luhbo

That's the biggest problem also for me. What should I do with my actual one once I've got a new one? Bin an old but perfect helmet with Pinlock and standard visor just because it has seen a couple of years now? Besides that: what I know is that only the PC (polycarbonat) types degrade, the epoxy glass resin types are not affected. Even I have to work some time 'till I have 400 Euros too much Hubert

Just for the files: the manual of my Euro 2000 V11 says .15/.10, so these are not US only specs. Hubert

Black Shoei Raid, bought it in 2002. It still sits tight enough and has its first screens (the standard and one pinlock equiped). Real great deal. Only downside is that it's monochrom black and as far off of an Ago or Read replica as a helmet could be. Hubert

Actually I found another use for the V11: it's exercising 'lip reading'. I'm nearly perfect in this actually as it happens so often that when I roll into a village or stop at a red I can see people (quite often it's women btw., really) hold on and turn heads, wait 'till they can read the tank badge and then form the two words: 'Moto Guzzi' hubert

You haven't overfilled you say, so I would pull the cylinders and look after the rings. Before that check out the airbox. Maybe the bike's overfilled there. Hubert

2 and 6 are nice ones! What's on 2? Mice? And on 6? Did the screws scrape the engine housing? Hubert

Is Baldini 'femme' ?!? Hubert

Aren't the Dutch born with dyke eyes anyway? Hubert

No need to do anything. The rattle is perfectly normal/standard. Most owners think it would be the clutch that is so noisy, so for a newbe you're on the right track right from the start Synchronising the engine won't help either, btw. It's the combo straight cut gears (with enough play) with an irregular firing order. Hubert

Ok, I'll make you a (virtual) sketch for what I'm asking you: Your starter seems to work better now than before. Could you imagine that the reason for this could possibly be the fact that you changed the starter from cheapo crap to an expensive new Valeo? Hubert

Notch effect?

That's what it looks like. You can nicely see the rest lines. Nevertheless, such a big lump should be really far away from any fatigue failure. Hubert

Not if strapped on the back. Besides that, the Roman and the Winger - both ride feet naked what makes the bear or butch question quite sensless.

That's its nature, best described here: . Really like the idea Hubert

It was available for V11s as well. Just don't know now what year, but I've definitely seen it once. Maybe search the different shop manuals. Hubert

Yep, be sure about that. This procedure can clear the bubble. It did so several times for my bike. Usually when I come back from paying at the gas station. It seems to be a combination of hot days, a hot engine and a really empty tank. Hubert

This works on my bike at least. Anyway, over here vapor lock is not such a big problem, at least not in the forums. With cycling I mean let it pump the 2 seconds given by the ecu, then again and so on. Should this fail you could also open the pipe to the regulator and let the pressure out, together with quite some mouthful of fuel of course what maybe makes this procedure a bit risky. Hubert

You should listen to the pump. It tells you all what's going on. Listen to it how it sounds in the morning and listen how it sounds when it's running free in a vapour bubble. Everybody can tell the difference. It's that easy, really. Cycle the pump (or more precisely the ecu) switching the kill switch until you can hear the standard flush, then press the starter button. Hubert

Two nippels there, one is for ventilation, the other one is the drain for spilled fuel or rain. The hose should be on the overflow, but it doesn't affect starting the engine. Another idea: Have you disconnected the head temp sensor line? The head temperature sensor is the blue thing sticking out of the right head. Follow its cable and look whether it has an open end. The other sensor is the air temperature sensor, mounted to the front side of the airbox. Check this cable also. Anyway, as long as you don't hear the pump priming when you turn the ignition on that's all useless. Easiest thing would be an engaged kill switch, it's something what does happen (don't know actually whether it kills the starter, too). Or a blown fuse. Then you can still swap the relais, those which are swappable (one has more contacts than the others - don't missmatch them). Hubert

Yes. Just back from today's 2x70km commuting (second week now/this year) I say I like your blog. Do you collect slide rules, btw ? Hubert

Next time you run into a bubble just cycle the pump 5, 6, maybe 10 times using the kill switch, until you here the pump making the normal sound as usual. After some tries you often can hear the bubble burb back into the tank through the left line. Hubert

Check the bullet connectors left side of the spine. They aren't reliable even when fresh from the factory. Now as you had them apart, maybe, or possibly have them under tension they were the first thing I'd look after. Does the starter respond to the button? Hubert

The correct bulbs inside?

I found this one, for instance: lead acid battery charging graphs. Even at a C/5 rate of charging current the gain of % of charge between 14.0 and 14.5 is less than 5%. This chart shows the behaviour of a flat battery being cycled, btw. We usually don't cyle our batteries, at least we shouldn't. So I would take this source as another argument for questioning the need of the diode action. About my battery story: the regulator is and was ok, the alternator as well. A proper but flat Hawker just means too large a drain for our alternators, at least with lights, fuel pump, injectors, lambda controller etc. on and working. And I don't have the heat grips connected. The above source also has some words on what type/quality of meter should be used for such investigations, btw. Hubert

Could be a good idea. It's an easy tweak, try it, why not. It's not the voltage, it's the current that brings the charge. So what is the inner resistance of the battery once it has reached 13.9 V? As long as you don't have any numbers of the resulting charging current at 13.9 resp 14.5 it's hard to say whether it's really worth the effort. Also I'm not sure whether other risks might come with it. BTW, last year I had a flat battery due to a forgotten headlight with the ignition on, so I jump started the bike. The funny thing was that the voltage didn't really go above 12V after that. I thought I might have damaged the regulator, or a already dead regulator even was the root cause. In fact it's been just the depleted battery. Once they're flat this alternator just can't deliver enough current to feed them adequately, regardless whether a trick diode is wired in or not. So in my opinion it's copper what it really needs, not silicon(e). Or maybe a slightly bigger battery. Hubert