Skeeve

You answered your own question vis a vis T-ing the vacuum line. If that doesn't cure it, you might want to check if the cam chain tensioner is up to snuff: iirc, similar symptoms were reportedly cured in the past by another v11lm member who found that his idle was jumping all over the place due to slack in the cam chain. Easiest way to do this would be to hook up a strobe light and check the idle timing: if the timing is jumping all over, then it's likely due to this cause, as the different cylinders get varying fuel charges from the cam alternately opening late or on time...

This is probably the single most-commonly asked technical question: it should probably have a FAQ all its own! 1st, the proper tools: despite any protests by some fortunate few, this is not a bare-hands operation! You only need one tool, but it is vital, IMHO. Needle-nose Vise-Grips [or equivalent locking pliers.] Why these? Because you can adjust just how far they close, preventing you from actually grabbing the plastic parts upon which it will be wielded. 2nd, relieve tension on the fuel line by pushing it toward the QD connector; this will require using the other hand to back up the 90-deg elbow, since this is the weakest point of the entire QD design, and the spigot can be broken off by carelessly applied normal effort. 3rd, using your 3rd hand [heh-heh! ], lever the QD collar away from the spigot with the tips of your previously adjusted needle-nose pliers. You absolutely will not be grabbing anything with the pliers to do this; you will purely be utilizing the narrow tips to apply the leverage against the end of the collar. The fuel line will basically pop off & dribble a little gas all over everything, so obviously, this task is only to be performed on a completely cold engine w/ no smoking or open flames allowed anywhere in the vicinity.

Call Sudco. Get the starting params for whatever Mikunis they sold to fit the Spots. Compare w/ your setup. Remember that 80% of all carburetor problems end up being electrical problems that were misdiagnosed. Best o' luck!

1st step: disconnect the PC; they've been known to go haywire, leading to all sorts of unusual behaviour that cannot be properly diagnosed as long as it's in the circuit. So the correct modus operandi for resolving your issue is isolate (remove) the Power Commander, make certain the bike runs right w/o it, then splice the PC back in & make certain it is functioning correctly. If you remove the PC and your problem goes away, well, you know where the problem lies!

What's the diving like there? Anything to see or has it been so touristed & fished out for so long [millenia] that there's nothing left to see but rocks & algae?

BTDTGTTS, only w/ my SV650 (curvy, so carb'd model.) In my case, it was clear that the shop droid who was using my bike for a track day [over 400 miles on my new tires, etc.] didn't know how to ride a v-twin so purposely adjusted the idle incorrectly to get i4 engine behavior. [A host of "did wrongs" I could go into, but irrelevant to this discussion.] In your case, I submit that there is an air leak somewhere leading to the inability to idle, which in turn led the droids in your shop to adjust the idle as high as they could to get it to keep ticking over. This would account for the symptomology you're experiencing. Find the intake leak & fix it, & your idle should go way high; adjust the idle to where it should be, & your proper v2 engine braking will return. Just my best guess, I'm no , but it seems to me that Ockham's razor points to this as the most likely explanation. Mmm, hear that? It's the sound of the customer getting bent over by an unscrupulous shop w/o so much as some Vaseline or a courtesy reach around...

I'm fairly certain there's supposed to be an "L" in there somewhere...

Maybe the guilty party had access to a wrecked spiney w/ "good bones" so too the path of least resistance to getting it back on the road? Still, if the forks were totaled, how seriously tweaked is that frame? I'd give him $500 for it as it stands.

You need to talk to Buchanan's. No need to stick w/ Cali rims: they can lace you pretty much anything you want once you give them the hubs. Stay w/ sport [or sport-touring] rubber: that bike was designed around 17" wheels and futzing around w/ changing them to 18" is only going to lead to trouble...

Where are you writing from, or what are you smoking? You're either back of the back of beyond, or have access to some world class ganja. 17" wheels are the world standard for sport bikes & have been for at least the past 15 years. If you're looking to set up the Centauro as a big traily, then yes, you might want to consider such a change [to 19", not 18" front wheel: even 90/10 street-to-dirt rubber typically only comes in 19" or 21" sizes...] The only reason I can see for wanting 18" wheels is so you can use cruiser tires targeting the H-D crowd. Not exactly a good reason, since you won't get prime rubber [that market isn't discerning enough to pay extra for it, and the manufacturers therefore waste no effort in that direction!] Lots of luck, but I really would like to have you explain your thinking!

Ekchooalee, Dangerous Dave pretty much dropped off the list before Ratchet got banned, iirc. In private email exchanges, Ratchet is off riding his now much happier V11 [see the thread on adapting the GM temp sensor for why it's running so much better in hot weather & traffic now...] Both of them seemed too happy w/ their Guzzis to defect, so I don't think they've gone over to the brand w/ sagging jugs: they both seem to like their jugs "perky." I know I do! According to Ratch', he & Dave actually tended to be cordial when they would run across one another in meatspace: they apparently saved their philosophical ire for here on V11lm.com!

Well, the ebay source replied back that he can do the bushings in a 70 durometer if so desired. I like the idea of urethane if only because of the permanence [the stuff will outlive cockroaches] but it would still have to be drilled as the stock rubber pucks require; as KiwiRoy pointed out, with no room for deformation, the stock ones are too hard by virtue of just filling up the available space. However, over time, the rubber will abrade & degrade, leaving more room for deforming and less resistance to doing so. Just wanted to point out the availability of the urethane units for anyone still interested [Dlaing?] in going down that road...

Well, making them undoubtedly adds to the carbon footprint of the bike. Luckily, plants need C02 so it's zero sum, as long as we can stop the 3rd world from cutting down all the rainforests. Buy only paper made from southern USA loblolly pine plantation trees! This just in: on ebay, the urethane pucks were listed again, & I asked what durometer they were: the reply stated that the stock units tested out at 85 durometer [i'm certain on the "A" scale] & they'd made theirs at 90. I responded that the stockers were too hard & I'd be interested if they made some at 75A, & to let me know if they did so. We'll see what happens...

There: fixed it for ya!

You haven't seen lowering links for a Guzzi because the spineys don't have shock links: they're direct connect swingarm to shock... So, shorter shock is the only option for actually lowering the bike. However, that may not be the only option: there's also lowering the rider [seat reconstruction], raising the rider [platform riding boots] & learning to live with it [which may not be possible if there is a serious ht. disparity...]

I despise projector beam headlamps: they should be banned as they blind other drivers unnecessarily. That "moped style exhaust" is likely built that way to keep the cg of the bike close to but higher than the imaginary line drawn btw the front & rear axles... I very much doubt that Erik Buell would commit such a styling faux pas w/o a solid engineering reason behind, any more so than he did w/ the bikes he built for Harley b4 the mismanagement of the idiots in charge at H-D scuttled him...

Let's face it, this gig is going to be about pushing more scooters & 'prillers: an uptick of one unit sold under the Guzzi nameplate would be a statistically large annual %age gain, but isn't going to do much to help you make your monthly numbers...

Yes, tennis balls are fluorescent green but it have been called yellow for dog's years. I don't know why either. Someone is color blind? (& it's not me! )

I think there must be a translation disconnect, or missing punctuation or something: maybe it's supposed to be the "Moto Guzzi World" club as in all things Guzzi, whereas we're trying to read it as the Moto Guzzi "World Club" as in world-wide. As you said, it clearly isn't: I remember receiving a free copy of their "Aquila" magazine, and the entire thing was in Italian. Not that I wouldn't expect it to be, but I would think they'd have at least provided the articles in at least one other language. Or if they didn't want to print the extra pages, provide a URL at the end of the articles so you could find a translated text online? Wonderful, high-quality printing but somewhat useless as a sales tool outside of Italy...

BWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Thanks for that! I needed a good laugh to start my day! I laughed so hard at that my face sprang a leak! That is so comically ugly, I can't bring myself to over it: I only have to imagine someone else [anyone else: just not me, Lord; please, not me! ] riding it in public & I start laughing again!

Well that certainly is... um... stylish? That's not a bike, it's piece from a mobile: it should be hanging from the ceiling in some art gallery or museum somewhere! I kinda like the look of the roundfin valve covers on the squarehead cylinders tho': are there any problems w/ that in the wild? Do either/or roundfin or squarehead cylinder guards work with that, or are you SOL for precautionary protective bumpers if you decide to go that route? Just curious: it's an interesting blend of Guzzi-old & -new...

Because some folks just want it in COLOR!

Didn't we have a thread in here ages ago [when V11s were still in production] about how to build a replacement torque arm w/ proper spherical bearings on the ends & a hollow tube to save unsprung wt, all for less than the Guzzi stock part or the $$$ that Stein Deinse or somebody was offering a similar "go fast" goody? I seem to remember such... Of course your solution RossoAndy appeals to even the most frugal Guzzista!

Pics? Linky?

Yes on caps............Monza, Aero or Screw caps offered. You can anno aluminum but not sure how well theses would come out....maybe others will weigh in. Bob AFAIK, all the wrought grades of aluminum anodize fine; it's the cast aluminums that may or may not play nice w/ cosmetic anodizing due to the variable alloy constituents. YMMV & all that; ask the builder what grade of wrought sheet he used to make it: all the common grades of aluminum sheet [3003, 5052, 6061] are reported to anodize from very well to nicely [in pretty much the same order.] PS: Flash is the scourge of the interwebs...