Leaderboard

This is about as "before" as it gets. Day One: August 3 , 2000 . . .

Shakedown begins for the Eighteenth South'n Spine Raid, less than four months out now. Fresh front tire (#26 + 35 rear + the two that came on it = tire #63 for this Sport), new front wheel bearings (only the second replacements), cleaned the calipers/ pistons, silicone greased pins, fresh brake fluid (in 20 months went from <1% water to >3 %).

Throttle body balance today for the “grape ape” at Twiggers in Loughborough. Although they haven’t sold new Guzzi’s for several years, and the retail part of the business is now closed, their workshop is open for repairs & servicing. There aren’t many independent Guzzi specialists left in the UK, and I value being only 15 miles away

Gotta say, riding mySport today about 100 miles/ 160 km, the improved braking feel and power after cleaning and rotating the front brake pistons (plus fresh fluid) is really pleasantly noticeable. So worth doing with every tire change!

Thanks, my man! I've always tried to keep them "wiped down" and especially when I do the brake fluid bleed. This time I went with a new method and used hot water, brush, and the SuperClean degreaser that I learned about from @Chuck. Thorough rinse with hot water and the brush, then compressed air. Finished up with a rag and BrakeClean while I cleaned and rotated all the pistons. Thanks, again, for noticing and commenting! I thought they came out great!

those caliper look like new Docc

Checked stock today, only 1, so 2 more please. Cheers Tom.

Respectful names, Egli Vincent and. and. What’s that motorcaractur like ? Never had the pleasure, anybody? Cheers Tom.

I guess so, it's quite common in DC coils, other times they have a single coil then add resistance once the magnetic circuit is closed. AC coils don't need that because when the magnetic circuit is open the coil draws a lot more current, once the magnetic circuit is complete the reactance (AC resistance) goes up and the current drops. The factory don't seem to be aware of that, they only show one coil and don't allow for the heavy inrush current. As a consequence the wires and fuse is too small.

Is this some kind of jacked up pull / hold winding like some solenoids use ?

The best thing this tool does , is to keep the brake fluid away from things it's not supposed to touch .

Unfortunately, the leak is not quenched completely. Now that I know that the oil is a good paint remover, I better isolate it else my engine is going to loose its color...

I would think of this as a Third Gear song, rpm sweetly rising and falling, flowing sublimely alongside a meandering, shaded brook in some quiet hollow while relishing the basso profundo of the Mistral echoing off the damp rock bluffs . . .

What a beautiful bike! No wonder you've kept it all these years. Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

From non-Guzzi Clan folks: "They still make Moto Guzzis?"

"Your bike only has one neutral?"

Our V11 is a "modern" Guzzi, the ritual is to post copiously on V11Lemans.com, with images, and post back with the outcome. Modernity largely reveals itself digitally. In the arcane days, it was all about the roadside . . .

It's not easy to measure the solenoid current you'll just have to trust me. I discovered that the solenoid has two coils one day when I was playing around with the 2001 VII Sport I had at the time. I put my meter on Ohms and measured the resistance from the solenoid spade to chassis, I was surprised to find less than 1 Ohm. That particular model VII has a direct feed to the start solenoid from the battery so it never suffered from Startus Interuptus, it would always crank. I did some further testing and found that the two coils measure 1.25 Ohms and 0.25 Ohms and will draw up to 60 Amps for a split second (you can calculate the current by simple Ohms Law 12 Volts / 1.25 Ohms = 9.6 Amps 12 Volts / 0.25 Ohms = 48 Amps for a total of 57.6 Amps (substitute a slightly higher Voltage and it 's well over 60) All Guzzis with electric starters have this double coil but if you look at any Guzzi schematic you will only see one, ask yourself could that be the reason the factory has never cured Startus Interuptus? If you look closely at the spade connector on the solenoid you should be able to see the two coil ends soldered to the terminal. I have pulled a solenoid apart and found each coil has around 300 turns of wire the reason there is such a difference in resistance, the lower resistance 0.25 Ohm uses a heavier gauge wire and it's wound on first so the wire is much shorter whereas the 1.25 Ohm coil is lighter gauge and the wire is much longer as its wound over the top. This heavy current only occurs if there is no resistance in series and it drops to just the 1.25 Ohm coil (~10 Amps) as soon as the solenoid contact closes 10 - 20 milliseconds after the start relay closes. On most bikes you will barely get 30 Amps through the ignition switch and spaghetti wiring so of course the solenoid is only pulling at half strength and waiting to fail. My apologies to Tesla, I will revert to something I learnt as an apprentice back in the 1970s The magnetic strength of an electrical coil is the product of the number of wire turns and the current flow expressed in Ampere-turns a unit not used very often these days . The 1.25 Ohm coil which I call the holding coil (because that's what it does) has 300 turns x 9.6 Amps = 2,880 Ampere Turns, that sounds like a lot until you calculate the other coil 300 x 48 = 14,400 Ampere Turns, so it's obviously doing the Lions share of the work, I call it the grunt coil because it does all its work in a split second, funny that the factory don't acknowledge this coil in their schematics. I'm sure some of you have had trouble with the 15 Amp fuse blowing, this happens as the resistance builds up so now the Grunt coil can't quite get the solenoid to move, it sits there drawing about 25 Amps for several seconds until the fuse pops. Why do the factory supply a 15 Amp fuse? my theory is they measure the solenoid current with a meter ~ 10 Amps, so a 15 would be appropriate, they completely miss the heavy current drawn by the Grunt coil because it happens so fast 15 - 30 milliseconds, too fast for the meter to catch. You can actually measure this peak current by disconnecting the main feed to the solenoid contact, then the high current will be there as long as the relay is closed. You probably think its just a simple circuit, the solenoid just pulls the starter in while the button is pressed but there's something interesting going on when you take your finger off the button, you no longer have power on the solenoid spade but the coils are still powered up via the closed main contact, now the coils are connected in series, current feeds back through the Grunt coil from the motor terminal to the spade terminal and so to the Holding coil to chassis. The thing is because its going backward through the Grunt coil and forward through the Holding coil and they both have 300 turns the fields cancel each other out so the solenoid lets go.

I've only owned the bike for a short time but I think the Rosso Mandello is gorgeous version of the V11. Ventura recommends facing the bag forward for weight distribution and aerodynamics. Clearly it looks like I need to order a smaller EVO bag, but I like the fact that the mounting system design lets you see the bike when used. I don't plan on using a tank bag for the same reason. I sport toured back in the day on a brand new silver 2001 V11 Sport with Techno bags and large tank bag, in a new season I guess.

They don't call it 'a spare tire' for nothing lol

Through out the years of my transactions I have found one thing that usually takes care of a lot of anxieties on both sides of the table........... Its called facetime where I am and while your verifying the individual you can steer that lens anywhere its needed. Anyone that has issues with that you always have the option of moving on to the next adventure. Works for me. Ciao

One is definitely tilted… & the other is slightly shifted

Going thru papers for the hot rod V11, and spotted this on the Dynotech.de paper. Kein Castrol verwenden. Had to share. Cheers Tom. Sent fra min SM-A525F via Tapatalk

Adventure Bike track