smmudd83_1999

Pretty pictures to come. 2001 Moto Guzzi V11 Sport (the 1999-2002 “standard naked” / shorty red frame). Originally a new (unregistered) import from Japan into NZ with 0km in 2004. I bought the bike as the 2nd owner in 2014 with 42000 kms on it. I have been using the bike everyday, all weathers & it has proven to be sound. Currently the bike has nearly 64000 kms on the clock. Fitted new Pirellis Angle GTs & had its Warrant of Fitness this week without any notes. Bike is licensed until 12/7/18. So it's all ready to roll and still in use. At about 50000 kms the Valeo starter motor failed (a common weak point – my similar age Cali Stone did the same at similar mileage) & I replaced with the newer better Bosch unit. Soon after the reg/rec failed, which is the only time the bike let me down (did I do something wrong during the starter install?) Anyway, that was ages ago & it’s been ticking like a Swiss clock since. Usual Bosch relays upgraded as the usual preventative measure as well. Bike has a handlebar conversion done by the previous owner and it has transformed the bike comfort-wise. The saddle was recovered due to a nick in the vinyl where the rear seat cowl dug into the seat. Baglux/Bagster tank cover protects the original (black) tank. It has a Ventura pack rack & bag. A handlebar mounted Givi tall screen. (As the bike has a neutral ish riding position, handlebar conversion, torquey motor and shaft drive - it's an excellent tourer! Who knew?!). There's a clear headlight lens protector, too. Mistral stainless reverse conicals befitting the classic Guzzi shape. Crossover exhaust box junked for Mistral straight thru crossover. Airbox lid opened up. Yeah, basically all common 1100 big block performance mods. Sounds great but not anti-social! Bike has CNC from billet handlebar mirrors, originals go with the bike. Bike had valve clearances tweaked twice by me. Wheel bearings pre-emptively replaced at 53k kms. I’ve changed the engine oil & filter 3 times, gearbox & rear diff oil (& molykote) once. Performance air filter is in the air box. Fork oil changed a couple of years back. I keep it on BP, Z or Caltex higher octane go juice. No odd rural New Zealand petrol brands have gone into the tank with questionable ethanol content. This is a 2001 manufactured model, so it's the old locking nut adjusted valve clearances, no self destructing hydro heads here, thankyou! With it being first red frame, it has the shorter wheelbase & steeper rake angle with the 170mm rear tyre. Coupled with the wide handlebar conversion, initial turn in is pleasingly quick, though if you ride it like a 250 it will tie itself in knots (with all oils and a full tank it's probably 245kg wet kerb weight). That’s it. It is a 17 year old Italian semi-exotica ridden in all weather. There's the odd bit of furring, scratch, chip etc. It was dropped by me a couple of years ago but the only tell tale sign is a cracked indicator lens (indicator still works). Reason for sale: I've just bought my 3rd old big block Guzzi (a California EV80). No rush to sell. If I don’t get a good offer I’ll keep it. I’m still riding it a bit so mileage will rise a bit. Oddly enough, when selling to New Zealanders you have to say cash on collection/bank deposit only. (The number of times people have offered me a car or boat as a swap is bizarre). Price is at $7,200 (that's New Zealand $s, about $5,300 USD).

You know what? I have had exactly the same kerfuffle. Front strap: Around the headstock (underneath all the cables). Easy. Short straps at the front on the sides: Around the frame headstock triangulation supporty bits. Easy. And then there's that long strap towards the middle/rear...huh? I took the tank off and ran it under the tank above the airbox as you suggest - but the strap supplied is nowhere near long enough to go under the tank and up over the airbox? So where does it go? I'm not going to run the bike without an airbox on pod filters...So...I'm thinking I'll attach an extension to the strap to make it work. But on my bike the bloody fuel cap hole has ended up elongated and narrow and interferes with opening the cap. A tad annoying but I just can't get it to sit right. I have tried heating it with a hair dryer and patiently working it but it just won't settle in the right place. It's a mild irritation - it will be hidden by my custom modded leather rucksack/tank bag when it's finished. Did you persevere?

Getting the cover off is easy compared to removal of the filter itself. I thought the tool kit had the wrench on the other side of the spark plug wrench. Even then, if you're struggling just take the whole sump off. I remember when I undertook my first service for this bike (bought used and it's 14 years old) the bloomin' filter was an original UFI. Which has 14 flutes - it seems in the US market a lot of you guys using Walmart/Fram or whatever with 7/8/9 flutes. Hey ho. But this filter and the new official UFI replacement both had 14 flutes anyway...which makes them darn near completely round. And there's no nut on the top of the filter or anything to help you unscrew them. but that shouldn't be a problem right? Common practice is to grease the filter seal and screw on hand tight...so this should be a cinch. Not so. I sweated and strained. THEN I used a strap-type filter wrench but it just slipped around the filter (it's nearly completely round and quite oily). THEN I took a chisel, punctured the side of the filter and tried to knock it round. But the chisel just chewed up the filter housing (it's pretty soft) without turning the filter off! How tight must this thing have been screwed on? THEN with the outer housing now seriously roughed up the oil filter/strap wrench could actually grip the thing and twist it off. I put this down to the level of thought most tradies are capable of and "have a go heroes" in New Zealand. They have this mentality of tightening everything up as much as they can... "you don't want it to fall off, do you mate?" Undoing rocker cover bolts, oil sump bolts, everything just a PITA. No grease on any of the bolts, all hard stainless bolts screwed as hard as possible into an alloy casting. Geez. Gorillas the lot of them.

"I like the idea of the lithium moto batteries [LiFePO4, of course, not lithium ion!], but even the Li-PO batteries don't balance charging across all the cells very well and you need a special charger to keep them in top form & to prevent shorter lifespan. " This might be true for Shorai, but the Deltran unit has a battery management system onboard to control cell loading and balancing. But I did still need a special charger as my lead-acid/gell AGM Oxford Maximiser charger had a recovery/desulfation stage that kills LiFePO units. So I splashed out some big bucks and got a Battery Tender W800 for lithium batteries. Having said that, if you don't ever discharge the battery really low it might never use that desulfation stage. I wonder if it would still be OK to use the old charger if I were careful...but a battery at $329 NZD delivered, that's for someone else to try!

A typical charger for lead-acid or gel, AGM batteries tends to use a de-sulfation phase for battery recovery. I think this uses a "pulsing" charge to reinvigorate the battery somehow. LiFePO4s don't like this stage. Typically, most LiFePO suppliers recommend a lithium charger. It costs like $60 USD delivered. I'm not using Shorai. I'm using Deltran who have been involved in the new lithium battery game only for the last year or so. My battery is the same size as the original but is a 21-24Ah unit, which is a lot higher than the 13 or 15Ah original. I did this because of reports of cold weather issues with the lithium technology and decided to go overkill on the capacity. Now I think about it though, Wellington, New Zealand only ever gets to an overnight low of about 3 degrees (Celcius - I mean who other than USA use Fahrenheit?) so maybe I could have gone with a slightly smaller 18Ah unit and been fine in my case and given a bit more room under the seat...

Deltran is fitted. It is like-for-like in size - no space saved. Light though! Instructions say to charge to 100% before use...but LiFePO4 s work best at 60-80% charge anyway...so...sod it. Crank. Vroom. Rode 10 minutes to work. 9 hours happened. Crank. Vroom. 10 minutes back home. It works. Based on one day experience it works very well. Maybe I'll do a 6 month follow up as that doesn't say alot. Dunno if I've damaged the battery not going for a 100% charge first. And I still haven't worked out how to charge it - I currently have a Oxford Maximiser for lead/AGM/gel batteries, which I've been told is a no-no as it does funky things to maintain a battery that LiFePOs don't like. But so long as I keep riding daily, we'll never find out, will we?

I dipped my toe in the Li Fe PO4 world. By actually ordering one. I COULD have gone the Shorai route (which are highly thought of here) but my local shop uses Deltran for LiFePO4 batteries and have fitted them to many, many bikes. The battery I have gone for is rated at 21-24Ah and 360 CCA (!) so should be plenty to turn over a V11. Deltran actually recommended a 14Ah battery (1.76 lbs), but with the space I have I decided to fit a grunty 24Ah unit (2.6 lbs). Hopefully this shouldn't pose an issue. A replacement Yuasa weighs 8.8 lbs and only makes 15Ah and 230 CCA, for comparison. The Deltran also has two pairs of terminals so you can insert it under the seat in either way and still be able to wire to the terminals, and has proper fitted terminals not those rubbish captive nut type jobbies. And it comes with a clever charge distributor to ensure even charging/discharging of each cell. And unlike a common laptop Li-ion battery the lithium iron phosphate batteries don't get anywhere near as hot. Being in New Zealand, I would rather have gone with a supplier that is locally represented so if it goes bad I can take it back easily enough. LiFePO4 batteries are very common here - Shorai are very strong in the marketplace. There are two caveats: 1) If you live where it can get cold, the LiFePO4 batteries CCA are much more affected in colder climes. Here in Wellington NZ, a very cold overnight low might be 3degC (37F) and typically about 7degC (45F). I think there is an issue with needing to "warm the battery up" if you do colder season riding by leaving your lights on for a minute before trying to start. Or stick a hair dryer on it? 2) I haven't worked out charging it. Mind you, if the battery has an intelligent charge distributor onboard it might not be an issue. I best read the instructions that come with it when it arrives on Monday/Tuesday!

Hang on, I thought the link in your own post on this topic answers that question (i.e LFX18L1-BS12) or am I on the wrong end of a stick here? AndyH I believe that if you live in colder climates, the 18-size battery isn't big enough. See here http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=52459.0 and here http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=47457.msg763649#msg763649 Shorai lists the 18 on their website, but have recommended the LFX 24 or 27 to others. For some of us with Power Commanders under our seats the 24 and 27 are too large. Some have had good experiences with a 21. For me living in Wellington New Zealand, 3 degrees Celcius (37 degrees F) is kind of the lowest overnight low I tend to experience so the LFX 18 will be fine 99.9% of the time. For the other 0.1%.....I'll just heat the garage

A few of you were asking about weight. Translating from their own webpage: FRONT WHEEL The original cast wheel weighs 13.1kg, the spoked wheel weighs 14.9kg REAR WHEEL original cast wheel 18kg and the spoked item weighs 18.1kg ...so the front IS some margin heavier. So the front wheel feel more planted/stable/slower steering. Not necessarily a bad thing - in my case I have a set of handlebar risers fitted with a nice wide flat handlebar for an upright riding position and it gives me some extra leverage compared to the clip ons.