Skeeve

Check it out! In the second frame of the foto essay as the page loads, you get a nice "worm's eye view" of the muff; the huge can is the heat shield, with louvers & all! So there's hope yet for the huge dustbin hangin' in the breeze; cut off the fugly bit, have a welder TIG on some pips, & bolt up a piece of perf'd. stainless where it's needed to protect your leg & passengers' feet, & clean up the looks of the thing about 10000%! D@mn I'm good; somebody get me a tv show, quick! Biker buildoff, shmildoff!

OMG! LOVE it! Give to Papa!

Hey, hey, HEY NOW! I happened to think the cafe au lait looked better than the black version! [At least, the cafe au lait looked better in person than the black does in photos...] But the poofter blue needs to go, man! Courts still out on the yellow, too. Why hasn't MG come out with a titanium grey option? I mean, "Griso" means "grey" in some language or other, don't it? Oh wait: it's "grigio." A grigio Griso, anyone? Keeping my fingers crossed that this will be a hugely successful model for MG, even tho' I'm not that excited about it personally. It'd be a very good thing for Guzzi to capture some favorable attention from the world at large... [FWIW: I had my first "Moto Guzzi. Who makes that?" moment gassing up recently...]

Or better yet... since you've got all the boost the engine can handle, just run that air thru a bunch of bubblers in the bottom of a water tank & take the air out the top. You get the best of both worlds: cooler intake with (super)saturated humidity [water injection] for more power! Ride on!

Oh, geez, why didn't I think of that! No, wait: it's 'cause it's not the answer to the question! Nevermind...

Um... "v11 naked" vs. "LeMans Rosso Corsa" - no doubt the opening bid was lower on yours! Good job on snapping it up, tho'!

That's something that always has amazed me: why is there nobody who makes motorcycle chaps instead of this "fashion" wear/wannabe cowboy cr@p? Motorcyclists need a seat on their chaps [for reasons that should be obvious to anyone who's ever seen a high-speed launch at race-day], and it's not like there's a whole lot of extra leather or construction involved. Yet you don't see'em? What's up w/ that?

Well, there's aftermarket fibreglas parts; you could always buy some of them (lighter than the stock Guzzi body parts) and then get summa that CF-look tape to provide the look! Ride on!

That's actually why they work: by staying flexible, they continually shift to fill the gaps that the oil is trying to leak thru. Kinda like window putty never really "drying" per se [or rather, when it finally does dry, it cracks & starts leaking! ] Stop thinking so hard, & just use it... Ride on!

Thanks Paul, that's good information! So the final drive ratio on the MGS is 1.55:1, the V11s are 1.68 (roughly, lots of less significant digits there.) Notice that in both cases, there's an odd # of teeth on one gear; that's important. Other combinations (assuming the mmpbflmpblplg [yes, I can't remember the technical term for fitting up gear radius' vs. their teeth shape, whatever it is] is compatible) would be 20/32 & 19/31. These work out to 1.60 & 1.63, except you never want two even-toothed gears to be working on each other, since they wear into each other because the same teeth are always in contact & then when they get taken apart & put back together, suddenly they don't work right anymore... So of the options, it would be the 1.68 of the original V11 final drive, the 1.55 of the MGS, & hypothetically, a 1.63 ratio of the combination of the V11 shaft & MGS crown wheel. This last would give a (theoretical) top speed of 141mph vs. the 137mph claimed; the 1.55 MGS drive ratio would yield a 148.5mph top end [again, highly theoretical!] Seems like a lot of work & expense for 11.5 measly mph on top, but then again, being able to cruise at even a few rpm less can make ALL the difference, comfort wise. Ride on!

Every car manual I've seen in the last 20 years (since they invented the stuff) specifies "molybium high pressure grease" for the driveshaft u-joints. There's a reason for this: the peak loads may squeeze all but the thinnest trace of the grease out from between the bearing surfaces, but the molybenum disulfide that remains (the stuff that makes the grease unbelievably black & capable of staining *anything* grey, even teflon ) provides the high-pressure slipperiness to keep the parts from scoring. To put it one way: the stuff is so good at high pressure lubrication, precision shooters have taken to embedding the stuff onto the bullets they reload in order to keep from wearing out their ex$pen$ive high-end rifle barrels. In case you don't know, bullets are an interference fit in the barrels they're shot out of, so that kinda defines the "high pressure" end of things... Alternatively, another good choice might be the barium waterproof grease used for lubing axles on boat-trailers & the like that are subject to frequent dunkings. Especially for those riders in the UK or Normandy, where riding in the rain is accepted as just part of the fun [] - your bikes stand a good chance of having the critical lube washed away in addition to used up or flung off, so that's got some good potential over the white lithium bicycle grease people seem to keep recommending. Wrt to keeping the bike clean after lubing the zerks, I remember reading a suggestion around here somewhere to take a piece of the cereal box cardboard, coil it up & put it inside? the safety cages around the joints, ride around the block (fast!), & then pull the cardboard with all the flung off grease out of the cage. Sounds spiffy to me; I've got to give it a try tho' before I can truly offer an opinion... Ride on!

Looks to be some sort of tank bra? It doesn't float my boat much, due to the green not matching the Guzzi phosphorus color well... Ride on!

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but just out of curiosity, how much weight is actually saved by all this expen$ive frippery? Does it really add up to much more than the sandwiches in my tankbag? Or is it almost as much as the bottle of spumante? Now that's an idea worth exploring: a reuseable CF bottle for carbonated beverages, so your mid-ride lunch is easier to cart around! Seriously, tho': $300 for a CF frame that'd save 22 pounds/10 kilos would be worthwhile, despite all the costs of tearing down the bike to install it; $300 to save 20 ounces? I carry more than that in spare ballast around my midriff! $300 could buy me a membership at a healthclub for a year, and at the end of the year I'd not only save more weight than all that CF bodywork does, I'd have the added bonus of being able to ride longer before getting tired! What fools these mortals be!

Hmmm... I love the Coppa's color scheme, but I love the V11 LeMans looks more. If I had it to do over again, I would have gone in 1 year ago this week and bought the Tenni that somebody bought out from under me because I waited until after Labor Day & went in 1 year ago next week to buy it. I just love the Tenni's silver, black & dark green color scheme, which have been the hallmarks of my personal standard since I was a kid. Can't believe I let it slip away, but I can't complain too much, since I got an '03 Lemon from Moto Int'l. in the black [o.k., "grigio titanium," whatever] to make up for losing out on the Tenni. Still wish I knew who got my Tenni, tho'!

For that matter, why did Guzzi give up on the very appealing (& I guess rugged: I've never seen any complaints about it!) anthracite grey finish used on the HiCams in the Centauros? I can understand that they might have left it behind if it was very expensive to produce, but if the costs were only marginally higher, they should have stuck with it: it's a very distinctive look, adding to brand identity. Anyone have an answer? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Why do people keep saying this? The only thing the really *requires* cooling are the heads. From what Pete's said, Guzzi blocks still have the mounting bosses for the Convert's tranny pump; use those to drive a water pump, tuck a radiator in a fairing, add a fan & a thermistor, bada-bing bada-boom, & Bob's yer uncle! Why, why, why do people insist on always making things harder than they need to be? Thanks for the 1st hand observations on the noise factor, Helo: I never thought about the effects moving the cams closer to the outside world & doubling the tappets, etc. would have on the engine noise! Water cooled heads are good for *that* problem too, since the water jacket tends to muffle a lot of that hullabaloo...

I can't entirely blame an honest seller for wanting to have some nice, professional photos to make the product look appealing, but he absolutely needs to put some shots of the real thing up with. Very sketchy...

Thanks for the insight, Pete! Just to add some points for those who haven't read Greg Field's book, the Hi-Cam was literally a race-development engine that along with the spine frame was kind of a a factory-backed attempt to keep Dr. John's race efforts competitive without Guzzi having to spend a lot of money on an official racing division. As such, it really was just a "bolt up" affair based upon the standard bottom-end: by using much shorter push rods and 4v heads, the engine could rev higher and still breathe when it got there. It doesn't surprise me that the HiCam engine cost that much more than the regular 2v engines, given the duplication of parts caused by having 2 of everything in the heads instead of one of everything nestled in the vee in the top of the block. It's an economy of scale thing: if Guzzi had (would?) standardize on the 4v head and *all* production came with it, the unit costs for the added complexity would come down [but obviously, would never be as cheap as the 2v componentry.] What's weird is that Guzzi probably could have saved more money in the long run by going the full DOHC route, using the belt drive to the inboard cams in each head & then driving the outboard mate by chain or gear. Properly designed, the cams might have all been the same unit, w/ just the appropriate gearing bolted up. Here comes that "economies of scale" thing again! Despite your criticism of using a 4v design with the long pushrods, it *would* confer several benefits to the current design: a better combustion chamber shape [pentroof] for a whole host of benes [higher compression = more power, yet w/ greater resistance to pinging], better breathing [= more power & better comparisons "by the specs"], and of course, there's the BIG SQUARE HEAD cool factor... It's really too bad that Jim Feuling died too soon; he made 4v heads for the Sposta that worked, maybe he could have made some for the Guzzi if he was still with us? As for why Guzzi hasn't gone this route: heck, considering how badly they got scalded with their experience trying it on the small-blocks, I'm certain they'll never attempt it on the big-blocks, regardless of possible advantages! As you say; it was already an anachronism by the time it actually hit the streets & we'll never see the like again. Sure was fun while it lasted, tho'!

I am surprised to read this; these high-wattage bulbs are known for melting wiring harnesses is bikes that aren't already well-known for having electrical gremlins! I still haven't figured out why nobody produces an 80/65w bulb, which would be noticeably brighter than a stock one w/o producing so much more current demands that it requires stringin' new wire, but whatever!

Guzzi also made one of these in the full 750 size for Italian police; why they never offered it for commercial sale is beyond me! Maybe 'cause it would have cannibalized Quota sales? [big whoop; selling 2x as many small blocks adv. tourers as the Quota should have been an accounting no-brainer! ] Go figure...

You're not the only one, brutha'! Committing such a visual crime to what was once such a beautiful machine should have consequences. Where are the style police when you need them?!? [Hey, we need a new smiley! One with a clothespin on the nose, or a skunk walking by, for "Wow! What a stinker!"

Just out of curiosity, who's life exactly is Ralph Nader supposed to have saved with his corrupted product safety "research?" [i presume you're referring to the book that was his catapult into the political arena, [u]Unsafe at Any Speed[/u]] Nader's only value has been to steal votes from even more unsavory candidates in various elections. For that he should be thanked, since it probably saved us all a few bucks by preventing other idiots from spending our tax dollars, but it's hard to quantify. Dunno about it saving anyone's life, either...

Well, as the originator of this idea, I have to say I prefer stiff key action to the idea of my seat popping off if I hit a pothole too hard! Since the factory seems to have an aversion to getting their hands greasy and scrimps on the grease/oil/whathaveyou elsewhere, what makes you think that a quick shot of dry lube in the lock and cable lube on the seat-latch release cable & a dab of grease on the latch mechanism itself won't cure the "stiff key" problem you're experiencing & lead to seat & fast-idle co-operative bliss? What can I say that other's have not already? YMMV; if you don't like it, switch it back. I, for one, cannot conceive of going back to needing both hands to move the fast idle lever, & having to hold it in position while the engine warms up... [Oh yeah, & always warm up air-cooled engines before trying to blast off; they'll last longer if you do...] Ride on!

Um, just out of curiosity: why isn't anyone using rubber cement? Go to any dive shop; they'll have little cans of the neoprene variety suited to gluing the neoprene mounts. NB: once you open the can, it's shelf life is finite. Use it to fix everything you can as fast as you can, & reseal it. Be prepared to toss it & buy a new can the next time you go to use it. Next step: where can we source urethane stock to make replacement mounts that will last? Ride on!

Given that there's no rising rate linkage, the V11 would seem to be an ideal candidate for a progressive rear spring or air shock. Does Fournales make a shock for the monoshock Guzzis? Or Prog. Suspension offer a replacement spring? I know that several have written about sub'ing FZ1 springs for the stock fork springs; what manufacturer's stock shock parallels the dimensions of the Guzzi stocker, so that prog. springs for that alternate might be obtainable? Tis a puzzlement... Great question for you to have asked, tho'!