Skeeve

I thought he was making a humourous reference to his own failure [he was the one on his bike that caused the problem, ie: *he's* the Mexican mechanic!] But that was just my take, I may be 180 off...

The answer to the original question "Can other muffs work if they fit?" is a "Duh! Of course! It's all in the 'if they fit" part!" The only relevant concern outside of matching up pipe diameters/bends is muffler *volume*, given similar construction methods. Of course, we have no way to judge construction, beyond the ASS-U-M(e)ption that all stock pipes are going to be built roughly the same, given the identical noise standards that they must pass.[1] Of course, this assumption might get us in trouble w/ moving similar volume cans from an inline-4 to a twin, since exhaust pulses from the latter are larger & less frequent, & hence internal harmonics, etc. might have been adjusted by the manufacturer to suppress certain exhaust notes in the former that simply don't exist in the latter engine format, & vice versa. All of which is a fancy way of saying "suck it & see." Quite frankly, I'm certain that outside of certain flagship models [GSXR, G'wing, ZX1400, etc.], the J-4 aren't spending any more time massaging the exhaust internals than Guzzi does by buying OTS solutions from Lafranconi. So some stock Ti takeoffs from eBay, if they had the correct [or correctable] mateup w/ the stock Guzzi plenum [or Stucchi, Mistral, whatever] would work just as well if not better, & most importantly, save weight. But of course, they may not look as good, so there's that tradeoff. You'll notice the stress on wt. savings: given the need to conform w/ legal restrictions, there's virtually no way to increase performance from the engine w/o exceeding noise limits. OTOH, if the power/wt. ratio on a V11 is (not accurate; just to make the math easy) 10#:1hp, then saving 20# in exhaust wt. is like getting 2 free ponies [& btw, a handling boost in the process, which can be even more important than the hp...], w/ no other tuning issues (ie, same backpressure & flow as the stockers.) Izzat answer enough? [1] Cutting cans up the way I did for the "inside shots" of the stock Guzzi cans is unfortunately too ex$pen$ive to perform across the board. Any TSA employees on the list who wouldn't mind running some exhaust cans thru the luggage x-ray scanner for us? That'd be a treat, save a ton of time, & give us some pics that would be sweet to compare!

Nix, nix! You want the balance tube, just keep it small so it doesn't actually flow a significant amount of air: it's really just to even out the vacuum across the cylinders. Yamaha actually patented(?) this whole idea back in the 80s, called it "YICS" or somesuch. Required a special tool to blank off the passage so that the individual cylinders could be balanced. Use the balance tube, it seems to work well.

Yep, they call it "rebond" 'cause it's made from chopped up random bits of old foam [well, new remainders from standard single-density foam production.] Nifty website on redoing the seat on a Kawi Ninja 250? I book marked ages ago advises the heaviest rebond commonly available [5#]; I think the rebond "weights" are simply thickness, so 5# means fewer layers to build up to full seat height. Still haven't done more than simple experiments w/ seats on my old GL1200 & SV650; creating a new cover to match resculpted foam is presently beyond my abilities... In all, I think Rich Maund will eventually see the color of my money [as soon as I have some, that is!]

Yes, Greg, please expound upon this interesting experiment!

Well, sorta: on air-cooled engines, cylinder head temps are more important than the incoming air temp for prevention of pinging. It's not an air-cooled motor, or even an air- & oil-cooled motor, it's an air, oil, & fuel-cooled motor!

Uh, you mean a "mudflap madonna" or "highway madonna?" They're a good luck charm, don't drive a semi that is not under their watchful gaze...

Well, I've spoken w/ several people who've lived there, & they all say the same thing: either you go nuts from claustrophobia [even the Big Island is easily circumnavigated by vehicle in a day], or you don't. Everyone who does, leaves and everyone who doesn't stays. As one of the few states w/ firearms ownership laws even more restrictive than CA's, HI is not on my shortlist of places to move to, altho' a vacation home there would be nice. If you can work there for a few years & still leave your mainland home in mothballs to come back to [or similar], that might be a fun adventure. But everyone I've known who's had to sell off everything to move either to or from has said it's a real pain. Best o' luck!

FWIW, I find it a constant irritant to see phrases bandied about online wherein the user clearly doesn't know what they're writing [& hence, should refrain from using such phrases until they've had the time to look up their proper use.] Things like the above mentioned "baited breath" [more usually mis-used as "baited breathe" ], "disk breaks" (vs "brakes"), etc. etc. Of course, sometimes I can cut the poster some slack, like when I know that English w/ its myriad idiosyncracies is not their 1st language (or even 2nd or 3rd, more power to'em!), but I'm ruthless when it comes to someone who's a native English (o.k., "'Murrican") speaker. But then, I'm the sort of A.R. prick that catches my own misspellings before the spell-checker can catch them. Which is probably why it took me 5 minutes to type this, instead of the 30secs it clearly takes most to do so! But hey, as long as you ride a Guzzi, I figure I can let it slide...

My god, I do love the 1100 Spot/Sporti/Daytona RS' looks. Marabese hit that peak & then fell off a cliff to provide us w/ the nadir of their efforts, the Centauro. [sigh] Love the Centauro for what it is [the Guzzi 4v w/ comfortable ergos], not how it looks. (But then, anyone who's been here awhile knows that about me already!) Would really, really love to see a revamped/reconceived "everyday" sports machine from Guzzi w/ the new 4v a la' Pierre's suggestion, vs. a MGS-01 Strada variant (as good looking as the MGS is, I still like the mid-90s Sport/Daytona more. Classic beauty vs. tres courant; the former wins every time, & should be Guzzi's only goal when forging their designs.) Regardless, I can't wait for Guzzi to bring this new 4v design to market, so we can see what it's really like!

No. "Slop" aka "lash" is the accumulated free play from stacked tolerances, ie: each part has a range of acceptable sizes to facilitate assembly. If all parts were press fits, then there would (could) be no slop. If the wheel was assembled, the open space within filled w/ raw rubber goo & the whole assembly autoclaved to vulcanize the rubber, then there would be no slop whatever within the cush drive assembly. Later disassembly of the hub to drill the cush drive rubber would in no measurable way compromise this methodically manufactured "zero tolerance" fit, and the rubber bumpers (now w/ holes added, or should I say, material taken away?) would be more compliant, but there would be no increase in slop, lash, or whatever the heck you want to call it. Of course, if all the parts in the driveline from the splines back were a press fit, we wouldn't need the cush drive in the first place, so this exercise is beyond academic, but whatever. I just wanted to correct the notion that drilling the cush drive rubbers somehow changes manufactured tolerances anywhere in the Guzzi driveline.

Nah, you're thinking of London Bridge, in Arizona...

Wrap'em in duct tape first, Petey![1] Hopefully, this post will push it over to 12 pages. Just eyeballing it, but it looks about like it should... Ride on! [a cushier cush drive] [1] 'Cause that way they don't explode when you're sodding'em. Last longer that way, y'know? That last reply didn't quite do it! Do we have 12? ObCushDrive content: How about a hydraulic baggie that smooshes the fluid one way or the other under thru a calibrated hole? Maybe w/ a "spike load" relief valve in the mix? Nuts! This dang BBS software keeps appending my posts to the last one, so I can't push it over the top to 12 pages! Someone, give me a hand here! We can't disappoint Pete!

Ah, Samantha Fox. Gotta love the refreshing candor of some starlet who gets asked onto a talk show & then gives [correct] credit for her career to her magnificent snack tray. Didn't she start the whole "bad actress w/ a singing career" thing w/ her pop hit "Touch Me?" Now they're all doing it. Lindsay Lohan could learn a trick or two from ol' Sam! Esp. the full frontals... Sorry, I'll stop now before we have to move this over to the "Hooters" thread! Can the all-singing, all-dancing, Aprilia 'lectronic speedo from the Griso/Breva/et al be adapted to the V11ses, or is that completely beyond the pale? Despite my Luddite tendencies, I like the features of "miles to empty" trackers, etc., esp. if when they inevitably go the way of the passenger pigeon, the rest of the machine can still soldier on. Or is there some other mechanical-drive speedo that will fit inside the Vague-liar's case? Reminds me, I should pick up the "new & improved" 1" longer speedo drive cable that's supposed to fix the short MTBF of the original unit just to have ready to swap in...

Did you ever get the weird power gremlin sorted, or are you leaving that as an exercise for the reader (your son?) Just curious...

Well, I must admit to a certain inherent Luddism. I like carbs, I recognize that they cannot achieve the absurd power levels seen in the MotoGP, w/ all the technowhizbang trickery like traction control, etc. that EFI offers. This is why I don't give a single hair off a rat's @ss about whatever the point standings are in MotoGP, etc: it ain't racing, it's a technological arms race; I'd rather see the same level of energy spent on putting a permanent moon base into action. AHRMA racing? That's motorcycle racing! Carbs, cr@ppy brakes, mechanical limitations abound! Kinda like drilling holes in rubber wedges to dial in a cush drive, y'know what I mean? Electronics hate me. When I go to use something battery powered, it will inevitably be drained, shorted or otherwise out of action, with great regularity. So I don't trust'em. OTOH, some of these things seem to have been fettled to the point where there just no way for the magic smoke to leak out anymore, w/o gross stupidity on my part. So those I distrust, but can get along with. For outright reliability, it's hard to beat carbs w/ a vacuum advance like on my old Yammie XSEleven. Of course, not having to do a monthly carb balance is nice too. Time & technology marches on, & at some point I'll probably grow out of this preference. Until then, it's all good!

Yeah but... Bernoulli never sleeps! For a daily-ride, stone-axe dead reliable bike, carbs beat the heck out of FI. Electronic ignition is fairly well fettled, so that it is almost worth the added risk vs. electrical systems [points] which are of course, fixable in remote areas where parts supply is non-existent [Can you say Lake Titicaca or Tierra del Fuego? Of course, the pancake alternator is superior to the old hi-mount Ambassador's when v-belts are few & far between & the pantyhose supply is finite... ], but F.I. still can't rival carbs for resistance to the slings & arrows of outrageous fortune. Yet. For a 'one bike, round the world trip' a carb'ed ride is still certainly preferable. Drop it in a creek? Pull the bike to the nearest shore, drain the carbs, & be on your way. FI? So sorry, you're about to be eaten by cannibals... Love my V11, but adventure touring is not its forte'!

:!: Hey, hey, HEY now! I don't recall Dangerous Dave saying anything about urethane being a suitable replacement for the non-rubber polymer used in moto-tires! I can tell you from 1st hand experience [i used to sell shoes in a previous life], that urethane-soled tennies are slicker'n greased owl snot when wet, so while urethane would be entirely adequate as a shock absorber when completely enclosed in say, a Moto Guzzi cush drive, it's performance characteristics are completely contraindicated for use in vehicle tires. But carrying your ridicule for someone else over to an unrelated thread is completely uncool. Go for a ride until you regain your senses!

C'mon, Pete, it's not like it's an oil thread or anything! While I truly feel there's an opportunity lurking here somewhere for some Guzzisti working at Fermilab or some other zippy lab environment w/ access to all sorts of supercomputer free cycles & Finite Element Analysis software on which to run a simulation of the cush drive so that the exact location & [maybe even more importantly?] size of the holes to be drilled in the hardened-cheese wedgies should be positioned in order to deliver the maximum lifespan & necessary cush, I am inclined to agree with you that there's really not much more that needs to be discussed in this thread. But let's not stop beating this dead horse until there's not even a red, muddy mark of it left! Chain drive is a superior option for transverse engines, just as shaft drive is a natural choice for inline designs. Change the Guzzi to a transverse V-twin, a la' Ducati or Harley-D, and it would naturally be a better choice to go w/ chain (or belt) drive. Otherwise, there's too much power losses associated w/ the extra 90deg turns required in the driveline. But it sure would be nice to see the company exhibit some signs of new development. Not likely under Piaggio, but it would be nice...

Pete, Pete, Pete: It's not whether or not the solution is practical or inexpensive: it's whether it's elegant that matters! Carving up bits of recycled hockey puck is never elegant; using the correct modern material that was unavailable or prohibitively expensive to the original project engineers 40 years ago & has just never been updated, now, that's elegant! In all fairness to Dave Laing, I must admit that I'd rather have a turnkey solution in hand to the issue. I mean, after going to the [apparently not inconsiderable] trouble of busting open the Moto Guzzi cush drive vault, I'd rather have a set of six urethane replacement wedgies of defined & calculated squishiness set & ready to drop in & button back up than have to muck about drilling holes in the old hockey pucks, guessing all the while as to final squishiness [technical term ] and whether they were even or not. OTOH, I'm notoriously impoverished & perforcedly thrifty thereby [some have gone so far as to call me "cheap," of all the nerve!], so as appealing as a properly calibrated of 87A durometer urethane wedges may be, I'm anticipating that it just isn't going to happen at my preferred price point. Drill bits, some sillycone grease, and a shop vac to clean up with - those I already have...

What, did the Tube authorities finally break down & upgrade the loudspeakers in the announcement system? I always thought they were saying "Mwaaa' na' MAP!"[1] Ride on! [1] Spoken like one of the "adult voices" in one of the Charlie Brown cartoon features.

Buna-N, in various subvarieties [aka "Neoprene"] unless I very much miss my guess. In all fairness, Dave Laing is right: a properly-formulated urethane part would be a far better solution*, as it would have better longevity & more importantly, consistency over the product lifespan than the stock rubber cush drive wedges. OTOH, the likelihood of getting such a parts change made by Piaggio/Moto Guzzi is unlikely, given the combined factors of price/finding a new supplier/planned obsolescence objectives. On the 3rd hand, the Guzzi buna wedges have about 10x the bearing surface of equivalent cush drive parts on similar-size J-brand offerings, & those seem to take about a minimum of 10 years of hard riding to decay to the point of needing replacement, from what I've heard/read/experienced. So w/ some judicious applications of Swiss Cheese Engineering per Greg's instructions, the cost effectiveness of having to the replace them when the rubber does finally go south means that the stock units are probably the best solution for the job, not just the only one. I might suggest taking the wedges and leaving them to soak overnight in Armorall or sillycone grease or something prior to replacing them in the hub, as a means of increasing their squishiness & shock absorbtivity down the road. Thanks, Greg! *altho' the correct durometer is probably 72 or higher, not down in the 50s!

Colors will generally bleed if you get the leather wet thru. Whatever you do, do not use a modern washer detergent or dishwashing soap on them: these zippy "all new, all singing, all dancing" enzymatic-ally enhanced detergents will literally digest the proteins in the leather* (per Thurlow custom deerskin gloves.] The non-removable armor is pretty low on your list of worries: it's just rubber or plastic, so as long as you keep the suit away from heat (which would shrink it, anyway) & aggressive solvents [which you don't want the leather absorbing & spreading to you later, anyway], it's pretty much a non-issue. The universally accepted method of cleaning leather is taking saddle soap, a damp cloth, & a lot of time & elbow grease to it. Me, as long as the leather is chrome-tanned (vs. vegetable [oak] tanned), I'd try sticking in a front-loader washer on gentle cycle w/ warm water & a cup of soap flakes or maybe woolite. Once out, I'd lay it flat to dry on a couple of towels laid out on a balcony or picnic table out of direct sun (more towels covering it would work in direct sunlight). After a day or two when it's 90% dry, I'd put it on for that custom "only me" shrink fit. Once totally dry, I'd start rubbing mink oil into the outside to replace all the protectant/preservative oils that were leached out in the washing process. On the inside, it's probably best to use something safe for skin contact like cocoa butter, lube yourself up liberally, & then slide into the suit. But that's probably pushing the bounds of good taste for a public forum, & you can pursue further information on what to do after that over at usenet.alt.leather.kinkyS&Mbondagenonsense... Good luck! * - leather being, pretty simply, preserved skin, which is made up of an interesting blend of bio-polymers, high up on the list being collagen.

O.K., I see the numeric roster, but how about a breakdown by country? Australia: 250 251 254 255 261 275 352 353 401 Denmark: 580 England: 221 313 France: [What!?! None? ] Germany: 9 29 39 90 99 111 134 135 300 Ireland: 150 497 Isle of Man: 310 Italy: 98 107 [only two! Doesn't seem right...] Japan: [i find it odd that there's no Scuras reported, considering the # of Tennis supposedly in the land of the rising sun?.. ] Scotland: 222 225 498 Singapore: 505 USA: 232 279 281 283 288 358 370 381 395 396 539 599 617 Wales: 484 Ride on!