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2003 Moto Guzzi V7 LEMANS Rosa Corsa A beautifully crafted, reliable, sport bike which is simply a joy to ride. The bike is titled as a 2003 which I bought new in 2006. I am the original owner and this bike has been meticulously maintained. The bike has 12,000 miles on it. It is also listed on cycletrader.com This bike is part of a special run which Moto Guzzi manufactured with Ohlins suspension front and rear, clip ons, and a fairing. contact pauljosephrussell@gmail.com

I'm reminded of something I read in a bicycle magazine once regarding saving weight on a racing bike: the cheapest place to save weight is on the rider. Maybe the concept lets itself be applied to handling on a motorcycle as well.

Thanks mate. Always appreciate your input on this issue! As mentioned earlier, I''m a bit heavier these days by the tune of 10 or so kilo's and my main intention here is to lessen the rearward bias of this increased weight by increasing preload slightly. Don't get me wrong the bike still handles bloody well and is stable but I really did like that added weight/feel on the front.I already have the forks up thru triples by 8mm and didn't really want to increase that as it does lessen trail so thought by stopping the bike sagging ( slightly ) under my new lardy physique it might keep the weight forward slightly? I guess the best solution would be to change out the spring (it's a progressive one too by the way) next time shock is serviced but this will be a ways away. Cheers Guzzler Ps the backpack does contribute to this as well and I might try without it. Pps All this is really FINE tuning the handling but if it makes it even better then it's been worthwhile eh.

Some good info on here. Especially about the difference between spring rate and preload. But I don't think spring preload has the same sort of effect on a motorcycle as it does on a car in relation to weight. On a car, if I add spring preload on one wheel of a four wheeled car that puts more weight on that tire at that corner of the car. That is in part because of the way cars distribute the total cars weight between all four corners. Of the four wheels / tires if I add preload to one to cause it to support more of the total weight of the car that one wheel / tire will have more weight on it while the weight on the other three also changes. The wheel / tire in the opposite corner will also get more weight on it while the other two will loose weight. Motorcycles do not share their weight the same way between the two wheels. With only two wheels, they can't act like the car with its four wheels. Adding spring preload to the back doesn't put more weight on the rear wheel, and it really doesn't put more weight on the front wheel. Anything that changes the attitude of the bike, how much it is canted forwards or backwards, will have a minor impact on how the weight is split front to back. But it would be a very small effect. The same as dropping the front end by sliding the triple clamps down the fork tubes. That does speed up the steering by increasing the rake, and it does reduce trail. But it is not really putting anything more than a minor amount of increased weight on the front wheel. I seem to recall docc did a test of that once with a pair of scales. That said, moving weight around on a motorcycle can indeed make a big difference. There are two ways to move weight to the front, clearly one option is to add weight to the front. But adding weight is not always best performance wise. Another option would be to either remove weight from the back, which has a similar effect to adding weight to the front, or even moving weight from the back to the front. Probably the largest amount of weight on the V11 Sport you can move from the back to the front would be the battery. Anything from just a lighter battery in the same location, to better yet moving the lighter battery forwards on the bike, would help. Probably the largest amount of weight you can remove from the back would be the exhaust. The wheels themselves would be another place you can dramatically reduce weight in large chunks. And while reducing the weight of the wheels does not reduce sprung weight, it does reduce unsprung weight AND rotating weight, both of which are good things in their own right. There is a reason why our aluminum framed Ducati racebike has a titanium rear subframe that weighs next to nothing. With the L layout of the Ducati V twin it has issues with weight distribution, making it hard to get enough weight on the front. Reducing the weight on the back of the bike also shifts the weight balance of the bike forward same as adding weight to the front. But it doesn't have the weight penalty that adding weight to the front would have. The Guzzi V11 Sport does tend to have a rearward weight balance, and in my opinion anything you do to move the weight balance forward on it would be a good thing.

Thank you all. Yes, 92 non-ethanol fuel is the best we can do here. Late last summer I did the decent tune-up starting with valve adjust etc. It made a remarkable difference with the surging and stumbling off idle but didn't eliminate it completely. Biggest difference was cleaning the bypass screws, resetting the TPS, balancing the throttle bodies and lowering the idle. It's only been about 1,000 miles since the tune and the symptoms have gotten worse as the temperature has increased so thinking there is more to do.

Perhaps you will enjoy this direct link to Cycle Garden's "Big Bore Kits" even more . . . http://www.cyclegarden.com/big_bore_kits.php

Before you start overthinking it which it sounds like you are make sure the fuel filter isn't blocked/dirty and the TB's are not popped off and the manifold rubbers aren't leaking. Move onto the TPS and tuning after that unless it's needed for some reason you haven't mentioned.

As far as I know, yes, mostly. The pinging might perhaps also have to do with inferior quality fuel. On top of "all the sensors and computer are working correctly" there is making sure that there are no air leaks between the throttle bodies and the cylinder. That could make a good map run lean. The big question is, however, have you done everything in the "decent tune up"? If you haven't made absolutely sure that all the basic stuff is right, you are shooting at a moving target trying to find out what is not right. Edit: bugger, docc was faster. How does he do that?

Since I posted it, I searched for Cycle Garden, and I found that it is a Moto Guzzi vintage motorcycle specialist. So, I would say that the 12k miles are not original, but most likely after a complete overhaul... http://www.cyclegarden.com/

Like this?

Not today, but didn't post the discs yet. Taken off my track Mille before I sold it, straight fit on the V11 and stops a whole lot better.

This is the last report about my experience under a biblical deluge on Monday 22nd of July 2024. This was an absolute first in my life. I had never been exposed to that kind of rain intensity and duration on a motorcycle before. I did look at the weather forecast, and while it specified overcast with chance of rain, it did not exactly paint what it really was. Up to Grande Saline, the skies were dark, but no rain at all. I left Grande Saline at 14:30 and I almost immediately encountered rain. Most of the travel was on 287 then 19, and I rejoined I-45 at Hunstville. Various roads, and while still under heavy rain, Farm to Market roads had almost no 18 wheelers, which made for better visibility. I also used some county roads, which surfaces were sometimes in very poor conditions. In the process of doing some stops for the Texas Motorcycle Tour 2024, I decided to make a loop to complete those points I had missed because of my starter problem earlier that month. Here's the map of the intended loop: 506 miles and a theoretical duration of 8:37 minutes, as per google maps. The total trip duration does not include any stop. Find below the trip log as it happened, with the real times, the mileage is computed automatically between the departure and arrival points. Note that in any case the Guzzi odometer always comes short. The Michelin Road 6 experience: How can you review tires without factual data? how can you provide an unbiased opinion? how can you describe a very personal experience and feeling? Difficult, but I am going to try; The Michelin Road 6 that equip my V11 have about 5k miles on them. As far as I understand, tires are evaluated on special closed tracks which are artificially made wet by a deluge system. My experience was under the pouring rain, different asphalt quality, asphalt not evacuating water making hydroplaning one of the hazard. Obviously, other vehicles circulating, including trucks, both ways. Poor visibility, traffic lights. The conditions were very different from that encountered on a closed track. Am I biased? I am inclined to say yes. When I was a kid in the 60's, Michelin was present on the beaches, entertained the kids with Michelin men balloons, or Lego like Michelin men to build. So I heard about Michelin early in my life. Long time before I even got my first motorcycle. However, before Guzzi, I never installed a Michelin tire on any of my 70's motorcycles! exclusively Dunlop K-81. Michelin Tires seem to be more expensive than the rest of the known brands, Bridgestone, Pirelli, Dunlop, Metzeler... I don't know the reason, either marketing or... else. Back to what I did during those four hours, I rode the bike until I could feel the hydroplaning symptoms creep. Sometimes, I would be able to get to max posted speed, 75 mph. Other times, the bike started to feel unstable at 50 mph; again depending on how intense the rain at that time, and the asphalt having a thin layer of water. I kept my distance with preceding vehicles, also because the mist coming from the back of the trucks would impair vision. As you know, from a distance, you do not even see the rear lights! I did some hard braking tests, not emergency braking, but hard enough. Conclusion; I developed a lot of trust in my tires. Since those FM roads had a lot of curves, I felt at ease and relaxed. Maybe I would have felt the same on other tire brands, maybe not. In any case, I vouch for the Road 6. Now, this experience was unique in that nobody wants to go riding a motorcycle under heavy rain for any amount of time, if it can be avoided. Today we still have the same bad weather in H'town. It seems that we can only have a pickling sun or drenching rains. Never anything in between. Those were my six cents about the Road 6...

Ha ha, mate it was pies and red wine that contributed to the weight gain of 10 kilos and got me here! Well, that and stopping smoking. Cheers

For those not familiar with Australian vernacular, this might help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycophancy I have the strong impression that Phil is not that impressed with the man in question...

Sorry, somebody had to post it. Have fun.

I found that eating a lot more pizza and drinking copious quantities of beer enlarged my stomach to the point it helped with a more forward weight bias on my Greenie! Just a suggestion..

A photo during installation. I will post more later under the "What did you do for your V11 today" thread

Hey my V11 fellows! Finally I got my beauty from Amsterdam! I rode it through Hamburg - Kodling - Thisted! Still on the way back to Stavanger! I just love it! Its just fine. Even though I have some bad luck with it. Anyway, I will post another topic for asking help on the issues I have I register it here before I register it in Norway! Here are some photos! I have some videos too! To be continued

I hope you can enjoy the rest of the ride home.

Just bought this Le Mans last week !!! 5 years without a Guzzi is along time!!! A few issues as it’s been standing for a few months!!!!