callison

The next time I hear thunder in the clouds, I'll know what I'm hearing is DrKnow racing his heavenly bike through the skies.

I don't think the way I removed the transmission would work on the later V11 Sports/LeMans models with the additional bracing at the swingarm area, but on my (former) 2001 V11 Sport I was able to remove the transmission in 1.5 hours without removing the engine. The memory is faded, but I removed the rear wheel, unbolted the swingarm and pulled it back, unbolted the front parts of the lower frame at the porkchops, loosened the rest of the lower frame bolts a tad then pivoted that down and then raised the entire rear half of the bike up a couple of inches and removed the transmission. Pretty easy. Add the clutch replacement in there and re-assembly and it is conceivably possible to do the job (with the proper tools - Catch 22) in maybe 4-5 hours.

The road to Bagdad is a pavement roller coaster! One of the funnest roads I've ever ridden.

Well, it's off to Bonnerdale, Arkansnot to pick up my Ural Saturday. I have a potential buyer for the beast in OKC. While it's fun, it's not fun enough. If I can't sell it though, I have this spare V11 Sport engine...

It really sounds like the battery is toast. Running the engine faster increases the load quite a bit on a marginal battery with the result that all kinds of things that require reasonable voltage aren't getting it and start to behave badly. Things like relays, coils, injectors...

Under the relays, there is a single pole AMP connector, #49 on 1996_Centauro.gif that will pretty much kill everything when it gets a little resistance from age and corrosion. Pull it apart and put it back together a few times to wipe the contact surfaces and see if that does the trick. Just something more to check. Sigh...

Eh? The Ural/Dnepr and all of the Chinese off-shoots have their roots in the R-71 the German army turned down in favor of the R-72. The Russians supposedly bought or stole 5 units and reverse engineered them somewhere around 1942. Frankly, I don't care what the actual truth is, they're fun but not a quality item. I just got back from dropping mine off at the dealer 310 miles away because the engine blew up with a whopping 2350 Km's on it.

Perhaps you should refrain from arguing with God. He has been known to use lightning bolts...

Sounds like you've pumped some water into the fuel system. Remove the hoses from the injectors, aim them into a bucket or something (outdoors) and turn on the ignition. Don't try to start it, just let the fuel pump do its thing. You may have to cycle it off and on a few times to get good fuel through the hoses.

Good to know you located the problem. Just an FYI though, if you remove the rear wheel and shaft for any reason, be very certain that the orientation of the u-joints is correct when you re-assemble the drivetrain. Otherwise, you get a really horrible noise, mucho vibration and shaking and if you persist in leaving it in that mode, the joints will grenade. Thankfully, I do not know this from personal experience.

"Moto Guzzi Specialty Parts"

The pressure surface of the Valtek is quite a bit longer than stock so I wouldn't expect it to wear quickly. How long is an unknown. Since it flexes, it can adapt to the chain position to avoid a high contact area. The polycarbonate one won't do that but as Gonzo says, the results aren't in yet. To me, it looks like viable alternative. Ideally I suppose, the stock chain tensioner would have enough tension to allow starting the engine but have the pressure adjusted by a pneumatic cylinder fed by engine oil pressure. Like that's ever going to happen.

Giovanni Caruso has steel gears. 850-1000cc bikes unfortunately.

To which I'll offer a post off of the nearly defunct okieguzzi forum at Yahoo. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Last night Cathy's 98 EV with the hack went dead, without any warning. This happened once before at a gaggle. This time we were just a few miles from home. It had another (second ) Electrex R51 regulator in it. Prior to buying this one I was assured that they had beefed the new models. I was on the phone with them today and it was 2 months out of the one year warranty ,but they said they would back it any how if I would send it back. In the mean time I got an idea. The Harley has a similar single phase system . A friend owns a custom chopper shop and carries them from Custom Chrome PN25359. He let me take one home on loan. I was able to run the test without modifying it . At 4000 RPM's ,I get 13.88 Vdc. That is with a battery that reads 12.95 VDC at rest prior to starting. It does take a bit of modifying , I had to drill a hole in the mounting plate , Change the ends on the two leads going to the alternator. On thing it does not have , is a lead going to the Batt indicator light. I use meters anyhow. Here is the info off the label For Big twin models from 1976 to 1980. OEM 74510-75A 74512-79A Price he had on the box was $51.99 My suggestion is keep this information on the bike so if you should have a problem on a trip you have a alternative to renting a truck carry your bike home. Russ Marooney

I put a raw gel pad in my Sport 1100i seat years ago. Bad idea (raw gel). Seeped, ruined the seat. But worse, after sitting in the sun, I could count on 45 minutes or so of my butt getting blistered while the gel radiated heat. Very uncomfortable. Was the gel better than a good foam seat? I would say not although it was better than that (or most) Guzzi seats. I use an Air Hawk now if I need that much comfort. Dual use, pillow while camping.

Last I heard, Rick had sold all of his motorcycles after that unbelievably bad accident he had.

You know how the HD crowd is always making that statement that "If it isn't a Harley, it isn't a motorcycle"? Well, "If it isn't an XR750, it isn't a Harley". 'Nuff said.

Not a gigantic hurry. The Bugswatter will probably be stripped down for a new paint job soon so if I wind up sending the forks to my son in the interim, I won't be missing much. I have the Norge as my main ride now. The Sport 1100i has only been ridden at most 300 miles since 2001.

Things just keep getting better and better don't they...

They're useable, but you have to leave about two inches of the V11 LeMans fork tubes sticking up past the triple clamp. I put Al Roethlisberger's old forks on FrankenSport after the wreck and didn't like them so I picked up your re-valved stock V11 Sport fork in a trade but I already had the (spare-trashed) WP's in the garage so I used those for the reincarnation of the bike. I sold yours last year to get them out of the shed. At this point, I'm just going to go with Ohlins. I'm fed up with WP, their support is worse than MG's.

I put a set of WP's on FrankenSport (got'em from Reboot Guzzi Spares) for quite a bit less than he or anyone else as available in WP's or Marzocchi's at the moment. I sold Mike Stewarts old V11 forks last year for about $375 - and that's about what I figure those forks are worth. But I digress. The WP's on FrankenSport rusted out, blew seals etc after I gave the bike to my son - it seems they had never been serviced and probably sat out in the fine old English rain more than once. He's having a bit of a problem finding a complete set of replacement parts. The forks on my Sport 1100i (Bugswatter) are fine having been rebuilt a few years back and the bike having been inside ever since. I'm sure they could use new fluid but are not likely to require anything else. So... if I can find a set of Ohlins for the Sport 1100i, I'll take those WP's and send them to my son. I was hoping for something on this side of the pond but now that I know that the Ohlins for MG's are a very specific model I think I'll contact Antonio.

He's already sold that set, hence the query as to which ones from other bikes are viable.

If I go looking for a used set of Ohlins, which ones would I look for? Ducati 748/916? I realize nothing is a straight bolt-on but I'm sure that someone in here has at least a few answers.

I've got an early MG Daytona fairing that's already trimmed to clear a V11 Sport tank (normally, I wouldn't have done this but the fairing "ears" were damaged). I have the mounts, headlight, mirrors and so forth but using it would require some awfully low clip-ons or some sort of very configurable handlebars. For a small fortune, I'll let someone else continue the project...

As I understand it, the 95mm bore on the new engine is accommodated with a wider stud spacing. You can take the older cylinders out to 95mm relatively safely but the very narrow metal surface areas between the bore, studs and so forth will require a solid copper gasket. According to Mike Rich, pushing anything over 100HP out of the older big block is inviting trouble because the heads can't dissipate the heat. You would probably get more for your money with a good port job and leave the bore at 92mm for reliability.