipes or the glorious mechanical cacophony any longer, the bike sounded like it was dying, I thought I had a major mechanical failure, screwed, stuck deep in the wilderness; took me a long while to realize my ears had popped from the change in altitude & air pressure,lol. At the top of the mountain, the snowbanks in the shade were still at least 6-7 ft tall, the drops in temp had to be 15-20 degrees. That climb up the Opeongo Rd, with my thundering guzzis at full throttle, even with the poor, chip tar seal road surface is probably my favorite road to ride. I've ridden down the mountain a few times, but you're right, it's just not the same as the climb.

Great photo. Suspension - don't worry about playing with compression and rebound until you do the most important suspension setting - getting the springs right. You can check sag with the help of a friend. There are a few posts on this site about how to do it. You can get the sag right for you and the bike by adjusting the spring pre-load. (if you can't get sag in range with current springs, you would need different rate springs). The first time I did that on my Scura I swore it was a totally different suspension, or the roads had just been re-paved overnight. After that, play with the compression and rebound if you want to fine-tune. The small effort to learn about suspension settings will pay you back every single mile you ride. Mountains - I was once on a battlefield tour at Gettysburg (which is in the Southern part of Central Pennsylvania) with a group who were all from the Western US (mostly Washington and California). The guide explains how the Confederate army came in from the mountains. We all start looking around in different directions, and finally somebody asks "where are the mountains?" The guide points at some rolling hills... we weren't trying to be snarky, just had a different idea about the definition of mountain... like the base elevation of mountain is higher than the highest point in the whole state of PA. ...and why a Moto Guzzi? nothing beats the feel of the Guzzi engine under full load climbing a mountain. For example, this is a mountain. Feels like summer at the base, but winter at the summit. Highest point in Pennsylvania = 3,200 Feet Lowest point in Great Basin National Park (Nevada) > 6,000 feet Mountain Peaks in background > 13,000 feet.

The Coppa Italia wasn’t sold before midnight so it turned into a Vespa...

All of those rubber boots are made up into the wiring harnesses and not part numbered separately by Moto Guzzi. It would be great to find a rubber distributor catalog to pore through and find some replacements.

Stucchi test fitted today, v good fit with the Titan mufflers to [emoji16], new headlight ++++, what did l not go thru. Dressed or half undressed, specal. Cheers Tom. Sent fra min SM-A525F via Tapatalk

Were getting there, that rubber piece look’s like fitting head temp sensor to. Must say Shin Etsu, silicon feels like medicine to rubber,new and old. The other 90degree rubber piece, close!, usable, but like the original shape. Thanks for the effort making our special lady’s looking SPECIAL. Cheers Tom.

Mr. Scudder sez: +1 to all 3.

Fake ads? The Coppa I viewed earlier today is not even in my browser history . . .

Copa into Vespa; a good transfiguration if the police are sniffing around, or maybe the Incredible Hulk getting his cool back?...🤔

Yea I know docc but thats all I got Ciao

Anybody know where to get that rubber protection for the rear brake cylinder wiring . Cheers Tom. Sent fra min SM-A525F via Tapatalk

Thanks for the reminder on the Shin Etsu grease for rubber, @Tomchri! I just gave my upper and lower rear master cylinder boots a good cleaning and "medicinal dose" of Shin Etsu!

http://www.fastguzzi.nl/ Look under V11 parts. Contact Paul he may still make them. Ciao

Who wants to have a go at this first ? Here’s a kit that looks like it contains everything needed but the carbon fiber https://www.carbonfiberglass.com/Fiberglass-mold-kit-economy

I don't see it on this site, but this is the kind of supplier I was speaking of . . . https://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/product/159/category/32

Will keep searching. Probably the same with Ducati and others, not a stock part #. Cheers Tom.

I looked for a couple years to no avail. A friendly forum member sent me an extra he had from a parts bike. Maybe another make bike uses the same cyl??

Good info on repairs. The question remains about having carbon parts manufactured. I'v noticed that quite a few members have acquired bikes with no seat cowl, and they spend a while trying to find one - and they are sometimes pricey. A CF unit would be a nice aesthetic upgrade for some - and a paint-to-match part for others. And while we're thinking about manufacturing CF parts, the other one that might be worth looking into is the tank pad. The Scura and I think a few other models had a carbon part on top of the tank, where most models had a molded foam/rubber part that is NLA. You'd also need to get some little mounting brackets with the CF tank pad.

that's at least 1400cc's Docc

And one more for O.P. @sign216 . . .

After being sorted a bit, she’s back to daily rider. An Ohlins shock, Racetech springs, and Road 5s (160 rear) are really working well. 95 is the new 80! That’s MPH, not my age.

What a great thread!! It is so important to recognize the visceral nature and emotional impact of the bikes. I was immediately attracted to the V7 Sport, but did not own a Guzzi until 1977, when I purchased a T-3. I rode that for a year and then traded it on a 1978 Lemans 850. That may have been the best motorcycle I have ever ridden, but sadly I crashed in 1979 and then took a wrong turn toward BMW ownership. 5 bikes and 20 years later I returned to my true love when I purchased a V11 Sport in 2000. I put 60,000 blissful miles on that bike until a women yacking on her cell phone ran a stop sign and totaled her out. I spent the next 10 years searching for a replacement and luckily last year I found her in Missouri. I am once again experiencing motorcycle bliss and I intend to ride this incredible machine into the sunset!!

If anyone of you uses VPN, contact me via pm. I have a legal way to watch all the MotoGP events. All the FPs are without comments, only the race has commentary. There are no interruptions during the events.

I know what you mean by having the sensation of going fast. I was thinking about that yesterday when I was on a familiar moderately curvy road with my Greenie. It was quite exhilarating at 50 mph — controlled and planted, but fun as hell! — whereas my Duc Hypermotard (a fun as hell bike, too!) on the same road and at the same speed the feeling is, for lack of a better word, tamer, or maybe it’s being more upright that has less speed impressed. Totally different rides, power-to-weight ratios, riding position, etc. I guess that’s a compliment to both of those bikes, but the V11 is a more visceral ride. The weight and mass of the bike seems to want more body English and weight shifting. On the V11 one feels more “in” the bike, and with the Hyper one feels more “on” the bike. Tuono V4 is a a whole other beast! That’s a nice stablemate for the V11, for sure!

I bought my V11 LM Rosso Corsa in spring 2003 as I was getting bored with my then motorcycle (a too perfect BMW K1200RS) and wanted something totally different. When I saw the Rosso Corsa, I immediately fell in love with its (or should I say "her"?) looks. During the following months, I test rode a number of very diffferent bikes (BMW R1100S and R; Aprilia Falco and Futura; etc). When I rode the V11, however, she immediately gave me a big smile, which lasted the entire day until I had to hand her back to the dealer and return home withe the BMW. The V11 is a truly living machine with its imperfections (aka "character") that makes every ride an emotional experience. Also, on my Guzzi, I have the impression to go fast even when I am only doing 80 Km/Hr, which is a key advantage in Belgian traffic conditions marked by speed cameras and increasingly repressive controls. Still, when midlife crisis hit, I added a Tuono V4 1100 RF to the stable, as my Nordschleife toy. Even with such tough competition, the V11 is still my favorite.

Yeah, but it took me a couple of decades to remember how to take s!&t less seriously...🙃

“Good and bad, I define these terms Quite clear, no doubt, somehow Ah, but I was so much older then I’m younger than that now”

I don't think we should grow up, and it is a shame that we do. I would give anything to be able to rediscover the small emotions and joy of life again. I am tired of feeling that it is a repeat of something I have done before. My motto always was: Experience helps you recognize a mistake... when you make it again!

Ahh that would be why I have always serviced my Ducati's. The ST4s is 15 years in my ownership. Reliable as anything out there. Given it takes a looong time to take the fairings off, I save a few dollars labor there.

I've only allowed two passengers on my Guzzi; one, my step-mother on her 80th birthday (a cool ol' gal who has passed on, and the other one of the few loves of my life and she's gone on to the joy of married life to someone else. I don't blame her; I've still not "grown up"!...