Greg Field

Huuhhh??? The 850 has LONGER rods, not shorter. Cylinders are the same length as on the 1100s, so they needed longer rods to get the piston crown up in the combustion chamber. Git it? Gimme some o' that shit you boys's smokin'. I've had enough reality for one day.

Symptoms meaning the oil light flikering? Yes, but only if oil level was very low or if there was a split in one of the gaskets or the sealing rubber for the filter. Symptoms meaning torched rod bearings? No, unless one of the above occured, or it had one of the hydro cams that grenaded. We had three that required new everything, including crankshaft. Rod bearings, in general, die for lack of oil. Except in extreme cases, such as after the crankshaft sludge trap is full, dirt in the oil can take out the main bearings and leave the rod bearings relatively unscathed. Why? Because all the oil has to go through the mian bearings abd then the centrifugal sludege trap before it ever gets to the rod bearings. Much of the dirt embeds in the main bearings or gets thrown into the sludge trap.

We have had at least three V11 Sports come through the shop at Moto Intl. this spring with torched rod bearings, plus one Centauro. Two of these Sports, plus the Centauro, had intermittent lights. The third is an active member of this forum. I do not know if he ever experienced the light coming on.

I have run plugged tires for many thousands of miles and do not fear doing so. These are run-flat tires. If they throw a plug, I can run 'em flat, so that makes me even less worried. What I was more interested in knowing is, are they shit tires, or are they good tires. I was hoping someone here had tried them.

Those things give me horrible flashbacks to a blind date gone very wrong at a roller rink in the late '70s. Yikes!

I modified one o' the Roper plates for Enzo's Cobra Replica V11 Sport. I even made a pattern, which I gave to him. I have no idea what became of it, unfortunately.

Boys, you're missing the point. The 850 Griso is the result of precisely one thing: In the markets for which it is intended, insurance costs are much, much lower for an 850 than for an 1100. The rest is just the details to make it an 850. These details include longer rods, shorter stroke, etc.—which bring with them some advantages—but the 850 motor was not begun in effort to realize these advantages. It was done to sell more bikes in places where insuring big bikes is prohibitively expensive.

Only lovers squabble as you two do. Ergo, you must be lovers. Yes?

Get a drop of that oil on your finger and give it a sniff. Does it smell like gear oil or motor oil? If the former, it is the pushrod seal.

If, even once, I had seen my oil light flicker, I would've had a gauge on it before I rode it again. Mine has never flickered, so I'm not sure what I'll learn that will be germaine to the situation on other people's machines. I think a gauge will react approximately as quickly as the light does. I'll try to kludge something together today or tomorrow, and see what it tells me. I'm guessing cavitation is the problem. I keep my oil to the full mark and hope for the best . . .

Look. You V11 guys have been assuming what the problem is for years, now. You're gonna make me hook up an oil-pressure gauge to Billy Bob, and pop some wheelies, aren't you? Bastards! I have enough work, already.

It is highly unlikely they will bring the G850 to the US. It would cost nearly the same as an 1100.

A friend is selling a used front OZ off an '04 Mille Factory. When I weighed it agains a stock wheel, the OZ was only lighter by 1.5-2 pounds (UPS scale with resolution to the half pound). I was considering putting it on Billy Bob, but that small of a weight savings didn't seem worth the hassle of making spacers and such. Is it?

The instructions are set to work as an "average" setting that will work on every bike. After initial installation, I played with moving everything for better leverage. The key was rotating that angled piece as far as I could without it then contacting other parts when shifting. This took it one or two splines more toward the 6 o'clock position. Then, lengthen and shorten rods and rotate the actuating arm on the shift lever to get as close to 90-degree angles as you can. This makes for light, short-throw shifting. Yes, tighten the extender piece. I can get a pic this weekend.

Anyone tried them on a V11? I stopped by a friend's new shop today. He is an independant BMW shop that has the contract for all the county and state BMW cop bikes. Well, when they pick up a nail in their run-flat Dunlop tires, he changes them. He says I can have them for free. Any down-side to this?

Mike: For best shifter action, play with moving and adjusting to get as close to 90 degrees as possible between all actuating arms and linkages. It makes a huge difference in shifter action. In my case, the opposite was true with brake action. It was too sudden at 90 degrees, so I adjusted it until it felt right. Have fun!

What Nog says is true. Consider, however, that the oil will take the path of least resistance. When the engine and oil are very hot, the oil system can begin leaking the oil nearly as fast as the oil supplies it, so the pressure drops, and the flow goes to where the oil is leaking the most. This path of least resistance is not necessarily through the plain bearings that need the oil the most. In other words, you can have plenty of flow elswhere in the engine but little or none at the mains.

The easiest power to tap into is the power lead for the front brakelight switch.

You do no need to get to 212 f to get water out of the oil. Water begins to simmer in the 185-degree range, depending on altitude. On a side note: If you use a French press to make your coffee, try using 190-degree (when water in an open pan begin to "mutter"), and the coffee's flavor improves dramatically over that made with 212 F (rolling boil) water.

I love Redline and their oil, but the truth is, viscosity drops rapidly, with any oil I've ever tried, including theirs, for every degree over 90 C. I know this 'cause my sorely flogged Eldo's oil-pressure gauge and temp gauge tell me so. Even with Redline. The oil may not cook at these temps, but it thins out such that the pressure is dangerously low. You have to have guages to monitor how rapidly it happens or you would never know. I have gotten so experienced with this on the Eldo, that I can look at what the pressure reading is for the rpm, and tell within 5 degrees what the oil temp is. Sooner or later, I'll get a pressure gauge on Billy Bob. I'm really curious to see what that will show regarding the flickering oil lights on hard acceleration and during wheelies. The thromometer stick I have is one I pulled out of stock at MI. I'll get a pic of it later.

Yes, cast aluminum. I can sell the CF covers for $135. I ordered a couple.

Thanks for the warning, Bill. I'm planning this as a major project, on which I'll grease and adjust everything in the rear end. BallSport is my vote.

That looks purty swoopy. Maybe it'll collect a few gold nuggets someday?

I'll look it up today.

Cliff: I was measuring oil temp using a calibrated thermometer dipstick. This temp would differ, I think from cylinder-head temp. Probably, oil temp heats up slower, and also cools slower.