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I am always amazed at the wealth of info to be found here. The amount of detail that is written about some little part or connection on a Sport is impressive. I'm on it now, time to order parts. Thank you all!

Oh it rains. Generally though the Canberra region is one of the driest areas on the driest inhabited continent on earth! Most of our rain comes in spring and autumn, although this autumn has so far been very dry. Both summer and winter tend to get dominated by large high pressure systems that sit over the continent and winter especially is characterised by incredibly clear, still, days with bright sunshine and few clouds. As soon as the sun drops below the horizon temperatures plummet and overnight temps of -5*C are common, we can get down to -8 occasionally! As soon as the sun comes up again though temperatures climb rapidly and by 10.00AM it will be well above freezing and by early afternoon it can be in the mid to high teens. Sure, when we do get winter storms from the south west it can be utterly miserable but really it’s quite a pleasant climate and we have year round riding and no salt on the roads. What’s not to like? Some of the best riding roads in the country are also only an hour or two away.

I had a close look at my frame/subframe, 2000 Red frame V11 and can say with certainty that the subframe is centered along the spine frame axis. It's never been unbolted, the bike has never been crashed and the center captive nut on the tail loop is clearly centered along the frame centerline.

Jimi was dead before I was born, but I can admire brilliance when I hear it.

Forgot to mention: I rode it today for a couple of hours, about 120 km I think. The bike really is lots of fun.

Parts ordered. MG Cycle to the rescue.

Man, I am too late to this party. But I have to throw in my two cents anyway. My preferred way of choice is to use a straw in the sparkplug hole to find TDC. A straw is rigid enough to feel for the piston but will not hurt anything. And I put the trans in gear and rotate the rear wheel to spin the motor over. That way I never have to worry about whether or not I am rotating the motor in the correct direction. With both plugs out and in a taller gear the motor spins over easy. But to each their own on that. Finally, as have been alluded to, whatever method you are using to find TDC there is always two different TDCs. One where the valves are at overlap and both valves are open and the other where both valves are fully closed. It doesn't matter if you are using the marks on the flywheel, a mark you made on the alternator, an object in the sparkplug hole to find when the piston is at the top of its stroke. There are two different times when the piston is at top dead center, and it will cycle back and forth between TDC with the valves at overlap, then TDC where both valves are closed, then again TDC where both valves are at overlap. If you put it at TDC and the valves do not have clearance, rotate the motor 360 degrees, watching the valves as you rotate. There, I feel better....

Uh oh , if I added or subtracted correctly this means I am older than you ALL .

After chasing this issue for months, my wet sump return line was traced to spooge from the tank vent that was zip-tied to the return line . . .

mine came with extras... didn't look at them very closely. Post up a pic of the good side and I'll see if I can match it.

You don't have to be black for that, but being brilliant helps a lot.

Ah, yes, the diameter changed (larger) during the V11 production run. Perhaps with the Long Frame after 2001..... Early (smaller) pivot pin: GU 37547005

Thanx for all the replies it’s a great help. it’s surprising when I’ve been working on it that previous owners just did things half hearted. I know cost comes into things. When I first saw I had to have it and paid the asking price without question. thanx again guys 👍👍

TLM has one if you don't think you can get yours right https://en.tlm.nl/moto-guzzi-triumph/us-01410240-used-achterframe-v11-sport-rood

The black musicians become one with their instrument . Jimi was light years ahead of ANY musician. I cannot imagine what all those Brits felt when they saw him. I remember this documentary where one of them simply said "we'll have to get new jobs" .

Interesting. We have a thread that investigated this and supports this change to driveline placement with the V11 6speeder relative to the 5-speed SpineFrames. I'll see if I can find it . . . edit: Here is one of them starting with a post by @Admin Jaap:

As I recall the motor is offset like 10 mm in the frame to allow for the width of the rear tire. When Guzzi moved to a wider rear tire with the shaft drive setup they moved the entire engine and trans over to make room for the wider wire instead of offsetting the output of the trans so the drive shaft would clear the wider rear tire. It was easier to do that then redesign the trans. This makes the two mufflers a little wonky, as each connects to the motor (the motor that is now 10 mm off to one side) and that means that one head pipe is in front of the other slightly as well as they are both off center side to side. But in my opinion the rear subframe itself should be centered with the chassis spine frame and centered with the rear tire. Just not exactly centered with the exhaust.

I’ll move this to another thread, but it would be interesting to hear where in MN that your grandfather came to. Plenty of scandinavians in Minnesota, hence the name of the NFL team and all that, but on the other hand its amazing how often and quickly I find a shared history and/or ancestry thread with the Norwegians I run into all over. That little town of Houston MN apparently was first really settled by a couple norwegians, the Omodt/Birkeland’s (a couple years after a civil war fellow started there), who my cousin in Oslo says were the “bridgehead to america” for a string of Norwegians that followed. We’re a bunch of immigrants, like most americans (or, arguably, all people)…. hope I don’t get deported! 😎 Aside from the lack of mountains, its some nice country, and a pleasant place to explore on a motorcycle. maybe some day.

My math skills -- and high-school senior arrogance -- led to an empty tube when I marched to the strains of Pomp & Circumstance across the stage at graduation, followed by summer school. So, not sure which of us is the older, but here are the top hits of my vintage year: Bill

Mine still has the little plastic bit under the end of it attached, I'll see tomorrow about removing it and trying to get an accurate measure to some meaningful points, or a clearer eye view at least.

I see from the frame diagrams in the Workshop Manual that the rear tail section support subframe is very slightly asymmetric, i.e. 1.0 cm offset.

selling the little sister to our V11: https://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/mcy/d/marina-del-rey-2017-moto-guzzi-v7iii/7842212219.html clean title, zero accidents, current rego, and excellent condition. female owned and ridden...

No, that doesn't happen in Australia. You get autumn instead...

. "In the Moto Grappa 'as we speak' ..."

You're trying to set the clearances on the overlap. Turn it another 360 degrees. Phil

Family from my fathers side in Jupiter FL and Chicago and Green Bay W. My garage door is open . Cheers Tom

I only skipped through that, but I noticed two with Pirelli Phantoms and clip-ons. I'd have one of those. I rather hope that there will be a model at some point with the V100 motor or a derivative thereof and clip-ons. Not holding my breath, though. Interesting that there was a California just before the end, and it looked a lot like a 1400 motor. I thought they were history. Maybe not.

No. Early short frames were red as well as the black short frame of the 2001 Rosso Mandello. Pretty sure those all used the smaller pins. Long Frame started with the 2002 LeMans (some Euro models could be very late 2001). I am not certain if the larger pins started with the first long frame or later . . . Smaller pivot pin for the early, 1999-2001, short frame: GU 37 54 70 05 The 2002 Parts Catalog I have shows the pivot pin as 01 54 70 60 Is that the part you received, @Pressureangle?

Tidbit for the archives- I bought a pair of V11 swingarm stub bolts on eBay.de, which came today. Unfortunately, they don't fit. They are the correct length in thread and stub, but the thread of my original pivot is ~20mm, and the newly arrived ones are ~22mm. I suppose it's possible that they are from a later model, a CARC or something, but only Pete might know that. I'm thinking they're the same as my '97 Sport 1100 and they got bigger along the way somewhere.

I am sure Phil was giving Molly the best/correct diagnosis , he was trying to adjust the valves on the valve overlap stroke instead of the ignition stroke.

Good point, that. It is good practice to always approach the point you are going to measure at in the normal direction of rotation. Turning the motor backwards wont do any damage, but it is good to go past where you want to get to, and then up to your point in the normal rotation direction. Not critical, possibly, but doing so makes sure that things like cam-chains and whatever all have the lash taken out as they normally do when the motor is running.

I thought that only applied to the Sport 1100 and Daytona models. The V11 got, after all, a new 6-speed gearbox, and I thought the motor moved back to centre with that.

Just thought very carefully about what I had to do before I started. The replacement seal in my right hand, the loosened plug taken out with the left, swap, bung it back in. The potential for a fumble is high, but I got lucky.

Not a fan of the Tributo. The red, white and blue is not doing it for me.

Wheat straw or soda straw ? Have you ever dropped a bike ? I have and it never gets old. You say words Chris Rock would have to walk out on. Concerning all the TDCs. Yes, one TDC will have the valves rocking and one TDC the valves will be still . This is where the 4 stroke philosophy comes in to play

Hmmm. my input is "for entertainment purposes only" .

I have actually some relatives in Minnesota, as my grandfather and his brother emigrated to USA around 1900, but my grandfather travelled back to Norway after a few years (my father was born there).

One of the most important lessons I learned while working for H-D was "Don't put your taste in other people's mouths". Truly, compared to a same-year BMW, they're no less appealing. I don't care for the optics on either one; but I say that as I love my '04 GSA, which is as ugly as a boot heel.

The fitting on that oil return line to the rear of the sump changed from the early AN fitting to the later (double) O-ring. I discovered, the long and hard way, that oil dripping from that line may well be coming from another source, though . . .

I had put the term V-Rod out of my mind.

IF the leak(s) are at the connections you need a 01154230 gasket and a 90706010 o-ring . The gasket will go between the fitting & pan and the o-ring will go between the fitting and the breather hose that goes up to the frame. If it is the hose , you will need a 01154631 pipe.

Wot he sed

Thanks Marty. Heading back to Methven come August (all being well). Will shout you a beer.

You are not the first person to ask that question. See: https://www.v11lemans.com/forums/topic/22336-what-is-the-extra-sump-plug-for/#comment-256978

@cash1000 and I put a remote breather on our gearboxes for just that reason. See pictures: A spray flap is a good idea too. https://www.v11lemans.com/forums/topic/31139-transmission-problem-shift-bendix-any-ideas/page/2/#findComment-299737

^^ this Full synthetic oils are less prone to this as well. I remember back in the 1970s, Pennzoil brand was particularly bad for this; Pennsylvania crude oil is high in paraffin, and the wax emulsified with the water easier than non-paraffin crude extracts. The advent of synthetic oils put most of it to rest. So if you're using dinosaur dookie, try synthetic at the next change.

Yup, it’s just mayonnaise. Especially in cooler, damper climates as the engine heat cycles between runnng and not as it cools the water in the gas inside the crankcase, of which there will be a fair bit as water is one of the main y-products of combustion and there is always some blow by past the rings, will condense out on the inside of the cases. As the rocker covers always tend to run cool and are at the top of the motor this is where a lot of the water ends up. It combines with the oil droplets as it condenses and voila! The disgusting looking but essentially harmless mayonnaise. The answer to preventing it is getting the oil hotter. Once the oil temperature and internal temperature of the engine gets above about 90*C the the water will sublime out of the oil and off the internals of the engine and will over time be expelled through the breather system and rebreathed through the combustion chambers and expelled in the exhaust. No big block Guzzi begins to get even remotely warm enough to do this in winter unless you are doing motorway speeds for over twenty miles at least. Something I’d think it would be unlikely you’d be doing on the IOM, especially in winter! At least the V11’s have the advantage of having a thermostat in the oil cooler circuit which will help bump up the oil temperature a bit in cool weather. The 8V engines have a separate cooling circuit independent of the lubrication circuit and it directs the oil through the cooler unregulated. This means that any time the ambient temperature is under about 20-23*C it is damn near impossible to get the oil temp above 100*C which is where you want it unless you thrash the bastard mercilessly everywhere in 4th gear @ 6,000+RPM! Some of us owners have fitted external thermostats to our bikes, others, like me, who can’t be arsed, just tape off the cooler in the cooler months! Finding that nasty crap in the rocker covers is disconcerting the first time you see it and it is preferable that it not be there but it is what it is. Some oils are more prone to forming mayonnaise as well. Castrol has always been worse than many others and it’s one of the reasons I try to avoid it, but a damn good thrashing from time to time is the best medicine! Also, if you are riding in the wet at all make sure you put some sort of ‘Spray flap’ in the triangle of the swingarm cantilever or you’ll find your gearbox full of water as the stupid breather is right in line with the rear tyre. Mornin Phil!

Looks like “mayo” syndrome, perhaps caused by shorter rides where the oil is not getting up to temperature Did you drop the sump to get a look inside?

helluva setup there Tom! Just arrived in Minnesota tonight, tomorrow making the drive to Houston, Minnesota, to see where the norwegian ancestors came over to establish the "bridgehead to america" around 1850. Probably be more fun to be in norway in your garage.