Icenian

OK, but you have to wait for me to clean it

Oh, and yes, I will be seeing to the shock linkage swingarm bearings!

I owe you guys an update after you kindly offered advice. I got a 2v 1200 Sport, in the end, because it was the best value from a seller who seemed reasonable. Decision more with head than heart to be honest. One day a good V11 will come along... First impressions: does this weigh more than my Subaru? Quite possibly. And yet it just works so well on the road! Even on bumpy country back roads, which should not really be it's natural habitat, it is really comfortable. Soaks up the bumps as well as my Tiger, which is a surprise. Torque is, of course, fantastic. Previous owner had fitted Maxxis tyres, though, and they have to go. Accelerating out of a roundabout on a damp road had the rear spinning and starting to go sideways. Entertaining, I suppose, but bound to end badly sooner or later. Not a fault of the bike, though. The only thing I don't like about the bike is the handlebars. To clear the tank on full lock, they have to be positioned with the grips pretty much straight - like superbike bars - which is uncomfortable with the stretch to the bars. I don't mind a stretch, but IMHO the grips need to be angled back for that to work. Also the bars a wide (760mm) which is strange with the stretch; more what you would expect with an upright riding position. Right now I have 20mm bar risers (SW Motech) that give enough tank clearance to let me rotate the bars to a more reasonable position, but without making the riding position too upright. I will be trying to find bars that are a bit narrower and/or with the grips angled back some more (but not much higher than stock) Oh,and the clutch biting point is way too far from the grip. Only about 1/4 of the lever travel is useful :-/ Still very happy with it, just niggles to fix... Thanks again

trying to make sense of that diagram assume part 7 is the bush in either end of the torque arm, where parts 3, 4 & 5 (bolt, 2 washers & nut?) are shown. Thanks for the tip, looks like a 5 minute job if it needs doing. (Well, 5 minutes following the 4 hours of swearing that traditionally accompanies the undoing of a bolt that hasn't been touched in 16 years of British weather....)

I have to say, rated on the principle of "buy the seller not the bike", the 1200 Sport is currently in the lead...

That's a neat solution for bikes with clip-ons. Saves having to change the top yoke, as you'd have to do with a flat bar conversion...

Rosso Mandello with higher bars must be pretty close to the Ballabio (but with a nicer fairing set up)...

BTW, comparing a 1200 Sport to a Griso, and I right in thinking the riding position is actually pretty similar? At first glance they look like totally different types of bike, but having sat on a Griso (have only actually ridden the 1200 Sport) it seemed more like a sports bike than I had expected. In particular, the bars seemed low enough that the absemce of a fairing would be fine. It's one of the ironies of bike design that if you don't get a fairing to keep the wind off, the designer seems to think you want to sit upright. To me, the less wind protection you have, the lower the bars want to be. I had one of the early model (T300) Speed Triples and loved it. Would be too radical for me now, but clip-ons below the top yoke and no fairing were a great combination for me. If I had had the Daytona with the same riding position but a large fairing I think it would have crippled me!

Right, OK, so "buy all of them" seems to win Thanks for the views! An entertaining read. The Le Mans vs. Ballabio comments are interesting. I probably wouldn't have considered the Ballabio, but the Le Mans is in the worst condition of all the bikes I have looked at. Nothing that needs fixing, but lots flaking engine paint and fasteners, brackets etc. that are corroding. It would be lots of work to go through everything. Also availability of specific Le Mans parts like the fairing could be an issue, whereas the Ballabio is closer to other naked/handlebar-mounted fairing V11 models -- I would be less upset about doing that to a Ballabio than losing one of the things that makes the Le Mans so distinctive.

So I was all set to choose between a V11 Le Mans and Ballabio; they're quite different I guess, but the Le Mans is maybe a little sportier than I would ideally choose, and the Ballabio a little more roadster than I'd like, so I would be happy with whichever I got, and the choice was going to come down to the best deal I could get. Then along comes a 2v 1200 Sport (maybe called Breva Sport where some of you reside?) to tempt me. There's also potentially a Griso 1100 in play; but if I wanted a CARC bike, the 1200 Sport seems better value and more practical. The 1200 Sport looks like best value for money on paper, and yet, and yet... the V11 just has the air of a proper old school Guzzi roadster. It just feels like the bike I would get out the garage because the sun's out. As it's a Friday I wondered if anyone would be inclined to contribute some random opinions. Maybe there's something I haven't taken into account. But let's not be too serious about this.

as soon as I hit "submit" I realised what a stupid thing that was to say on a Guzzi forum someone will be along in a minute with a catalogue of the 8 different variations of Ballabio that contrived to roll out of Mandello over a 2 year period

Thanks guys! Useful information. And maybe a lucky escape, as I was looking at a Rosso Mandello and a Scura a few weeks ago! The "2006" Ballabio is a bike registered for the road in in 2006, presumably a 2005 model left in the showroom. I guess I can check the VIN, but I don't think it matters (in terms of deciding to buy) what model year it is - Ballabios were a short production run and all have the same spec. I think?

Excuse me resurrecting and old thread, but it seemed better than starting a new "single plate clutch" thread. It seems definitive that the Rosso Mandello, Scura and Tenni have single plate clutches and fragile flywheels; but for other models it's not 100% clear. e.g. does such a beast exist as a V11 with a single plate clutch, but not the problematic flywheel? I am possibly just about to pull the trigger on a 2003 Le Mans or a 2006 Ballabio, and it's surprisingly difficult to get definitive information about the clutches in these bikes. I have read stuff on the web that says the Le Mans has a single plate clutch and also that the Ballabio has a cable operated, single plate wet clutch So I went looking for people who know what they're talking about and ended up here! (I guess I should also post a new member introduction somewhere...)