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Whichever one you buy it's important to remember that you are buying machines long out of production and a lot of parts are getting increasingly hard to source. Virtually anything cosmetic and you're at the mercy of the Bay of Fleas and the internet boards like this one for generosity from hoarders and sundry nut cases. All four machines you mention were comparatively low number production runs but the CARC series machines at least have a lot of interchangeability with other models in the cosmetic parts, the LeMans particularly is a nightmare to get fairing parts for and so few Balabios were made I'd think that most bits like fairing supports and the like are probably hand carved from unicorn ivory! Actual performance wise there isn't a lot in it but handling, if correctly set up, will come with the V11's and Griso sharing equal, (Although different.) top billing and the 1200 Sport lagging behind simply because it's 'Conventional' Marzocchi forks are pretty pedestrian for the era they were made in but having said that the wonderful Showas on the Griso need re-springing and re-valving to be anywhere near their best. If you go in with your eyes wide open all four can be fine steeds. The CARC bikes will by this point need their swingarm bearings and shock linkage replacing/rebuilding and it is vital that any CARC bike you look at not have had it's throttlebodies screwed about with by a shaved ape. They are incredibly simple to tune but if the tuning sequence isn't followed and someone messes about with the linkage rod or the throttle stop screw you are going to be in a world of pain! From the point of view of which is best? Don't ask me. I own three Grisos so I'm a lost cause. They are all fine machines though.

Buy 'em both. Or all three....

There! There on the distant horizon! Looks like the Nineteenth South'n SpineRaid coming into view . . . . . . Weekend after (US) Labor Day September 8-10, 2023 Tellico Plains, Tennessee > "Get there. Bring tools." < [ [ There is word, again this year, of other elements reserving rooms already for that weekend. So, heads-up, time to consider our plans and reach out, if you are so inclined] : https://www.lodgeattellico.com/page 8.htm

Buy all 3 of ‘em. You can never have enough Guzzi’s. The Griso will outhandle the 1200 Sport. My choice would be a V11’s with Ohlins, & a Griso 1200 with the roller tappet motor. Oh, and a Greenie, & maybe a Rosso Mandello

America’s daughter - ❤️ gone too soon 54 Lisa Marie Presley RIP ~ Dancing eternally with her heavenly Daddy

Problem solved! Boy, am I dim. Here's two pictures: the RH switchgear complete (for ID) and the kill switch removed. There's a small retaining tag at each corner of the kill switch body, two of which hopefully can be seen in the attached photo. The red slider knob and the thin black platform below it are both external, while the tags are inside the twistgrip housing. Working from inside, push two tags on one long side inwards with a small screwdriver, keeping upwards pressure on the switch so they clear the housing. Repeat on the other side to free the switch, then use the screwdriver tip to put local pressure on each of the body's copper rivets so they too clear the housing. Thanks to you all for taking an interest, and I hope my dimness can help someone someday! Standingtree

I'm on limited bandwidth (satellite connection) so I don't venture over here very often,I noticed Footgoose posted a tune above by Beth Hart;I'm always going through my vault of songs and I just happen to be working on a nice old Bobby Bland classic tune that she covered and inspired me to play "I'll Take Care of You" fwiw I'm always looking for new/different gospel style tunes to play and I stumbled on this extremely sweet tune that's gone viral just recently. The original song "Beautiful Day" was composed by Jermaine Edwards, but about 6 yrs ago a young 10 yr old Jamaican boy by the name of Rushawn had someone record him a cappella in his classroom and uploaded the tune. Recently a mix master artist by the name of The Kiffness stumbled across it,worked his magic,overlaying new vocals,harmonies,rythm,reggae bass lines,trumpet solo and the video even has a cameo appearance of a dancing cat This song has a raw innocent soul touching vibe that is resonating with the world right now,1st 24 hrs it had 2 million views, 3 weeks later,iirc 20 million views, it's viral for a reason.

Just reserved "our usual room." Bill & Kathi

ding ding ding... winner. The best bike is the one you want to ride the most. And personally, I would take the LeMans over the Ballabio. It's so much more distinctive, and it's really not that much sportier than the Ballabio. You can always raise the bars a bit if you feel the need.

Petes spring...

She's starting to get sorted out. Plugged the mirror mount holes in the fairing and went to a neat set of bar ends. Like them so much I'm thinking about putting some on the Coppa. Used the cheapo Amazon wraparound fork mount signals. Double sided mounting tape with 1/2" aluminum angle, just below the headlights. Baffles in the pipes, didn't make them much quieter but they have a deeper burble. I've never been a big fan of traction control, I've always thought you should hone skills the old fashion way. I still think that but if you know how to ride well without it it's a pure joy when you put the two together and ride with it. And quickshifters are awesome

So I was all set to choose between a V11 Le Mans and Ballabio; they're quite different I guess, but the Le Mans is maybe a little sportier than I would ideally choose, and the Ballabio a little more roadster than I'd like, so I would be happy with whichever I got, and the choice was going to come down to the best deal I could get. Then along comes a 2v 1200 Sport (maybe called Breva Sport where some of you reside?) to tempt me. There's also potentially a Griso 1100 in play; but if I wanted a CARC bike, the 1200 Sport seems better value and more practical. The 1200 Sport looks like best value for money on paper, and yet, and yet... the V11 just has the air of a proper old school Guzzi roadster. It just feels like the bike I would get out the garage because the sun's out. As it's a Friday I wondered if anyone would be inclined to contribute some random opinions. Maybe there's something I haven't taken into account. But let's not be too serious about this.

Besides the obvious premise of "let's ask the other inmates on the ward if we are really and actually crazy and just which, and how many, Moto Guzzi to buy" . . . . . . I resemble all of those remarks in that eloquent P.Roper post.

There is more than one reason to have more than one bike. You sound out the best reason for owning two, at least. My strategy would be which one first? Easy for me. Moto Guzzi must have clip on bars. If I weren't a fan of that riding position I'd get the Griso. Something about "street" handlebars on a spine frame doesn't work for me. Purely on visuals? LeMans wins. Griso still somehow captures the heart of Italian design, in spite of the muffler. Beyond that, my radar spins toward older Guzzi's.

R.I.P. Jeff Beck. Had the privilege to see him & his band 8th row ca. 1998-9. A legend.

Well I Got some Caig DeOxit, Took the kill switch apart, Sprayed it and worked the switch back and forth. It now works perfect. Thanks for the help.

My MT01 is 111 ft/lbs at only 3750 rpm, & 89 bhp. A simple old school long stroke air cooled pushrod V twin. It’s 585 lbs, so although not exactly a lightweight, it’s no boat anchor. You ride on an effortless wave of torque, the flattest torque curve I’ve ever seen and by 5000 rpm it’s all over just before the rev limiter cuts in

Yup, that's a bit of the anti-rattle/cush spring. With a bit of luck you got it before it can do much damage and you'll get away with just a plate.

Oh yes. A shittonne lighter. The flywheels and on later models the ring gears have got a lot lighter over the years. The early loops had a flywheel that actually had its own gravitational pull and light would bend going past it! It was vast, as was the ring gear. With the advent of the V7 Sport and 850T it was lightened considerably but it was still huge. That flywheel was what was used in all the T series bikes, the SP, Mille GT, Californias etc. The ring gear was also thinner. Then came the LeMans series and this was lighter again but was still a 'Full Circle' flywheel and used the same ring gear as the 'T' models. After this, with the advent of camshaft triggered ignition there was no longer the need for a full circle flywheel with timing marks so the Daytona and then the Sport 'C' and Centauro got the relieved steel flywheel, (As shown above while I was writing this.). The ring gear was also lightened once again and this assembly remained pretty much identical throughout the entire V11 series and the 2 valve per cylinder CARC bikes that superseded them. The one real oddball was the Sport 'C'. This has its own *Special* flywheel with triggering knobs on its perimeter as they use a weird twin trigger system for their ignition.

I can tell you that the RAM single plate assembly has been around since the 1980's. It was a fairly popular mod back in the day. It had a couple of problems. One was the fact that people used to buy the 'Race' version which had a sintered bronze friction material. Now this was all well and good in that it had good take-up and feel but it also wore very fast! Like in a road bike being ridden in a 'Sportsman's-like' manner you'd get 2,000 miles out of a plate if you were lucky! You cold also get an organic plate but it wasn't called 'Race' so knobs didn't buy it but it lasted ages and was a happy thing. I honestly can't remember whether those early flywheels were steel or aluminium? They were light though. I have no idea what the story was with the Scura etc. flywheels and clutch but they were built by RAM. My WAG is that Guzzi went to them and said they wanted some clutches but specified their own materials and thought they were being very clever by specifying aluminium for the flywheel and it turned out to be another of those 'Big wooly ears' bits of engineering that the in-house engineers used to throw out from time to time. Anywhichway it was a shitfight and remains so to this day! Lightening the flywheel used to be one of the 'Holy Grails' back in the Tonti days. Anyone who was building a hot-rod wanted the lightest set up they could find. I did it myself! In the end my 891 short stroke thing I built used the twin plater but with an alloy flywheel and very seriously lightened ring gear. It probably want quite as light as a RAM unit but it was extremely durable. After that project though I learnt to appreciate the wonders of a heavier flywheel in most road going situations. In fact in my old SP which had a mildly warmed over 950 Mid-valve motor in it I actually used an Eldorado flywheel, the heaviest one Guzzi ever made! It was a hoot to ride! Even my current *Fast* 8V Griso has a Cali 14 clutch in it that is heavier than the earlier 1200 clutch assemblies. It's a better bike for it. If I had a V11 with a single plater I'd just go twin plate with an alloy flywheel again. It worked well.

Yes it can docc. What I wonder is if RAM were making a version of the current (steel) lightened clutch assembly before Guzzi got the idea to have them produce the Aluminum flywheel single plate assembly for their 'specials.' So,... was it a Guzzi design in the beginning for the RM? .. and subsequently passed down to Scura and Tenni? Or a RAM design at the bequest of MG? or ...once it proved weak and discontinued through the line, did RAM decide to make it better? The lightened flywheel/clutch assembly introduced as oem in the V11 range was a good idea, but a failure. The tried and true reliable dual plate kit is the way to go for replacement ... says the Guzzisti in me. The smart me says avoid the 'presumed experiment' oem alm kit altogether. It's not worth the worry. The adventure me -thankfully- went with the later RAM single. And I think it fits closer to intended oem spec for the purest in me. It's too bad this assembly was not used throughout the spine line.

just these. Yes I had to disassemble to remove it iirc. I think one bolt broke off. If you need something specific lemme know. I can dig it out and photograph it. I layered the pics, like turning a page. 3 and 4 are reversed in this

the RAM replacement. Not that different from the OEM aluminum (RAM made that one too) but lightened steel flywheel and better friction plate. I was lucky to get this just before they stopped selling this kit.

Original Key Blanks https://www.mgcycle.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1229

Here is a pair of side covers for sale on ebay -not mine- https://www.ebay.com/itm/154236415518?hash=item23e934ee1e:g:MgoAAOSwxVFfws-T&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAsJdrvqkZ1lQI5qwOPk5QwbWQsKmm0LQBlJ8Ntj6gXdsLE7dv31r0YZ8oMapquRks4qHZPI90VMGquIVbBO4XzMRjTuXX5SrRz7%2BXhORhXfT%2FOwHRaiHOU3mVoj62EaM0gAE3%2FGf4yB%2FGn1lfqm3pAMWPr4dC4YRAdvTH%2BEIG5haEvcm82KuAGUEIKI5zPpSJkM6jjnsBhsSFJRPSlIp1V4uVDukBjCVNt4rWmJvzrJKo|tkp%3ABk9SR_TL9NizYQ

Clapton ***** rating Pump Up The Volume . 1990 movie ?

It wasn't that clear to me. I could have sworn that the sticker on the rack on the GTR doesn't have that much silver on it. But I've had a closer look and done some clicking around in the interweb, and I think you are right. It looks like I should probably get on to that... I'm convinced it is still available from HB. See my link further up. It's on the web site, and SD have it listed as well. SD claims between 2 and 8 weeks delivery time, HB says "exact delivery time on request", so I reckon they only build it when the order comes in. Yes, it is less than a quarter of the new price. Hmmm.... Funny thing: HB lists €430,- and SD €369,- https://www.stein-dinse.biz/product_info.php?products_id=68139 dunno how they do it, but SD seems to always be cheaper for HB products than HB themselves.

Hi Audiomick, Yep, those are H-B's. I know it looks odd but if you think about it, they couldn't go lower otherwise they'd hit the mufflers or further aft because they would hang too far off the back. I don't know how comfy a passenger would be back there but my son in law has had it out with my daughter on the back and didn't register any complaints. I bought the bike in 2014 from a friend of mine who was the original owner. I made the mistake of riding it in 2007 and told my friend if he decides to sell it, let me know. Happy New Year! Art

Later V11 motors were produced with slightly higher compression and a modified connecting rod that directs an oil spray to cool the underside of the piston, IIRC. When this was introduced and whether the KS designation represents this change is yet to be clarified.

I was stupid when I sold mine and want another one. I don’t care much for the later models.