Skeeve

Yeah, that. Piaggio needs to wake up & make a commitment to their "early adopters" who have been getting the shaft both on grenaded motors and poor service from their local "agents" if they want to turn Guzzi around. The piecemeal approach they seem to have taken to replace cam & lifters short of a full recall is only hurting them, esp. when they get clowns as outlined above who cannot perform the work properly. I hope BFG can get things resolved to his satisfaction, but I'd have been looking into legal action long before now...

Well, inflation & the fact that this time you went to Pro Italia. Good shop, but there's a reason their nickname is "Pry It Outta Ya!" It's where the snooty Duc-tards prefer to shop, after all... Charge what the market will bear! At least they should remain with us a long time [not saying they'll keep the Guzzi model line on the sales floor, just that they'll stay in business as a motorcycle shop of some sort or other...]

Well, we'd gotten sidetracked on what exactly was meant by "BOTY" in this context, & weren't trying to abscond with a title for his new-2-him Coppa that wasn't rightfully his. But I'm certain if we went back in time to the BOTY thread we could determine what place his bike took, or if entered at all. Those Alpina wheels were quite snazzy tho', weren't they?

I'm curious: Why is there an electric petcock anyway if the engine won't run w/o the fuel pump working? Glad to hear how easy the fix was for you, but I'm left wondering if the permanent fix isn't to just permanently jamb the darn thing open & stop having to fiddle with it ever after?

Yep. I think he knows it too; despite his next-to-miraculous recovery of an acting career he essentially threw in the toilet, I don't think he's seeing as many roles as he would hope for, largely because he's no longer the young, handsome & gifted actor he once was, but now an old, ugly & gifted one. Hollywood is not very kind to the actors who fall in the latter grouping. I think once he gets his head around the fact that he's moved himself out of the "lead player" category & into the "character actor" group, he can have a long & rewarding career: character actors typically get lots of gigs late in life.

The other way of looking at that is that's all sweet above 4k, & nothing but misery below...

It means your Guzzi "service agent" has been an even bigger f!ckup than you thought? How about this: follow the procedure for a TPS reset for the v11 series, disconnecting everything, backing off, backprobing the leads to read millivolts, etc. etc. See what you get for your baseline. If it reads correctly [150mV?], proceed to do the rest of the setup. If it doesn't read correctly, use your Axone there to zero things out to the correct values. Either way, proceed w/ the rest of the throttle setup according to Micha's method or what have you. When you get to where it should be correct, check w/ your Axone again, & zero things to where they should be, and call it a day. Go for a test ride, & see what results you get. I suspect that after a few iterations of ride/test/repeat & fiddling w/ the "holy screw," you can get things back to where they should be, repaint your "holy screw" & only need to use the Axone to reset your TPS periodically from then on. Obviously, you won't be taking it back to your "screwup agent" again unless you an urge similar to throwing money in the river... I'm sure Pete will correct me if I'm wrong once he has a chance, but I noticed in another thread that he's had a death in the family so he's otherwise occupied right now...

Actually, the plastic surgery was to restore his looks from the pounding he took as a boxer. Apparently, he led w/ his chin a lot: the guy must have a HUGE pain threshold! But yeah, it's great that he can laugh at himself & make a little money in the process!

I've found after a lifetime of reading them that most bike rags are written by journalists, who, - while they may be better riders than me by virtue of getting constant invitations to press junkets, etc. - are generally without a clue as to what really makes a bike great. Hint: it isn't necessarily the fastest or the one w/ the most shrimp at the press reception! So, yes, we're talking about the V11LM Guzzi of the year. And as to why your Coppa didn't win, well, that's a function of the fickleness of the voting membership [ie, those members of v11lm who bothered to vote when they had the chance] and the quality of the photo submitted. Let's face it, a bad photo is going to be a real handicap when it is what the voting is based upon! FWIW, I love the Coppa, but a Daytona RS in lemony yellow will win it for me every time. Can't stand the looks of a Centauro, altho' the Centauro GT in BRG was the best looking of that particular model line. Someone else will feel 180deg opposite of my tastes. When it comes down to a vote, the final winner may be the bike that is less polarizing than the others. Hard to go wrong w/ basic black, like my LeMans. It's all good!

Nah, we don't allow those to have their pics posted as "V11 of the month" here on V11LM.com, so how could they be voted bike of the year? We may be a little narrow-minded that way, but it does keep all the riff-raff non-contenders from confusing the issue... 'cause, at the end of the day, we all know what bike we'd rather ride home on, don't we?

The catch is, that for most of the last 30 years, makers have been focused on shortening the wheelbases of their machines for handling, which has led to shorter tanks, which in turn has led to shorter bags. Since most bags are short lengthwise, the quoted volumes of storage generally emphasize "going taller," with the resulting decrease in utility that entails once a certain height is reached [which varies by rider height & personal preference.] Best I can suggest is to go online & search for the biggest tank bags you can & check their listed dimensions: most product descriptions will have length x width x height, I should think... Once you've narrowed your search to a few contenders, check reviews & pull the trigger. Good luck! [thumbsup]

All that owner needs to do now is paint the tank green & the sidecovers & running gear white...

Pretty funny. Nice to see Mickey getting work again after he scuttled his career in the 90s.

How about "Straight Up from Down Under?" Or perhaps "Hullo, is that a 'roo in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" Nah, the second one is a better title for his memoirs from building his midget porn empire: I think the former is a better moniker for a book of his punditry. More likely, during "quality time" on the throne, but I agree with you in principle...

Ah, but Pete, don't you see? There is only one way to skin a cat... with a knife! Beyond that restriction there's endless variation. Now, you may get the occasional 'tard who'll argue "I've got a bit of sharp flint!" but they're missing the point that the bit of sharp flint is a subset of the category "knife..." What can you do? As the old saying goes, "wrestling with a pig just gets you both muddy. And the pig enjoys it." Illegitimus non carborundum, Pete!

Shamelessly lifted from over on GuzziTech:

Seems you've misinterpreted some of the dyno charts [easy to do, when line colors are often dark blue, dark green & black... My interpretation of what I've seen is that the Stucchi x-over helps smooth out the hole from 3.5k-5k rpm, & gives a boost everywhere from 6k to redline. The Mistral seems to fill in the hole from 4k on up, w/ gains from 5k to 7k or so, but then falls off at the high end of things, being outdone by the stock x-over in total power output at redline. I think your notion that you're "missing something from 2.5-4k rpm" is more an example of how much the old Carcano v-twin would benefit from a modern EXUP & variable-length intake horn setup that the present-day crotch rockets all seem to have than anything else - by increasing your mid-range so much & filling in the serious dip in the stock powerband from 4-5k, you've become aware of how little grunt the engine puts out until it comes "on the pipe" above 4k. Remember, in stock form, it was producing the same power from 2-3.5k, and less from 3.5-5k than yours, and only came on the pipe after 5k. So that hole in the middle of the power made it seem like it was producing more power below the hole than your setup now does, but it's just an illusion caused by your becoming accustomed to the fatter & smoother midrange in your setup. So in short: stop lugging the engine, & you'll be fine!

Well, big-blocks are naturally subdivided into loops, Tontis, spineys & the new CARC [Quota-derived, double-spine frames. I like calling'em "quotards", but it hasn't caught on. Possibly because of the consonance w/ "retards?"] models. Small blocks are all small-blocks. More than any other Guzzi, they deserve to be called "Tontis." But they hate having to dig thru all the big block threads to find the ones w/ their obscure concerns laid out. Those loopy Loopers really seem to hate being grouped w/ the later Tontis: reactionary old Luddites, the lot of them, down to the last crusty munter. Except for Greg, he's not above modding the snot out of'em to bring a Loop up to modern standards! The big-block Tontis encompass sporting models like the LeMons & cafe'd T3s as well as the touring/cruiser models like the Calis & Stones. They always start to bickering if you don't keep'em separated. I say, lump'em all together under "Vintage designs," since even a 2003 Cali Special Sport was essentially designed back in the 70s [being basically just a factory-cafe'd T3] & let'em duke it out amongst themselves! Establish ground rules that are clearly stated in the forum description: "Guzzi vintage designs. You're clearly a Luddite or you'd have upgraded to a Spine frame or CARC model by now. No grumbling, whining or preaching: you're a bunch of crusty old munters that nobody listens to anyway. Have fun." I'd moderate it if I knew how. As the FAOATIJAT*, I'd just give every post the sniff test & delete it out of hand if I deemed it grumbly, whiney, preachy or clearly not fun. Gotta stick w/ the forum rules, after all! Ride on! * - "Final Arbiter Of All That Is Just And True." Why me? Because I thought of it first!

Don't forget, there's also a tiny fluid return hole in the master cylinder that allows for excess fluid to bleed out of the line when hot. This often gets plugged w/ age & generates this type of symptom as well. There's a writeup on it at least once a year in the moto rags' "Tech questions"-type columns, usually someone who's just putting a 20 y.o. UJM back on the road they got for a song because it had been sitting for the last 10 years... But it can happen to newer, more exotic machinery too!

Or better yet, silicone spray: slipperier than PAM, and a rubber preservative instead of a vegetable oil that will just get all gummy when it dries out...

AFAIK, the x-over w/ the port for the lambda sensor will fit on the other v11s, you'd just need to blank it off. Everyone else has said the Mistral x-over beefs up the midrange at the expense of the top end; have you done anything w/ the airbox to increase breathing? Could just be a fuel-starvation issue?..

The good guys didn't leave because of the NGC, they left because of the idiot quotient over on WG that were constantly starting flame wars w/ the experts who were kind enough to answer their questions in the 1st place when the experts posted some NGC. I remember one case, where someone [i forget who, but its irrelevant] would frequently post stories about his flying experiences in this or that private plane. All clearly labeled "NGC" in the thread title. Then the asshats over one WG would come out of the woodwork & complain about "why this guy was posting stories about flying, it isn't a Cessna forum, blah blah blah..." when in the threads they would start, the topic would frequently veer off course, with no small help from themselves, after the above expert had already answered their technical question within the 1st couple of posts, with the gentle reminder that the same question had been answered before & that with a little application on their part, they could have found the pre-existing answers on WG from 1, 2, 3 months before... So, unfortunately for us, most of these really experienced & knowledgeable individuals who've been systematically chased off of WG by the idiot quotient over there, don't come to V11LM because they own older models of Guzzis, or non-sportbike models at least. Just from 1st hand observation, I'd have to say that Greg posts even less frequently over there than here. Pete, bless him, posts more there than here, but that's more a function of his posting "how to" stuff on the old 5-speed trannies, etc. that doesn't necessarily fit in here: anything on the newer bikes he posts both places. Todd (RacerX), of course, left both boards to their own devices & started his own over at Guzzitech, but they've had so many crashes & retrograde user-interface steps that I pretty much don't bother with them any more, maybe checking in on what's new once a quarter or so. Nolan Woodbury has just left WG for good, apparently, deciding anything he needs to say can be said via his blog? website? at vintagemotorcycle.??? or somesuch. [i'm going to have to go over to WG & find the correct name & bookmark that site: Nolan's work is worth reading...] Ivar de Gier is no longer posting on WG, for obvious reasons, but that didn't prevent some of the aforementioned asshats from giving his *wife* sh!t for posting on Ivar's behalf when he was near the end & preparing to clean out his Guzzi museum, etc. Made me want to reach thru the screen & slap'em silly, that did! The thing I don't understand is, if I can manage to go to WG forums, log in, click on "General Discussion" & then scroll down the list & only ctrl-click on "new" for the thread titles that look like they might have interesting content & thereby avoid 95% of the asshats on WG, why can't they do the same & avoid the people who have half a clue so we can all enjoy the resource w/o stumbling over each other? The clueful and the asshats could blithely coexist in the same etherspace w/o ever crossing paths, or at least w/o bumping heads often enough to lose our tempers & say "I'm outta here!" I guess that wouldn't work for the asshats, since they define themselves by being irritating to others...

Like the Tenni green & silver combo...

Sorry, I'm not wasting my time digging around to find the old thread. Chalk it up to being on this board for the last 5 years & just having a knack for trivia...

Yes, pretty crazy. Just wait: a pair of stock V11 cans will show up on eBay sooner or later for close to the same price as these. Save yourself the headaches.