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If you read my post about the new 2025 Moto Guzzi V7 Sport, I think Norton did a better job with the modern take on the Commando. It seems like everything Piaggio/Guzzi missed on the V7 Sport was done on the Commando.

My real first contact with a Moto Guzzi was with the V7 Sport in the 70's. I remember very well, and I have a photo somewhere in a box. Edit: watch the video about the Norton Commando! in my opinion, they did a better job, adding a café racer to the classic! According to you, did Moto Guzzi/Piaggio miss the mark on this iconic reissue? My gripes and kudos: -That single digital instrument is an offence to the spirit of the bike. They have a dual clock arrangement on some other V7s. Why not on this one? -Not a big fan of the rearview mirrors at the end of the handlebars, but that is an easy sorting. -Electronically, they have the ride by wire, the ABS that works in curves, I read somewhere they have a cruise control, with the usual ECU maping modes which I don't think are necessary on a bike with so little watts. -Dual rotors, radial calipers, inverted forks with additional settings; ok. -A removable seat cowl and a front fairing would have been nice. -I like the reduced length mufflers, but maybe some Akrapovǐk like on other V7 would have given a better tone. Price is undecided, but the Guzzi representative says it will be attractive. What do you think? would you make room for this one?

The V11 is a very different animal compared to the vertical twins "a la Briton". If you are looking for an easy going motorcycle, a 20+ years Guzzi that has not been run for an undisclosed amount of time will take some effort to restore to that careless status. I am saying this because the two Guzzi I purchased had most likely been ignored for some time. My V11 took some looking after before it became reliable. But once I ironed out the typical issues every V11 are known to have, it just works like clockworks. I went from 8k miles to 40k miles. I purchased the bike in December 2020, but only took possession of it in April 2021. The major part of 2021 was used to fix the odometer, the starter motor circuit. Thereafter, it is now a Swiss army knife.

Something important; why do you want to purchase a V11 from the early 2000? One thing we all have in common here, is that we do appreciate the Guzzi, especially the V11. We are willing to be forgiving to the little issues we all have experienced at one point or another. If you are in that category, and you are not simply curious, depending on how much you are willing to roll up your sleeves, those V11 are extremely reliable once you look past the little quirks here and there. You are not listing any other motorcycle in your profile. Is this a "getting back in the saddle"? There is not much you could do wrong in purchasing a V11 anyway. If you jump the gun, people here will help you all the way. Spares are reasonably available by mail order, and flowing supplies are no problem. As an aside, I recently changed the timing chest cover gasket, replaced it with a metallic one. But I ran the bike with the oil seepage for a long time. For the instruments, as Docc pointed out, there are many solutions. I have had my gauges fixed by a fellow in Tennessee who specializes in fixing and making reliable those Veglia Instruments. I also have Veglia on a Guzzi Quota and I got my tachometer fixed in Germany. But you can purchase modern replacements. After, it is a question of what you want to do, for what price. For the rest, I crisscross Texas with my V11 each year without a worry in the world...

My Facom feeler gauges set starts at 0.04mm and goes to 0.10mm in 0.01 increment... Ha!

In Guzziology, the author points out that wear is not equally distributed over the surface, and makes the proper adjustment more challenging.

Shoot! I am going to need to become a MM93 fan, now that he is completely Red! good thinking Ducati for having put Francesco Bagnaia in full white, to have a nice contrast. Here's the link to the MotoGP video, which cannot be embedded; you have to watch it on YouTube. At the end of his first outing, he gives his impressions in Italian to his crew chief. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDgrlZvyyDk

You are correct! I forgot to take into consideration the mechanical wear. That should come to play too....

Because in Europe, the decimal separator is the comma. The thousands marker is the period. Remember it when you write your checks.... lol... Whoever made the label was merely copying instructions which may not have been clearly written or with periods looking like commas. What I find interesting in the picture, is that we have a tolerance +/- 0.03 and a temperature reference, even if standard conditions should be the norm: 0 deg C, 32 deg F. If we wanted to be perfect, we would have to convert the lash figures to whatever ambient temperature we have when doing the job.

I think the sprint races were added to get more audience. Before the Saturday shorts, the public would mainly be present in numbers on Sundays. With the additional race on Saturday, they got more people spending the week-end at the race track. Ultimately, they certainly got financial benefits from it, but the initial objective was to get more interest to the MotoGP races. In any case, Dorna is turning over MotoGP to Liberty. They already have changed the logo of the sport. As for the fond, I think I remember times when the championship winner was not the one with the most race wins. But I agree that Bagnaia had a more prestigious season, not reflected in the points. They should maybe change the points for the sprint race.

@audiomick

Not me; Dave Richardson, the author of Guzziology. Believe me, I wish everybody used the metric system. Interestingly, he quotes Guzzi's recommendation in metric units, but convert them into imperial for his readers. Incidentally, while in France I purchased a metric set of feeler gauges from Facom, to stop using my current imperial set. Having worked in the oilfield for 35 years, I have quickly learned that units of measurements are not consistent accross the board. Even with European based Oil Companies, that should all use the standard metric units, there were variations. Since we had to comply to what the client wanted to work with, part of the job was to convert acquisition raw data into client's approved final units. Still today, you have to juggle with this. If you happen to go astray to Europe, you will find out that speed is in km/h, and gas is sold in liters. In Italy, when I was there, oil was sold by weight... just like in Russia with Vodka. Most of us never really face those incongruities since we spend most of our time in our native environment.

In Guzziology, the author explains why one should not use the recommended valve clearance of admission 0.10 mm and 0.15 mm in the US. According to the author, the tighter clearances were Guzzi's attempt to minimize oxides of N2 for emission compliance in the US. The author recommends to always add 0.02 inch to the nominal valve clearances; that would be 0.5 mm and would verify what @Admin Jaap said above in this thread, 11 years ago... The reason why I brought up this topic, is that when I gave my V11 for chest gasket exchange, Davey told me he had checked my valve clearances, and found them too tight. I was surprised since I had scrupulously followed the manual and perfectly set mine for 0.1 and 0.15 mm respectively.

The Diavel never did it for me... if I had to go down the Ducati path, it would most likely be an old air cooled one, such as the 500 Pantah!!! it is red too, and quite something to ride, if you ever tried one... listen to it in the video below: The one in California, in San Diego, I did a quick check to get a flight in and out from H'town to there next week; do you know how much it cost? more than what I paid to go to Paris!!! unreal... and the flights I checked were all from the so-called cheap US airlines. More than my return ticket to Paris, without including the taxes, and all the other hidden costs. So, it looks like I am going to let that cruiser curiosity slowly vanish in what's left of my synapses...

So.... The championship has been attributed; was it who you thought who won? Everybody is already looking forward to 2025 with Marc Marquez.