big J

Fair play Rich, it's going to be a huge challenge all right. Should you manage to pull it off and race a classic Guzzi at the TT (and I'm sure you will) I reckon you'll make a lot of moderately strange, abstractly incurably romantic old guys very happy. I have no race experience but as Andrew said above, Maxton stuff is first class, I have it on my V11. There's a Guzzi breaker, Reboot Guzzi spares, it might be an idea to buy only what you need for the foundation of your race bike, rather than buy a road bike and throw half of it aside. Anyway, good luck with it, my hat is doffed in your general direction. That doesnt happen often Oh, a second thought. Try to contact Pete Roper, he's sound. He can be difficult to get hold of, between a Yak fat bottling enterprise and his midget porn empire, he doesnt have much free time, but he's fettled a Guzzi or 2

Jeez. you lads should get some nice Hondas or something These Italian bikes are no good

I still drop by from time to time. I dont get much time on the net nowadays. For me, it's a bittersweet experience, contrary to Pete's perspective, my experience has been the polar opposite of his. My V11, my favourite bike of all those I have owned, languishes in a shed somewhere in Dublin, I haven't seen her for 4 years now and really miss her. With the Mistral cans, PC111, Stucchi crossover and drilled airbox, she ran beautifully and I was happiest when out tooling around on her. Riding from Ireland to Scotland every fortnight to see the kids was never a chore. The Griso 8V I purchased this year has been a disappointing experience, between the low rpm surging, the banging transmission and the terrible vibration I dont go out much on it. Not impressed with it at all.

Sorry fellas, been mad busy recently. Docc, still got the V11, that bike will always be mine. Pete and Guzzimoto, I'll be honest, I'm not that enchanted with the bike. Vibration is considerable, I had hoped that when I synched the TB's it would improve and it has a little, however my ride to work is about 50km and by the time I'm there, my fingers and toes are tingling. It's as bad as my old Bonnie. I've now tried the synching procedure 3 times and I'm confident it's as good as it will get. I set it at 3500rpm and balance at idle with the appropriate bleed screw. Both screws are closed for the synch set up. Tappets have been checked again. Throttle cables checked for play. The bars still shake back and forth at idle. At around 4000 to 4200 the buzziness is worst. The surging at 3000-3500 ish hasn't gone away and the popping on decel is still there. It's almost impossible to ride at 5500rpm plus, the vibration is so bad.The bike just feels flat, it's hard to describe, but it just doesn't seem to pull like I'd expect. Unfortunately, the Centurion software has stopped working, I'm waiting on a reply from the Technoresearch helpline, though I dont think the tps is far out, the bike is idling at around 1300rpm. Solutions? I've tried to find the NGK plug caps, but no dice thus far, I'll bring some back when I visit the UK next month. I believe the injectors are ok as both pipes are the same colour. I'm also still unhappy with the transmission, the bang when first is engaged when the bike is hot is excruciating. My new screen is cool though, got the large Guzzi one, makes a nice difference above 140.

Hi Docc, hope you're well.I'll update this in a bit, meanwhile- http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17979

So, finally got a bit of time to myself to set the throttle bodies and reset the tps. Synch was easy as pie, although I noticed one of the little rods jumps about much more than the other. Tried changing the tubes about but no difference. Ah well. Plugged in the Centurion wires and reset the tps, easy enough. Took her out for a spin, the bike is noticeably smoother though it still vibrates a bit more than I expected. When I come to junctions though, it stumbles and nearly cuts out before picking up to idle again. Very strange. I'll let her (and me!) cool off for a while, it's 40 degrees outside, then I'll check everything again. The lean surging and popping through the exhaust is a bit worse too, reckon one of Todds PC5's is in my future. And a loud pipe I think I'll investigate whether I can manually reset the tps a little higher. Before the reset it was 5.2 deg and the bike was running fine. I've checked- inlet rubbers nice and snug, tappets, header nuts.

Good point Andy,probably with a stock bike but I reckon if you fitted an oil cooler the same size as the Griso it wouldn't be any different. She performed a new trick last night, stopped on the way home for smokes, when I restarted her about 20 minutes later, she would only run on one cylinder until she hit 2000rpm or so. This went on for maybe 6kms then cleared. Heat soak I expect. I'll look into the fuel line routing when I get a chance. John

Quick update- I've now got just shy of 1000 kms on the bike. I'll put her in for a service shortly, in the meantime I've been doing a little bit of tinkering myself. Clutch- there was no noticeable free play so I adjusted the plunger. It still bites very far out, next job will be to try bleeding it and see if it makes a difference. Tappets, checked and reset at 750 kms, the two inner inlets were slightly loose strangely, one exhaust had opened up a little, however nothing to worry about I believe. I also had a look at the axial play in the rocker arms, it varies between 0.3mm to 0.45mm. This is, I reckon, the source of the rattling from the top end, most noticeable between 2000- 3000 rpm. It rather reminds me of an old VW Beetle. I'm not concerned about it at present although sometime in the future I may machine the shafts a little and insert some shims to quieten it a bit. Throttle cable adjusted to remove free play. Played about with the fork and damper settings, turns in better now. Gearbox, still bangs away like I'm using a sledgehammer to shift. Change up- CLANG! Change down, CLANG clack. I've tried every variation of timing and technique I can think of but nothing seems to make any difference. Given that my V11's box was smoother than an Italian playboy at a college disco, it's a bit disappointing. I wonder if, with the clutch not engaging til the lever is quite far out, if the clutch itself isn't disengaging properly, dragging slightly. Between that and the CARC banging away as well, filtering through traffic is a bit of a chore. I've found some 10w-60 oil, Castrol Edge, so that'll be going in, also have some Heavy Shockproof coming for the trans and final drive. The Carbtune arrived, just waiting for the VDST tool and I'll synch the throttle bodies and reset the tps. I reckon I'll have maybe another month of the riding season before it becomes too hot. It's around 36-38C at the moment and when you're stuck in traffic, the motor gets pretty hot. Shortly it'll be around 50C during the day, too hot for this boy with winter in his blood, so I'll begin the planned improvements then- She runs lean and hot, so I'll invest in a PC5 and optimiser. And a loud pipe. If I can, I'll remove the clutch pushrod and see if I can get a longer one to change the engagement point. Otherwise, the bike is good. She's no V11, but bloody good all the same. John

Jaap, it's nice all right. For me, the V11 is a far more handsome machine, it's probably my all time favourite. The Griso isn't as good looking, but I'm sure the looks will grow on me. Foto, you're right there! You wouldnt want to break down out there in summer for sure. Pete, yes it has the 68s map in, thanks for that info, I checked it on the dealers computer. I've ordered a Centurion VDST thing from Guzzitech so I'll be able to reset the tps myself. It seems to be running ok,quite lumpy low down and a bit tingly through the bars at 5-6000rpm though it will, as you say, be better when properly tuned. My V11 was really smooth, silent gear changes, nice clutch pull, almost no vibration. This is very different, what with the jingly tinkling it does at 2500-3000 rpm and the clangy gearbox. Not bad, just different. No reply from Penrite yet. I have no idea how you ship oil myself- maybe a big box with polystyrene all around? God knows.

Got the bike out today and went for a ride around. Impressions; well the vibration is a bit annoying but I'll fix that when the Carbtune arrives. Pulls well with a little surging at low revs, up to about 3000 or so, after that it seems good, handling, braking all ok. Clutch bites quite far out, I'll check it later, but engages fine, box clonks but never misses a gear. Very happy indeed, only minor gripe is that the right mirror folds in even after tightening, I'll put a small washer or O ring or something in to pack the fitting. Oh, and it bloody rained. I couldnt believe it.We get rain maybe 5 or 6 times a year. Wtf, like???

That would be great if you could Pete. I've sent an email to Penrite customer service too. Thanks btw for all the help and tips. It would be spendy all right, but an engine rebuild would be a hell of a lot more expensive, I'd rather have the peace of mind. Temperatures here aren't too bad just now, high 20's to mid 30's during the day but in another month or so it'll be in the 40's climbing to the 50's by mid June. Too hot to ride during the day for me but even at night it stays in the high 30's minimum. A good test of any oil. Coupled with the dust, I'll be changing it fairly frequently I reckon. John

Picked the bike up last night, registration finally completed. First impressions- jeez, it's a vibrator!!! Obviously a consequence of the dealer (or anyone else here as far as I can ascertain) not having a synch tool. I have ordered a Carbtune, hopefully be here next week. It clicketty clacks away to itself quite happily, like a gigantic knitting machine. Not at all annoying and quite musical really. Just noisier than my V11. Quite nippy and very easy to ride, draws plenty of attention, very comfy apart from the vibes and a good riding position for general use. I tried to listen for detonation given that gas quality here is terrible but couldnt detect any. I've tried just about everywhere I can think of to buy some 10w60 but there's none on the island so I'll have to import some. Given the temperatures here, I might try the Penrite 10w70 if I can find a dealer who'll send me a box. I'll spend the last of my dosh on a VDST scanning tool I think. All good though, I'll try to get some pics over the coming days. John

nothing to report today fellas. Everything is closed due to the stupid F1, so I got drunk instead.

ok, so, went down today. Checked the tappets, they were perfect from the factory. Set up the Navigator tool, checked the map, #68S, thanks Pete. Right, says I, lets synch the throttle bodies. Erm, says the tech, we dont have a synchronising tool. So the hunt is on for a synch tool of some kind. Anyway, started her up, runs fine, no bad noises or anything, ticks over smooth and steady. TPS readings were 4.5 to 4.6 with a little odd dip to 4.1 ish occassionally. Seemed fine to me. Too quiet though with that Scania truck silencer on it. Just waiting for the registration to be completed, hopefully tomorrow, and we're away!