callison

Yep. S100 is real good stuff. I just spray it on and blast it off with a pressure washer (no, I don't blast the bearing areas). I don't know if the pressure washer contributed to the rear caliper failure I suffered on my Sport 1100i at 54,400 miles, but, at least it was clean when it died...

I paid $55 for the pair of intruments - including postage. That isn't extraordinarily expensive compared to a Schubert Concept face shield that costs $53 and only lasts a few months. I haven't had probelms with moisture either. Yet. Winter is here and starting tomorrow, I'll be riding in the rain. I still don't anticipate any real problem though. The clock seals well and the thermometer is vented at the lowest part of the case.

The poll wery succinct, especially for the 2000 models. I wasn't trying to put down your poll, I didn't notice until later that you have an early Sport. The MGNOC list was rife with the vapor lock issue about 1 year and a half ago. But there is that (supposed) service bulletin about re-locating the fuel pump for the early V11's. It would be nice if MG was more forthcoming about the problem by notifiying the owner as well instead of just the dealer. Kind of like the "X-FIles", "The truth is out there". Now if MG would only send us notification...

I needed cruise control far more before carpal tunnel surgery than after. Still, a good cruise control is a wonderful thing. I even had an automobile cruise control on my Sport 1100i for about 20,000 miles. Not entirely suitable for a motorcycle for a number of reasons (specific to that cruise control), but it was a nice item, unique for a Guzzi (or any motorcycle, as this was the first all-electronic [no vacuum] motorcycle cruise control installation in the world that I know of. For 2001, that all changed with new Honda GoldWing), and it had the added safety features that any clutch or brake activation would disengage it instantly. I even got 51mpg @ 79mph cruise on a hot slab run back from San Diego in 1999. I'm still scratching my head trying to find space for similar installation on the V11...

Hey Jason, I notice you have a 00 V11. You probably should see if the dealer has re-located (or will) the fuel pump, I believe that it was a factory service bulletin, but you have to ask for it. Also, I will be in your area at the LISA '02, 16th Systems Administration Conference, November 3-8, 2002, Philadelphia Marriott. I will be at the Marriott and would enjoy shooting the breeze about Guzzis if you want to look me up. I'll be there Saturday night through Friday morning.

It would appear that there are several different culprits masquerading as the same problem. 1. vapor lock 2. faulty electrical petcocks 3. tank suck 4. EFI mapping 5. an electrical problem For sure, the early V11 Sports had/have the vapor lock problem (this is probably the one that gets you after the bike is warm and has been sitting not running for a while). MG relocated the fuel pump a bit into the V11 production because of this. For 2003, they've put the fuel pump in the tank. On the V11 predecessor, the Sport 1100i (a bike whose EFI problems make anything the V11 throws at you seem paltry), the fuel pump was located up front where the V11 has the oil cooler. Never a problem with vapor lock in that location (and the oil cooler was mounted in a weird location but a least the brackets have never broken on one of those...). 5 is a gotcha. I've had this happen on my Sport 1100i, it has happened to other EFI Guzzis and I'll point it out as something that can and does happen and seems like something else entirely. The EFI Guzzis have a single in-line electrical connector between the power relay and the ECU. Sometimes, the connector is just a tad corroded, loose, nasty-minded or whatever, and it causes problems. Mine failed on the freeway in a monsoon class rain (on the Sport 1100i) resulting in a two mile push up hill and down to an offramp. A day later the bike ran fine. Two days later it did it again. Only a mile from home this time, and no rain. Three days of ripping into the wire harness led me to the connector. Although connected and voltage wise, reading okay, there was just enough corrosion resistance (4 years and 48,000 miles) that the connector couldn't pass enough current to activate the power relay and the bike would stop running. It was an intermittent problem, vibration, temperature, time of day, the tide - somthing would trigger it and I would go nuts trying to figure it out. And it does happen to other Guzzis with far fewer miles, so I suppose that it would be worth finding it and making sure that the connector is seated cleanly. At http://home.pacbell.net/guzzi007/schematic.../V11_Wiring.gif it is the #57 bullet back in the EFI wiring. I don't know where it is on the V11 Sport as I haven't had a problem yet, I don't want to fiddle with that wiring, and, ahem, I can't get my tailpiece off (stuck bolt). On the Sport 1100i, it is buried in the wiring directly below the relay and wrapped in electrical tape or heat shrink. Not at all an obvious connector or something to check. I suspect that it is a spot for factory techs to override the electrical system to test the ECU. Who knows. I do know that it can give problems. As for the poll, I thought it was too specific to the one problem to be a useful indication of what percentage of owners were experiencing which particular problem. If you were to poll all of the MG EFI bike owners however, most of the EFI problems would be associated with the sport models, the worst offenders would be the 96-98 variants, and those specific model problems would skew the poll results remarkably. But for the V11 Sports there are specific problems and it is a current production model with changes occuring on a regular basis at the factory to improve the product. What I suspect most of us would like know is: What are those changes? And can we get them for our bikes as either a warrantee retro-fit or at least an upgrade kit?

The poll reads: Synopsis of problem: You stop and shut down your bike after riding for a while with no apparent problems. After sitting for about 20 minutes (give or take), you start the bike again, only to have it stall within about 5 to 10 seconds. Note: this problem has nothing to do with vacuum in the tank - opeining the fuel filler cap has no effect. The only way to get the bike running again is to let it sit for a while, sometimes up to an hour or more. ------------------------------ Personally, I haven't experienced this at all. I do experience stalling at a stop after running at speed for a while, as well as the typical MG EFI burp, fart and cough in the lower RPM ranges added to the occasional "Green Light Stall" that seems prevalent with the Sport models (the Sport 1100i more so). I elected not do the poll, it seems off of the mark.

Your signature will update on it's own. Go up to where it says login or logged in as: and click on Your Control Panel and then under personal profile edit signature. You can point to a url with an image in your signature as well. I change mine periodically. I've noticed that it changes everywhere when that is done. Kind of cool.

My V11TT does the same thing, more so now that it has a few miles on it (>7000). My Sport 1100i does it to the extreme that I've parked the bike as it is now too dangerous to ride. It either dies, or remains at 3000 RPM for awhile before returning to idle... then dies. I'm hoping a PCIII will fix the problem, but if that fails, I'm looking into a replacement ECU from a guy in Australia.

There is an acknowledged solution. Put the fuel pump in the tank, same as in a car. 2003 models have that and I suspect that is why the 2003 models do not have a tank pad. They needed to recoup some of the volume lost to the pump. If you have a couple of thousand dollars to throw at your bike, you can do the same thing. I think I would trade up to the LeMans Corsa before I'd do that though.

Someone posted a while back that the Sport stand wouldn't clear aftermarket silencers (handle hit the cans) and that the stand had to be used from the other side of the bike. Does anyone know if this is really the case? I'm in the market for another stand and it's a toss-up between the Sport stand and a hydraulic lift at this point.

Zerks showed up on the Sport 1100's/Daytona RS models in 1997 for sure, and maybe on the earlier carb sports as well. On those though, front zerk access isn't particularly difficult. What we need here is a specialized grease gun fitting.

This happens all of the time with the Sport 1100's. Just use some superglue on it.

If you're talking about the oil filter access on the sump, it's a 27mm hex. For the oil filter access: If you could find a 27mm wrench, you'd buy it and find that it's way too large to carry around on the bike. There are several alternatives. 1) Take a 27mm nut and have it welded to a steel handle. 2) Find that a sparkplug wrench for a bike just happens to have an outside hex dimension that fits adequately. (I did and it fits in my tool pouch as well) 3) Buy the Volkswagon tool for about $18 dollars. I don't know what this tool is specifically or for which model, but it does exist. 4) Just drop the whole pan and don't worry about the tool. Should the filter be in really tight or the filter wrench slips, then this will be the only approach anyway. If you have a dedicated tool, this can actually be faster (see below). You do not need to replace the gasket for this option either. For the oil filter wrench: There are several oil filters that fit these bikes. The original UFI filter has a different number of flutes on the case than some of the others (Fram for instance). There is a good metal wrench available (Vector 17030) for the UFI filters while for the Fram filters there is a plastic one. The plastic wrenches tend to just expand and slip on a tight filter. When that happens, it's easier to remove the sump. At that point, nearly anything that will get the filter off becomes the qualified tool. Strap wrenches, clamping filter removers, a screwdriver punched through the filter. You get my drift. For the sump: Get an extra allen wrench that fits the sump screws, lop it off with a Dremel cutting wheel. Dedicate an extra drive socket for it and store it as a unit. Makes removing the sump becomes a very easy task. Read about filters at http://www.twocreeks.net/toby/ufi.shtml

I use a Lockhart-Phillips paddock stand. It's a cheesy lightweight piece of crap, but it will do the job. It isn't reallly an issue on the uj interference. What is important is that it gets positioned such that the support cups are between the disk brake carrier and the axle nut. The easiest way I've found to change the tire is to remove the brake caliper, then everything else. The tire removal is slightly harder than that on my Sport 1100i, but not a difficult job. There are better stands though. I recommend the Pit Bull stands available in the USA. They also make a front stand that works in concert with a standard paddock stand. It works amazingly well. Check them out at http://www.pit-bull.com/. They have a truly rugged, beautifully built quality product.

He's not talking about an arm rest, but a stiffener for the upper fairing to reduce mirror vibration. It needn't weigh very much at all. I've noticed, contemplated the same thing about my Sport 1100i but have never actually gone so far as to fix it as that particular bike is already far smoother than anything else I have.

I've added heated handgrips to my V11TT along with a heated vest plug. Finding a place to put switches is a real trial. Eventually, I went down to my local Radio Shack and purchased these tiny plastic project boxes and put a pilot light and a switch in them. One on each side, one for the heated vest and one for the grips. They're held on with really strong double sided foam tape. In case you're wondering just what the heck the things on the front of the fuel tank are, they're small plastic vials wrapped in black duct tape to match the tank (sort of). I keep small rolled up and rubber-banded pieces of soft cloth in them, one damp and one dry for wiping off the multitudes of bugs I encounter during my commute.

I've considered it, but I think the pipe diameters are way different. While they could be made to fit (bigger hammer?), they would likely choke the engine half to death.

More fun with PhotoShop. Tell me you don't think Conti's look good on this bike. Now imagine them on the V11S. Room for bags and still svelte in style.

I run 34 front and 36 rear. Currently running Metzler M1 Sportecs. I would venture to say that my tire gauge is not sufficiently accurate to set the pressure more than +/- 2 psi, but whatever I'm at, the tires perform well. A whole lot better than last Tuesday at 1:00 A.M. when my patched rear tire unpatched itself and I limped home on a twisty road in the hills with 20 psi in the rear and a grass fire raging alongside of the road. Made for an interesting commute. That prompted the switch to the M1's. I can't complain. I got 1500 miles on the patch. As an aside, the V11S has an excellent headlight. I do 55 miles on the way home at midnight and this is the best headlight I've had on a bike for a long while.

I'm not entirely certain this is applicable as I have a V11 and a Sport 1100i, but you don't drop the forks to change the clipons. On the top middle of the upper yoke, there is a little chromed plastic "button" cover. You pry that off and remove the nut underneath, loosen the pinch bolts on each fork tube on the upper yoke and then slip it up and off. Then you remove the clip-ons. I guess you do all of this after removing the LeMans handlebars as they fit above the yoke, but the procedure should be the same. Then you would put the new clipons on the fork tubes, re-install the yoke and tighten all of the various hardware bits. One thing you should do first is measure the diameter of the fork tubes. The Verlicchi clipons at mgcycle are 54mm.

I have plastic mirrors on my Sport 1100i. If you break one, they're $68 from MG. I don't know of a second source for these. I do like the looks of them though and they are the best mirrors I've ever had on a bike. Eventually they start to loosen up though and there is no easy fix for the ball joint as it is cast at manufacture and has no adjustments. There is a feedback form at MG's Intermot site for the various models. The MGS01 has one and you can make suggestions there. Their suggested/query price is 19,000 Euros. That may not be too far out of line considering the Daytona's listed for around $17,000 and there is a lot of new assembly in the MGS01. Kind of a high price for a Guzzi though, even though it would probably cost near that to produce it (especially only 300) and I doubt seriously that they could, or would, price it for the $15,000 price point. Styling the bike for street legal attributes would be a job (that I would love to have). The tailcone is too minimalist to provide for much in the way of attachment points for plates, taillights etc. Subjectively, I think the muffler an exhaust tip are esthetically lacking and in rectifying that, the opportunity exists to provide for street legal attributes. I am concerned about those tawdry add ons for the V11's though. MG already has a plethora of chromed trim pieces for the EV's to accomodate the Harley wannabe crowd. To take the V11 and load it down with a lot of superflous tinsel takes a real lack of understanding about the kind of people that buy these bikes and what they want and need for them. Engineering and production facilities dedicated to these items would be better served by producing foot peg relocation kits, higher handlebar adapters, or gee, just about any of the things that have been posted at this forum as want items for the V11LM's, V11S's etc. I personally, don't want to see energy expended on parts that make the bike look garish and trashy and serve no usefull function. Instead, I would like to see some progress along the lines of integrated bags, larger capacity fuel tanks, better horns or just about any item that upgrades the usefullness of the bike. Subjectively, I think the underslung muffler is as ugly as a Pontiac Aztec. But I'm an old phart, and my idea of a good looking exhaust follows the lines of the Norton Commandos, Dunstall pipes or the sensously curved exhaust system of the Benelli race bikes of the past. The current trash can exhaust canisters are an emulation of race track mufllers that were added to meet noise specs at race tracks. On race bikes, form follows function and there was no need to make the mufflers esthetically pleasing as they were never intended for the street to begin with. But, people like to imitate their heroes or winning race vehicles or whatever and the canisters hit the street and now we get all kinds of things done to make better looking, more unique or different canisters. You know, titanium, brushed aluminum oval cross section, and so forth. It's still just a can, and you can only do so much to make a can look good. Worse I suppose, is that a can mounted low looks just plain awful, yet that is the only place where it would allow for some real bags. As a result, all canisters get mounted up high, compromising some of the bike utility. Granted, there is more clearance for cornering when mounted up there, but good engineering can acheive much the same if applied correctly to lower mounting positions. It is possible to design a good looking and functional exhaust system but it would add too much to production costs of the bike. Half of the owners would discard it anyway to buy something louder with that canister look. I guess that the logical progression for exhaust systems is from the canister to the underslung one. It works for all of the four wheel vehicles because they don't display their exhausts. I guess we can look forward to obtaining replacement mufflers at Midas. It won't harm the appearance of the underslung variant a whit. Italians excel at producing sensous looking vehicles. It's too bad that they can't also extend that flair to the exhaust system because the current popularity trend exludes good looking exhaust systems. Rant mode off for this old phart. Gotta go ride the V11TT.

And just in case you missed it, some truly horrific accessories for the V11. Tawdry, cheap and ugly come to mind, but I'm biased V11 accessories at Intermot

Hey! They've got movies of these bikes at Intermot... Intermot Moto Guzzi Movies

I like that rear rack. I like Rich Maunds too, but I'm betting this one is a bunch cheaper . What in heck is it bolted to though?