Skeeve

It's the thermoplastic beauty cover/ductwork over the oil-cooler. Not the brightest engineering choice Guzzi's ever made [a glass-reinforced thermoset plastic would have been a FAR better choice], but hey, they wanted to sell the bling-factor CF pretty-piece, which would be harder to do if all the original stock units didn't melt & turn ugly... Ride on!

Guzzi answered this question back in the 50's: better to have a light, good-handling bike that's down on absolute h.p. but has good aerodynamics & a controllable powerband. Keep the MGS as light as you can, and use the Centauro cams w/ some port restrictors, if necessary. Lighter bikes brake deeper into corners, don't cook their tires as badly, and flick around easier. Best o' luck!

Gorgeous! When are you coming out w/ duallies for the V11s & those of us who don't care for the lop-sided look on the Grisos?

Mothers mag & aluminum polish. Electric tools w/ buffer heads. Spray can of clear coat to finish as you complete each section.

Real. XF-54? XF-57? Can't recall details. I think the idea behind it was to be a deep penetration photo-recon plane: photog could sit in left nacelle & pilot in the right, each attending to his particular concerns. By the time it was built & flyable, the jet age had superseded it.

From looking at the pic, it appears to me that the lower rocker support is integral to the head casting, & then there is a cover plate that's bolted on to make the top half. But appearances can be deceiving, so... EDIT: just went back & looked at the pic again. It's clear I haven't the slightest idea what I'm talking about, so just ignore my post & I promise to keep my mouth shut for awhile until more data is available!

Apparently not, 'cause they went w/ a repeat of it for the new CA Vintage, only w/ the whoop-de-do in the middle of the seat...

All that notwithstanding, it's nice to hear such compliments from a public composed of Philistines who're predominantly blessed with utter obliviousness to both motorcycles in general and almost universally lacking in the refinement to discern design of lasting significance in particular. So when you do have one of the hoi polloi who're awake enough to break away from the herd, it's quite a singular event, perhaps worth committing to memory?

The go-fast boys in hotrods & dragster & the moonshine-runners [the nascent beginnings of NASCAR: why do you think the cars have to *look* stock?] figured out half a century ago that individual pipes work great for airplanes, where the engine is turning mostly at a set rpm well below redline for long periods of time, but that for serious power, using the exhaust pulse from one cylinder to help evacuate another by using a properly designed 2->1 [or in the case of V8s, 2x 4->2->1] header works better. IIRC, the V7 used individual exhausts. Tonti & Todero added x-overs to their specials that they used to set speed records w/, & they've been on Guzzis ever since! As far as x-overs go, I have to say the one from the V7 Sport or V750S are probably the best looking models; no idea about performance, but they sure look the part! And for any twin w/ a firing interval of less than 180 degrees, being able to share muffler volume is going to be an important factor in performance. So getting away w/ individual pea-shooter muffs might work o.k. on a BMW or Triumph, but on Harleys & Guzzis? Just more noise w/ less performance...

Yeah, but: the flat spot is an artifact of the exhaust being tuned for peak #s: fill in more of the flat spot, lose more on top. What we need is a Guzzi equivalent to EXUP, ie: a tuned exhaust to get a complimentary resonance in the 4k band & then at rpms>6k, ping! the valve opens to shorten the effective header length to something that's tuned for peak power in the 7.5k rpm area. Of course, it's easy to suggest the solution: putting it into practice is a little more involved...

WWI baby! Guzzi, Parodi & Ravelli were all in the same wing; Guzzi being the mechanic for the two flyers, who respected his abilities to keep them airborne. They were friends & determined to go into business together after the war. Ravelli died in a plane crash just before they were all to be returned to civilian life. Parodi was good to his word, took an example of Guzzi's engine to his dad? uncle? [sorry, CRS] and pitched the idea of a motorcycle company. The family bit, named the company after Guzzi, and never looked back. 1st production bike was only a 2v single, whereas the prototype 4v wouldn't be replicated for something like 8 yrs. after the company was founded, when they got serious about racing.

I like it! Good job..

Yes. For the longest time, the fitment of choice seemed to be BT010F/BT020R, or equivalent. Then the MEZ6 came out and everyone who tried'em never looked back... In the grand scheme of things, I'm simply not a fast enough rider to seriously evaluate tire in dry conditions. I *can* tell you that I have little confidence in MEZ4s in the wet from my experience with how squirrelly they get when crossing over paint lines in the street any time there's the least hint of moisture in the air. Conti Sports [precursor to the Road Attacks] were a significant improvement, but could still get a little sketchy when mist was in the air. The Z6s are another big step up from the Sports. Currently running an Avon AV46 in the rear on my daily rider [an SV650], & so far it's like a giant leap backwards, even less impressive than the MEZ4s that came w/ the SV, but a BIG part of that may just be due to the tire's age [a closeout deal that I had in hand when a shop was repairing my SV after an accident, and put on the Z6s w/o my authorization; I suspect they wanted to take the SV to a track day, since they put close to 500mi on it after they put the new tires on... ] As Ratch' said, this is the golden age for moto tire technolog: you can hardly go wrong by fitting new tires of the appropriate type & proper fitment from any of the major quality brands. Key words to look for are "dual compound," "high silica," and of course, "sport."

.8mm different stroke? That's just a difference in setting up the grinder for the big-end journal; same crank as the 82mm throw, otherwise. Probably done just because the new pistons [95mm?] would have gone over 1200cc if staying w/ the 82mm throw. Heck, it may all just be an official measurement fallacy: wouldn't be the first time a manufacturer juggled their numbers to make something fit a legal category... EDIT: Dunno where I got the idea that Guzzi had made an 82mm stroke in the V11s; just a little slydexia of the 92 x 80mm numbers? At any rate, adding 1.2mm to the stroke is only .6mm more offset to the crankpin: not a huge change to the existing forgings needed, I'm sure... And checking the specs on the 1200 Sport, it's only 1151cc, so clearly the stroke could have gone longer w/o going past 1200cc, but maybe that would have required too many changes to existing molds/forgings/whatever? At any rate, I'm still willing to wait until this weekend to get some more hard facts before spending more time in idle speculation! But I think no matter what, this weekend is going to be a good one for Guzzistas everywhere! Finally, the promise of the original Griso 8v concept-bike is fulfilled; who knows, maybe the MGS-01 Stradale will be next?

"Grooves" or "tread" on a road tire aren't there for "traction" in the manner of off-road tires: they exist solely as negative space to shed water or dirt, so that the rubber of the tire can get a cleaner grip on the road surface. Off-road tires have deep, sharp-edged voids so that the loose dirt can fill'em up, get compacted, & get thrown back [kinda like rocket propulsion, really... ] "Universal" tread tires are neither fish nor foul & generally suck in either application...

W/ all the discussion about "x HP @ 10k rpm," & bore x stroke numbers, let's keep our eyes on a few simple facts: Guzzi is highly unlikely to use a bore or stroke that they don't already have in production in some other model(s). Their horsepower numbers [as are almost any motorcycle manufacturer's!] have always been highly suspect. The quoted rpm is more likely to just be the redline, not necessarily the h.p. peak rpm. Advertising ginks: you gotta love'em, but they're almost invariably clueless when it comes to engineering! Let's wait & see what the truth is after the unveiling this weekend. I would hope that some enterprising moto rag will have a truckable DynoJet somewhere in the vicinity of Mandello and 'just happen' to make a detour while on a test ride [they will have some for test rides @ GMG, won't they?]

Well, if there's not a big enough market to justify going into production, how about posting the CAD template to the forum for those who're willing to cobble up their own? Great work, whichever route you choose to go!

Yes! "Diablo," not "Dragon" Stradas. Sorry 'bout the confusion there...

Pirelli Dragon Strada/Metzler MEZ6 [same tire, different brands]; use a 170/60 profile rear tire instead of the stock 180/55 to sharpen up the handling. I haven't actually got around to trying this on my own, still running the Bridgestone's ['cause I'm cheap!], but it seems to be the general consensus when this topic has arisen in the past (which about every 6 months or so?)

Well said, bravo!

Is that 180 indicated, or did you have someone w/ a calibrated radar gun clock you? I'm guessing the former; standard speedometers aren't to be trusted up that high! As a fer instance, my SV650 reads a somewhat "normal" 6% high: that's 3mph faster at 50, >6mph faster at 100mph [this is why 'DOD nominal' is 110mph, btw], and the error goes UP the faster you go, so by the time the bike is bouncing off the rev-limiter in 6th at close to sea level, indicating 140, it's only doing 129 or so. No insult to your 'Priller, but I kinda doubt its aerodynamics are as clean as the Honda Blackbird, the SuziQ Hayabusa or the Kwakker ZX12, all of which had a more or less difficult time doing 180-190mph [yes, the electronic governor has some to do w/ that] and they're pumping many more ponies than any twin of similar displacement; that's just the nature of the multi-cylinder engines they utilize. So chances are, that 180 indicated is more likely down around 160 or so. And it would be even less at Bonneville, where the altitude thins the air sufficient to rob something like 10% of the sea-level output right off the top, before adding in such diverse factors as the poor coupling [traction] afforded by the salt, etc. Ride on,

So, they said it's too softly sprung, which anyone who's read any of the suspension threads here at v11LM knows is standard Guzzi procedure and therefore if you expect to ride 2-up or weigh more than 75kg/150# yourself, then you'd better be planning on spending a few dollars for the correct springs to set-up your boingy bits. All the handling quirks that caused the Breva to compare so unfavorably to the other bikes are directly attributable to their inability to adjust the suspension, starting from insufficient springing. Yes, the engine doesn't compare to the other bikes in terms of absolute power. Sounds like they got a particularly bad test mule, too: makes me wonder how many other moto journos had flogged the teats off it before the MC.commies got a chance to ride it? No telling, but if they got a tired bike to compare against a few fresh ones, of course the Breva is going to compare particularly unfavorably. Too bad they don't include a "cost of ownership" table, which is where the real price will tell: down the road, when BMW's "service free" rear-drive unit blows, and when the Ducati owner gets tired of paying for the ex$pen$ive desmo adjustments ["Just be glad it's not a 4v!"], and the Breva owner just does a quick tappet adjustment [too bad Guzzi couldn't get the hydraulic lifters sorted; that would *really* ice the low-maintenance cake!] & goes for a ride... At least they didn't just shoot it down out of hand.

All of which begs the question: is the 4k rpm flat spot caused by too much or too little fuel? If it's a lean stumble, then wouldn't it be interesting if the easiest fix is just to substitute the H-D tps in for the stock unit, rather than spending all the time & expense on a PCIII & mapping on an otherwise stock motor?

The irony here being, of course, the Ewan is a long-time Guzzista, and if the factory was still making the Quota & willing to give'em a little backing, Long Way Round would likely have been a Moto Guzzi infomercial instead of boosting BMW's bottom line... Bring on the Stelvio!

Well, I followed up on Ratch's suggestion to check out the Bondhus site. Let me tell you, they do a GREAT job of selling their product! Esp. revelatory were the 27 color glossy photographs w/ pictures & arrows on the back of each one showing just how Bondhus keys compared w/ the product of the folks who invented'em [Allen] and Eklind's offerings. Allen & Eklind hex wrenches seemed pretty comparable to each other, and of course, superior to the rest of the field [as we would hope!] But the Bondhus' keys' superior strength means a LOT when talking ball-end hex wrenches, since snappin' off the little ball end is by far the most common failure mode. And their unconditional lifetime warranty has to count for something too. I like those, even if you never can be bothered to act on it, it at least shows confidence in their product. Anyway, Enco has a 22-pc combined metric/SAE set on sale this month for something like $14, and I'm on it. It's last year's model w/o the zippy "screw holder" end to keep from dropping the undone screws accidentally, but I find a little wad o' bubble gum will often do the same job, & what else are you gonna use it for once you've chewed all the flavor out? As usual, the advice here in v11LM-land is more valuable than elsewhere. Thanks all!