Skeeve

Well, the come-on seems hopeful, but it won't let me get past the 1st page. Any chance you could post a redaction? The quality of their prose (at least, before they went to a pay-for-access format) is too lackluster to justify breaking out the cutting torch to get into my wallet...

Only if you persist on using a cylinder ht. that is adequate for A. Cylinder B's ht. can be shorter, for a given stroke & identical rod length. Nope. Stroke is solely determined by the crank radius, defined as the offset of the crank pin from the axis of the crankshaft. Longer con-rods will move the piston up the bore, but that's both at the top of the stroke AND the bottom of the stroke; total piston travel is the same (hence, the use of the term "stroke.") I'm staying with the "Moto Guzzi chose a de-stroked 850 over a smaller bore as a move to get a higher rpm power peak & thereby play the hp numbers for advertising purposes." If Guzzi is going with a shorter crown ht. on the 850's piston, it means that the cylinders & pushrods are shorter too. The shorter pushrods would make sense, since the 850 needs to spin higher to make power, & shorter (therefore, lighter) pushrods would help the valvetrain keep up. Hmm. The 850 is looking more interesting all the time!

Doh! Too right. But the numbers are meaningless if we're not talking HP & ft/lbs (well, at least for comparison), since I have no idea how many Newton/meters/sec = 1 PostScript? (Sorry, but PS isn't a real measurement unit, is it? ) Ride on,

Not if you know the history. Moral of the story: dumb laws will force the law-abiding to perform extreme acts in an effort to comply. And thus do traditions begin!

Actually, they probably went with the de-stroked big bore because it would have a higher peak h.p. output to list on sales brochures & other such "official" documents, thus helping those customers who buy "by the numbers" to make a reasonable? comparison... Of course, those who want to ride a Griso 850 would be much better served by a smaller bore/standard stroke version of the Griso motor, but I guess that's not to be. Weird: I'd think it was cheaper/easier to make all the cranks the same & only have to change the pistons/cylinders than the other way around, but I guess since there's more parts to stock in the supply chain that way, Guzzi opted for the de-stroked crank? At least with the de-stroked 1100 motor, the 850 Griso will have a better rod ratio, which is supposed to help efficiency/power/smoothness or something... Ride on!

Less displacement = less fuel being burned/minute = less heat produced. Not saying that an oil cooler wouldn't be helpful, but as an economy measure (since virtually everything else about the 850 would cost the same as the 1100) it's a no-brainer to eliminate that in favor of being able to bring the 850 in at a lower price point in order to provide adequate product differentiation.

"Hmm, I may need to downshift for this sweeper coming up. Now, is the clutch on the right or the left on this bike, I forget? I better make this shift quick now! Grab a handful of clutch... It *was* the left! I'd better straighten up & goose it to regain [bAM!] Ow!" There's a lesson here folks: the probability of an accident increases exponentially with the proximity of a video camera!

Weather will be hot, mostly dry. The only place you're likely to need any sort of rain gear will be on the coast, at higher elevations in the Sierras, & on the AZ part of your loop. So your packing list looks about right. As others have pointed out, it makes no sense whatsoever to go up the 101 between San Luis Obispo & Salinas, when you can just take Hwy 1 and experience some of the best justification for taking a motorcycle tour vs. caging it! Also, what's with the big chunk of miles in Nevada? You *like* flat, hot desert? That same segment could be spent tooling down US 395, which would take you past Mammoth mtn. & Lone Pine (which is a must see area if you're into classic US westerns...) As far as the tour thru Utah's Canyonlands (looks like you're trying to loop thru Zion, Grand Escalante & then loop down to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon), all I've got to say is: you're already passing the North Rim, & if you miss it while you're there then you should just give up now! The South Rim is awe inspiring, has all the great photo ops, etc. etc., but the N. Rim of the Grand Canyon is one of those stops that you'll always want to return to. 'Nuff said! You should have a great time. Enjoy!

First off, did it come w/ the original cans? I need more victims^H^H^H^H^H^H^H, er, material for my diabolical experiments! [old thread on modifying the stock cans, look it up... ] I'm no expert, but it's almost guaranteed that the injectors are clogged from disuse. Best recommendation I can make is to go out & buy 3 bottles of Techroline (toluene would work dandy, but since our govt. fears us, that stuff's hard to come by anymore... ) dump'em in the tank, and proceed to ride around WFO. Why? Because unlike a carbeurator, where riding down a steep hill w/ the throttle completely closed being your best way to get solvent (in this case, fresh gas w/ a whole bunch of detergent) thru the fuel circuits w/ the smallest holes, with FI the nozzle is the same for fast or slow running, so the best way to clean those holes is to run as much solvent thru them as possible, which is when the throttle is pegged. If you have to do this in 1st gear while getting the groceries at the store on the corner, or can do it in 6th while circling the local NASCAR oval, no matter. Other than this crude method, I have no idea as to what's involved with cleaning the injectors. Does Guzzi even sell replacements? I have no clue. [but, that's been said of me about lots of things! ] Congrats on your 1st Guzzi; & welcome to the fold! Lastly, & this is most important: never, ever, ever be sad about how you got this bike while you're riding it! You can be as maudlin as you want when sitting in the garage staring at it's gorgeous paint scheme, or staring out the kitchen window, or whatever, but you owe it to your departed friend to enjoy the hell out of it when you're out riding! Don't let there be any conflicted emotions about that! When you're riding it, you should be living life WRIT LARGE, singing in your helmet, feeling like you're dancing down that twisty road the Bike likes best: this is why your friend bought it, that is why you ended up with it, and there can be no other thing to distract yourself with when riding it. Ride on,

No, what's really strange is that the HP & Torque curves don't cross @ 5252 rpm! Anybody who purports to "dyno" your bike, cage, engine, whatever and the curves aren't converging below 5252, cross @ 5252 (provided the engine revs that high) and diverging above 5252 rpm, don't pay them! They might as well be telling you your horoscope... Ride on,

[1] Nope. The fumes go into the canister, the charcoal does some adsorption, vents to airbox. Bike starts, air is pulled thru canister, gas effloresces from the charcoal, goes to cylinder & gets burned. [2] Yup. If you have an annual inspection. So far, Bikes are exempt from even the biannual smog tests that cars get here in CA. In all fairness, much more than the 1qt of fuel/4 years that DLaing forecasts will evaporate from a motorcycle tank w/o these things, given So.Cal.'s sunny weather, general lack of shaded motorcycle parking, & the small volume of fuel motorcycles can carry. (Heck, I can lose that much fuel in a couple of months, just w/ the bike in the garage!) On a regularly ridden Goldwing, with it's 5+ gallon, inside the frame gas tank? Totally superflous. On a V11 Sport, w/ a nylon tank perched over an a/c motor? Marginally useful. On a Jackal, w/ a metal tank & a/c motor, parked in the sun 9 hrs a day while at work, multiplied by 100s if not 1000s of similarly constructed bikes out there in similar situations in a vast "bowl" of inadequate atmospheric turnover [ie, helL. A.]? Definite prevention of photochemical smog. It's the power of incremental advantage & large numbers, aka "economies of scale." If Guzzi made 2x the bikes, they could all be sold for less money & the company would still make more profit. Same idea. Should you remove the canister? If you live somewhere that you rarely need to park your bike in the sun for extended periods (& obviously, have no regular vehicle inspections to make certain that all the stock parts are still attached like the poor Germans & New Jersey? residents), feel free. It'll save you a couple pounds & lots of frustration by not having to work around extra hoses, etc. when wrenching on your bike. If you live someplace it's regularly h-o-t HOT like anywhere in the tropics, or in the U.S. south & western states during summer, you're doing good for the environment: the decision is yours. Me, I'm mostly just too lazy to mess with it, but if it ever got in my way, I'd yank it w/o much in the way of qualms. If it ever came right down to it, I could save just as much fuel from evaporation by throwing a white towel over the tank whenever I park my bike! & oh, BTW? That fuel that gets recycled from canister trapping the fumes? Does nothing to improve your gas mileage: the bike just runs a little rich until all the fuel is burnt, since the ECU has no way of accounting for it!

Ain't gonna happen, at least, not according to Erik Buell! He no likey da VR-mill, sez it's too d@mn big & heavy for a sport bike. Come to think of it, Yamaha has never built a sportbike w/ the V-Max mill, & it's equivalent to the VR motor in size/wt/power output... I guess Erik's got a point.

[1] I've ridden the V-rod [year of introduction, when the Harley factory test-fleet was at the Laughlin River Run in Nevada (on the Colorado river, across from Arizona)], and can testify that the seating is extremely hard on the small of the back; the only way you can comfortably ride on one of these for more than 15min at a stretch is to get the accessory sissy-bar & carry a suitably pneumatic back-supporter V-Rod essential accessory [2] It's ironic that Harley waited an additional 40+ years before going with the "wide V" motor (they've known at least that long that in order to get higher revs/more power they needed more space between the cylinders.) For those not into H-D history, the Sportster (original, iron-head, 1957 launch) barely edged out a far superior design, based on a 60degV angle, aluminum head KL motor. Basically, if HD had chosen the other option, they would've stayed w/ a sidevalve motor [but oversquare, & higher revving] a few more years, then moved to OHV on that foundation (the XL being, basically, just a pair of OHV heads slapped onto the KL motor!) It's one of the classic "what ifs?" in motorcycling history; if HD had done that, they would've had to upgrade the running gear earlier to keep pace w/ the motor, & if they'd done that, the Honda CB750 wouldn't have had such a clear tech lead, leading .... where? Lot's of fun to speculate! [3] Short-stroke, massively (esp. for Harley!) oversquare motor designed to make power at higher rpms, toting a frame & running gear that are way overweight for the sportbike this engine evolved from... is it any wonder it wants a little stick before it gets going? [4] R.I.P. Tony Angco! Friend of mine helped with some of the H-D product development work, specifically getting the F.I. mapping dialed in. Gotta love a job that requires you to put on several hundred miles a day just tooling around the So.Cal. mountain roads at as high a speed as you feel you can get away with! Tony told us that there would be something really great coming from H-D, rsn, but nobody knew what to expect. Ironically, they released the Street Rod[24] after he died. [5] Those pesky EPA & E3 buweaucwats! They must be dealt with sevewely! Centuwion!... [6] OHC vs. OHV valvtrains, 4v vs. 2v: whaddaya gonna do? Guzzi ain't makin' anymore more of the HiCams... [7] In case you haven't noticed, almost all of H-D's motor development in the past 5 years has been going to improving their gearboxes. All their advertising mentions it, as well as the moto rags talking about it. Good to have it from an impartial source! [8] Heh, you shoulda tried the V-Rod first! That's some serious rake, brutha! [9] H-D pulled some interesting tricks w/ the triple trees, axle offset, etc. Kudos to them for pulling off the styling treatment they were after while mitigating its more stupid? deleterious? evil? f/x... [10] The single GREATEST advance of the Street Rod over the V-Rod is the improved lean angle. I'm nowhere near as aggressive a rider as many (if not most!), as witnessed by my simply GIGANTIC chicken strips. Magnify this by natural caution of riding someone else's (the factory's in my case) bike. Yet, I managed to ground hard parts while test riding the V-Rod, w/ my (not large) gf on the back![26] [11] There're some drawbacks to ultra-low c.o.g. tho': my dad likes to tell the tale of when he was riding x-country on his Harley[27][28], and pulled into a gas station to refuel. Got off the bike, stepped over to the pump, unhitched the nozzle and turned around... just in time to see the bike, which had been patiently waiting for him to put down the kickstand, topple over! [29] [12] Raked out forks can actually be stiffer than otherwise, since at speed, the jolts are more nearly inline with the forks' ability to absorb the jolts. But I think the factory doesn't expect the owners to do more than zip around on city streets, so opt for the "ultra plush" soft ride setting. [13] Harley brakes work, they're just notorious for being stiff & wooden. Despite this, the "shortest stopping distance from 60mph" record in MCN consistently goes to a Harley or other cruiser: all that extra weight & extra long wheelbase means that you can get some use out of the rear brake! [14] It does sound, from your description, that someone was trying to convert the S-Rod back into a V-Rod. Pretty dang pointless, really! [15] H-D always seems to stick their instruments in odd places. A speedo in the middle of the tank? As far as the tach goes, it was probably an afterthought, since no traditional Harley owner knows what-the-heck its for, given that on a traditional Harley, you just gas it until either it wheezes[30] or your teeth rattle out[31], then shift. [16] The "one each side" turn indicator buttons are a little odd at first, but very easy to adapt to, and the self-cancelling feature is nice (altho' it used to cancel too soon; I think Harley added the "push off" feature when they upped the time-to-cancel) Overall, I like H-D's switchgear pretty well. [17] Fuel gauges are just there to lull the newbies into a false sense of security; conveniently resettable trip meters and pilot awareness are the real deal! [18] Why? Never apologize for your personal taste (unless your my friend Chris: his taste in music & clothes is execrable!) [19] An excellent turn of phrase! BMW's peak from the oilhead seems to be from the new HP2: it puts out, in its maxed out state, what the H-D VR mill does in its fairly mild V-Rod state of tune. I forget what Harley calls their turn-key drag racer based on the V-Rod, but it puts out about what the mid-90s factory racer VR motor did. You've gotta figure that there's at least a few ponies more than that left hiding in there, now that Porsche gave them some help w/ the head... As far as "better than the Guzzi mill" goes, well... that's what 30 years of technological evolution & water cooling can do for you! [20] Just grab a Buell flyscreen & slap it on! Same shop, no waiting! [21] OTT: Over The Top? Old Time Twin? Whatever... I'm with you on this. The VR motor is fundamentally a good one, and Harley built it with the knowledge that the days of the a/c 2v 45deg V were numbered (& low numbers, at that!) H-D is taking their time introducing the VR mill into the line because they know that doing too much, too soon will just spook the cattle and ultimately lead to a longer interval before acceptance by the RUBs as " a real Harley." Look, it's been 50 years since the introduction of the Sportster (as of next year), and you still get grief from some of the bigger idiots in the H-D fold with "get a real Hog!" comments! The Factory knows what they're about; I will expect to see a VR-powered touring rig around the 2010 model year, maybe a skosh sooner. But that's just my forecast; I'd be tickled to see it sooner! If you think of the V-Rod as the equivalent to one of the "factory specials" like the original FX Superglide, and the S-Rod as the equivalent of one of the traditional cruisers (ie, the factory making the FX range a regular run of models), you've still got a Sportster-equivalent evolution to go thru before you get to Harley's bread & butter line, the long-haul, 2-up, La-Z-Boy on wheels tourer. A sport-tourer will be somewhat after this, esp. as 1) that's likely perceived as a Buell-type product, 2) Erik Buell has told me in person that he's not interested in using the VR mill in anything & 3) Erik has also been straight up about there not being enough of a market for sport-tourers to justify devoting any energy pursuing that niche until all your other models' sales curves are essentially flattened out. (Whew!) [22] That's what makes your review worth 10x the others! The real dirt, from a real rider, who's opinion we've come to know & respect! [23] Skip the Road Glide: that funky 1/2-ht full fairing doesn't do cr@p until you're well past the legal limit, & it's uglier than a pug-nosed b!tch to boot. Get yourself a Road King or an FLSTS [wide front tire, softail, springer front, for those unused to decoding Harley's model descriptors! ] I'm looking forward to either of these fit w/ the VR motor, since 1st) the RK is a full-on tourer that's setup so you can easily strip it down to the essential for around-town use: 2 bikes in 1! & 2nd) the FLSTF has got total nostalgic styling street-cred, but the modern spring front end tracks road ripples like nobody's biz, due to much less stiction than even BMW's various experiments in production front boingers for the past 20 years... & it's automagically anti-dive, too! Stick a spiffy motor in either one, & you'd see where they might be just a tad more interesting to someone with even a mild sporting bent... [24] Which looks very much like the blacked-out test mule we found a photo of him astride, when we were helping clean up his widow's place.[25] [25] Who, surprisingly? thankfully? deceased less than a year after Tony. "Tragically fitting" is about the only way to describe it. They truly were a perfect pairing. [26] Preload adjusted by one of the many Harley factory elves keeping the event running smoothly... [27] Before I was even a twinkle. [28] He says he had the choice between the almost new Harley and a much older Indian Scout. He always regretted not getting the Indian; he felt that it would have been much more reliable & a better performer... [29] I've very nearly done this w/ a 1200 GoldWing myself, btw. Like father - like son, I guess! [30] On a modern, rubber-glide bike like your Buell, et al. [31] On an old-style solid mount like a Fat Boy or other Softail model. Ride on!

I subscribe to Pscho Whirl too, tho' mostly because it's cheap & they're right down the road from me [but the doggone greedy fish excreta* never ask for real world riders to drop in & help'em review their bikes!] MCN & Rider are the ones I really enjoy, in that order, but CW, being the big fish in the small pond, gets most of the previews & long-term test bikes first (which is why the other rags usually seem to complain about getting cracked up test-bikes & such, I guess ) Of course, besides MCN, very few of the US bike rags compare with the Brit rags for sheer candor! The Brit rags may be staffed by complete nutjobs, but at least they're not afraid to slag a bike if they don't like it... I guess I'll have to give ol' Motorcyclist** a look this month, just to see what they've gone & said about the V11 Sport... * or, in the parlance, "Bass Turds!" ** Doesn't H-D own this trademark from one of their in-house publications from the last century? How'd they miss filing a lawsuit on that?

I don't even bother flipping thru Motorcyclist when passing the newsstand at the grocery store; it's worse than the worst of the Brit bike rags! So, what's the article say, just out of curiosity? Is it written by a visitor, or has someone on the regular staff grown a brain? [Again, not my fave rag... ] Ride on!

I've pondered the question "How difficult would it be for Acerbis (1) to mold some steel plates into a nylon tank, so that magnetic bags would work?" The corollary is "Is it possible to epoxy some nicely chromed steel pads to the tank top to make a mag bag readily useable, w/o utterly destroying the looks of the bike?" Not a fan of strap ons or non-magnetic tanks... (1) - OEM of Guzzi's plastic, iirc

The Sporti w/ all the goodies, plus the Centauro pieces mentioned, should be equal to a Ballabio [except that you have the 5-speed clunker instead of the zippy 6 speed that can break pawl springs to leave you stranded, & a shorter swingarm...] My advice? Buy it, get an aftermarket repop of the Sport fairing, paint it all the original Guzzi Sporti yellow [love that color! ] and hook up the idiot lights [everything should line up, both the Centauro & the Sporti used the Marelli 16M, iirc] & ride ride ride! Even if you leave it as is, it should be a fine machine. Do the P.Roper thing & get the tranny shimmed up right, make sure you've got the non-exploding 5th gear in there, & take comfort in the fact that the only Guzzi w/ a higher top speed than the Sporti is a Daytona [due to the fact that all later models are geared lower.]

the "...and flowed" is the key part of your statement! From what's been posted here & elsewhere, the size of the valves isn't the bottleneck for engine breathing in the Guzzi big block. Excellent idea! Best of luck to you [& all the rest of us on v11LM, since if you succeed, we'll all benefit, to varying degrees!]

Um, iirc, what you saw was a LeMans painted to match a Coppa d'Italia, not a Coppa rehabbed w/ a LeMans fairing. Given the cost of the fairing bits, it's cheaper to sell a Coppa & buy a LeMans & do the paint than the other way 'round. At least, that's what I recall as being the gist from the "Coppa Mans" thread. Gorgeous bike tho', isn't it?!?

Uh, prolly due to bad translation... 1st motorcycle manufacturer to build one, certainly. 1st automotive manufacturer to build a full-scale wind tunnel, possibly. (Altho' their bikes were built lower to the ground back then; the factory claims that the wind tunnel can't be used to design fairings for the Bikes of today 'cause the ceiling ht. is too low/bikes too tall, reportedly...) As far as Merc or Auto Union, I'd imagine BMW being before either of them, since BMW got their start building airplane motors (witness the BMW roundel) back in WWI [& the only reason they got into building Bikes was looking for work after the end of that war & being legally prevented from further aeronautical work because of the idiotic provisions of the Versailles (non-)Treaty, which virtually guaranteed WWII... o.k., enough history lessons for today! ] Wish I'd seen it, no tv right now...

Powder blue? What, are you guys a couple o' poofters? [/ Python Australian Faculty Lounge skit] Me likey the yellow. Surprised they did away with the cafe au lait bike they trotted around to the shows a couple years ago; it looked really fab in person, altho' I know 1st hand how poorly it photographed. Strange, that. Maybe they're saving that color for a "Dakar rally" special reissue of the Quota?[1] Ride on, [1] That's the way to adventure tour! Ride a camouflaged bike so that the rescue crews can't find you if you get really, really lost!

Deal all gone; sorry! About 1? 2? months back, the news hit that Pirelli was running a BOGO offer on the Diablo Strada; if you bought a rear, they'd send you a front for $25 s/h. It was limited to the U.S. tho', iirc [maybe N.Am?] Anyway, they'd allocated something like 1000 tires to the promo, the website had a nifty little countdown tracker, and they were all used up by the 2nd of April or thereabouts [the last I recall checking the countdown status.] Try looking for a deal on BT010 front/BT020 rear; now that Bridgestone has supplanted them with the BT014?, you maybe can get a good price for that combo, which everyone who's ever run them sez combines the good handling of the 10s w/ the better mileage of the 20s in a much superior way than stock issue of 020s front & rear!

What about the place you found it? Dealers don't care whether or not it's DOT approved; that's your problem should you decide to try wearing it out on the road! [Hint: you're not going to get pulled over, 'cause how many cops bother to pull over the just-plain-stoopid-beanie-wearin' RUBs? They won't even conceive of a non-DOT full-face modular! ] Good lookin' bit of kit; have you tried on similar Suomys here to be certain it'll fit? Best o' luck...

2 things: 1] All pneumatic tires lose pressure over time. No leaks; gas just migrates thru the rubber! This is best demonstrated w/ a kid's helium balloon; since the partial pressure of helium outside the balloon is zero, there's a HUGE pressure gradient forcing the gas thru the rubber (osmosis, as you learned about in chemistry class & hoped that it meant that when you fell asleep w/ your face in the textbook, it would still allow some of the knowledge to end up in your brain... ) 2] Schrader valves [the type we all use on automobile & motorcycle tires] leak. (1)Some have slow leaks that can be measured in days, some have relatively good sealing that can be ignored vs. the process above. But typically, a slow leak in a tire is the valve [or valve stem, if old or has a bad seal.] Easiest way to check this is take a spray bottle of soapy water, take the valve cap off & coat the valve stem liberally w/ the liquid. Grab a chair & a tall cold one, & spend some quality time eyeballing your machine. Pretty soon you may notice the occasional bubble rising from the valve itself or base of the valve stem. Voila'! You've determined the source of your leak; now, depending on how frequent the bubbles appear, you have the decision to make regarding whether it's worthwhile to replace the valve/stem before the next tire change, or just check the pressure more frequently/religiously. Oh yeah, and don't forget: sunny weather means the ambient air pressure went up, which in turn means that the air pressure in your tires went down; "riding weather" is synonymous with "check your tires!" (1): this is why the serious sport bicycles come w/ Presta valves, which enable you to "lock out" the valve to prevent slow leaks. But they're a fiddly nuisance on any kind of tire that has decent volume vs. operating pressure requirements...

Rubber degrades when exposed to heat & solvents. Do yourself a favor: before installing your new intake boots, spray them w/ silicone spray: it will help protect them from oxidizing & they'll last that much longer. This is also something you should do annually for any rubber parts exposed to the weather on your bike or cage; it really does help'em last. A $4 can of spray silicone can save you a lot more than that in saved time, expense & frustration. Glad to hear you found a solution!