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It's settled then... we ride old bikes. The first V11 barnfind is documented.

I am European mostly; in Europe, or at least when I lived there, our motorcycles were our day-to-day mean of transportation. Not something we would only use on our spare time. At the time, most of us could only afford one motorcycle; also because motorcycle insurance in Europe is much more expensive than here. After finding out about the guy that does the Motorcycle Texas Tour with his motorcycle on a trailer, it certainly educated me. But it is not only the bikes. I have neighbors who own exotic cars, and only take them for a spin on Sundays. I understand they don't want to put too many miles on them, but what is the point, then?

Please do not get distracted by the indicator light story . This was JUST an example of how screwy things can be. That was a 60s BMW and this is a V11 MG. I assume you have the wiring diagram for YOUR bike ? This is important. One wiring diagram I have and I think this is my 2002/3 V11 shows two yellow wires (GI) from the stator windings to the reg. The red/green wire next to it (R-VE) goes from the regulator to f3 . The next light blue wire (AZ) goes from the reg. to the charge indicator lamp. Then the final wire red/black coming from the reg (R-N) goes to the brake lights , headlamp switch then to the instrument cluster benz lamp ( whatever that is) . Finally there is a ground wire attached to the fastener holding the reg to the frame. It ties in w/the battery ground cable. check every one of these to verify operation . Make sure the red/green wire that goes from the + post of the battery to f3 to the reg has B+ v . The other one , if you have lights that circuit is good. If you have a charge light it is good. Good luck.

Hi everyone, My name is Dave, 63 years old and I live in beautiful Shropshire, England not far from the border with Wales, fine riding country. When I last counted I had owned 14 Guzzis, I think that's the most of any one make I've owned with Triumph in second place and maybe BMW or Ducati or even Laverda in third? I owned a slightly tatty Greenie back in the early noughties when I lived and worked in London and subsequently sold it to a friend back here in Shropshire, so see that bike fairly often now I've moved back here and occasionally work on it. I've sold my second V85 and had a guzzi sized hole in my collection when I saw a Coppa Italia Japanese import a few weeks back on eBay and took the plunge. Never imported over here but always liked the look of them and wanted something a bit more visceral than the V85s and (ha ha) a bit more usable than the 8v Griso I had before them. The Coppa has been standing a loooong time so I will start a seperate thread on that as I think it will be quite a journey with ups and downs along the way!

12.9 cold 12.6 KOEO 12.7 idle 12.9 2000 13.1 4000 13.1 5000

welcome to the club !

I bought my Breva 750 on the 9th of August last year. The rego was transferred into my name on the 17th. August, 2023, which is when I started riding it regularly. It occurs to me that I didn't even notice the "first anniversary". I hope she doesn't get narky about that. Date of first registration, 30th. June 2005. When I bought it, it had 9,883 km on the clock. I bought it through a Honda dealership, and they had records of changing the tyres in 2013. Since then, it had only done just over 800 km. . It became my daily rider, and now has over 12,000 km on the clock. And an oil leak out of the clutch housing that has become apparent in the last month or so...

but looking a bit better with a bit of a clean (still some paint film to go at but my finger nails are literally wearing down (an old credit card proved useless)

Ok, so as per my recent "introduce yourself" post, I have bought a Coppa Italia imported from Japan by a dealer, described as a "barn find". In this case I actually think it might have been in a barn! The date code on the tyres is 2007 and there's numerous signs around the bike of having been stored either in slightly damp conditions and/or UV damage though fundamentally in good condition? I suspect it might be a deceased estate purchase as there's a few expensive extras that came with it, but also signs of poor storage, we'll never know? I'm no stranger to restorations (which is not how I see this project) having resurrected a T3 Cali, numerous 60s/70s Bonnevilles and Commandos etc, but never really had that much involvement with a spine frame over and above tank-off checklist type stuff. I see this one as requiring a bit more than that somehow! First hurdle was getting the badly uv hardened paint film off without destroying the paint and decals underneath. So far it's working, albeit very slow process (combination of gentle heat gun and specialised solvent) but the tailpiece decals aren't clearcoated so will have to repair small areas or source new ones/get copies made, we'll see. I wanted to clean it up a bit before any stripdown or startup, as much to give me some motivation as anything else. It's really filthy, even under the tank etc. Oddly though oils look clean as does brake fluid, and there's a small amount of what looks like reasonably fresh fuel in the tank, which I'll change out before powering up the pump etc. I've sourced new oil, oil filter, fuel filter and just had 10 Picker relays arrive from Digikey in the states (2 days shipment time!) as it currently has the dreaded Tycos. Will post a few updates as and when, (and steer specific questions into the technical forum) though this project is competing with my brother's BSA 250 charging issue and a few other bits and pieces, plus the demands of a 10 year old daughter, so it's not going to be a 2 weeks and ride off into the sunset thing.

The only issue I ever had riding on the right was when doing u turns. Always defaulted to a right U turn which was interesting. I've told the wife to act instantly and yell at me if I revert to left driving on our Italian trip. I had no issues driving in the States but that was 10 years ago now. Phil

There is, of course, a Wikipedia article to read, if you can be bothered. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-_and_right-hand_traffic#Steering_wheel_position For me: Driving on the left (right hand drive) seemed natural, because that is what I grew up with. After nearly 30 years here, when I think back to my Monaro, I sometimes have to remind myself that the steering wheel was on the right. The picture that pops up in my mind is a left hand drive Monaro. So you get used to whatever you are using. For me personally, I never had trouble with changing gears with the left hand, but there is something kind of logical for me (right-handed..) to be changing gears with the right hand. On the other hand, my left eye is close to blind. It is this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amblyopia So left hand drive means that all the action is on my "blind side", and right hand drive means that my blind side is only dealing with the paddocks next to the road. In answer to your question to yourself, no I don't think either side has inherent advantages. Which side is or would be better for any individual depends on factors like which hand is dominant, whether there are vision impairments, any number of thing. At the end of the day, you can't get it right for everyone. The main thing is, everyone agrees to all drive on the same side.

Yes, welcome to the club, Dave.

Yep you're correct on all counts. CBF to move the bonnet release for the opposite drive countries. I'm always hitting the wipers to make turns in the Supra and just when I get used to it I start doing the same thing in the other two cars when I get back in them. I wonder aloud if there is any sort of advantage driving on the left or the right side of the road. Phil

Pretty sure there is no "Charge" or "battery" indicator light on the later V11 SpineFrames. If your V11 has a single turn indicator, there will be a "battery" light in the cluster. Later V11 have left/right turn indicators and the battery/charge light is absent , IIRC. The red/black wire from the regulator connecting into the "brake light" etc is the voltage reference from Relay #2, yes? Watching for @LaGrasta to post that series of voltage readings . . .

Yea I also like and looked at a Jag F series. Great looking car but it's a Jag, and well, it's a Jag. When I was researching a new DD 18 months ago I saw stats for the Range Rover Evoke with regards to reliability and the reviewer mentioned that they were considered to be quite problematic in that regard but people were still buying them Phil

My mate in WA has an XK8 Jag which whilst another great car...is giving him a few wee hassles. He'll probably move it on soon as he's had his fun with it. Cheers

Got news for you Mick my previous DD the Ford Kuga ( Escape to the US) the hood release was also on the pax side and so was the Focus RS. The Supra has the hood release on the drivers side but with the BMW specific double pull release. So you don't release the hood and then feel under it for the secondary safety latch to operate you pull the hood release and it pops up then you pull it again to release the secondary latch. Quirky. The Supra being a BMW mechanically has the indicator stork on the left side of the column which in an auto is no problem but a bit of a pain in a manual because your left hand is usually busy shifting gears to operate the indicators. So you need to hit the indicators very early. The Astons are a beautiful car and I considered buying a SH one but at the end of the day too much hassle on quite a few levels. An old Guzzi's enough hassle

Mate, what a beauty! Love Astons, you're a lucky man Tom. That song from Fiddler on the roof springs to mind... .If I were a rich man! Cheers Ps Reckon I could live with the dodgy bonnet latch eh

Great chassis balance for a street car. Enjoyed 90km with a good buddys Aston. Ok 1 thing, opening the hood, try finding the lever well hidden on the passenger side? Cheers Tom. Sent fra min SM-S906B via Tapatalk

Good for you! I would say you got it at a pretty good price. 12 years, 3500 miles.... I did that in one month! There is something I am missing here...

Understood. Sometimes it costs heavily to lead the way - especially when few follow.

I smell H-D.

Greetings all, I am a new owner of a 2001 Greenie, formerly owned by forum member GMC28. It was a real stroke of luck to find a V11 that had received so much care from a meticulous owner, and only a few miles from home. The bike was ready to ride straightaway, which I've happily been doing, along with a little maintenance as I gather information from this forum. Thanks to all who contribute their experiences here, I don't think I've had a question that hasn't already been answered.