Skeeve

These aren't high-pressure gears, so you can leave off the Moly-Di driveshaft grease... Tri-Flow silicon grease w/ teflon? You're looking for something that is sticky [so it won't fling off] and will still lubricate in small doses [hence the teflon additive], while being inert to the plastic [petroleum-based greases might soften the plastics?] Just tossing the ideas out there for discussion; I have no dog in this fight [yet!]

The doublesided foam tape ["mounting tape" as it's called] does serve some purpose for isolation of stress, etc, altho' I think epoxy should be strong enough to prevent the badges from cracking [just so long as you never want to have to R&R them! ] If you foresee ever wanting to freshen them , then maybe a mounting tape solution from 3M [Minnesota Mining & Machine] will do the trick w/o letting go at inopportune moments?

Gorgeous product! Does he do work in steel as well? Less concerned about wt. issues than the convenience of being able to use a magnetic tank bag as on any proper daily rider...

BMW probably sold more '83 R100RS models than Guzzi did all years of V11s lumped together. And more of the '83 R100RSs got crashed, too! [Not BMW's fault: you don't think brakes, tires & rider training has improved at all over some 20 years or so? ] So net result is that the actuarial tables indicate that the -RS model BMWs pay higher insurance rates than the LTs, etc., while the jury is basically still out on the V11s, 'cause there just hasn't been enough cumulative experience of them to make them pay higher rates than some old Tonti-framed cruiser Guzzi... Anyway, that's my theory, & I'm stickin' to it!

With an air-cooled motor, it makes sense to get the cylinders out in the breeze. On a liquid-cooled motor, it's just added drag [& the radiator is still shrouded behind the front wheel/forks... ] Once the V of the cylinders is set transverse, it makes sense to opt for a shaft drive, esp. on a police cruiser or touring mount. But shaft drives are negatively indicated for serious sporting use due to their greater unsprung wt. at the rear wheel. As much as I love the Guzzi V-motor, it makes no sense to try to make a racer out of it: it started from a clean sheet engineering design focused at the opposite end of the motorcycling spectrum, and as such, does what it is supposed to do w/ aplomb. It just isn't the right design upon which to base a modern racer; in vintage racing against similarly handicapped competition, it does quite well. But no amount of modern technology thrown at it can make it anything other than an also-ran, because it's just not the right starting point for a modern racing motorcycle.

Nah, I didn't see anything arousing there, but I've got a bad "Criminal Minds" tv habit [yeah, it's a guilty pleasure] and can see where the seriously bent could find a little girl skipping rope to be just a little too cute... Just having some fun at Hubert's expense, for posting perhaps the world's boringest vid that had nothing whatsoever to do with battery charging! Which is pretty amazing when you get down to it, since watching a battery charging is right up there w/ watching paint dry for boringness, so Hubert at least found a video in the same general league... [i know, I know: his post was a pun, I was intentionally "not getting it" to draw out the humour...]

As opposed to a cable-knit jumper? Seriously, Hubie, what's with the kiddie p0rn? Or do they name their little girls Cable where that was filmed?

I think we could use Pete's input on this matter: is this the manifestation of his "dreaded daga-daga noise" that is the symptom of the bottom end bearings failing? Maybe the P.O. of your Guzzi liked doing wheelies sans Roper plate? Hate to foster Guzzi-chondria, but something is definitely awry w/ your bike: best of luck sorting it out!

Pete, are these colorful turns of phrase original from you, or does everyone in dumbledore, er, bunginhole, er, downunda speak in vivid metaphor? D@mn, we've really got to collect all the Roperisms into a book: that thing will break the NYT bestseller charts!

[emphasis added] AKA "jumper cables." Thanks for setting'em straight Baldini, you saved me the trouble!

Good suggestion, but I don't think that applies: iirc, the cruiser models are single-UJ designs, so there's nothing to "line up" in this case...

"Driver" is more correct, since motorcycles, unlike horses, don't have minds of their own... Sometimes you'll hear "pilot" & "pillion" applied to motoryclists, as opposed to "driver" & "passenger:" "rider" is somewhat passive, so doesn't necessarily convey the correct nuance at times. Don't blame the narrator for the mistakes! He was just reading from a script, and with any likelihood, knew nothing about the topic for which he had been hired to supply his vocal talent...

The initial concept that was 1st previewed (iirc) alongside the MGS-01 was absolutely hideous IMNSHO, based upon the pics seen in the various moto-rags reporting on that show. I didn't come around to liking the Griso until several years later, when Piaggio brought it over to display at the CWIMS in Long Beach in the "cappuccino" livery that they never actually put into production. In the flesh, the Griso is far more impressive & evocative than the 2d photos can communicate. Yeah, that! What he said!

That inverted-pyramid sump was developed before the oil coolers started showing up: supposedly, with the deep Vee sump, the oil volume & surface area are both increased sufficiently that you can ditch the oil cooler for any uses less demanding than traversing the Sudan wfo...

Well, that's good to know! Glad your hubby dodged that bullet w/ his Scura: definitely not a concern anyone should be forced to have... Mmmm, titanium would be a nice choice for the flywheel, if only it wasn't so danged ex$pen$ive...

I'd paint the top, only 'cause I dislike glare & there's lots of sunny days here in Lo-Cal So. Cal... Looks fab tho'!

Like GuzziMoto said, nothing has been moving all that well. Couple that with the perceived disparity in value btw what Piaggio asks for the Norge and what the competition is offering, and well, the attitude of "I'll wait & see" comes into play... Combine that with many cognisceti anticipating the release of the nuovo hi-cam motor in the Norge, and you can see that the prices on the used market in 2v Norges would be cutting the legs out from under the new ones still in stock. Frankly, if I had been in charge @ Piaggio, I would have held back the release of the Norge until the QV motor [which was already in the pipeline & released in the Stelvio just 6 mos or so later, iirc] could be used as the original offering: the original test of the Norge all damned it w/ faint praise, saying essentially the same thing - "Nice bike, but needs more stonk..."

You're thinking of a "top-hat piston" design...

Well, it does have two cams, and it has a stylized "OHC" in the valve cover castings. So, it must be a "double overhead cam," mustn't it?

If you hunt around here & over at wildguzzi, you can probably turn up some threads of those who've switched from FI to carbs: I believe someone was doing a custom based on a Daytona [heresy!] or Centauro [cheapest & best solution for the hideous stock bodywork, making a nekkid custom out of the bike ] where he went to carbs, largely for styling purposes. I think you have to retrofit the electronic ignition from an original Spot 1100 to go down this road, and there aren't a lot of those laying around [because of course, the carb'd Sport only had 2 years of production, and Guzzi's production #s in the '90s were low low low to begin with...] While I like the TEOTWAWKI functionality of carbs over EFI [electronic things typically dislike me: my being a naturally high-output source of static electricity prolly has something to do with it! ], in the grand scheme of things, EFI does offer advantages in fuel mileage and power output. Less sensitive to stale fuel, to boot. Even if you did manage to find the electronic ignition off a Spot & retrofit it to your '03, you're still dependent upon a battery for starting: no kicker on these beasts, and no magneto so bump starting them is out. And the battery is more likely to fail than the EFI, once it's all set up correctly. In short: keep the EFI, get yourself a nice magneto-powered dirtbike in case of the zombie apocalypse [zoomba porklips?] and pocket the difference in cubic $ you would spend making your Guzzi less capable than it is over the cost of the dirt bike.

Scura: Guzzi's knockoff of the RAM aluminum clutch [insert mechanical grenade warning here] takes weight out of the bike, but more significantly, less rotating mass & less wt in the driveline; that's where the immediacy & "rawness" you mention come from. Also, w/o the RC's greater wind protection, more of your attention is distracted from the inputs to the handling you're making, so that's where I suspect some of the difference in handling you notice btw the models comes from. Rosso Corsa: more flywheel effect from the standard [tho' much lighter than Tonti models] twin-plate clutch means smoother power delivery and easier drivability, and with the full fairing, a more planted front end and less turbulence to distract you from your perceptions of the handling. Also, the different exhaust systems and fueling setups will of course affect myriad small details in the power output. You're comparing apples to oranges, basically. That's my theory, & I'm sticking to it...

Pretty much the definition of being one of the crazy guys, I should think... A toast to the dear departed!

Composite Materials Fabrication Handbook #2, ISBN 9781929133932 has the info on how to make molds from your alt. cover so you can repop it in fibreglas or CF. Sure, you could buy some CF glitz, but think how much more satisfying it would be to know that any time it got cracked or shattered, or even just a little grimy, you could bonk out another any evening it was convenient?

Wow That's the first I'd ever heard about a 6 cylinder MV Agusta. What's the story on it? It seems I woulda heard something about it if it had been successful. All the Italian makers dropped out of GP racing after '58, didn't they? Of course you didn't hear much about it... Obviously, never fully developed: did you notice the lack of torque forcing Ago to slip the clutch extensively just to get underway? Kept having to clutch in & rev more to keep from bogging. Geared tall fo' sho'... Speaking objectively, the Guzzi V8 sounds much better tho', doesn't it?

Good thing it was cars: as long as the windows were all closed, it's just going to take a couple of warm days & the cages will be free again. Can you think what horrors would ensue if those had been bikes encased in ice?