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More fun fuel usage math: My office commute is 18 miles (round trip). The Toyota 4Runner (LandBruiser) gets about 1/2 the fuel "economy" as mySport (17.6 vs 36.5 USmpg), yet the round trip commute to&from the office is more like 43 miles on mySport (more than double the straight-shot distance, but takes in some lovely hollows, creek roads, and ridge climbs). On top of that the fuel cost for the Sport's *premium* versus the 4R "regular" is about a US dollar more per gallon. So, today, taking the (fun) long way to the office on the (fun) Sport cost me an extra $1.96 over scowling my way down the highway in the LandBruiser . I showed up, and came home, a happier man. Where else can you get that for two bucks?

My 'Sport came to me with a lot of problems, all peripheral but troublesome in the 'trailer' sense. Once I straightened it out, I had near 15k absolutely trouble-free miles. With very little warning, it seemed to have a cascade failure. Fuel pump relay, electrical connections, starter siezure, it would run fine for a while then I'd be crawling back home or trailering home every time I went out. What it took, was a serious and dedicated maintenance to everything I could get my hands on without opening the motor. A big tube of DeOxit, new Omron relays, a new starter motor, new battery, remake all the ground and charge connections, new powdercoat and tires on the wheels, fix the steering head bearing race issue. It seemed a neverending litany of aggravation. Like I had to rebuild and remanufacture the entire bike. I excused MG because they're 'Boutique' and 'tiny'. But the real truth, I came to realize, is that I put 5 times the miles on it of any other bike I owned without *any* maintenance. Over the course of 4 years, in all weather, and often parked outside 'usually' under cover, in South Florida temperatures and humidity. I spent a lot more time maintaining all my previous bikes more frequently without really thinking about it. This only became noticeable because it went so long asking for nothing. One of my bumper sticker mottos is "Don't take half measures". This is a fine example of how I came to that philosophy.

Burning coal makes energy for CLEAN Electricity!!!

The VintageCar LED is still going strong, 2 3/4 years and almost 12,000 miles/20.000 km, it has outlasted the poorly made Chinese unit and all of the hi-wattage (and hot!) Sylvania Silver Stars I used to use. Highly "conspicuous" and excellent beam patterns, both Lo- and Hi- (in the early V11 Sport steel bucket Bosch). I opened the bucket today to change out the 4 watt City Light and everything looks great. No signs of excessive heat.

Done. cdr

I used the "visit store" option, typed "V11" in the search window and returned some V11 spares; specifies free shipping from Italy but ship everywhere in the world and accepts offers. It is one of this scavenging companies, that purchases wrecked bikes and sell them as parts.

Back in 1987 I saw David Sadowski, a sponsored Dunlop rider, go to the Dunlop trailer and pull out Doug Polen's used practice tires to mount instead of brand new free ones, for the money race. That was everything I needed to know about Dunlop and racing tires. They cheat. I assume everyone cheats. I hate cheating.

Currently Michelin decides on three different tire compounds and constructions and brings those three to each race. The teams have no say in which tires are brought. It is three fronts and three rears, plus any wet weather tires. The three tire deal is just for slicks. The plan next year is for Michelin to only bring two different tires, two fronts and two rears, to races next year. Again, the teams will have no say in which tires Michelin brings. If a teams bikes don't work with either of those tires, they are SOL. It would be nice if teams had a say in which tires they get to use at a given track. It would be even nicer if Michelin would work with teams to tailor the tires to the bikes. It would be great if Michelin would stop changing tire specs and throwing away all the R & D time and money teams spent to get their bikes to work with the "spec" tires. I get the inequality that was inherent in the old system before there was a spec tire. But the current system is full of its own inequality. If you wanted to stop special tires being made only for certain riders, simply make a rule that requires tire manufacturers to bring enough tires for all their riders in order for any of their riders to be able to use a given tire. And don't let the tire manufacturers distribute the tires they bring to the riders. Have them submit the various tires they brought to the FIM, and have the FIM hand the tires out. If there aren't enough tires of a given compound / construction and someone wants one but there are no more, remove that specific tire from use. That will still allow competition between tire manufacturers. And it will still allow motorcycle manufacturers to design MotoGP bikes that aren't the same as everyone else's, because tires can be built to suit different bikes. But it will limit how far a tire manufacturer would go to build special tires as they would have to build enough special tires for all their riders. Instead, we have a system where Michelin decides which bikes are faster and which bikes are slower by deciding which tires everyone has to use. And in some cases they change those tires in the middle of a season, or test certain tires at a given track and then show up with different tires. It does not help the racing to do it this way. And it does not reduce costs for anyone other than Michelin. Because of tire "adjustments" most teams actually end up spending more money, not less. Having raced on different brand tires, and having received some of the "good" tires from at least one brand. I understand just how much of a difference tires will make in how fast a given racer on a given bike can go. It can be a massive difference, and in a field where the grid is around one second between front and back that can make all the difference.

Times have certainly changed. The Duc is the only bike that I would take on an overnight ride now. KNOCKING WOOD <again> (I'm also on some Duc forums, there are some issues with new Ducs but nothing like I see on WG for 1400, 8v, V7, TT, etc., etc. I'm not comparing my legacy bikes since they're old and have miles on them but the long term reliability for them has been a challenge.)

There are several different ways of wiring a starter motor, most are wired in series because thats a high torque arrangement and will wind up to quite a high speed. Traction motors are normally series type. The Suzuki motor as you describe it is a compound motor, they can develop high torque but don't have such a high speed. The two "Shunt Fields" coils wired from positive to ground will be a higher resistance (over 1 Ohm). The Series fields are usually low, say 0.2 Ohms It sounds like you are thinking of using the Aeromachi armature inside the Suzuki fields in order to have the right gear arrangement, how do you know it will fit? How do you know which way it will rotate. Why don't you try overhauling the Aeromachi starter, it will probably be easier than trying to reverse the Suzuki one, A few pictures might help. Perhaps a wiring sketch. Do you have a document on the Aeromachi starter?

I got news for you, they have in the past and they did it all the time. In fact Michelin used to make custom tyres "OVERNIGHT" for the factory guys and fly them in for race day. So during Friday practice Michelin would email the factory and get them working on a custom tyre for each of the top guys whatever they thought they needed to use in qualifying and the race. Stoner mentioned this in his autobiography that "occasionally" in his first year in a satellite team if he was doing well in practice some of these tyres would be "bestowed" upon him and the "lesser lights" for qualifying. It's the reason he would often qualify well or even on pole then everyone would ask why he wasn't up front in the actual race. Reason? because even after getting pole he'd be back on the std "junk" tyres for the race. Naturally he found it quite annoying that Rossi et al would know that although he qualified well they wouldn't need to worry about him or the other satellite riders that qualified well because the top guys would prevent them having the best tyres for the race. The spec tyre changed all that for the good but now it's run it's course and I don't see any reason in the preseason testing teams couldn't choose from a number of different constructions offered to them that they thought worked best for them and their bike and rider and Michelin build those tyres for them for the season. The actual tyre construction variations aren't a big deal to build. Sure it would be more costly but all they need to do is cut down on the F1 style bullshit creeping into MotoGP and they'd find the money. Phil

Very fun to hear from one of our members traveling south on Tennessee's I-65 asking, "Was that you, docc, on a silver Sport with Tenkno bags I saw ?" Indeed it was! Good to be seen!

Well, my worst ever experience was a Ducati that I was afraid to ride farther than I was willing to walk.

Yeah, I hit a milestone today.. put $21 in fuel in the AeroLario. (!) I remember when it seems not too long ago, I was griping about putting $2 in my Duck at Bike week.. Still 190 miles, 3.5 gallons is a fair amount of riding. I've spent more for less fun. Oh, I feel like Kreskin, too.. ordering a Tesla last summer.

Heartburn rise to level yellow, just thinking about EV. Your foot wear budget will be sky rocking, pipe budget, ++ just walking around waiting for the bloody EV to get filled up with nuclear electricity. I better stop . Cheers Tom

Don's agreed to fix it when the next oil change is due. I don't expect to pay additional labor and if he totals the bike, he can own it. He said that the former tech used gasket sealer. I haven't a clue why the guy did that even if he didn't know anything about servicing Guzzis since there was never any adhesive on the surfaces in the first place. Believe me, I'm damned pissed about it. Ironically, I never had much problems with my Guzzis until I got some miles on them and relied on Don's shop. Then gearbox cracked, voltage regulator, fuel pump, oil pump, timing chest, etc., etc. So far my best ever experience for any motorcycle has been 24k miles on '17 Ducati, KNOCKING WOOD until my knuckles bleed.

I agree, it’s a 6K bike. Right now almost all of these V11 Sports are 6k give or take 500. Once sorted out, they are pretty much priceless. I wouldn’t get rid of mine for nothing.

Here's a list of things to inspect, clean or lubricate while the wheels are off for a tire change: (The wheels don't have to be off to do all of these maintenance points, and not all need to be done every time) >Check the wheel bearings for smoothness and play. >Clean and check the brake pads for wear; polish and grease the pin(s) very lightly with a silicone based grease.. >Clean the brake pistons and restore their motion in and out of the calipers evenly. This involves blocking every piston but one and moving it in an out of the caliper all the while cleaning it with brake cleaner. > This good advice from gstallons on brake drag: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=20133&p=225343 >Bleed brakes, especially the rear brake while you can turn the bleeder to the top. > Clean the fork seals with a "SealMate", or equivalent, including the dust seals. Performing this simple task routinely may extend the life of your fork seals impressively! >Remove the top and bottom rubber caps from the rear brake master cylinder and inspect, clean, and lubricate. Use only silicone based grease around brake parts (under the master cylinder, inside the rubber cap). Make sure there is good electrical connection to the switch at the top and avoid the silicone based lubes (dielectric) on electrics - simple petroleum jelly (Vaseline®, or better: Caig DeOxit Gold®) will keep the moisture out. Grease does not conduct electricity - it's just to keep the moisture out. http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=18158&p=192643 >Clean the rear brake carrier pin and block; lube lightly and be certain the pin threads are clean, lubed* and well torqued. (later V11s have a retaining clip on the inboard side). *Consider a thread locking compound. Allowing this locator pin to fall out can be catastrophic! On the early V11 (1999-2002), some have decided to torque the pin in place and only use the sliding block to remove the rear wheel, perhaps reducing the chance that the pin would not be reinstalled correctly and safely. >Bleed the clutch. >Clean the gearbox vent and the rear drive vent. >Locate, inspect, groom and otherwise secure the wiring and connectors from the Side Stand Switch. This is how your V11 gets electrical power to the Run Switch while you are riding along. Without it, you will not be riding along. Might as well have a close look at your side stand mechanism: pivot bolt, backing nut, springs, and foot "lever"(wire loop). Make certain the sidestand bracket fasteners are secure to the timing chest and sump spacer. The main, large fastener here is torqued to 70-75 Nm! Loose fasteners here could contribute to a broken sump spacer. (no need to have the wheels off for this one!) >Inspect the rear exhaust crossover hanger and both of the canister/passenger peg subframe supports. >Clean the wheels and rotor carriers ("float buttons") and lube the front carrier buttons (a drop of Breakfree CLP (or equivalent) works well, but don't let it sling out on the rotor surface. Bumping the rotors around with a mallet helps keep them “floating.” Even out the spacing of the rotor on the carrier by tapping evenly around the perimeter of the rotor with a soft mallet. >Check the torque reaction rod (chassis rod) rubber bushings for deterioration and play. With the rear drive removed and driveshaft separated, service the pivot bolts . Clean the pivot bolts and apply something reliable for corrosion resistance, especially the front pivot that has been reported to break. >Check the rear drive bearings; clean and grease the outboard needle cage and its sleeve with a good waterproof grease insuring that you rotate it to a new position. Here is an excellent thread, by Bjorn, with lots of great pictures of this bearing, the swingarm, and the bevel box internals. [edit 26 April 2018: It has come to light that keeping moisture out of the right side needle bearing protects the "nose" of the crown wheel and the inner drive seal. Once pitted, the crown wheel is difficult to restore.) >Clean and grease the drive splines for the hub. Use something super-sticky, like Klüber Staburags or a dry-film moly coat. Avoid over-greasing (it will just sling off). >Lube the driveshaft and its U-joints. Don't put too much grease in the splined connection or it will trap air and not go back together. Before you take the two halves apart, make sure there are clear alignment marks. Consider verifying the Driveshaft Phasing. >Carefully inspect the driveshaft yokes for signs of looseness, fatigue or cracking. Verify the pinch bolts are torqued and the the yoke collars do not slide on the output or input shafts. >Inspect the shock eye connection to the swingarm. The early V11 white spring/blue collar Sachs-Böge are prone to crack. Grease the pivot bolt and junction of the steel bushing and alloy shock eye! >Service the cush drive. The button head screws will not likely come out willingly, so expect a fight (heat and penetrating oil/solvent) and replace with new fasteners. >Clean and lubricate all the fasteners. I use a small wire brush and anti-seize paste. >Inspect, clean and seal the main ground(earth) cable to the back of the gearbox. You have to remove the seat latch release to get to it. If you find the cable is not directly to the gearbox, move it there, but be careful if you remove the bolt entirely as there has been a report by SeanP61that it might not just go right back in. > Mounting the front of the battery carrier basket beneath the subframe adds considerable clearance for the battery under the seat pan. The front tabs of the basket must be slightly contoured to fit between the frame tubes. > Remove, clean, lubricate, adjust, and shim (if necessary) the foot shift lever and mechanism. They get sloppy, loose, crudded-up, and misaligned. So much better with no play, sticking, or striking the frame side plate on the down stroke. > Clean and lubricate the sidestand mechanism; inspect and secure the wiring to the switch; tighten the vulnerable lower bolt (circled in red) and torque the important upper mounting bolt (70-75 Nm!) [edit 22 March 2021]

What with the surprising results I got from simply cleaning my leaking fork seals, I added this to The Checklist . . . [edit June 2022: This lasted 5,000 miles/ 8.000 km before having to repeat. Surprisingly good outcome!]