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Greetings from the top of Virginia This is a belated slideshow story of the South’n Spine Raid 19. Real life gets in the way of all the things I really want to do, so it took awhile to get these done. As attendees know, I rode my new Moto Guzzi V85 to Tennessee almost entirely on backroads; Kathi -- my Perfect Pillion & Polish Princess! -- “slabbed" it in our newer Fit. It’s nice to have a “support vehicle” on motorcycle trips. As with the last several years, the SSR is on the first weekend after Labor Day, and is held, as all who have followed this thread know, at the The Lodge at Tellico in Tellico Plains, Tennessee. We return there again and again because we cannot imagine a better venue than the Lodge, or more convivial and supportive hosts than innkeepers Bryan and Catherine. As I said in my previous and similar slideshows sets, e.g., Mutton Runs, "of course there are too many photos." What's your point? I took over 300, so these mere — no, telling you now would spoil the surprise — should be easy. The link opens in “landscape collage” format, so you can see all at a glance without slogging through one by one unless you want to do that. Hover your curser over any pic to see the caption. The pix? Here: SSR 19 2023 [NOTE - This additional info is for the two or three of you who actually open the full pix and watch the slideshow. 😉 For maddening reasons I do not completely understand, the captions “disappear” if one enlarges the pix and goes through them. On “pure” slideshow, i.e., automatic switching to next slide, the captions continue to appear, but the pace is quick. Keeping the cursor in the “caption area” seems to help if going through manually. As I said, maddening. If anyone knows the trick to make it more seamless, please tell me.] Ciao! Bill P.S. If anyone pictured has an objection to any photo or caption, please tell me. Naturally, I’ll laugh and laugh … erm … I mean I’ll do something about it.

Well Fri. night when I got home from work , I put the chargr on the black frame , got up Saturday morning and pushed it out of the shop , then over to the water hose . Washed off two years of dust and then cranked for about 45 seconds before it started. Cleaned it up pretty good and decided to go down the road . OMG , this bike had head shake immediately off idle . I thought the steering head had rusted in place . After about 30 nins of inspection I realized the front tire belts had broken down . The best test method is to out on a brown Jersey glove and lightly rub the tire surface . This glove amplifies the problems and you can feel any imperfections with the tire problem(s) . New tire on order and will be here Friday ! Just in time gor the weather to dtop into the 30s ! FWIW , it has been two years .

Very fitting that docc's beautiful Sport is front and center!!

It's a long story... My first road bike was a Suzuki GSX 250 E. Japanese reliabilty, but not all that exciting. Whilst I was still riding that, I saw a V 50 Monza, and was stunned at how good it looked. My second bike in Melbourne was a 1976 Z 900. I loved it. Beautiful, comprimised handling, and a great motor. I developed the attitude with that bike, that I'd rather have something that required riding skills than something that anyone can be resonably fast on. I have a clear memory from that time of seeing someone ride past through a long, sweeping curve on a Guzzi, probably a Le Mans or Le Mans II, and thinking "that sounds great". I wrote up a list once, about 35 years ago, of all the bikes I had ridden. Some of the rides were very short, and some of the bikes very boring, but I think I topped 100 different bikes. Whilst I had the Z 900, I shared a house with a mate who had an 850 Le Mans III. Just as beautiful as the V 50 Monza. I was able to ride it a number of times. The clutch was heavy, I repeatedly banged my left knee on the the cylinder, and the seat was about as comfortable as a wooden plank. Riding it, I noticed how often people in cars at the traffic lights were staring at the bike in wonder. And then, outside of town after a series of curves at about 130km/h, how I had completely forgotten about the heavy clutch, the bruises on the left knee, and the unforgiving seat. I thought "ahhhh, that's what it's for...". On top of that, when one blipped the throttle, it kicked to the side a bit. Like it was saying "come on, let's go". And it was deceptively fast. Sovereign, one could say. Sometime after I moved to Munich in Germany, I saw a V35 Imola (looks identical to the V 50 Monza...) on the street just up from where I lived. I thought at the time "no, probably not enough power", but still thought it was beautiful. About 10 years later, a V35 Imola was the first Guzzi that I bought. It hadn't been ridden for around 19 years. I pulled it apart, cleaned it up, and got it registered. And loved it from the first moment on. The V11 Le Mans was a considered decision. I had had a Kawasaki GTR 1000 for a number of years, but the reasons for having it were no longer all that relevant (long distances on the Autobahn on the way to a job with lots of luggage), and I was starting to think in terms of "if not now, when? It might be too late...". I'm still not convinced about the looks of the V11 (Blasphemy!!!), but the package looked good. I thought it might offer all the fascination of the the Le Mans III that my mate had back in the day, but work better. I was right. I loved it from the first minute I rode it. In the meantime I have also acquired a low mileage Breva 750IE. A boring bike on paper, but I wanted something that was "new" enough, in as much as one can call a 20 year old bike "new", that it would just work without having to be constantly worrying about what might be about to break. I've done about 2,000 km. on it up to now, and I've become very fond of it. Ugly, although it's growing on me, but really nice to ride. What fascinates me is that all three of them have the same character. The big blocks and the small blocks have practically nothing in common apart from the basic 90° twin configuration, but they still feel the same somehow. I've still got a GTR 1000, but it will be sold sometime in the near future. I'm not sure that I wont miss having an in-line four, but I'm willing to take the chance. The Guzzis are staying.

Hi @Lucky Phil, You write "I have replace my sensor with a blanking plug until I get a chance to manufacture a new aluminium and HDPE probe holder. The thermistor is no issue to source but you also need fuel proof wiring and potting compound. I have a design and materials but need some spare time." I have the same on my bike (Scura with external fuel pump). The previous owner replaced the sensor by a blanking plug. Last years I use the milage, but would like some working sensor - but no OEM sensor can be found... Would you be so kind to share your design so I can make a sensor too. Thanks, David The Netherlands

Ouch, 2 yrs! I’ve been feeling bad about only getting Red out on the road this summer for a handful of rides, my “least riding miles” year I’ve ever had. Came back from Mandello last week, where I rented a V85tt from Agostini’s (Lucca… good man), and had a great time on the back roads up behind Perledo, into Esino and back in that area. Motivated me to roll Red back out when i got home, re-installed the FOBO tire pressure monitors, put some fuel stabilizer in in anticipation of winter storage, and took her out for a lovely spin on our own great backroads near home. She’s sweet. Will assemble the misc items for her winter maintenance coming up in a couple months, albeit with only about 1000 miles put on her this year. Greenie still languishes on the stand. And scheming how to unload Greenie and Goldie to make room for a V85 or V100…

15 years ago I was really into the café scene, and fell upon the new Lignano Green Moto Guzzi V7 Café Classic. I was already a huge fan of V twins after Sportster ownership. Plus, my family is Italian! Eventually I bought a 2010 V7 Café Classic in that green that I loved so much. I had already built a 1963 Ford Falcon hotrod/custom, painted in a matte green so it felt like the V7 in this color was meant for me. Once in the garage, it was much loved, much used; still is. Years later when buying a 1989 Honda GB500 (this exact one) to add to my collection (I had sold the first one I owned), the seller mentioned wanting to also part ways with his 2003 V11, in burgundy. One look and it had to come home with me too! What a nice addition to my V7.

Photo-crashing RedFrameTrash !

I believe what @LaGrasta is saying is his V7 has an O2 sensor and he was wondering if that should be upgraded. I believe the answer is likely "No". The O2 sensor on his V7 is not the same sensor as was delivered on V11s that had an O2 sensor. So, LaGrasta probably does not need to replace the O2 sensor on his V7. But if someone has a V11 with the stock O2 sensor that some came with you probably do want to upgrade the O2 sensor.

Bill Keep taking plenty of photos mate...! Love seeing them. Cheers

Hard to find a cooler group of guys than that to get my picture taken with!!!

Once Bill Hagan shares his memoir, I try to always post a favorite from his admirable presentation . . .

Or it was replaced with the same type but from a different model and re-mapped for your bike... I've seen ECU's with factory superimposed sticker on top of the original one, i.e. V11 California on top of V11 Sport, all 15M ECU's. You can check what ECU type your bike is running in the owner manual, under specifications - most likely Magneti Marelli IAW 15M.

I am big Zarco fan, and listening to interviews yesterday, let's not forget he won two Moto2 championships in a row, but he did waste time when switching to KTM unfortunately. BB33 has also consumed his rear tire, that is probably why he got reined in by the rest. Zarco was always known to be very smooth and able to preserve tires to prowl towards the end of the races. it paid off this time, since he was able to pounce on all initially in front of him. Bagnaia applied the same principle more or less. He resisted chasing Jorge Martin and gambled that he would finish his rear tire before the end. Reading the comments on specialized media, everybody is wondering why did Jorge Martin took such a gamble... he was fastest, including on the medium tire, what was he trying to gain? he has now given a lot of leeway to Bagnaia to win the season, starting with the cancellation of the sprint race on Sunday. With only four more Grand-Prix left, 27 points difference don't seem to be much, but if Bagnaia wins by only a few points, JM will certainly remember that tire bet...

@GuzziMoto I think you could be right in reading into what @LaGrasta is saying. This being under a V11 Rosso Corsa topic in a dedicated V11 forum, it takes a lot of brainpower to interpret these kind of ambiguous inquiries when no precise details are offered towards what the inquirer is exactly looking into... my little brain was telling me the inquiry was for his V11. . .

Bills Bike is Awesome...

Even if we don't always understand or realize it, for those of us who are into their late 60's or early 70's, we were in a forgiving driving world. People were actually trying to drive properly, and paying attention. Today, driving is like breathing, a reflex that you don't need to focus upon because it takes time away from texting or talking with your phone on your hand. Turn indicators? who use them nowadays anyway. Today's bikes have better brakes, riding equipment is no longer the usual leather paper thin or Barbour jacket but becomes incompatible with the weather systems we are experiencing almost everywhere in the world. To the point where you cannot ride during summer to avoid getting a heat stroke, or ride during thunderstorms because roads flood, or you do not have any kind of visibility. Crazy!

Ok Pete, I’ll give it a day or two and get back to you. Brad

If no one over there wants them and you don't I'll stick them in my inventory.

Here is a comprehensive list of Moto Guzzi models (and others) with their respective ECU’s. https://www.guzzitek.org/documents/injection/ECU_MasterList_2011.pdf

This O2 sensor swap discussion is only relevant to machines running a 15RC ECU. V11 Sport US models were delivered with a 15M ECU, no CAT and no O2 sensor. Check your ECU!

Here’s my tip. Don’t eliminate the 15RC ECU’s closed loop ability by disabling the O2 sensor. Do not disable the 15RC closed loop adjustability - just change the Guzzi factory installed O2 sensor which was found to be inadequate - with the Bosch improved LSH24 sensor upgrade. I strongly advise you do this before anything else. Years ago I too was frustrated & went searching on foreign sites for possibly overlooked solutions. I’ll leave this translation with you from what I originally tracked down on an Italian Guzzi forum. I can’t recall how many pages were laboriously translated (literally hundreds), but eventually found this gem discussing the root problem - acted on the advice as it was both a) inexpensive b) easy (what’s not to like?) & c) made the most succinct sense - & found I’d hit the jackpot. Hiccup free 100%. Perfect. Translating Anima Guzzista there was a highly respected Italian Guzzi mechanic (Ube) known as Motoube on Anima Guzzista forum who clearly stated the original root of the problem: “the probe used by Guzzi corresponds to a BOSH probe which has certain characteristics corresponding to the BOSH specification "LSH15", in jargon called the LSh15 calibration curve this probe was used on cars starting from 1992/93, it was immediately seen that its sensitivity and response speed were INADEQUATE TO THE REAL CONDITIONS OF USE OF THE VEHICLE. BOSCH ran for cover and created the probe with the LSH24 calibration curve. much much faster and much much more sensitive. realize that the LSH15 probe has such a slow response time to the variation of the exhaust gases that the control unit takes a thousand or more readings of the lambda value .... the LSH24 instead has a very good sensitivity and a response time equivalent to the reading interval of the ECU.”

Cross references for V11 Sport fuel tank cap: Aprilia '98-'03 RSV Mille 1000 & '02-'05 Tuono. Givi Tanklock tank ring p/n: BF02 SW-Motech Evo tank ring p/n: TRT.00.640.17500/B SW-Motech Pro tank ring p/n: TRT.00.787.17500/B SW-Motech Ion tank ring p/n: TRT.00.475.17500/B Check out this topic: https://www.v11lemans.com/forums/topic/22036-anyone-successfully-use-one-of-those-quick-release-tank-bag-adapter-rings/ Edit: I removed the Triumph cross references for clarity and because, although the Triumph x-ref. is valid for the Givi Tanklock ring, it might not be for the sw-motech rings. I also added the SWM Ion tank ring for those interested in the Ion line of tank bags.

This week-end was supposed to be the one when I would complete my Texas Tour stops; However, we had heavy thunderstorms predicted to take place over most of Texas, so I decided to delay. Nevertheless, yesterday I opted to have lunch in Brenham: I said bring it down! It did not disappoint. I got there completely drenched! The Le Mans loved it though....

You should get the spacer too . When you do this , fill the bearing with a GOOD grease . It seems as though all bearings have just enough grease to keep them from rusting . Bearings like this (minor movement) should be filled completely on installation .