Guzzimax

More gratuitous pics of me being snapped by the Moto Shoots photographer riding up and down the A6 to GuzziFest on Saturday. First on a Griso, then on V85 demo bike, I also passed for a 3rd time on my burgundy v11 but I’m yet to track down that photo

She’s rather gorgeous, she can certainly come over and change my oil & filter

Took the latest V85 out for a test ride today. I was quite impressed. A modern Guzzi that did everything well, easy to ride, relaxed upright riding position. It’s not the fastest machine out there but it’s not pretending to be something it’s not. In a totally different category compared to a 1300GS. If I want to ride fast on the straights I’ve got a 1700 VMX for such

Guzzi Fest today at Matlock. This is the big annual rally for Guzzi Club GB members. Two V11s present today, a Tenni & my burgundy Sport

A fabulous day out at the VMCC Founders day at Stanford Hall today

Ok, we all know that the average Guzzi owner isn’t exactly youthful. In our group anyone under 60 is classified as a sprog (youngster). So why has the pub landlord left a bouncy castle for us

Took the Rosso Corsa to this evenings Guzzi Club meet

Love the Rosso Corsa, I have one myself

Following a weekend of riding on wet, sodden roads (another appalling wash out of a UK summer), I cleaned the filth off my burgundy V11 today

Sunday at the Mallory Park bike festival (with classic racing) Poor weather with heavy downpours - look at the sky above the Guzzi tent. Good selection of Guzzi’s, a club member was out on the track with his MK2 Le Mans

Mallory Park bike fest this weekend, weather poor with heavy downpours. My V11 in the Guzzi club tent

Another Guzzi Club meeting this evening My silver V11 & a V7 next to a Harley Amazing sky this evening

Last nights Guzzi club meet. Other makes welcome There are actually several other Guzzi’s in the line, but my photographic skills aren’t great

At the MGC GB Leicester area local boozer, a sunny evening for once !

Slim V11, chunky Griso

Fabulous silver V11

Washed the squashed bugs off these 3 last weekend

Gentle ride down the A60 to Loughborough scrubbing in new tyres

Pete I assume you’re referring to Tony Foale. I must admit that I don’t have any knowledge of whether or not Dr John did ever acknowledge Tony Foales chassis development regarding the spine frame concept I can’t recall Tony Foale applying his spine frame concept to a Guzzi, but I stand to be corrected if he did

RIP Dr John Those of us who love riding the spine framed V twins have certainly benefited from his enthusiasm & inventiveness for the Guzzi marque. Just imagine how different things would be now if Dr John had concentrated on filling molars & doing root canal’s instead of turning his mind to improving the products of Mandello. Frankly I don’t consider 77 to be “old” these days, not when I’ve already passed the 60 milestone some time ago… we pass this way but once, however for us Guzzistas Dr John will be remembered with the respect he deserves

I’ll recheck tomorrow, I’ve run it up to 2000 rpm and the voltage doesn’t exceed 13.9

I checked the charging voltage by putting a meter on the battery terminals whilst running the engine at a very fast idle 13.83 volts doesn’t seem excessive as a charge voltage I’ll go around the various grounds and connections to make sure the contacts are clean I suppose there could be spikes when the engine is running at typical road speed of 3000 - 5000 rpm what do you think?

I haven’t used the silver V11 much this summer, but yesterday it went back on the road and I’ve put around 200 miles on it over this weekend Noticed the telltale drips of battery acid from the rubber tray when I got home this evening, so I removed the battery, no battery case cracks / leaks, so I guess it’s been overcharging and venting I guess It’s time to replace the regulator; I understand this is a reasonably common problem with the V11 charging system Should I check anything else before I replace the reg / rectifier unit ? The photos below were taken yesterday at the National Memorial Arboretum Ride to the Wall, where around 5000 riders paid their respects to armed forces personnel, past & present

The liquid is definitely battery acid, and they haven’t been connected to a battery tender over winter. I did some previous on line research and found this wasn’t recommended with Odyssey batteries unless it was a specific type of AGM compatible tender. They have been recharged once during winter using an Optimate 4 (which is AGM compatible) this was then disconnected when the battery was recharged (after around 1 hr) and not left on permanent standby It’s a big concern that this has occurred to 2 relatively new Odesseys whereas another bike fitted with a >12 year old Spark 500 is fine. I won’t be getting another Odessey after this experience, as my trust in the product has gone, so I guess the default choice will have to be Yuasa