slug

Hey now, that's MY line!

Wow, viscious is right. Here's another view courtesy of NOAA (to view this you'll need the Java Plugin installed): Main Satellite Page Gulf of Mexico Loop Good luck everyone...

My wife did say it looked like I was putting on some weight...

I'm still around, but I've been putting in waaaaaay too much time at work, and when I'm home, I'm studying so there isn't enough time to ride or post. Both my wife and my bike don't get to see me much. Perhaps my bike knocked itself over so it would finally get some attention from me Once this project is done and I'm done with my class I'll be back in the saddle (of course by then, it'll be full blown winter up here.)

Yee-Haw! Mr. Edge's generous offer has been accepted and the clip-on is on its way. So, there are some good things that came out of this: 1. Confirmation that fellow Guzzi riders are the best. 2. Used the downtime to do a fork oil change. 3. I got off my lazy ass and started riding my bicycle to work again. 3a. I haven't had to buy ga$ for a couple weeks. 3b. I'm not paying for parking at work. Thanks again Edge. BTW, What's your favorite beer/wine? - Slug

Well it happened. Some stupid $%#@! knocked my bike over. They backed in to it on the right side, bent the bejesus out of the side stand mount (very, very lucky it didn't damage the engine case), tipped it over on to the bumper of the SUV I was parked in front of (I was in a parallel parking spot), bent the *$@ out of the left clip-on, broke off my brand new bar-end mirror and buggered up the paint on the tank. After they knocked it over they righted the bike and left it balancing on the very messed up side stand and then got back in their car and drove away. No note, no "sorry", nothing. I know it happens, and its probably happened to a lot of you, but I'm still wicked pissed. Fortunately, insurance will cover most of the damage, but it sucks that I can't ride until the parts get shipped up here from MGNA (two weeks if I'm lucky?). So, do any riders in the Seattle area have a spare lefthand clip-on for an 02/03 Sport that I might be able to use until the parts arrive? If so, let me know. Don't know if anybody's mentioned these before, but a dirt-cheap (and disposable) alternative to the CRG mirrors is the Mirrycle mountain bike mirror. It takes a little bit of cutting/drilling/countersinking to get it to fit with the stock bar-end weights, but they work nicely. One warning: The mirrors are convex, so the objects (or fuzzy blobs depending on engine RPMs) are closer than they appear. Cheers.

Another good source for powerful little magnets: Sonicare toothbrush heads. Seriously. The head has two very strong little black rectangular magnets that come off easily. I'm pretty sure they're more than strong enough to work with a bicycle computer. I'll be doing this myself very soon because my speedo/odometer/trip meter can't agree on anything. I recently figured that 115 highway miles equals 97 Guzzi miles on my odometer. As for the trip meter, I can't figure out whether its measuring distance in kilometers, cubits, fathoms or furlongs. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if it was somehow measuring in hectares or hogsheads. Then there's the speedometer... It says I'm doing 75 mph, but my wife following in the truck says I'm doing 85+. Guess I'll use the same description that I use when trying to explain all the other Guzzi quirks: "Well, its, um, Italian."

Who told me that I should have bought a real "fast bike" like an R1: Thank you. -Slug

Synchronicity, I tell ya... The topic gets resurrected today, and what happens? The f*****g spring on my '03 sport finally breaks on me tonight. Oh well, after 9500 miles I can't complain too much. I'll tear in to it tomorrow (and pray tonight that MI has some in stock...). It was pretty dark outside when it happened, so it looks like I have to remove the starter, disconnect the shift lever, pull a doodad or two and get the rear shock thingus moved to pull the plate off to access the spring? Thanks to all for all the info and pics on this, erm, joy of ownership... -Slug

Checklist for my trips: - Three spare chrome muffler bearings - Two litres of blinker fluid - Full set of left-handed hex-wrenches - One board stretcher - A fifth of Old Crow - Bail money ... and a good alibi.

Beauty! 'Nuff said.

As Dave from MI told me: "The best tool for fixing noises from a Guzzi is earplugs..." Nothing's bothered me since. - Slug

True, a single (well, two very closely spaced) point lift is not the most stable The point where it lifts is at a point where a good amount of the bike's weight is below the lift point, so its a little harder to tip over. Still, I wouldn't dare use it for anything other than light duty stuff like oil changes, valve adjustments, etc.; and of course I tiptoe around it. Once I get a chance to pull the measurments off the TLM stand I'll weld one of those up.

Oh yeah, the cradle plate drawing... - Slug

I was in desparate need of a shop stand, but I'm too broke/cheap to buy one. So while I was chopping my stock mufflers, I decided to build my own. I picked up an old scissor jack from a Nissan, some scrap steel, a 4"x3/8" steel hex bolt and a 3/8" nylock nut, and got busy. As we all know, there really aren't many good places on a Guzzi to jack them up, but since the fuel vapor recovery system "mysteriously" fell off my bike, I found a somewhat decent place to mod. I replaced the two bolts that hold the crossover hanger with the single 4x3/8" bolt, which gives a nice and centered place for a couple contact points for a jack. I drew up the cradle plates with Autocad (one more thing I'm trying to force myself to learn...), welded the jack to a larger base made from 1" square steel tubing, and welded the cradle plates to the top of the jack and added a hex bolt head to the end of the screw on the jack so I could raise the jack with a drill motor. The end result: One f**king ugly Frankenjack, which actually works, and only cost me $10 to build. The base is a little anemic and the cradle plates need to be moved more towards the jack, so I'll be adding more heft to it one of these days. Fuzzy pics of the project:

Nice job!! I just recently chopped 6" off my stock cans. The exhaust is a quite a bit louder now. It definetly turns some heads. This makes me want to chop some more... Here's the pics from my adventure:

Ferracci sells their Stainless Race Series valves for $69 each: 39.5mm - exhaust Valve - Stock Size 40mm - exhaust valve - oversized 46.5mm - intake valve - stock size 47mm - intake valve - oversized They don't mention anything about valve guides though... - slug

Found this little item on the FBF site: Scan Tool Being the computer geek that I am... This seems pretty cool. However, I'd like to know if anyone here has had any experience with the software, and more importantly, would this work in conjunction with the PC III? My dream and current plan: I want to use the FBF Airbox eliminator w/custom exhaust (Chopped LaFranconi oval V11 cans which I will post hardcore & explicit pics of chopping & welding & metalwork advice) along with the PC III, to make my '03 V11 Sport the baddest bike on my block (ok, so its the ONLY bike on my block right now...)). Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? - Slug

Good alternative. I removed the breather plug, pried the cap off and went to town on that thing. I soldered a short piece of 1/4" O.D. copper tubing in to the plug (made sure that solder didn't plug the hole.) The tube sticks up about 1/2" out the top of the plug. Put the plug back in and attached a section of thick hose (chose the thick heater-type hose, less likely to pinch closed on tighter bends.) Ran the hose almost up to the seat area. I placed the end of the hose away from the tire. It actually looks halfway professional. The only bad part was that I had to remove the hugger to get wrenchin' room to get the plug off. The bike looks a lot better w/out the hugger... My next project is to shield the battery tray and the gaping hole left by the Feracci fender eliminator. - Slug

Sweet. I'm all for McGyvering... Any excuse to play with tools and sharp pointy things. I'll post pics if it turns out better than a Homer Simpson spice rack. - Slvg

Got an '03 v11 Sport. Lately its been spewing small amounts of gearbox oil out the vent at the top of the gearbox (usually right after jumping a row of school buses ) and drips on the x-over for that sweet, heavenly burning oil stench (or is that new cologne, Dexron for Men?) Anyhoo, looking at the gearbox oil thru the little window, it looks different, foamy-like, pea-soupish. Moisture in there for sure... Took it to the shop (yes, I'd do it myself if I didn't have to live in an apartment), they drained and refilled the gearbox w/new oil. They said a little moisture in there is ok and won't kill anything. Less than a week later, its back to pea soup and spewy as ever. Anyone else have this problem? Why, yes, I DO live in Seattle so I ride in the rain a fair amount (checked the hugger and its intact). Unfortunately, I have to keep it outside (I keep it covered). Thanx all.

Well, that shoots my idea down Blocked oil pickup? Oil filter rattle loose? Squirrel in the sump? I'm still a Guzzi Newbie so there's a darn good chance I have no idea what I'm talking about... Cheers -Slug

Cool, thanks all. Since it has to be repainted anyway, maybe I'll use this as an opportunity to play around. What's the worst that could happen, besides the stripper or paint eating through the plastic? I love the idea of the "inappropriate for a sportbike" color. Hmm, maybe I'll use some of that simulated wood grain contact paper -Slug

Were you riding in heavy rain at all? Its pretty common for water to seep in to the oil pressure sensor and cause a kind of short circut. This usually happens after riding in heavy rain or washing your bike (in my case, 10pm in BFE Montana). If this is the case, just let it dry out for a day or two... Hope that helps. - Slug

Has anyone had any experience with repainting the plastic body pieces (such as the tailpiece and the covers where the intakes come out of the airbox) on a V11? If so, what type of paint/primer (besides Krylon!) is best for this? Also, is there any special prep work involved? I have someone that can spray it for me, but I have to find the paint and do the prep. I have some ugly scratches and paint damage that go all the way in to the plastic. Thanks all, - Slug