big J

I dunno lads,thanks for the theoretical stuff,I know about faster burn and advancing flame fronts and all that,but I can only speak from experience. On my old shovelhead H@rley,big bore pistons,hot cam,short stroke motor,it would pink like a bastard under load.Dual plugs,removal of potential hot spots within the combustion chamber and retarding the timing sorted it out completely. Hang on,that's what you said. Sorry,it's Sunday,and I'm half pissed. I'm with you an Greg,pissing about with fueling and such is a complete waste of time,unless you had it so rich to cool the chamber that you'd be as well throwing a bucket of petrol at it. Ratchet,why didn't you pull the heads and have a look?Surely any "road geez" worth their salt would have spotted any problems like hot spots,squish problems right away

Wouldn't twin plugs sort this?

Aaaaah,gotcha!Thanks Cliff,much clearer now. Having studied it,hiw do you calculate the advance.The one I'm doing with the map sensor gives a reading which is noted on the ecu map.How do you do it with the tps?

Thanks for the reply,Cliff. I was just curious how the MY system worked.I'm in the middle of doing a MegaJolt diy ecu on a friends race car which uses a MAP sensor for advance,although a tps based system can be used too.I can see how the advance works with the MAP sensor,but I'm having trouble working out how the ecu works out spark advance using the tps. Does the tps value correspond to a pre-determined table on which spark advance is already calculated?How is the advance initially set?Do you require a knock sensor? I can understand how a sliding scale advance based on tps values would work,but I cant see how I would set the values for the advance-ie how much do you need at say-4000rpm accelerating hard.Obvoiusly there would be less required as the revs climb and the load lessens,but how is this determined? Sorry if these are daft questions,but I can see a MY in my future(if some way off at the moment)and I'm interested how it works.

Thanks,Hubert.I was curious how you alter ign advance from steady state throttle to acceleration,are there separate overlaid maps?I can see how fueling is altered to suit,but not how ignition advance is altered to suit load.I tried to mail Cliff,but it wont work on my confuser.

How do you plot ignition advance at light load/mid range revs?Is there a MAP sensor?(manifold pressure)

Ryan,why not compromise? Shoot the dog at the intruder!!

Thanks,Santa. BTW,I've been very very good this year,can I have a train set too?

Ireland,I just noticed my details thing in the left has changed.It used to say. Agreed Gary,all this pointless arguing over and over again about who can argue better is tedious in the extreme.

Aaaaaaaaaaaah,haggis.I love haggis. Just cant get it here at all.

Aah,now it becomes clear. He seems somewhat obsessed by money,hope he never drops the bloody thing.

Maybe I'm missing something,but what's your point?

Dave,the travel looks to be around 60-65mm,but it's hard to measure with any accuracy without taking it off the bike. Richard,if you send Maxton your forks,they rebuild them for you.I'm going from memory,but I believe that they dont bother with adjustable rebound damping on a road bike.Both fork legs are stripped and re-engineered with rebuildable shim stack damper units,new springs to suit your weight and have adjustable compression damping and spring preload. I was going to have mine done last winter,but between one thing and another,it didn't happen.A couple of mates have had theirs done(Suzuki Bandit 1200 and 93 Fireblade)and they were well chuffed.I havent ridden an Ohlins equipped Guzzi,only a WP forked sporti which felt a lot better than my 'zocchis.Mine will definetly be getting the Maxton treatment this winter.I think the price was £240 plus vat,which shouldnt apply to the colonies.I dunno what postage would be,but it's got to be a hell of a lot cheaper than an Ohlins set up. It would be interesting to be able to compare the two set-ups.Maybe someone with a Scura or RM would like to try both and report back?Keith,maybe next year at Anglesey would you be up for a test ride?BFG?Anybody?

Good Nogworth The Unsullied,I honestly wouldn't. I agree that in theory,they sound like wonderful devices,a panacea for all handling woes. In reality,having known a few people with them,and having fitted a pair myself,I'd have to say that they'd be better used as a suppository for curing terminal diahorrea than holding up the back of a motorbike. Having said that,it's your dough.If you get one,you'll need a compressor and get them to send one of their valve adaptors so's you can alter the pressure.I tried for ages to get an adaptor fitting and ended up machining a normal schrader valve to fit.Get a pressure guage too,so that you can check if it's leaking.They all seem to. Good luck.

Dave,the shock length is the same as the oe unit. I dunno what the travel is,I'll measure it tomorrow if you like.

The only air sprung shocks I can recall having any dealings with were Fournales made in France.They were ok for a day or two but leaked down slowly til there was no pressure left.The Schrader valves for adjusting pressure/adding air were different to anything I had seen before so I modified them to normal fittings.I connected them both together to maintain even pressures both sides and added a pressure guage to monitor things.They would probably have worked well if we had an onboard compressor,but we didnt. BTW,the air pressure was for springing,compression and rebound damping was not adjustable.

Contact Richard at Maxton,he'll build you a shock to your specs.When the Tenni's raced at the TT(or MGP,cant remember which)they were unable to get the Ohlins set up properly,though I dunno if this was due to parts availability.The Guzzi team switched to Maxton for the race. I'm delighted with mine,which smooths out the worst surfaces imaginable but is still well controlled and fade free. http://www.maxtonsuspension.co.uk

Bob,I have a mate with a CBX.It's nice enough to ride,but hellish expensive if anything goes wrong,especially with the top end.

Fr chrissake just buy a decent shock,y' miserable sods

I've just read Gregs excellent book "Moto Guzzi big twins" which I thoroughly enjoyed. The chapters which got my attention were the ones with anecdotes from Dr John about the racing and development,but I'd love to know a bit more. Has there been a book written about Dr John?(no,not Mac Rebennac ) I've got the Guzzi racers book by Mick Walker but was pretty disappointed,it seemed to be little more than a vague overview.

I just assumed that they did,I never actually thought that they wouldnt. Just the intermittent problems sounded like a brush sticking or being knocked back out if it's worn. Electrics aren't my strong point but I assumed that the wires coming out would be connected to brushes. Anybody know? Carl?

Have you checked the alternator brushes,Martin?

When I test rode my bike,I didnt think "has the sag been set,what fork oil is in there,is the compression and rebound damping within limits for my weight?" I just got on and went for a spin.Obviously,I didn't go hard,but got a feel for the bike and how she tracked and handled.I suspect most people were the same.You'd hardly bother if you were buying off of a private seller,you'd just get on and go.(mine came from a dealer)She handled very well,felt totally trustworthy and unlikely to bite back. Nice and solid,a description I've heard from many V11 riders. If you've bought a V11 and like to take her out at the weekend,cruising around,not pushing either your or the bikes limits,I'd imagine that you'd feel little or no inclination to change the suspension settings.Why would you? Not everyone wants to tinker with their bikes or push the limits of their performance(or luck). They should not be berated for this. Each to their own.If you want to spend several thousand fitting ex moto-gp suspension,great.If you're happy with what you've got,fine. The most important thing is that you're having fun.Isn't that what it's all about?