audiomick

I just found this on the Tube. Does anyone happen to know who is behind it? I can't imagine, really, that it is official. Looks nice, though.

My thoughts exactly.

I don't think they do. I've just spent an hour or so with a printed copy of the wiring diagram and coloured pens, and it looks like both high beam and low beam get their power, switched either-or at the switch block on the handlebar, from the lighting relay. The lighting relay feeds through power from the battery, and is itself switched from the normally closed contact of the relay that switches the starter motor with its normally open contact. The running lights (parking lights) get their power directly from the ignition switch, in common, but via a seperate fuse, with the blinkers, i.e. from a different source as the headlight itself. That may be the source of your memory.

Yes. It is involved in the switching of the lights, so it could be the cause of the problem. Don't exclude anything as the cause of your problem until you know for sure it is not. That kind of weird bollocks is sometimes due to a bad "earth" connection somewhere. The volts can't get through the circuit they are supposed to be taking and find a way somewhere else, sometimes even apparently "upstream". I think you might be going to have to look at the wiring diagrans (or manually trace the wires) and systematically check all the connections, switches, relays, whatever involved in the lighting circuit. And as already implied, don't forget to check the circuits all the way back to the battery, i.e. also on the "earth" side.

Yes, I am familier with the puzzlement. Apparently there are women in the USA whose first name is Taylor. Where I come from, that is exclusively a surname. I believe I have also heard of women called Kennedy. That is a surname. Mine, for instance. Still, not quite as "exotic" as Moon Unit or Dweezil.

I had a Kawasaki 1000 GTR for about 10 years. Two, actually. I crashed the first one and bought another one to replace it. Not a "cruiser" in the sense that some Harleys are, but a barn-door fairing and luggage. Even so, more of a "sport tourer". Anyway, it went very well, handled nicely, and was lots of fun. I only got rid of it because I didn't have the need for something like that anymore. I bought it to be able to do long Autobahn trips with luggage for two weeks on a job, and that doesn't happen any more. As far as the wobbles goes, as I indicated further up, the worst thing is lots of traffic on a freeway. The turbulence hits the big fairing, and the bike reacts to it. It took me a while to get to the point where I could just ride through it. Further up was also mentioned a custom build bagger. That is where I see the greatest potential for instability. Bolting panniers onto a bike that wasn't meant to have them, maybe dicking aroung with the fork length and whatever. That can work out well, or not.

You, and the horse you rode in on.

Have you tried comparing the part numbers? With fairings and such it can be a little confusing, because different colours have different part numbers. The stuff "under the skin" generally has the same number if it is the same part. It looks like you can get the parts lists that are relevant to you here (scroll down to 1000 and 1100) https://guzzitek.org/f/parts_list_f.htm#gb

Thanks for those pictures, and the report. I've got a plate here waiting to go in. Hope I can get on to it (and the other pending tasks) towards the end of winter when it is a little bit warmer in the unheated garage / workshop.

Luggage can cause the wobble. Particularly on a freeway with a lot of traffic, i.e. turbulence.

Now that I think about it, it probably works for a lot of German names, too.

I don't have one, either generation, but... In the German forum that I am active in, a number have bought the new Stelvio, and they all seem very happy. One in particular I know for sure had the older generation, bought a Mandello first, and swapped it for a new Stelvio. He is a fairly big bloke, about 2 metres tall, and his wife is not much shorter. They love the new one.

What happens in the film, @Lucky Phil ? Youtube wants me to register to see it, R-rated or something, and that's not going to happen. But I'm curious...

Yes, I have that. On top of that, I think my syntax has been affected by thinking in German all the time. A friend in Melbourne commented on that after only 4 or 5 years here. It's nearly 30 years now, and I notice the effect myself sometimes when I speak English. I don't believe, however, that my accent has been affected by speaking German all the time. I know it can happen though. Some years ago, my mother put me on the telephone with a woman she knew who came from Bavaria, but had been in Australia for about 50 years. She spoke German with me on the phone, but even I could hear that her German had acquired an Australian accent. I think that people are different in that respect. Some acquire an accent, deliberately or unconciously, very quickly, some don't. Mine is Michael. I don't think that is an indication. It seems to be fairly perennial.

An Australian accent, of course. I reckon most Germans can hear that I am not a native German speaker. Funnily enough, when I have spoken about it with various people, the most common guess is that I am from the Netherlands. Having paid attention to the way Dutch speaker sound when speaking German, I can understand that. There really are similarities to my accent. There are not many Australians here, so most Germans have never conciously heard an Australian speaking German. On the other hand, most Germans have conciously heard Dutch speakers speaking German, so they go for the familiar "best guess". I still chuckle though, because I know my Australian accent is pretty obvious to those who are familiar with it. And that isn't going to change. I speak and write very servicable German, but I am Australian, and I am quite content with that being obvious. Incidentally, when I speak English with my family, and certain friends, my Australian accent is also very obvious. But given that Australian English is the only variety of Eglish in the world that has remained pure and unadulterated, that's ok.

But the V11 Motor would bolt up to the 5-speed, wouldn't it?

Nice film. For those interested, I reckon the footage was taken somewhere around Sydney. The number plates are New South Wales, and the bush is definitely coastal, and not too far south.

I'm not, but somehow I can't imagine that they would allow the people to just fall out of the vehicle in an accident. Whatever, I'm not reaching for the tin foil yet, either. I (still) think it was just the inevitable clusterfuck in too-crowded airspace.

A surprising number of the rubber bits are available. Stein-dinse has a number of them produced, I believe. If the part number on their site has a "z" on the end (xxxx-z), it indicates a part from a 3rd party supplier (the z is for "Zubehör", German for "accessory"). A word to the wise: rubber parts these days are often not as durable as the were back in the good old days. One plausible explanation I have seen for this is the some of the "good" plasticisers are no longer legal due do environmental protection and what have you. Whatever, the good advice seems to be to, given a choice, pay for the more expensive option, or live with having to swap out the part again in 5 or 6 years.

I have found Stein Dinse to be very well stocked, but don't believe the can get "anything". For instance, I tried to order a breather hose for a small-block a couple of months ago. They informed me that the part is produced on demand. I never got it (and wasn't charged for it). It was ordered with a bunch of other stuff, which all arrived as promised, but the hose never did. I didn't follow it up, because I got one from somewhere else. Whatever, I would suggest contacting them directly for anything that they list as "not in stock" and try and find out what the real story is with delivery. I'm generally happy with them, but have had a couple of instances where it seemed that things can get lost in the paperwork. Big company with not quite enough people doing the work, I think.

Moving away from the swing-arm, this just occured to me. Whilst you have the tank off, apart from everything here or perhaps particularly, look at the breather hose that goes from the frame just behind the steering head back to the top of the motor just before the gearbox. Part #18 here https://www.stein-dinse.biz/etkataloge/etkataloge.php?l=de&m=220&t=5394&c=W That hose needs to be replaced periodically, and it is a bit of a pain to get to it. When you have it all apart, particularly on a bike with a "difficult" past like yours, it is not a bad idea to just replace it on spec. Have a good look at it. If in doubt, replace it.

Reading all that, I felt an echo regarding my job. OK, when I get something wrong, nobody dies. But it (sound engineer, i.e. the bloke at the desk in the middle of the auditorium) is a "high stress" job. When it goes wrong, everyone in the audience looks at you, and the client wants to know what you did wrong. So the same things apply: if you're going to do the job, know that you can do it, and make sure your really can do it. Be relaxed and confident, and never lose your concentration.

Since no-one has published a list,or at least I haven't noticed it, here is a list of the things I have read about (mostly here) that one should look for: The front bolt of the torque arm is prone to being unlubricated and accordingly in poor condition. The pinch bolts on the drive shaft are prone to having been abused. There is a roller bearing on the outward side of the bevel drive that needs to be looked at and greased. The spacer in the wheel between the bearings is apparently not always exactly the right length. If it is wrong, the bearings don't live long. The one in mine was completely wrong, maybe 5 mm too short, and had been spaced out with a hand cut bit of pipe. The bearings were shot, of course, but I think someone had buggered around with it and got it wrong. Anyway, it is something to have a look at. The bottom mount on the shock has been mentioned. Getting grease into the front grease nipple on the drive shaft is an art unto itself, and reams have been written on the way to solve the problem. The easiest way is to pull the shaft out and do it on the bench. A clever combination of grease gun and grease gun fitting and lots of practice can also achieve the goal in situ, allegedly. While it is all apart, look at the battery minus connection to the back of the gear-box. Cleaning it can't hurt. I think there was something else, but I can't think of it right now. Maybe someone else will chime in.

I'd be interested in that myself. I'll keep an eye on this thread for when it comes up.

Bear in mind, those are only lock nuts. They don't hold the wheels on. When you do them back up again, they only have to be tight enough to hold the pins in place. More relevant is how far the pins are screwed in, as that determines the alignment of the swingarm. The recommendation that I have often seen is to remove the lock nuts, and measure how long the bit of the pin is that is sticking out. Aim for that when you put them back in, and the swing-arm should end up back where it belongs.