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I know some of the same people too.... the main difference between them and us? they don't own a Moto Guzzi!!!

You know, for the three days it took to ride it back here, I woke up with a big grin on my face, anticipating the hours I was going to spend, pretending to be the lonesome mechanical cowboy. I crossed three states, and the only thing I had in mind when settling for the night, was to start again the following day... Just for that, the Quota will always make me happy, no matter what flaws I may discover after the wedding... I will simply ignore the bad, and concentrate on the good. Don't we all do that in life?

Let's shake this very serious piano concerto thing down to something we V11ers can gather up . . .

Translation: raspberry pi: a very cheap computer platform with which one who is in the know (i.e. not me...) can construct useful things. hifiberry DAC: a sound card for the aforementioned computer platform. NAD 306: a relatively good, if a little old, hi-fi amplifier Bose Acoustimass: a loudspeaker system from Bose. Works well enough for "sound in the air", but not what I would choose for analytic listening. In "professional circles" I once heard the line "no highs, no lows, must be Bose", but I try not to be predjudiced. But some people still play his music.

Back in Houston, one Red Quota richer... Everything went almost as planned; I got to Peoria to check the Quota around 17:50. Now, the owner wanted to inflate the tires for the test ride, and the rear tube valve started to leak. Since I had already booked the tire change for the following day, Saturday at GoAz Peoria, I just did a visual inspection. There was a cream on top... I spent the evening with the owner at a nearby bar, with a school of Sun City residents! I met a lot of people in my age trench, all marvelling at me daring to ride back to Houston on a bike I hardly knew. The following morning, the owner had summoned a friend with a trailer, and we both reported at GoAz' Service Center. At about 11:00, the Quota was properly shod with two Dunlop Trailmax Mission Front and Rear, and two new tubes. While waiting, I did a little tour of the GoAz showroom, and was able to get close to a brand new V100 S Mandello waiting for a lucky future owner. The GoAZ dealership was simply amazing. I mean, it was organized with gusto! not just a huge number of bikes in a pen. The space was neatly organized so you could look at the bikes without having to slide in between. Accessories and riding gear were not simply in a single corner, but properly distributed. The dealership had Triumph, KTM, Royal Enfield, Ducati, BMW, Aprilia, Piaggio and sometimes, a few Moto Guzzi. I was told the MGs were scarce, few and far between. I started my journey to Houston, with my first stop planned at El Paso Texas. Unfortunately, I had not taken into account the New Mexico wind and very cold temperatures! I literally froze my behind. When dark started to set, I stopped and spent the night in Deming, NM. My initial objective was to reach El Paso, still an hour and half away. The second leg of my trip took me to Junction, Texas. I stopped there at around 18:00 Last leg to Houston where I got around 14:20. Immediately, I can tell you the Quota is crude compared to my V11; the gearbox is surly, and the 5th gear is an overdrive. The small windbreaker is not really preventing the icy wind to hit the top of your chest. The Veglia tachometer can't seem to decide anywhere on what rpm the engine is at. It keeps dancing up and down, and the faster you go, the lower the rpms! duh! The fuel consumption is worse than the Le Mans. During the I-10 80 mph portion, basically as soon as out of Arizona, the average mpg was 36. In Arizona, at 60 and 65, I did 43, then 40. At 75 mph, you dip. The tank is 20 liters, 20.3 Gal, so if I thought I was going to do 200 miles on a single tank, then I was disillusioned. For the rest, I just love that bike! it will supplement the Le Mans nicely. Not replace it, but be the understudy. It has that nice German made case, RIMOWA for those who know what quality is. There is plenty more to share, however I first need to get the state inspection done, so I can register it. In any case, I just did a 1200 miles test ride. I liked it!

😅 I came to this thread to post this exact same picture!

Thanks Doc Yep, the TB's were balanced afterwards mate. Cheers

It's stated in the name: TeDiuM. For the boring, everyday thing I bought a Breva 750 ie.

I have seen many V11 tachometers adversely affected by a marginal Relay (especially #2 on the V11Sport/LM). That function is far more sensitive than the headlight. One can hope (while being deliberate and knowledgeable) . . .

Along with just about every bike that was brought onto the market after about 1985, maybe even earlier.

And, now, back to our regularly scheduled program . . .

Go for it! Makes the workshop a happier place😊

We gotta keep up with the tech @docc!

Hi @docc are you familiar with Roon? I used a raspberry pi with a hifiberry DAC onto an old NAD 306 & Bose accoustimass5’s. Brilliant, and most importantly, cheap!

The parcel shipped today European time. It is sent via the post office; last year it was delivered by USPS.

The V11 sport/LeMans wiring suffers from tachometer issues because of Relay#2 (NO contact) and, on the early V11 (1999-2001) failure of the weak Relay#1 NC contact. Are there three relays on the Quota, or five like the V11 Sport/LM?

Franz Schubert Piano sonata #20 accompanied a recent gearbox rebuild, along with some Primal Scream, Stones and various early R&B masterpieces😊 Sadly Franz predated YouTube by a while….. the very best upgrade last autumn was extending Roon to the workshop!

the previous owner said he got the seat and side panel from here. http://motoguzzi.fassoli.com its not easy to figure out what you would need for the website, But if anyone is interested I will give more details when I have them in my hand. Bike is being shipped just now and I am away from home..

Thanks for all the input/support/kind comments chaps😊 The gearbox is now reassembled and ready to reunite with the engine - when I return from my winter hols ☀️. Need them solar rays! Its been a learning experience and I’m a little disappointed that the backlash issue seems to be a ‘box feature. I’ll have to pay extra attention to matching road and engine speed…

Is that a handlebar conversion? FWIW, I have gotten so much use out of Tekno panniers. Sure, along with my AeroStich they help make mySport look like a tarped-down heavy load . . .

Balabbio is gone. Got a 2000 Sport to pick up Sat. In NH 12,000MI. 4,500$... Mistrals with airbox-ectomy. Is that a reliable FI thing. Also has an assortment of clipons and goofy Teck-no bags..tail rack, tail bag, tank bag...

My ...... The original owner of my Lemans installed those and when I've had to pull the pipes (twice....for stator and cam chain cover gasket) the task was easier imo than if I had to deal with some other material that was used to seal that connection. Art

It is Katarzyna Jaskulska, that was a false rumor..She was in a bad accident not long after this shot.., a car went through a stop light and hit her ..but she was not terribly hurt . Professional Stunt rider..She did not die..she is still with us.

Yes, they can be overtightened to the point the rubber is pinched and curls. Tight enough that they will not turn by hand. Shin-Etsu Grease is our friend! Any changes to the intake tract (intake rubbers, throttle bodies, valve adjustment) and the throttle body balance (complete Decent Tune-up, even?) should be performed . . .

Bryan called earlier this evening, and followed with an email, to confirm we are set for 301; in Friday, out Sunday. Now to convince our travel agent that yes, we -- i.e., my Perfect Pillion & Polish Princess -- want to go to Poland at (about) that time, but not at that exact time! FWIW, have touched base with some Polish Guzzisti to meet with while there. Bill

I have never understood this. M6 fasteners can be 1.00 pitch or 1.25. Both are "standard", yet one is finer and the other coarser . . .

Late 90ies it was do-able on the west side of the isle, Kirkmichael Glenn Wylln campsite. My god that is more than 20 years ago. Huh, I have more memories than I will ever make. It seems the classic TT in September is a bit of the old atmosphere. A couple of friends went there several times the last 10 years, good stories and a magnet for the old TT riders as well. Agostini, Read (+), and the ones that are still there from the great era of motorsports.

Ah yes, the March of the (Noisy) morons! Performance gain? Zilch. Annoyance factor for people who hate motorbikes? Off the scale. Fatigue inducement factor? Probably an 8 out of 10.

What are Agostinis thinking. You could drive a truck between those new header pipes and the cylinder block. Nicely shaped and tucked in they are not. A tighter bend to get the pipe closer to the block and tucked in won't have any affect on the performance gains if there are indeed any at all. As for the sound, far too loud. If it sounds loudish revving at a standstill on a whiff of throttle then under load with the throttle blades really open it will be obnoxiously loud. The clue is in the size of the muffler. You can't efficiently silencer a 1000cc twin with a muffler of that physical dimension. It saves weight but the trade off is noise and headers that stick out like a set of crash bars. Phil

The Big Blocks with the history that stretches back to 1967 are no more. I'm not certain when the last 1400's were built? I'd think 2018/19 at a guess. The CARC series ceased all production in 2016 but all models other than the Griso I think stopped in 2014 as none of the other models were built using the Cali 1400 sump which the Griso adopted in 2015. The truth of the matter is that the 'Nuovo Hi Cam' in both 1200 and 1400 form was never going to be able to meet €5. I love the motor but I'll be the first one to tell you that it is inefficient, thirsty and dirty! It's side draft porting and long cam overlap mean that cylinder fill is compromised in a large part of the rev range and pipe harmonics are crucial to performance, (Some of you may be familiar with my carpet-chewing, spittle-flecked ranting about the unsuitability of 'Shorty' exhausts put on Griso's for styling purposes!). Even at the optimal point there is still a considerable loss of unused incoming charge that, due to the head design, simply gallops across the top of the piston and exits the exhaust valves rather that filling the cylinder and producing work. That means fuel economy is shit and those hydrocarbons are wasted just dirtying up the environment. Even with air injection as used on the last of the 1400's they were a dirty thing, made worse by people putting loud, unbaffled pipes without Catalytic converters on them so they sounded like a shipping container full of farting elephants! No, the Big Blocks are gone and I reckon the Smallblocks won't be far behind. Thing is neither will I so it doesn't worry me unduly and within twenty years internal combustion, at least of fossil fuels, will have been consigned to the dustbin of history anyway! And good riddance! Anybody who is an 'Enthusiast' will still be able to get fuel for their old vehicles but as a day to day option they simply won't exist. That's fine, people will have newer and different vehicles and toys. I am always amazed though by how far things have come in my lifetime as far as vehicular propulsion has gone. If you'd told me as the spotty kid on his first moped that when I retired I'd be riding a motorbike that effortlessly made twice the horsepower of my dads car from an engine only two thirds the size I would of looked at you as if you were barmy!

Of course, there is a special tool.. but. What you need to do is (somehow) machine a cavity that the ring fits snugly into. I did it on the cnc mill, but a lathe or template with router, etc. would do it too. Once fit into the cavity, take something like a tack puller and "carefully" work around the crimp, picking it up a little and moving around the bezel several times until the instrument can come out. Reinstalling is putting the assembly back into the cavity and taking a flat punch and "carefully" tapping the bezel inward. When moving metal like this, a hundred small pecks is considerably better than one big one..