po18guy

In my '04 Ballabio, I had some air in the clutch line. Thorough bleeding (including a bleeder banjo bolt at the clutch master cylinder) reduced the false neutrals to near zero. Air tends to return to the master cylinder, as it is the high point in the system. So, where did MG put the bleeder? At the bottom! I do need to adjust the shift lever, which is the rest of the problem.

The later V11s do not have that compact, "integrated" appearance of the early bikes with quarter fairings. However, Aprilia cash appears to have sorted many of the pesky details of the earlier bikes. The steering might be just a bit slower, but stability cannot be faulted. My '04 is but one example, but the electrics are well sorted and the bike has been trouble free - excepting some air in the clutch line. The trans mount is a "good thing" and there is little of the "kit bike" aura surrounding the small bits and electrics. The speedo should be electric instead of the grotesquely "bent" cable drive that is sure to fail - but it must have at least some personality quirks, right? As time went on with the V11, less 'owner involvement' was absolutely required, although some certainly remained. The late bikes are slightly more wife than mistress, shall we say. Although mistresses rarely need a diet.

Time permitting, a spritz with Kroil or other penetrant and patience will help extract broken bolts. As well dad taught me decades ago to use anti-seize compound on fasteners which might suffer from electrolysis or road grime. The plugs on his Continental C85 were so treated. Bolts that protrude out the backside can also have their threads covered with the small vinyl caps that are sold with children's toys etc.

It is written: "They will beat their side stands into swords..."

Was just going to suggest such a device. Used one to start my son's car after the battery suddenly keeled over. About the size of a smart phone, these remarkable little devices might even fit in the monkey paw trap.

Let's parse his verbiage. "Sell some (plural) V11 rack (singular). Sell some rack. And note the space before "V11" A cut and paste with the want ad item filled in. Hmmm. I am on a couple of firearm forums. There have been chronic shortages and scalping on ammunition for the past two years. Literally hundreds of scam websites have popped up and are popping up as we speak. Amazing prices, all in stock, and no limits! They offer a 15% discount for bitcoin. Imagine that! But wait, there's more! Don't have bitcoin? Click their handy "Buy Bitcoin" button and buy the bitcoin to get your 15% discount! Redefining brazen. Due diligence is overdue.

Not as good as Stoddard solvent on grease and harder on paint. A quandary. I spent some time R&Ring the muffler brackets and compounding the paint back to where it was. So, S-100 gets used on metal, basically.

Quick and dirty solution is a Yuasa or Deka AGM - both made in Pennsylvania, a place I've heard of. I had less than stellar luck with an Odyssey and I tend to think that a motorcycle is not its best application. Many others here will argue - but they do that anyway. For $20-$30 more than the generic Chinese batteries, you can employ (mostly) Americans to make your battery.

When I got my bike, the inside surface of the lens had a smoky film on it. That could not stand. So, I took a cotton 'shooter's swab' and made a wire extension for the handle, then soaked the cotton in Windex. Looking from the front, I made sure to clean the entire inner surface of the lens. The result was that it is now clear as it was supposed to be. The film came from??? Maybe the assembly worker was smoking...

Just had my headlight out and for the life of me cannot remember if the reflector is crimped around the lens or not. If it is bonded, the adhesive may be sliced open and the "shield" epoxied back in place. Any number of adhesives would then bond the lens and reflector, with a high-temp silicone perhaps being ideal.

I developed this exact problem on my '04 Ballabio last year. It occurred after a particularly high speed burst on the motorway. In my case, it was indeed air in the system. I bled the slave cylinder but also installed a bleeder banjo bolt on the master cylinder at the high point of the hydraulic system. Made of titanium, it is of excellent quality and not all that costly. A good addition in any event.

The same with YouTube channels. Pure clickbait.

And a round fin at that! Those rods look a little Ti to me.

Many EU parts are labeled as to plastic type. However, this may be a small part that is not labeled. Basically, if acetone or ketone will melt the surface, it is bondable by various adhesives (J-B Weld, various epoxies etc.) If it is one of the slick "Polyethylene" plastics, virtually nothing will bond to it. It is a thermoplastic and some form of heat welding is the only manner of repair. For small cracks in non-polyethylene plastics, a drop of the horrendously dangerous methylene chloride/dichloromethane will almost instantly bond it. It is a very powerful solvent, thinner but considerably heavier than water. It is so dangerous that it is used to decaffeinate coffee beans! It "used to be" in all of the good paint strippers. So, beware! Just last evening, fixed a freeze-cracked polycarbonate Gardena garden hose manifold ("Hergestelt in Deutschland") with a drop or two. Repaired the tiny crack instantly and saved me $50. Priced at $199/5 gallons, it is barely more expensive than gasoline.

I have a couple of pairs of Israeli made Brosh riding jeans, and two pair of their "cool pants" cargo pants. Brosh uses removable Kevlar panels in the hip/buttock area and T-Pro knee armor. Unless you are really tall, they fit nicely. The jeans are armored jeans, simple enough, but the cargo pants are more useful and cooler in the heat. They really believe in the Kevlar and are great folks to work with. https://brosh.com/

That's the flat crank version. Basic 4-cylinder inline sound. The cross plane, now that's Italian! The first 14 seconds of this video are the cross-plane engine warming up. I suspect that only tin ears dislike this sound.

Well they seem to have learned the art of machining quieting ramps and other changes into the cam lobes and valve train. The early Guzzi's valve trains sounded more like VW Beetles than a motorcycle. Actually, I have a '73 "Super" Beetle (Ha!) that would sound much better with a V11 motor! Hey, wait a minute...

Having had a disturbing number of PC545 "clicks" when far away from home - even after conditioning - I recalled that my Kawi had a Yuasa AGM that worked just fine for 9 years. So, what's a couple of pounds on a 550 pound bike? I can skip a meal or two and lose more than that. So, the AGM is in and works as expected. If one has an aversion to Yuasa, say because a Yuasa let them down back in the 70s, there is yet another battery maker in Reading, Pennsylvania: DEKA (East Penn Mfg.) They also make an two or three AGMs for Guzzis.

I have noted that Staintunes give it a distinctly basso profundo tone. Would like to have a Morini 1200 for comparison, but they are only 87º and are immoral to import.

Here's a night shot of the B/LT setup. Also, another shot from about 30º to the right, showing that the light, for me, is still plenty visible.

They are unbelievably inexpensive. I bought 5 for less than $5, but had to wait for the boat from China. Surprisingly, the first one is fine at the 2-year mark. They have a blink-rate adjustment screw between the pins, and a tab so they will pop into the OEM rubber mount. These at the Amazon link are horrendously expensive - almost $3 ea., but you get five of them tomorrow. https://smile.amazon.com/Adjustable-Electronic-Flasher-Relay-Signal/dp/B07JYY6H3W/ref=sr_1_13?crid=1E2W3F33YJIFM&keywords=adjustable+led+flasher+5x&qid=1650760934&sprefix=adjustable+led+flasher+5%2Caps%2C132&sr=8-13 So, a monkey paw trap full of spare Osrams and flashers for the journey!

I have the adjustable blink rate unit for the signals and will use one of the strobe flashers for the 2nd brake light. Unsure which. Would like one that strobes three times then solid. But anything that will stop the horrible Seattle-area "drivers" from killing me is OK with me.

There are many LED strobe units available - all somewhat different as to flash rate and number of flashes. They are less than $2/each if you order from AliExpress and are a bit patient. Somewhat more from eBay and Amazon. The second LED brake light was a snap to wire, as the OEM tail light connectors are the "flag" type and there is plenty or room beside the crimp to solder (or de-solder) the small gauge LED wires alongside. Rather than drill holes, I routed the wires through one of the grommets under the license plate and behind the middle inner fender plastic and to the tail light connection. I ran them inside a silicone rubber hose so that the 1-inch exposed section is well protected. As to the narrow focus of the typical LED beam, I aimed the lower brake light where drivers' eyes would be in the bright spot.

Well, not today, but have made a few mods on the rear - to save my rear. First an LED taillight. Came with a smoke lens, but I wanted something a little brighter. So, I found a $10 eBay Ducati Monster rip-off taillight and used the clear lens. Then fabbed up brackets and added a cheap universal LED brake light atop the license plate. I have this strange aversion to being killed by a somnolent driver. Anything will help, and I have a couple or three LED flasher units (flash 3X then steady) that I can connect to either of the brake lights.