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The differcultly was ring gear & clutch plate were in the wrong way around. Looking a picture's on phone didn't show ridge on plate and indent on ring gear. Printed photos out and bingo the problem was obvious. Gearbox now fits onto clutch- easy. Now in process of putting bike back together.

For Al who is waiting on gears. I spent my adult life in machine shops and around toolmakers. Mr. Caruso's gears are something to behold. The intersection of any two surfaces is properly and perfectly dressed. The workmanship is old school and what costs. I feel like all of us who have those gears have a little piece of Giuseppe in our bikes.

https://austin.craigslist.org/mcd/d/austin-2004-moto-guzzi-v11-ballabio/7587670810.html Visiting my daughter in Austin, this was only ten minutes away. Took a look at it. I really wanted to see how I would like the bars...I like them. I put many miles on a Ducati 750 GT with a similar riding position. Its tough to judge a bike from pictures...creampuff it's not. Rear tire 5 years, front 9. Driveshaft factory marks not lined up. Two blisters on tank, one on emblem and one on black accent on top that was peeled and painted black about the size of a quarter. No starter cover or seat cowl. Scrapes on engine guards both sides and a little on valve cover, but none on pipes. Bike was down but not at speed? Good oil and dirt buildup at rear of trans and front swingarm. I was hoping for better condition. $3600 to $3800 could take it. Too much for me given the condition and I don't need another bike to work on, but still looking.

Kinda has a cool neo-retro eastern bloc, crappy vodka and itchy clothing "let's cram into a Trabant and risk our lives by smoking" vibe to it....🙃

The 20mm diameter by 20mm long rubber isolation mounts on the coils separated and the coils were bouncing around a lot. I assume everyone has already discussed this at some point. Replacements are on ebay, anazon, ec.

That would explain it, if the 13mm master only ran one of the two front calipers and the other was off the rear brake master.

Those "California" brakes are not "linked?" As such, the front master would only be applied to one front caliper . . .

I always knew that Harleys were really farm machinery in disguise...

Sounds right .

The first picture in the comparison was of a gear drive that replaces the stock chain drive. It looks like the setup Joe Caruso offers. It replaces the stock sprockets and chain with a set of gears. It is three gears, one for the crank, one for the oil pump, and one for the cam. It is the bees knees..... I am also a fan of less rotating weight. Sure, more weight can make the engine more tractable. But less weight makes it snappier with quicker throttle response. But then, I like riding harder edged bikes on the street. Give me a motor with instant throttle response and more power than I need......

As far as I understand it (which may not be 100%...) a smaller bore master cylinder should result in a lighter lever, but more travel in the lever.

On the Cali video; talking about mouse nests and then drawing all that mess into the throttle bodies seems like a great way to tell everyone to NOT get one's bike worked on at that shop...

Not only on the V11. In my experience, getting the bit out that sticks into the cush drive is nearly always a bit of a pain.

The spline plate can be hard to remove. The fins that engage the rubber blocks are tight, so you need a way to pry it out. A crowbar is bigger than you need, any pry bar is fine so long as you don't damage the wheel.

Note; last time apart, I lubricated my drive rubbers with silicone grease. Works a charm! Except for the part where when it gets warm it ejects blackened silicone grease out the cracks and paints my rear rim with gooey tar. Fortunately it cleans up easily. The message here is use lube sparingly. I'd use spray silicone next time, and just a dusting.

Thank you for this detailed and straightforward information, Marty. It is highly appreciated. And docc, you can be always counted on. Thanks. This crowbar surgery seems quite radical; should I expect the spline disc to be rust frozen and difficult to separate? I will be anxious not to damage it...

Then you can see 12 rubber pucks in recesses in the wheel hub. Some people grease the recesses and the non-metallic ring. I coated these with moly dry lube spray. You can see that I fitted only half of the pucks in my bike, and they were drilled to be more squishy. As you assemble, check that the O-ring is good, and there is wheel bearing grease on the spline plate bore. Before you refit the wheel, put a good layer of spline grease like Staburags NBU 30 PTM on the splines at the connection to the bevel box.

I'd say "don't disassemble the wheel & cush assembly" The tire can be changed as it is. Also don't lose the bush that goes on the axle between the wheel and the bevel box. It's needed to get bearing preloads right. If you're like me and can't help pulling it apart, then the following pictures may help. The retaining plate screws are likely to be frozen. Heat and penetrating oil are your friends. How hot, you ask? Well the rear disk can be red hot without other damage, but 60°C would be safe. Then you can lift the splined plate out.

I didn't actively do anything to the bike, but I bought something. An apparently new set of valves, valve guides still in the plastic packaging, and valve springs, probably also new. The vendor is a well known Guzzi tuner from Austria who has been in retirement for the last couple of years and is obviously clearing out his workshop. An absolutely reliable source. I thought €150,- was ok, especially considering some of the bits are apparently no longer available.

There is more content in one line of a Bob Dylan song than most musc groups will sing in a lifetime . I had the privilege of getting to know Kermit (Kermit's Chair) Easterling at biker rallyes . At this rallye which happen to be in Burkesville , we discussed Dylan in great length. I couldn't (naively) believe a man this old could be so cool as to know so much about Dylan & his philosophies.

I just spent the prior evening reading/re-reading all 56 pages of this thread, and although it has been said many times; Scud and Chuck deserve a huge "thank you" for all the hard work and perseverance to see this project through to the end. So now with a few years in production, and it looks like at least 10s of thousands of miles of real-world use, it appears that we haven't heard of any of the improved springs failing?

Ok, I have been on the receiving end of criticism on this forum, many years ago, for the price I was asking for a V11 on CL. I haven't seen that member post for a very long time, but I've since tried to avoid "scrutinizing" someone else's sale. Even on ebay, cl, etc as they might be a current or future forum member. So I tend to keep my mouth shut even when obvious misrepresentations occur. But, when another currently active member shows interest in an "unknown" advertised bike, I think it behooves us to point out "curiosities" in a tactful way. Tact is not a strong point of mine but I do try. It might be a great buy. Hopefully whomever ends up as the owner will add it, and themselves, to "we few, we happy few."

It's the ratio between the master and slave which is important. Find out the piston diameter of both master cylinders. If they are the same it means my worries are unfounded. The thing that usually busts off the masters with an integrated reservoir is the mirror mounts. Since you won't be using them I wouldn't think a busted one would be fine. I have at least one of those hanging around for the brake side I'm sure. Not certain about clutch side. I do have them, just not conveniently busted ones for certain. I also have both CARC bike type which are rectangular and I've wrecked out a Cali14 too which have different shaped reservoirs I think but same piston sizes. I'll have to check but most of this shit is in my offsider Michael's shed and since he damaged himself a lot of his other stuff, including his car, has been moved into the shed and some things are hard to get to but over the Christmas/New Year period I'll get in and have a bit of a dig. Pete

They are driving the same calipers so the brake one will work fine. From memory of another thread the slave cylinder on the clutch circuit is a smaller diameter than those on the CARC bikes or Cali 14. I have second handles of both on the shelf if you'd like to try them? Usual story, I send them to you, if you like them 1/2 new price. I cover postage your way on the understanding that if you use them you cover that cost as a donation to Medicienes sans frontiers. If you don't use them you send them back at your cost. Pete