Leaderboard

To be honest I don't think there is an awful lot of point in trying to increase the performance of the V11 donk. It was the final iteration of the single spark pushrod motor, it used the same profile cam as the earlier 'Production Racers' which are very similar if not identical to the B10 or 'K' cam profile. It's warmed up about as much as it can be without beginning to compromise reliability and in reality a V11 never was, and certainly isn't any more, a 'Contemporary Sports Bike'. Oh there are some 'Hot' V11's out there. The 'Mighty Scura' I bought from a bloke here, then sold to Chuck and it has now passed on to another owner here, is a stupidly 'Big' engined motorbike but it has a whole raft of modifications including pistons, a lot of headwork, maybe a cam, I'm not sure? Anyway that thing is a beast, but it's the sum of its parts not the result of a simple drop-in cam. You also need to consider that if you change the breathing of the motor you will need to alter the fueling. While this is now possible a lot easier and more accurately now the mapping is an open book so you no longer have to depend on crude devices like Power Commanders it will still require considerable work, and I'd be extremely wary of any map supplied to be used in conjunction with the cam change because such things are usually a crude 'One size fits all' solution and often just involve flinging a whole load more fuel everywhere just 'Because'. Hopeless. A correctly tuned and mapped V11 is a lovely thing. Any performance gains you can achieve, even with something as radical as the aforementioned 'Mighty Scura' are really pretty much academic. Sure, if you want to pursue that rabbit hole by all means do, but a cam alone won't do a lot and it's very easy to start haemorrhaging money like there's no tomorrow if you do. Believe me. I've done it!

Nice video from TLM...

Unfortunately, may never be imported in the USA! This is genius from Yamaha to appeal to the nostalgia slumber some of us still experience. Not as noble as a V11, but still fascinating. Is this Luca Cadalora?

I wouldn't worry about that now. That will burn up in no time. As for the fast idle, check your linkage, and the "choke" cable. it gets hung up sometimes, mine did.

The main race was a great race. Shame about Binder losing a spot for that minor touch of the green. But it was still a great race. Good job by Martin, but Bagnia is doing what he needs to so far. It will be a good race to the title I suspect.

There is a certain fascination watching someone walk backward between parked motorcycles while speaking Dutch. . .

Do I want one? Yamaha? No. It's probably a good motorcycle, but I prefer to remain one-eyed. If it is going to be a japanese motorcycle, it will be a Kawasaki. I nurture my prejudices.

For those wondering whether you have a 15M or a 15RC ECU - it’s very simple to identify. Don't bother looking at the ECU & unpeeling labels under labels & scratching your head or arse. a) Look in the mirror instead. If you’re a Yank (& don’t possess a passport) you have a 15M ECU USA imported V11. And simply move along nothing to see here same with owners of the earlier V11 sans O2 models. Don’t forget this is still an international forum fella’s… it was only the later model European V11’s (& other exported to countries) which had the upgraded 15RC ECU which had additional Closed Loop adaptability. b) If not sure you’re a Yank - get on your knees & look for a O2 sensor as I’ve circled in docc’s diagram above. If your V11 comes equipped with an O2 sensor inserted - you can be 99% confident your ECU is the 15RC closed loop adaptive version. (The 15RC was not exclusively for the V11 but was also utilised on other Guzzi O2 sensor equipped models. The base map was just tailored to suit those other models). c) There’s plenty of opinions from those that don’t own V11’s with O2 sensor closed loop adaptability - these opinions seem to veer towards disabling the O2 sensor as they are only simple narrow band sensors designed for fuel economy or emissions only &/or add unnecessary complexity etc etc. I disagree completely with these notions. The 15RC closed loop adaptability with STFT & LTFT trimming isn’t a backwards step in design. It’s a lovely plus plus on top of the base map - when the throttle is whacked open it operates just the same as the 15M base map as it’s now in open loop mode - but has the added closed loop constant throttle closed loop fine tuning. There is zero problem with the 15RC ECU it’s lightening fast in response times - the original root cause problemo was “the LSH15 probe has such a slow response time to the variation of the exhaust gases” …“the LSH24 instead has a very good sensitivity and a response time equivalent to the reading interval of the ECU.” The 15RC ECU. Don't disable in trying to cure any hiccup stumble or poor running problems. Just simply change the bloody O2 sensor to the improved LSH24 and you’ll have all the open loop 15M provides plus more with closed loop adaptability - which auto tunes out… any hiccup stumble or poor running problems! If this doesn’t make perfect sense folks then go & rip out all your O2 sensors from every other vehicle you own - even butcher the V100 Mandello with its closed loop adaptability O2 sensors. It’s clearly too complex - which is probably a bad thing.

I bought one of these a while back and used it to mount the new tyres to the PVM wheels on my V10 Sport. I've looked at various tyre changers over the years such as the No Mar etc and was always unimpressed by the size and the fact you still need to lever on the edge of the rim and unless they are bolted down you seem to chase the unit itself around the shop floor. The Rabaconda is brilliant to use. The force of stretching the tyre is directed into the ground so it's very stable and the ratchet system is easy on the body and the "ducks head design which is basically the same as a powered machine keeps the rim safe. For people that do miles and the cost of tyre fitting these days it's a good investment. I rate it.

It's missing the very best part of any motorcycle, a V twin!

I figured out the issue. It was a simple grounding problem. Now, I have a new issue. The bike starts right up, but the idle is extremely high. I'm assuming it's getting too much air somewhere. I'm hoping to have some time to take a look at it tomorrow. I'm a little lost, as it idled fine before replacing the fuel pump. The tach is also shot.

My old PC545 still starts the tractor without help. It does occasionally struggle, especially if it is cold, and the tractor has a low battery light that does come on. Then it goes out once the battery gets charged back up. But it still starts it.

It seems that TLM is a dealership worth of a visit, if only to have a look at their Moto Guzzi livestock.

Nice looking bike but the old fogy in me won't let me take a 2nd look. I'm only good for an hour or so on my Lemanses between getting off to let blood flow back into my genitals and think the new Yammy would offer even less saddle time between personal recirculation breaks. Art PS - Watched the vid and wished I was 50 years younger.

Hey Scud, I think it was after a thread disussion here with you that I went and got the Mojolever & Mark Parnes balancer. I'm still using stick on weights on my cast wheels and wire solder on laced wheels. My '72 Eldo had balancing beads installed by the former owner, the issue I had with those was that every time I checked tire pressure, the shrader valve would stick open and I'd have to give the tire a shot of air to clear the bead debris from the valve seating area otherwise the balancing beads worked ok. When I replaced the tires & tubes on that bike I balanced with external wheel weighting. However, the Ride-On product looks interesting. I do wonder about the difference in dynamics of the wheel assembly by going from a few grams of external weight versus several onces of beads or goo. I suppose it doesn't really matter, folks are using both with no apparent issues. Art

Jonathan Rea leaves Kawasaki for Yamaha starting from next WorldSBK season. This was my attempt to humor...

Jonathan Rea disagrees...

Yes, indeed. And he plays very well. By the way, I've listened to a bit more in the meantime, and yes, there is definately a conventional "acoustic" pickup in the guitar in addition to the visible "electric guitar" pickup. As far as the violin goes, I've had to deal with much, much worse. One that I have had to deal with annually over the last decade or so only produces a small band around 3.5 kHz. I took to mounting a middle-priced headset mic on it (because it happened to be there one year...), and that made a world of difference. Yes, I understand that a violin too prominent in the mix can absolutely dominate. That's not what I'm talking about, but rather the sound itself. My weapon of choice would be one of these. https://www.dpamicrophones.com/instrument/4099-instrument-microphone The violin in the video does have a mic on it, which may or may not be one of those. But it is not pointing at the right part of the violin to get a sound that actually sounds like the instrument should sound. Ok, I'm picky, perhaps even a bit of a snob. Comes with the job... PS: @docc I think I might really enjoy sitting down with you over a beer or three and philosophising over music and sound and such-like really important things in life.

This concert from just a couple weeks ago sounds fantastic.. and no ads interrupting. Boy he is so fast on the guitar! And gets a lot of different sound out of the acoustic with his foot pedal.

That is a beautiful statement, especially considering the source.

There are available body kits for these bikes now that fit the round headlight instead of the square one on the model bike. So if Yamaha never sells it here, there're options. This is the bodykit that I'm writing about: Is this bike mechanically the same as the MT09?

My CubCadet, swampee (or is that "swamp-pee? ) has mySport's third PC545 from 2010. It's been in the neglected garden tractor (a 750cc Kohler twin) since 2014. Without the grunt to turn the starter, I use this NOCO booster to fire it up and just carry on . . . https://www.amazon.com/NOCO-GB40-UltraSafe-Lithium-Starter/dp/B015TKUPIC/ref=asc_df_B015TKUPIC?tag=bngsmtphsnus-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80882941400106&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584482468493509&psc=1

Yup, they kept selling them until '17 and stated that as year of manufacture but I believe they were simply 'New old stock' from Italy. When I was at the factory in 2016 the only big block motors sitting around in crates, (I think by then all component build work was being done elsewhere, probably Noale and the finished components shipped to Mandello for the final assembly.) were Cali 1400's and Griso. They may of still been doing some smallblock building but I saw no evidence of it I can remember. Thing is this was, even then, not unprecedented. None of the 8V 1200 Sports were ever produced with the Roller Tappet top end. Now in markets they were sold in they continued to be sold and plated as a current model year bike right up until 2015 but all other models swapped from flat tappets in early to mid 2012. Late model, post 2011, Sports had all the changes to the motor that the last, pre roller, engines in other models had. Just small stuff like the rockers were re-designed and, from memory, that is the time the breather plate sealing system was changed for just two examples but they all still had flat tappets which suggests to me they were all manufactured prior to the swap to the roller top end. By then the factory knew that all flat tappet top ends would fail and as soon as they had spare production capacity after the initial sales spurt of the launch of the Cali 14 they started using the roller top end in everything else. Why not the Sport? The only logical explanation I can see is that by then the Sport was an exhausted product but rather than modifying them they decided, probably because they weren't sold in the heavily litigious United States, to just push them out the door in other markets to mug punters and let them wear the consequences.

I think I would have bought that - and might still. I had the Harbor Freight unit with the Mojo Blocks and Mojo lever. Mounted it on a pallet so could use body weight for leverage and still move it around - but it took a lot of valuable floor space in the garage. Now I have the NoMar, like GuzziArt's above, but with the hitch mount for my truck. Same complaint about the powdercoating, and I prefer the Mojo Lever over the NoMar lever. But this tire changer looks to be the best of breed. And seems portable enough to pop in a trailer with some spare tires. As for wheel weights, I've been using Ride-On tire balancer and sealant on some tires - so no weights needed, just pump some goo into the tire. And on other tires I use the Marc Parnes balancer, which is very nice.

Yea. Guess what look you get when you tell a club racer that before he starts drilling shift levers and foot peg brackets to save weight he may want to consider shedding the extra 20kg he's carrying. Phil

I read once in a push-bike magazine "the cheapest place to save weight on th bike is on the rider". Still, I expect to be putting a lithium battery in at least one of my bikes in the foreseeable future.

You're right, of course, and the diffenerence in acceleration is certainly so small as to be irrelevant. But still, a couple of kilos less high up on the bike can't be bad for the handling.

I know I am new here and I do not want to hijack this thread but... I have my own construction related business in Seattle, Washington. I am in the process of having some aluminum water jet cut at a local shop for a project we are doing. I would be happy to cut some of these if people wanted them. I need one for myself. If someone were to provide me with following I could get it done in the next few weeks or so: A dxf file of the part. Material required Any royalties that need to be paid to Mr. Roper if any A quantity for those who need them. Just offering to help out..... that is all. Regarding any concern about burrs, I would be happy to run over them with a file and sand edges. (I am a mechanical engineer with machine shop experience so not an amateur when it comes to this) Let me know if I can help.