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I read once in a push-bike magazine "the cheapest place to save weight on th bike is on the rider". Still, I expect to be putting a lithium battery in at least one of my bikes in the foreseeable future.

"No" to both. Anything that is still in a showroom is old stock.

You're right, of course, and the diffenerence in acceleration is certainly so small as to be irrelevant. But still, a couple of kilos less high up on the bike can't be bad for the handling.

Indeed. I'm not at all interested in chook-chasers. Especially oversized and over-weight ones.

That's crazy. At least you have it back now.

Yes, it can. In fact, it needs to know which ECU it is connecting to, as far as I understand it. That is not a big deal, though. The connection process involves telling the program which motorcycle it is connecting to (Datei -> Einstellungen in the german version). When it is connected, the ECU type is clearly shown in a box on the lower left of the screen.

Did you test it? Was it really blown? If so, why? There is a problem somewhere. If not, that was obviously not the problem. I'd be suspecting bad connections somewhere. Either corrosion through standing around, or having missed a cable when re-installing the battery, as has been mentioned, or some other cable (like the clutch switch connedtors), that may have been somehow involved in any work done on the bike.

14 thousand is not much for a 20 year old bike, assuming it has been reasonably well cared for.

Yes, that matches what I have read regarding various different models. It seems it doesn't matter in which bike the ECU was origionally installed, as long as it is the same type as the one in the bike in question, it can be re-programmed and made to work. Using a different type of ECU than the original is far more complicated, as a map has to be created "from scratch". I believe Lucky Phil had to do with that issue with his V10 Motor in his V11 Sport, i.e the retaining the ECU from the V11 and making it work with the V10 motor that origionally had a different ECU.

I put mine in the garage to have a "quick look" at a couple of things in July. It's still there. Not all that much to do before I can take it for a ride with a good conscience., but still: Summer? What summer?

I went looking in some workshop manuals. The only one I could find is in French, Italian and Spanish, but we have a couple of members here that could translate.... https://guzzitek.org/atelier/gb/1100/V11_99_03_Atelier(I_F_E).pdf Page 554 shows a drawing of one (only) Lamda sensor mounted on the crossover. The circuit diagram on page 610 also shows only one Lamda sensor, component number 59 according to the list on page 611

I believe there is only one, so it must be on the crossover. Otherwise it would be measuring the exhaust gas from only one cylinder. If there are two, which I don't believe is the case on a V11, they must be before the crossover to get a dedicated measurement for each cylinder. Given that the ECU on the Breva 750 is to a reasonable degree of certainty the same system as on V11s of the same period, I don't believe that the V11s would have two Lamda sensors. I don't think the 15RC ECU can even deal with input from two sensors, but I'm not sure of that.

I suppose it would be a good idea to jack up the bike if you know you are definitely not going to be riding it for some months. I don't do that, because I ride most of the year and never really know how long the bike will be standing around doing nothing. As far as lifters go, buy one of these: https://shop.becker-technik.de/en/products/central-lifter-24 and one of these to go with it: https://shop.becker-technik.de/en/products/radmutternschlussel-155 it's actually not a wrench as such, but rather a lever to aid in getting the bike on the stand. I always fit the stand such that the lever is going out towards the front of the bike rather than to the rear. That makes it easier to steady the bike by holding on to the right-hand handlebar with one hand whilst you lower the "wrench" to get the bike on the stand with the other hand (on the left-hand-side the side stand gets in the way, or you have to fold it in before you jack the bike onto the lifter...). I've haven't had any problems with this method to date. In additon to the Becker lifter, I have one of these: https://www.louis.de/artikel/rothewald-scherenheber-mit-adaptern/10003265?filter_article_number=10003265 With the bike on the Becker lifter, and that under the front of the motor, it is as easy as you like to get both wheels off the ground. PS: in addtion to the lifter (and the lever...) you need two standard half-inch drive 18 mm sockets. The go on the lowermost bolts on the pork-chops stilettos, and the lifter fits in to the drive side of them. I bought mine (probably for a "premium" price) directly from Becker with the lifter, but any standard socket will work.

It occurs to me that not everyone knows what a Lamda sensor looks like, so... It's a thing screwed in to the exhaust system with two wires coming off it. The one on my Breva 750 is in the crossover pipe between the headers under the motor. That is where I would expect to find it on the V11 models that have one. It looks like this:

I don't know for sure if it was "all 15M ECUs", but I've got one of them in my V11 Le Mans, built in 2002. As has been mentioned above, I believe the workshop manual lists the ECU type. What I have gathered is: It will be either a 15M or a 15RC. The breakpoint was 2002 or 2003, as far as I have been able to establish. Mine has a paper sticker on it that says "Le Mans 2002". I was told by a very reliable source that ECUs were used that had been initally installed in a California model and were recalled on warranty because they were not correctly programmed. These were re-programmed in the factory and installed in V11 models. Under the paper sticker, when it is carefully and completely removed, the original "California" designation should be visible. As an aside, my 2005 Breva 750 has a 15RC ECU, and the designation on it is, I believe, printed directly onto the housing and not on a sticker. If not that, it is a plastic sticker. So the remains of a paper sticker indicate a 15M. As far as I know, all the models with 15RC ECUs have a Lamda sensor. If there is no Lamda sensor in the exhaust, it must be a 15M. Guzzidiag shows the ECU designation on the screen in large script on the bottom left of the screen. Connect it up, and there will be no doubt.

It's a long story... My first road bike was a Suzuki GSX 250 E. Japanese reliabilty, but not all that exciting. Whilst I was still riding that, I saw a V 50 Monza, and was stunned at how good it looked. My second bike in Melbourne was a 1976 Z 900. I loved it. Beautiful, comprimised handling, and a great motor. I developed the attitude with that bike, that I'd rather have something that required riding skills than something that anyone can be resonably fast on. I have a clear memory from that time of seeing someone ride past through a long, sweeping curve on a Guzzi, probably a Le Mans or Le Mans II, and thinking "that sounds great". I wrote up a list once, about 35 years ago, of all the bikes I had ridden. Some of the rides were very short, and some of the bikes very boring, but I think I topped 100 different bikes. Whilst I had the Z 900, I shared a house with a mate who had an 850 Le Mans III. Just as beautiful as the V 50 Monza. I was able to ride it a number of times. The clutch was heavy, I repeatedly banged my left knee on the the cylinder, and the seat was about as comfortable as a wooden plank. Riding it, I noticed how often people in cars at the traffic lights were staring at the bike in wonder. And then, outside of town after a series of curves at about 130km/h, how I had completely forgotten about the heavy clutch, the bruises on the left knee, and the unforgiving seat. I thought "ahhhh, that's what it's for...". On top of that, when one blipped the throttle, it kicked to the side a bit. Like it was saying "come on, let's go". And it was deceptively fast. Sovereign, one could say. Sometime after I moved to Munich in Germany, I saw a V35 Imola (looks identical to the V 50 Monza...) on the street just up from where I lived. I thought at the time "no, probably not enough power", but still thought it was beautiful. About 10 years later, a V35 Imola was the first Guzzi that I bought. It hadn't been ridden for around 19 years. I pulled it apart, cleaned it up, and got it registered. And loved it from the first moment on. The V11 Le Mans was a considered decision. I had had a Kawasaki GTR 1000 for a number of years, but the reasons for having it were no longer all that relevant (long distances on the Autobahn on the way to a job with lots of luggage), and I was starting to think in terms of "if not now, when? It might be too late...". I'm still not convinced about the looks of the V11 (Blasphemy!!!), but the package looked good. I thought it might offer all the fascination of the the Le Mans III that my mate had back in the day, but work better. I was right. I loved it from the first minute I rode it. In the meantime I have also acquired a low mileage Breva 750IE. A boring bike on paper, but I wanted something that was "new" enough, in as much as one can call a 20 year old bike "new", that it would just work without having to be constantly worrying about what might be about to break. I've done about 2,000 km. on it up to now, and I've become very fond of it. Ugly, although it's growing on me, but really nice to ride. What fascinates me is that all three of them have the same character. The big blocks and the small blocks have practically nothing in common apart from the basic 90° twin configuration, but they still feel the same somehow. I've still got a GTR 1000, but it will be sold sometime in the near future. I'm not sure that I wont miss having an in-line four, but I'm willing to take the chance. The Guzzis are staying.

Yes. Not even sometimes. Mostly.

My late brother-in-law had a theory: everyone who wants a driving licence for a car should have to ride a motorcycle for at least a year before being allowed to drive a car. That would ensure that the really stupid ones would cease to be a problem. The "Darwin" principle, so to speak... I can't say that I would be for that, but he had a point. I often think about whether we were more stupid than the the idiots these days. I'm not sure if anything has really changed in the mindset. The bigger problem is that the bikes these days are so much faster. Riding flat knacker in the early '80s (my time...) was just not as silly as riding flat knacker on a modern sports bike. I've been here a couple of times https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13/51.3959/11.0761 Kelbra, at the north end, is a fairly pleasant ride, just over an hour, from Leipzig, and the squiggly bit from Kelbra to Bad Frankenhausen is really good fun. There is a cafe at the Kelbra end http://www.cafe36-online.de/ All very nice, but one really doesn't want to be there on a weekend. Overrun from maniacs, and one can't help thinking "did they all leave their brain at home?" However, in "my" time I was in Melbourne. The meeting point was the Yarra Boulevard (has been mentioned here already...) https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/-37.7957/145.0187 We used that bit of road, in "the middle of town", as a race track. I heard that one bloke lost it in the curve south of the freeway, and his bike went over the railing of the bridge and landed on the freeway. One bloke I met there a few times had a Suzuki GSX 1100 S Katana. One time he was complaining that he had skinned his knee because he got the knee down in the corner and he was only wearing jeans. Another story was someone that got t-boned as he went to do a u-turn from the curb and didn't see the bloke that was coming past. Madness, with the only difference that the bikes weren't as fast as the ones these days. The irony of fate: For years, decades even, I have always told young riders and prospective pillions "whatever you do, always wear an appropriate jacket, boots, and GLOVES!!! Imagine how awkward it would be if you couldn't wipe your own arse for a couple of weeks. When I had *my* accident about 5 years ago, after about 35 years of motorcycling, guess what happened. Right forefinger left wrist left hand and a damaged vertebra that was fortunately stabile. It was only a week or so before I could look after myself, but still...