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This is the second time I ran into @activpop at the Portland Cars and Coffee. Last time he was on I believe his Stelvio? Anyways this time he brought a proper Guzzi. I had the kiddo with me so no riding. We had one of those sneaky warm days (high was about 75F later in the day) in the early Spring. They are always welcome. The bike looks and sounds fantastic. The Titaniums are definitely not as loud as Mistrals but not everyone has to be a hooligan. One of these days I'll unbury the V11 and bring it out too.

This is what happened with the Quota; In Europe, sales tax is only due when the vehicle is new. You don't keep paying sales tax multiple times, which makes sense?

NGK have ceased production of plug caps. This mob have stepped into the breach. http://kandstech.com/productreleases/sprc.pdf

These arrived a few days ago from Joe. The latest timing gears and oil pump. The pump now uses a bronze bushing for the main drive gear to minimise oil loss through the needle bearing type. I had Joe make my Jackshaft gear 16mm wide as opposed to the alloy gears 18mm width. I don't see a reason for a wider gear if it's now steel instead of aluminium. Pumps L to R....Joes pump, a std Daytona pump and another brand aftermarket pump. The Jackshaft is an MGS-01 shaft. The MGS got rid of the long jackshaft with the additional plain bearing at the flywheel end of the crankcases. That was a carry over from the 2 valve engine which needed the rear bearing as in that engine it was a camshaft and needed the rear support. The MGS shaft is supported by a ball bearing instead of the plain bearing at the front of the crankcase for less friction but it means the oil supply to the heads and oil pressure switch is now blocked so those are fed from the oil cooler connection. I'm seriously toying with the idea of just chopping the rear bearing and shaft off the jackshaft and running just the front plain bearing. I can't see why this wouldn't work and so preserve the integral oil feed to the heads and oil pressure switch. A bit more friction is all I can see as the result. Details from Joe Oil Pump gears are Helical Case Hardened and polished and should give a Hardness around 55-60 R The Bronze bushes have a 1mm shoulder like a top hat to prevent the bush moving towards the crankcase. The large 56 teeth Steel belt pulley large gear is 16mm in gear width compared to the original of 18mm. All the gears are made from en36 or 655m13 which is an upgrade from before as I was trying out this new supplier and so these are shiny and not the usual black Tuftride finish. These are Case Hardened gears which are then polished and so have a harder surface wear finish . The black gears are classed as through hardened in the heat treatment and so not suitable for the polishing process. The case hardened gears have an increase of around 10 Rockwell over the Tuftride gears and so I think they might sound different too.

Dear V11'ers. Long time no posting, but still riding my beloved V11 Sport Ballabio here near the Black Forest in SW Germany. I changed the plugs and the left cylinder HT lead cap fits on the little screw on spark plug nipple, but the right lead only fitted if the small nipple was unscrewed from teh new plug - directly onto the threaded plug end. The right lead is now too loose for safety. I guess the leads should be replaced as a pair? anyone know a part no or recommended brand? what is the connector on the other end? Is this an easy job if I lift the fuel tank or best left to the dealer? thanks for any help/advice; keep the rubber side down.

How many miles are on it?

Presently clinging onto signs the work was done ....

That does exist, for instance these ones from Silent Hektik https://www.silent-hektik.de/Zub_Kabel.htm but in the case of the NGK plugs in the link, I'm fairly sure that is not the case. When you are ready to attempt the change, pull the boot back on the cable side of the plug, and try and screw them off. Given that they are going to be changed anyway, there is no great risk in that. The advantage is then, that you know for sure how they are put together. Having said that, cutting the leads back a bit (assuming you don't change them...) to give the new caps a fresh end to join to is probably a good idea.

Obviously an offical, approved video....

Thanks for all the excellent advice. Quite relieved to find out there is so much expertise and help still out there for the venerable V11. Getting a RE Himalayan 450 to complement the V11 but it will still be my daily ride and Black Forest tourer. Mine look exactly like the red one's, but I think my leads are integrated into the caps which might have to be cut off? could be just the accumulation of dirt etc after 20 years of the MG living outside on the street.

Looks like California rules are about the same as Texas in this case. Renewal date is based on date it was first registered in California. Original sales date for new sales, and purchase date for used out-of-state vehicles. And as for sales tax on private sales, yes, there is tax on that in California, even on vehicles that were originally sold new in California. That's the cost of living in motorcycle heaven... and for some reason, the registration renewal invoices roll in with alarming frequency.

Thread drift usually means the root of the thread has died or been answered. Phil

This performance was a week ago in Chicago? I recognize some of these "boys" . . .

Also:

Then maybe one or the other of these. Looks like the same thing to me, just red or black. The inscript "5K Ohm" is visible on the picture of the black one. https://hmb-moto.de/Zuendkerzenstecker-NGK-LB05F-R-rot https://hmb-moto.de/Zuendkerzenstecker-NGK-LB05E Edit: a closer look reveals that Mike apparently perpetrated a typo in the listing. The red one is listed as "LB05F-R", and the black one as "LB05E". In the text body, however, they are referred to as "LB05F-R" and "LB05F" respectively. A look at what appears to be the NGK site turns up these, which are apparently the items in question, and both are 5K Ohm caps. As already mentioned, seemingly the same, except for the colour. https://www.ngkntk.com/de/produktfinder/motorrad/zuendstecker/lb05f-r/ https://www.ngkntk.com/de/produktfinder/motorrad/zuendstecker/lb05f/

The caps on the later V11 are NGK 5,000 Ohm resisters. The early V11 are Champion. I get mine from a scooter shop in England. Because they can be damaged (along with the sparkplug) in even a light tip-over, I carry spares in the monkey paw trap.

Come on you blokes, we're talking about breather hoses here.

I had a bit of a look. First of all, I would tend to just replace both plug leads and caps. They are old, they age, and they don't get better with age. I went looking at Stein-dinse, Wendel in Berlin, and HMB Moto (kennst Du den schon?). Wendel and SD both have plug leads, but list the original cags as no longer available. Mike at HMB has leads and caps. The leads are cheaper than those at the other two. If I remember rightly, the caps are just screwed on to the leads. Anyone here who knows better, please correct me. The other end of the lead, which has an odd looking sheet brass fitting on it, is just plugged in to the coil. So changing the whole business is no great drama. Here are the parts at HMB: https://hmb-moto.de/Zuendkabel-V11 https://hmb-moto.de/Zuendkerzenstecker-Gummi-rot not "dirt cheap" perhaps, but I think once every 20 years or so is probably affordable. Schöne Grüße aus Leipzig.

I don't like the idea of electronic cruise control on a motorcycle, but I do carry a clip-on throttle lock and use it longer rides - for the above stated reasons regarding fatigue. It's also handy if you need to adjust a zipper or mirror while riding that would be awkward to reach with the left hand. For example, with throttle lock on, I can open or close the air vent on the left sleeve of my jacket without making a stop.

You may be able to bend the connection that is supposed to go onto the sparkplug to get it to fit. It is just a metal fitting crimped on the end of the wire. It may have been squished or otherwise bent so it no longer fits. Just bend it back. That should make it work. If you can't bend the end to get it to fit on the spark plug, you could cut the old end off and install a new end on the stock cable. Being less then an inch shorter should make little difference. As to replacing the spark plug cables in pairs, that doesn't seem important to me. As long as the cables are the right type, and the same type, it should make little difference.

That is the point, I think. My GTR 1000 has a pump-up pre-load adjustment. Easy enough to get to behind the right-hand sidecover. If one has one of those little pumps to hand that are used for such purposes, also easy to adjust. I barely ride the bike, now, but in the past I regularly changed the pre-load. The bike was used to travel to jobs several hundred kilometres away, often via the Autobahn, with fully loaded luggage. On other occasions, a friend of ours was regularly on the back seat for trips of several hours. When I was on my own for a short ride in the country, there was generally practically nothing in the luggage. I now don't do the long trips anymore, as my work situation has changed, and the friend has back problems, so she isn't up for motorcycling so much. If at all, it will likely be the Breva 750 now. She wont get on the V11 again after trying it out once. The GTR will be moving along to a new owner in the forseable future, because without the long trips I don't really have an excuse for owning it. Anyway, in the light of past experience I can easily see the point of a remote pre-load adjuster. If the adjustment is easy to get to, there are circumstances under which one uses it, and it helps. @orangem2 why not just ask the workshop you are intending to send the shock to if there is a remote adjuster available? If there isn't, I gather Wilbers have something available. Quite expensive, but I have only heard good things about them. This would be the shock, I think https://www.wilbers.de/shop/Motorrad/Moto-Guzzi/V11-Ballabio-KT/Federbein-Typ-641-Competition.html?year=2004 that is without the optional hydraulic pre-load adjuster. To see the price with that, select "hydraulisch (Wilbers-PA)" from the drop-down under "Federvorspannung". The optional adjuster is this one, I think https://www.wilbers.de/produkte/federbeinprodukte/optionen-zubehoer/hyd-federvorspannung/hydraulische-federvorspannung-typ-625.html On the other hand, Öhlins is pretty chic....

The sticking gasket from the old filter is real and should be check each and every filter change. "Hand Tight" may have applied to external automotive filters, but is a formula for disaster on a V11 . . .

I think it is a fine thread for a very good reason. Confirmation, for instance, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screw_thread#Coarse_versus_fine or here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_metric_screw_thread#Preferred_sizes

GASKET REMINDER! Just pulled my HiFlo Filtro out and the rubber gasket remained in the engine. I noticed that as I tipped the filter over to empty it. The gasket came right off of the filter boss, but I seem to remember someone having oil light issues related to threading a new filter and gasket over the old stuck gasket. Best to check the bike's prostate and do the finger wave around the filter gasket boss.

OEM Part Name: Spark Plug Wire Moto Guzzi Part Number: Spark Plug Wire-GU01718330, Spark Plug Cap-GU01717430 Replacement Part Brand or Source: NGK Part Number: CR6 Virtually the same wire and plug, the NGK has outer sleeve covering plug wire to protect from the elements/heat. The sleeve is the same red color as plug wire and could be removed. Other Comments: I removed the end connector from the original wire (end that plugs into the coil) and installed it on the new NGK wire since the NGK package does not provide one. It does come with the Spark Plug Cap already installed. They only come one to a pack, so naturally you would require two if you were to replace both stock wires.