Skeeve

Go to Red Racing products [another Italian company]; they sell the bitchin'est bikini fairing; started off for the Monster, Guzzi wound up offering it (or a knockoff) on the Centauro/Ballabio/Coppa Italia/Scura. I got one several years ago for my SV650, but never got around to painting it & installing it; I could probably be induced to sell it for what I have in it (about $E140) if you want it in raw fiberglas [but take my advice; pay the extra for a pre-painted version straight from the source, unless you have some wild color scheme in mind... My own cheapness came back & bit me in the @ss; I coulda had this on the bike AGES ago if I hadn't thought I could "paint it myself for less..." ] Red Racing parts Ride on!

Guzzis have one huge advantage over most "unit engine" Bikes due to their (automotive style) dry clutch; this means that you can use any of the "friction modified" oils that plague riders of wet-clutch machines. Others have pointed out that you can use dead-dinosaur juice & change it more often, or full synthetic & go longer between changes: it's purely an owner choice thing. Beyond that, I'd like to point out that in oil tests performed under laboratory conditions, Castrol GTX & diesel formulations were the only dead-dino oils to hold up at all well. Given that an air-cooled engine will "coke" oils much like a diesel- or turbocharged engine (or even moreso), if you aren't using one of these, you should be using a full synthetic. I expect to be using Rotella Syn [cheaper than Mobil 1 15w50] exclusively once past the 10k mile breakin point: using synthetic oils prior to that has been shown to delay bedding in of components. As to your "what mileage" question, my experience with VW bugs [not the Golf with swoopy bodywork they're calling a "Beetle" nowadays; I mean a real Beetle!] was 2000 mi like clockwork on dead dinosaurs or 3000 for synthetics (once they reformulated them so that they stopped eating seals); if you added a filter kit you could stretch it to 3000 miles or 5000 miles syn. Since a Beetle has forced air cooling & a Guzzi doesn't, but the Guzzi does have an oil filter & great natural cooling, I'm going to say 2.5k on dead dinos, 5k on synthetic. That's my story & I'm stickin' to it! BTW, what does the manual say? I didn't get one w/ my bike... Ride on!

Report him to Ebay fraud division, & leave bad feedback. The fraud division doesn't do much, but they may yank the cretin's other auctio^H^H^H^H^H^Hscams. Bad feedback doesn't do much for you, but it helps the rest of the community avoid being taken in by this sucker. I got skinned for $60 on a lathe chuck once; since then, I do more homework before bidding on anything expensive. C'est la vie. Ride on,

Great writeup; thanks for sharing! IANAL, & I don't play one on tv, nor do I intend to criticize your excellent story, but the Aermacchi in the picture is a 4-stroke; AFAIK, the Aermacchi 2-strokes are all marked Harley-Davidson, & none of them have (had) lay-down cylinders. Even so, pounding the Alps into submission on roughly 40 year-old 175cc 4-strokes is still mighty impressive! Kudos to them! Thanks again for the great pics & story! Ride on,

Enzo: 1st let me say how relieved I am to hear that you came thru that brake-lockup episode unscathed! Rubber side down & all that, my friend! Bike's lookin' sharp, altho' the black/chrome transition on the exhaust looks a leetle funky [personal call, jmnsho! ] WRT the RC51: I know that people are giving you grief about selling the Goose to offset the purchase of the newer bike, & all I can tell you is hearsay from other RC51 owners: 1] IIRC, you're built on the compact scale of things, so the cramped quarters of the RC51 [for someone my size] should be a non-issue. 2] The RC51 is described as being hot to ride, ie: you don't want to be stuck in traffic on it. Is this going to be a commuter tool? The only successful "daily rider" I've known had about a 5 mile commute to work [ie: it's almost as fast to ride a bicycle to & fro], & canyon-strafed with it every weekend. In that scenario, it's great. 3] It ain't built for comfort, it's built for speed. You won't want to be putting on any 500mi days with the RC51. 4] It's a thirsty MF; this has range implications as well as cost of ownership issues. 5] For all of the above, you may want to keep the Guzzi for the softer-edged, out-for-fun riding you'll do. Or not: maybe having the RC51 for the canyon runs and a big trailie like the KLR650 for adventure touring is more your speed? I dunno; you have to make that decision. Whatever you decide to do regarding your bikes, can you post a complete Cobra Replica chronicles up on the RC website or here? Links to pics in old threads here are no longer working since rebuilds of the Rolling Crow website, and the overall story of your efforts to come up with a superior exhaust system [which is interestingly echoed by Guzzi's own latest offering, the Griso] is worthy of recording for future generations of Guzzisti. Thanks! Ride on,

1: The battery might have accumulated enough of a charge while sitting to just kick the engine over & start, but then is struggling to maintain the minimum current/voltage needed to keep everything ticking along smoothly, finally getting enough of a charge back by the end of your one-way trip to be able to recover in time for the next start event. Typically, this results in riders commuting fine all summer w/o noticing any problems, and then a sudden & mysterious "failure" the first cold autumn morning (or evening) when they go out to fire up their bike to ride to work or home... 2: As others have said, it will certainly only help for you to check/clean all ground connections, run separate ground wires for critical connections, and rig the starter & headlight to run off their own individual relays (with an upgraded electrical cable to the starter to help reduce losses there...) - but that's all pretty normal for any motorcycle [Why is it bikes always seem to have such wimpy electrical systems? Are the factories just too cheap to hire an EE intern? Sheesh...]

Agreed. As I understand it, Guzzis big problem right now [as Piaggio sees it] is that they cannot economically produce more than the handful of bikes they already are, due to inefficiencies associated with their old factory space. OTOH, nobody seems happy at the factory being moved elsewhere, even if it is (as in one proposal Aprilia fielded before their takeover) within commuting distance of the present factory workers. Something about "Mandello del Lario" appeals to not only the customers but the suppliers and employees as well! Ergo, Piaggio's bean counters are complacent with cutting off the existing models in favor of production simplification, undoubtedly with the idea that A: newer designs attract more attention and sell better "...'cause it's NEW!" and B: by producing more of the new models cheaper, Guzzis overall sales volume will increase. I agree that Guzzi seemed to be latched onto the Harley-Davidson idea of "model multiplication by stylistic proliferation," and that Piaggio, being based in the commodity scooter market may not understand the market dynamics of the higher-priced motorcycles as well as they think. Or maybe they do & I'm full of sh!t? Time will tell... I completely agree that Piaggio's decision to unceremoniously curtail the V11 (and wind down) the California/cruiser lines [the latter of which has really been the only thing keeping the company afloat the last 10 years] is incredibly unrealistic. But it may be like Ford's shutting down the factory for the major part of a year (8 months?) back when they were converting from producing the Model T to the Model A: perceived as insane at first, but in the long run, a gamble that transforms the company into a newer and more dynamic entity. But overall, I'm betting on this being a failed experiment, and that late next year, Guzzi announces a new & improved Sport-like version of the Breva/Griso, and the new Eldorado makes an appearance to pick up from the lost California sales... One can only hope!

I'll grant you the 4.5-5.5 correction; I wasn't certain *what* the prior rim size was, only that I remember reading posts regarding the year of the change and that the new size is 5.5" with a 180-section tire [which many consider unnecessarily wide.] I see that Al has corrected my misconception re: the Telaio Rosso Sports as well. Mea Culpa! I'm sure that Dave Richardson could answer a lot of these Q's: anyone have a current copy of Guzziology to reference?

Agreed; they pretty much had to use the older models to flesh it out! I'm certain that part of Piaggio's philosophy is that with fewer production-line changeovers, the unit costs will go down, & it will be easier for Guzzi to turn a profit, even if they're making & selling a smaller total # of bikes. The spine frames can't use the Breva engine, due to the return to a hi-mount automotive alternator. Really, it's all kinda stupid: the bike is so cpu- & electronics-dependent now that it wouldn't likely lead to any more problems to mount a turbine in the exhaust turning an alternator with microprocessor-controlled primary windings so that the darn thing is only producing power when A: the turbo is spinning fast enough & B: the battery needs charging. This would have the benefit of forcing a proper 2->1 collector into use in place of the pre-muffler, as well as allowing for lighter mufflers (since the turbo will take care of a lot of the silencing chores by smoothing the exhaust pulses...) I hear you on the styling of the big Breva; why they went overboard when they already had a reasonable-if-plain styling w/ the 750 is beyond me. But then, maybe the same bonehead who o.k.'d the Centauro for release was still involved? The problem basically comes down to design priorities. Guzzi can't do a spiney w/ the hi-mount alternator; Guzzi can't get the engine closer to the front wheel for sportier handling with a front-mount alternator; Guzzi can't do a single-sided swingarm with the spine frame due to torque moments. However, Guzzi can go with a Quota-derived perimeter frame and resolve all these issues, which allows them to have: a quicker handling bike (which makes up for some of it's excess weight), a totally enclosed shaft drive via the single-sided swingarm (which basically eliminates driveline failures/maintenance), and thus you get the big Breva & Griso. All hail the Quota ES! What I can't figure out is why Guzzi didn't *keep* the V11 Sport derivatives: the styling is popular and the production molds (for body parts, etc.) are already amortized, more than justifying the costs of production-line changeover. Make'em *all* special eds, & announce it ahead of time: "We're making 200 Tennis, 200 Scuras, 200 Rosso Mandellos, 200 Coppa Italias,etc., this year. Get your order in now!" Have each engraved with the model&year, produce'em all in a row, & then do the line changeover during August when all of Italy is on vacation, so when Sept. rolls around all the Brevas & Grisos start building. Or vice-versa; I guess there's more time for building the "main line" models Jan-Jul than there is Sept-Nov... Either way, that would enable the use of the new 6-spd with just a minor update to the swingarm for the Sports, to enclose the driveline. Or leave it open; the buyers of the "special eds" are more likley willing to put up with slightly more maintenance responsibilities in exchange for the right look & less unsprung wt... I don't think those features (sportier focus, V11 looks) would affect the ride so much as the sales! As usual, it's all just my

The only thing I remember, is the front crossover(balance pipe) and the raised compression, and enhanced oil delivery to the piston or cylinder or something, and maybe they increased the thickness of the front axle...(was that when they switched to a hollow axle?) Here are some other questions: When did they brace up the frame, and slow down the steering? When did they put the fuel pump in the fuel tank? When did they go to a 180/70-17 rear tire? What bikes had the single plate or dual plate clutches? When did they switch from white to black instruments? When did they use black engine cases? When did they use red frames? When did they modify the front forks? Some of the Marzocchis had threaded in axle, some had gold nitride, some had solid , and some hollow front axles. [Dates are model years; I dunno if Guzzi does like other vendors here in the U.S. where m.y. begins in Sept. of the preceding calendar year, ie: m.y. 1999 cars/bikes/whatnot began becoming available late Sept. of 1998.] Front xfer pipe: 2003+ Oil jets to underside of piston: (improved cooling & resistance to detonation) 2003+ Raised compression: (marketing hyperbole; year irrelevant) 2003+ Front axle dia.: ???? Frame: (longer & rake +1deg) 2002+ (? - uncertain, but believe this is correct per Dave @ M.I.) Fuel pump: (moved to inside tank to cure vaporlock issues) 2003+ Rear rim:(jumped from 5" to 5.5" width) 2002+ Single plate clutches: [ignoring cruiser models] Scura, Tenni, Rosso Mandello (? - need confirmation on RM, but think I recall reference to the RM coming w/ a 1-plate.) Instruments: (white to black faces) 2003+ Black engine cases: 2001+ (versions of black vary, due to process problems.) Red frames: 2000 only ("Telaio Rosso" tribute to the 1st V7 sport factory speed record & semi-factory roadrace models back in 1970) Forks: (varies by model) - Tenni: TiN (gold) stanchions, 53?mm vs. 52mm for regular 2002 LM (the dimensional variation may be incorrect, I'm working from memory. Bueller?) Bathtub heads: still waiting! Hemi's are great for 4-valvole, but wedge or bathtub heads make 2v heads more efficient... Alright, that's my effort at starting a faq; anyone care to confirm/deny/fill in the blanks?

Obviously, there're still a lot of old models in the pipeline, sitting on dealers showrooms. Moto Guzzi needs to keep up appearances that these models are on-going so that the dealers aren't stuck with having to cut suicidal deals on "discontinued" models. Don't forget: a huge majority of motorcycle sales are still "walk-in" passersby who see something, think about it and come back a few days/weeks/months later to buy. If Guzzi didn't have these models listed on their site, that "I'll go home & think about it" sale would be lost. But you're right: where's the Griso? Guzzi needs to create some anticipation for its release by having it up on the website, or they'll only ever be able to sell it to people who've owned a Guzzi before [& that's a recipe for a long, slow decline!]

Yeah, thanks Al: I shoulda done my homework better! [i actually *did* follow up on his links after posting. Drrrr... ]

No worries for the O.P. on that; he's stateside, so as long as the regular services are performed & records of doing so kept, Guzzi can't void the warranty. Before they passed this law, manufacturers liked to decline warranty service on the grounds of "you didn't use our special oil or take it to our special mechanic (who just happens to be 1000 miles from anywhere...)" Sometimes govt. can be useful!

Hey, Edge: is that a Laminar Lip on the top of your windshield, or another one of your efforts in custom plastic enhancements? Dish, man: that looks like a useful piece of kit for the taller rider!

Everyone else has already hit on the key points: goin' commando, using talcum powder (amazing how folks had all these modern concerns figured out 100+ years ago, huh?), bike shorts for that low-profile extra-padding-where-it-counts feeling, etc. I'll tell you a secret too: if you're not afraid of taking apart your seat, you can VASTLY improve it's comfort for about $5. I'm coming from using this trick on an '86 GL1200 seat [impossibly uncomfortable, for something that's supposed to be a touring bike! Felt like my nuts were in a vise before I made the mod!] and that modern "most notorious offender," the SV650 [where it easily tripled my "comfort time."] The only thing that's kept me from doing this on the LeMans so far is not wanting to have to drill out the rivets holding the "sissy strap" in place & then having to reattach it when done ['cause I want to keep the stock look.] Frankly, the only reason I haven't done a writeup on this already is because I keep debating going into business with it & don't want to let the cat out of the bag. It's truly one of those "so absurdly simple, why isn't everyone already doing this?" ideas. Ride on!

Yeah, but those red valve covers look out of place! I'll trade you the black ones off my spankin' new anthracite 2003, whaddaya say? Congrats to the proud Papa! PS: you might want to look into relocating the fuel pump to the location Guzzi used on the Tenni to avoid hot-start vapor-lock issues. Look into it in the archives here; it seems to be about the only complaint about the 2002s vs. later models that I've noticed. Ride on!

Actually, Al, you were right the foist tyme: since decibels are measured on a logarithmic scale, and the stockers are [falsely] rated at 105dB and the Fiamms are rated [accurately] at 130dB, if you do the math [130 - 100 (o.k., it's actually Good call...

Well, I sent one, but it seems Hotmail swallowed it up, 'cause it ain't in my sentmail folder. Friggin' MicroSuck... I spoke about what a great bunch of guys they are at MGC, how they live/eat/breathe Guzzi 24/7, and have strong street cred among the vintage Guzzi crowd. I mentioned their work on Mother Goose, the Hi-Cam/Eldorado hybrid they built for my friend PEter [he later sold it; regrettably, I didn't have the money for it. D@mn that bike was sanitary! Looked absolutely factory, every bit...] Anyway, it was eloquent, positive, & the spelling was even good! I imagine that if they can ignore it, they'll ignore anyone else's letter too. Best o' luck, Mark! [& Josh, & I guess Sean now, too...]

I've never been to OK [o.k., I've never been anywhere, but that's due for a change... ]; does it have good twisties? I can't think of anything worse than KS or NE; flat, straight roads w/ nothing to break up the monotony but state police lying in wait in the corn fields... Hope you enjoy your retirement. Hey, at least you'll finally have enough time to get some riding in!

Plan A: if all your journeys will be short, start the bike before putting on any of your gear & leave it idling while you gear up; the time spent running on the sidestand will add to the time of your overall heat cycles. Plan B: get a 1-way valve & run the breather to the airbox & be done with it. Any oil vapour gets burnt, the water vapour adds minutely to your power, and you only have to be diligent about checking your oil. Best o' luck!

Thank yewwww, thank yewwwww! [takes a bow...] It's certainaly gratifying to see that my one moment of inspiration is appreciated! Now if I could just come up with an insight that would make me $50 million & I could talk to Piaggio about buying Guzzi... Hey, maybe the seatlatch & fast-idle springs swap should be added to a FAQ? Lord knows, the info is spread out across several different threads at this point... Ride on!

No argument that an MSD wouldn't be as efficient as dual-plugging, if we had the ability to adjust the spark-advance appropriately. To use your analogy, since we want the forest to complete burning when the piston is exactly at TDC+1deg of rotation, dual-plug heads need 1/2 the advance of single-plugged heads. Since we don't [readily] have that level of tuning control to hand*1*, what does dual-plugging the standard V11 engine give us? Better fuel economy, greater resistance to pinging [ie, the ability to use cheaper fuel w/ higher energy content, which brings us back around to economy], & smoother running. What would we expect an MSD [multiple spark discharge] unit to provide in a single plug head? Since the purpose of the device is to provide multiple ignition events during the combustion process, it's expected behaviour would be similar to that derived from the tuning-limited dual-plugging scenario as I decribed above: better combustion efficiency, improved resistance to pinging & smoother running. Why is this? Since virtually any high performance engine design subsequent to 1928 sought to take advantage of Ricardo's theories of the combustion process, increased swirl of the cylinder charge promotes smoother combustion. Even a V11 engine has substantial swirl of the burning cylinder contents during the power cycle, and an MSD serves to ignite different parts of that swirling charge, which may not have already been ignited, as they move past the end of the sparkplug. Since the V11 uses such a large amount of advance in comparison to other engines of the present time, it would stand to experience even greater benefit from an MSD than most other applications in which it is seen in current use. This would be even more pertinent when running FBF or Mike Rich high compression pistons, due to their greater squish (& hence, increased swirl imparted to the compressed charge...) In short, (& returning to your previous analogy): Since the particular forest we Guzzi firebugs are trying to get lit off is haunted and the trees have legs and are all running about, standing in our one spot on the forest's edge and lighting several trees as they run by is not as effective as lighting both sides of the forest at once, but should prove measurably more effective than just lighting one tree as we presently do... [And as Luhbo pointed out, the question isn't one of using our present can of gasoline and a match to light one tree vs. using a flamethrower to light one tree... ] Ride on! *1* - Yet! Goooo TODD! Get Dynajet to offer the spark-advance tuning to the PC-III unit!

None whatsoever! But something which has crossed my mind lately after seeing the new 1100 Breva come out w/ dual plug heads and reading the thread on having Mike Rich do the deed to older heads, it strikes me that it would be cheaper and more cost-effective to get an MSD unit and wire it up. Since multiple-discharges from one plug would have much of the benefits of the dual-plug setup [o.k., less the benefit of being able to back off the advance] at a substantial savings over dual-plugging, the idea appeals to me greatly, esp. if there's a noticeable improvement in mileage [ie, the MSD box pays for itself over time.] or power [huuh, huuh, huuh! More! Power! ] The drawback being, that I'm the enemy of choice for almost any kind of electronic device [they all hate me, & find new & unusual methods of failure around me. WTF?!? - am I carrying around my own magnetic pinch? At any rate, one o' these days, I'm going to have to give it a try, unless I come across a negative report from someone else who already did. So far, nothing, but I'll keep my ear to the ground [eyes on the CRT... it's a wired age, after all! ]

But the judges give him a 5.8, 5.9, & a 4.5* for an aggregate of 5.4 out of 6.0 on his dive to the pavement. Not bad! Ride on, * - [one o' those darn Soviet judges who hasn't figured out the Cold War is over yet!.. ]

Nonsense: the "left & right" columns will *never* be the same units, since they're measuring HP & ft-lbs of torque, respectively! The rpm runs across the bottom of the page, and it is the same axis for both graphs (supposedly.) Lex is right, they're not running the dyno correctly since the torque & hp curve don't cross at all!, let alone at the proper 5252 rpm location... I appreciate you don't want to pillory the shop running the dyno unnecessarily, but there definitely would seem to be a problem with the quoted numbers. I'd advise the OP to go back to the shop & point out this flaw, asking for another initial run to correctly establish his baseline [which is likely will not be as hopeful as his original run... ] In the shop's defense, it may come down to something as simple as recalibration/zeroing of the inputs on the printer, and the same #s will result. We can only hope that this is the case!