jimbemotumbo

Keep your receipt for the Stebel. I've gone through three of the Nautilus and only one made it past warranty before dying. Switched to dual FIAMMs, high/low AND retained the direct wiring with relay. No problems since.

I am pleased to find us back on topic again, and after such a short deviation! I can't help but add one of my few remaining strongly held opinions ... that Guzzis are an inherently tough machina, and anything resembling oil in the right places will keep them running happily for many decades. Not sure it even has to be clean oil. Or even ALL oil. Heck, my son proved to me long ago that crayons placed carefully in a final drive fill hole will provide effective and colorful lubrication!

Depends. A PR2 ridden by a fat man across Nevada in July will wear MUCH faster than one ridden by your gram in Antwerp in March. Add to that the variables that air pressure, road surface, and riding style bring to the table make it nearly impossible to share accurate tire wear information. Alot of riders are getting 7500 miles on PR2's. Also know of a couple of folks who got over 14k on set. YMMV!!! And in a big way. Sorry to be dramatic, but I've been that fat man riding across the desert! I burned out a brand new rear PR on a 3000 mile weekend ride in Utah and Nevada last summer. I'd normally get more than double that in mixed riding. So, you might consider that in your trip plans.

I think you've done your homework. if the cosmetic damage doesn't bother you and the bike steers well, then don't worry about it. you can replace the clip on, lever, whatever, over time. You can get the scratches removed or touched up if needed. On the other hand, with them already there you won't be worrying over every little nick or chip. Oil from the covers is nothing ... either incorrectly tightened cover, or a crummy gasket. Easy fix. Oil on the crossover is likely as you suspect. A little sloppage. Could be a little output from breather hose. The 1100s is a fine bike. Both are. I'm a a BMW owner and appreciate the high build quality and excellent suspension. technically, it's probably the better bike (flame suit on). Beemers are not without their faults though. The Goose has MUCH more soul and will put a bigger grin on your face. Probably easier to work on, especially if the BMW has ABS. So if you had both bikes, when the niggles arose you'd probably be able to sort the Goose by yourself and with some assistance from this lot of Guzzi nutters. Any significant issues on a later model BMW often requires a visit to the dealer. Bottom line for me is to ride what stirs the soul ... technical bits, HP, specs, etc., is all secondary.

Now heres a story I need to hear!

Ha ! Mine is much prettier:

Open pipes work pretty much the same on HDs as guzzis. As ratch said, but in far more eloquent terms, it'll feck yer power. Drag pipes kill what little power the HDs make. I had an old shovelhead that was a reliable but slow beastie. It was so old that the only pipes made for it were drag pipes. Not only annoyingly loud, but my HP went into the toilet. Good riddance. Eliminating back pressure (by itself) will burn your valves up and possibly more, due to excessively lean mix, so if you pull off the muffs for fun, I wouldn't do it for very long without considering mixture changes.

Thanks Steve. Yup, already acquainted with Wolfgang. A "must know" for a laverda owner! I have a small list for him already. Jim

Slightly better photo for Ratchet. Only slightly. These are from the PO taken just before the sale. I'll take my own soon. I had a bit of minor engineering to do for the first ride. Only 18k on the clock, but still had the original air filter & boy did it need cleaning. Battery cables were frayed. Carbs a bit out, but oooh, wot a nice surprise to see these were fitted with DellOrto PHF36 pumpers from the factory. Massimo, you rule! Took about an hour, considering I had to make the cables, but she started very eagerly after the tweaking. A bit cold blooded. Has such a nice phased pulse. Kind of a cross between my carbon fitted v11 and a Norton commando with higher compression. Much healthier rumble than any brit bike though. Wonderful whirring noises ... you can hear everything working as it should. Riding is surprisingly fun. I expected torture, but its actually not bad ... comfy for the hour I rode it yesterday. Very smooth. Bit of a shake at idle ... guzzi-ish and a slight buzz at 75 mph and up. No wobble, head shake, just very smooth power delivery. Fab mid range. I had a hotted up 1200 sportster once. This would spank it. Faster than a Commando and good handling like a bonneville. Didn't feel very quick, perhaps because it needs to be jetted for my altitude. Although running too rich, it still pulls very hard. Gears are a bit notchy. Smooth if you shift at the right times. Not forgiving of lazy rider input. Although a heavy beastie, she's narrow in the hips and wears her weight low. Nice in the curves. Beautiful decel trumpeting. Once you go Italian .... Thanks for the support guys. I knew you wouldn't complain too loudly. After all, I was looking for a V7 when I found this. It was fate. Now to find an air filter ... my first difficult part search!

As you all know, I've been without bella machina for over a year. Tried to find a good "next goose" but nothing really tooted my horn, so to speak. Well, that situation has been solved! A happy man bearing italian finery once again. This one stays in my posession from now on. So here's the new girl with the long legs. Hope I'm still welcome around here. Jim somewhere in Colorado

Pretty easy to work on and find parts for. Buy a copy of Guzziology. Quite reliable in the major areas. A bit fussy electronically. If you spend a day going through all the wiring and improving the grounds you'll take care of most of the annoying surprises before they show up. Look for rubber rot, worn cables ... the usual older bike issues. I've had no trouble finding parts for early LMs. Sometimes tough to find correct side covers and such. Go for it. Great rides.

I am pretty hard to ignore wearing this: With these on: And these: And (not my bike): And (not my bike): This helps too: But with me around you'd likely miss the dancing bear. If studies prove the target fixation theory I'm switching to matte black and no lights. - Avowed Safety Geek and ATGATT Promoter.

Rich's gel seat was a pleasure on my Sport. Yes, the gel retained heat (pretty dam sunny here in Colorado), but because of the extra foam on top of the gel it was tolerable. The only reason to go with gel in my opinion is as a base against the seat pan. The main benefit is that it soaks up the vibes rather than cushes your tush. Foam does a better job re: the latter. IMHO. I played around with different foams on a spare seat for my GS, and found a nice product that is a cross between foam and gel. Technically, it's a medical grade memory foam known as "pudgee". Awesome stuff ... more cush than foam, but little or no heat retention. Though it isn't very soft until the foam warms a bit. I may ask Rich to build me a new seat using this stuff.

Well said hack. There, and I've said it in public no less! Pete's in the running for Sainthood. Oh, wait, they have one of those already. Maybe St. Peter-Of-The-Goose?

I had quite a few "faulty bulbs" on my Sport that turned out to be bad grounding. I soldered a wire to the metal base of the instrument cluster and grounded it properly. Solved ALL my bulb problems and made them alot brighter. FYI

Going back and revisiting tune up info here. Still can't believe how useful this site is. Never open my Guzziology book anymore, though it remains a MUST HAVE. I just wanted to add here, that in addition to the valve adjustment and TPS settings thoroughly discussed, I found proper TB balancing to be the key to getting my V11 to idle perfectly and run smoothly across the rpm range. I think Ryland noted this at some point (apologies if I have that wrong) ... that balancing at higher rpms is not the best approach. I agree completely. Prob works well enough, but the best and most accurate technique is to balance at idle and at off-idle, just as the throttle plates are opening. This is much more accurate as the difference in airflow and vacuum between each side is a higher percentage at this opening than at any other opening. I had a much smoother goose with this approach and minimized the chance of quickly overheating the motor. Try it - you'll like it!

Have to agree with the PCIII ... owners know. Of course, I will always recommend a new Guzzisti perform a careful tune. Most find that a good valve adjustment, and careful TB / EFI set up make them quite happy. Some of these happy folk may surmise the PCIII is therefore a waste of good beer money. Although a very happy camper post tune, the addition of the PCIII made me downright giddy. Yeah, it took some fiddling to get it right, but well worth the effort. My best maps had few zeros, FWIW.

Gotta agree with Pete. Anything resembling oil in the Guzzi crankcase is probably just fine.

I'm immune to your insults D ... I'm far harder on myself! I'm only gooseless cause I can have only one bike right now, and it has to be capable of handling my iron butt rallying. Hence the GS. I try to think of it as a soul-less german version of a Guzzi. If the members keeping posting those nice Daytonas and Lemans on the classifieds something is bound to happen.

Coming in a bit late on this, so thought I'd circle back around to the original question and post my experience. Don't ask for proof ... I can't find last years tax return let alone dyno sheets from two years ago. I've run both paper and gauze on a multitude of bikes. I've done the research. Read the articles. Debated with Ratchet and others (several years ago). I don't lose any sleep over it one way or the other. However, for a short time a couple years ago I had unlimited dyno access, and took advantage of it to look at my power curves on the V11s. I was happy with my K&N, not from a HP standpoint but a driveability one. I liked the improved throttle response. But I was curious, so on with the testing. Suffice it to say, I found several important differences in the filter types, but not where I expected them: 1) K&N pods gave me a reduction of 7-10 HP and TQ across low to upper mid range. Only at WOT did the pods approach an OEM set up. Sounded cool though! 2) Switching to stock airbox, and comparing the two filter types, all was essentially equal. Certainly within the realm of inherent dyno error envrionmental conditions. A bit smoother curves with the K&N, and a slight tendency towards improved HP in the midrange. Again, we're talking slight. 3) Lidless airbox with K&N gave much better HP from 4500 and up, but slightly less TQ above midrange. This was also the smoothest curve, which is consistent with my earlier perceptions. Keep in mind, I had M4 cans, Stucchi, a PCIII, and a careful TB tune. I find greater potential differences in any single change when accompanied by other mods. They work together, for good or for worse, so my noted differences may be inconsistent with the experience of others. I rode my V11s hard, but rarely at higher revs. I was surprised at how the pods killed my power. They also let water in, which I don't care for. So, for me lidless airbox was the way to go. I kept using a K&N, but certainly cannot justify it for anyone else as I refuse to debate the dirt issue. Let it lie. AND FOR THE RECORD: I do watch the posts. I'm a bit forgiving in the interests of lively and thorough debate (perhaps too much so - you tell me). However, I do not want to see anymore name-calling in the sections I moderate. Certainly fair to severely question, poke fun, heck, even rake someone over the coals if it's all in good fun and in the interests of better Guzziness. It ends with direct insults, name-calling, and mothers. No mothers, man. And you can't make fun of my current mount ... I may be Guzzi-less at the time, but I'm hopeful to return when the war dept eases the budget constraints. Maybe congress will help.

Twisting. Heat. Rubber. Lube. Cush. Hardness. It all sounds good. This thread makes me want my sporty back so I can try this. Anybody have a spare V11 I can work on?

I like the throttlemeisters too. Funny tho, I don't notice any difference at all between OEM, TM standard, and heavy bar ends. Though the bigguns look good, they don't seem to offer any real benefit over lighter models. Just my opinion.

I've tried everything from simple soft foam plugs to etymoyic, shure, etc, headphones. Lately I have been enjoying mp3s on the road. I am currently using Sennheiser CX-300 headphones. They block outside noise as well as any foam plug, and allow me to listen to music, or plug into my GPS at very low volume levels. They also are much more comfortable than most other solutions. 12 hours of riding without any ear canal pain. I think these can be found for less than $60.

And my V11 was once the property of said Mr. Redneck. The circle just keeps expanding.

Hey Ralph - I ended up with that red tail section. Some day, all guzzisti bikes will be wearing parts from everyone elses!