moscowphil

Like eas1rider said, the clutch should be light. If it isn't I'd start worrying that something might be amiss. I've fitted a genuine RAM clutch and flywheel in mine - the clutch action of this is even lighter than the original, so this would be a possible fix - though an expensive fix. Another thought - are you sure it is the clutch action that is causing your problem? At slow speeds the standard riding position does put quite a lot of weight on your wrists, which probably isn't helping your RSI. So maybe a change of bars would help?

Well in theory I agree with you - I've always thought air springs are a bit of a daft idea, and I would have preferred rising rate mechanical springs. Unfortunately though the engineers at Ohlins appear to think differently, and so, as far as I know, the mechanical springs have no rising rate component. Instead the fork does rely on the air spring to provide this (maybe that's why Ohlins are so prone to leaking seals?). There isn't a factory recommended oil level as such - the manual makes it clear that the "correct" fluid height is the one that provides the required degree of rising rate, and as such the oil level is just another variable to be fine-tuned "to suit different tracks and riders" along with everything else. (The level that they come with as standard will no doubt have been specified by Guzzi). The graphs provided by Ohlins show the effect of different oil levels ranging from 80mm below the leg top to 110mm, so I presume Ohlins consider anywhere within this range to be within the range of normal adjustment. From memory, mine is now set somewhere in the middle of this range - it's certainly not at the extreme end. So in short, adjusting the oil level isn't a bodge - it's what Ohlins say you are supposed to do. Leaving it set as standard (i.e. as delivered) is like leaving the preload and damping settings as standard - it'll probably work, but it's unlikely to be ideal.

On the under-sprung front end issue you can make a big difference by raising the oil level in the legs a few mm. The Ohlins incorporate an air spring to provide rising rate characteristics, and increasing the oil level, thereby decreasing the volume of air above it, increases the amount of rising rate. From memory I raised the oil level in mine by 10mm, which was enough to make quite a difference in terms of preventing diving under braking. You can download a manual for the forks from the Ohlins web site that tells you how to do it, and includes a nice graph showing the effect of different oil levels on the spring characteristics. Personally I don't find the back end under-sprung at all. In fact, given that the roads round here are more suited to off-roaders, it's a bit too firm if anything.

Well from memory, the switchgear housings each have a plastic pin which locates into a small hole drilled in the bars, and this is what stops them moving around. So when I fitted new bars (Renthals) to my Scura I had to drill the bars to accept the pins, which was a bit of a pain. Has someone cut off the pins on your switchgear housings?

Well I'm not a pro, so this is just based on my experience. After I fitted Mistral cans (with no other changes) I found the performance was definitely worse - especially bottom-end torque. I tried putting the original cans back on, just to make sure, and this confirmed what I thought. So I reluctantly splashed out for a Powercommander (not cheap unfortunately). This not only fixed the problem, it transformed the bike - it now has loads of power (subjectively) right through the rev range, so for me the PC was money well spent. Others have reported that they have found no need for a PC after fitting a different exhaust, so maybe every bike is different. What I would do is put your stock cans and air filter back on, and critically compare the difference. If the bike feels better with the standard kit, you need a PC or similar; otherwise you probably don't. As others have said, the PC is a very simple mod, especially if you get one from Todd with a suitable map pre-loaded.

I've got an optimate which I plug in every time I put the bike away. It comes with a socket which you connect permanently to the battery, so you just have to plug the optimate in to the socket and switch it on at the mains (with battery still connected) - all totally hassle-free. I bought it cos otherwise the alarm drains the battery, and it seems to work fine - I'm still on the original battery (7 years old now) and as yet it shows no sign of dying.

Given that you have just fitted new bars (if I remember correctly) I would suspect that an electrical fault somewhere, probably caused by the fitting of the bars, is causing the starter to engage when it shouldn't. This would explain the horrible noise and also the headlamp dimming when it happened. If this is the problem, it will almost certainly happen again at some point, and could do some serious damage - so check over everything that might have been disturbed by the bar swap.

Yes you may be right - I didn't have to bleed mine, which I put down to the fact that virtually no fluid spilt. But yes, maybe its just down to good design! I'd still say though that you shouldn't touch your braking system if you don't know how to bleed it. And conversely, if you are mechanically minded enough to safely bleed the brakes, you should have no problem disconnecting the hose and re-routing it. PS - I never wear safety glasses for this job either- maybe I will from now on!

Well, I've recently fitted Renthal bars to my Scura, and had a similar problem with the brake line. To re-route it I had to disconnect the banjo from the master cylinder altogether, re-route the line and then re-attach. This was not difficult, and there was virtually no spillage of brake fluid. The hardest part of the whole exercise is you will probably need to bleed the brakes afterwards. If you are confident doing this, you should have no problems. Just keep a wet rag handy, so if you do spill any brake fluid on your paintwork, you can wipe it off before it does any damage. Don't pinch the tube - you might damage it - and like I said it should hardly leak anyway. But don't touch your brake lever when the line is disconnected or it will squirt everywhere!

Pic as requested. I agree that the standard clip-ons are by no means radical, and are actually extremely comfortable at speeds over 60 mph or so. They are not so good at lower speeds though - too much weight on wrists. But the main reason I've changed to normal bars is that it makes it much easier to manhandle the bike (which is a big heavy lump) round hairpins, doing U-turns etc. I managed to drop the bike twice, both times at approximately 0 mph, simply because the standard clip-ons didn't allow me to get enough leverage to stop it falling in when the bike stalled half way through a U-turn (thanks to a duff relay). Hopefully the new bars (and new relays) will cure me of this nasty habit!

I've put normal bars on my Scura. The way I did it was to (1) remove clip-ons and top yoke (2) Drill the yoke, so as to be able to fit single-bolt handelbar risers (there are bosses cast into the bottom of the yoke where the holes need to be drilled) (3) re-fitted yoke (4) fitted a pair of 2.5 inch pull-back risers to drilled yoke (5) fitted Renthal ultra-low bars to risers. (6) fitted all switches etc. to bars (you need to drill a couple of small holes in the bars to accept the pegs that stop the switches rotating). It was all reasonably straightforward, though it took a few hours. All the cables, brake lines etc. were long enough with a bit of re-routing. It might be possible to drill the top yoke without removing it, but it's an expensive mistake if you ruin it, so I think I did the right thing removing it - that way you can make sure the holes are drilled in the right places and square to the yoke. Total cost was about £60, so cheap enough. Providing you are a reasonably competent at mechanic, you shouldn't have any problem. Having done it, I definitely prefer the more upright riding position, especially around tight country lanes. It's still quite a sporty position though - not cruiser style - and quite a long reach to the bars, though using pull back risers helps. I don't think you could go any higher than the ultra-lows without getting longer brake and clutch lines made up. Hope this helps - if you want I'll go out and take a photo, so you can see what it looks like. Cheers

Tom's right. I got my PC3 from Todd (for a 2002 Scura with Mistral pipes) and he supplied it with the right map pre-loaded. At a good price as well.

I've put round carbon mistrals on my Scura. They look great (similar to the originals but less bulky) and sound even better. But I did have to fork out for a power commander to make it run properly - the change of exhaust led to a loss of torque at low revs until I installed the PC

Well I think I've read everything that has been written about fitting higher bars, but since it seems to depend on which model you've got, I'm hoping some of you fellow scura owners might be able to advise me.... I want to put some conventional bars on my scura, for the purpose of going two-up touring on it this summer. I'm not looking for anything too high - I was thinking in terms of (possibly) renthal lows or ultra-lows, with 2 inch pull-back risers so that the bars will clear the protruding bits of the fork tops. I'm hoping this will give me a sort of sporty touring position - i.e. still leaning into the wind, but at the same time making the bike a bit easier to manhandle when loaded up with passenger and luggage, and putting a bit less weight on my wrists. So the question is, anyone else out there tried a similar setup? And in particular, are the brake and clutch lines and various cables going to be long enough with a bit of re-routing, or will I have to change them all? (In which case I don't think I'll bother). Any views? Cheers. Phil

It's hard to see how the fault could lie with the RAM clutch itself , which is very simple. The fact that it sometimes works OK must mean the clutch plates are OK and that the spring is OK, and there's nothing else that would cause the clutch to slip that I can think of. So I agree with all the other comments - it's most likely a problem in the hydraulics. Before you start pulling the clutch apart, check and double check this.

I can't believe I'm reading a discussion about chain adjustment in the V11 forum! But back to the original question, it seems that Guzzi have been on the point of collapse for as long as I can remember, but they are still going, and it's actually easier to get Guzzi spares than it is for a lot of Jap bikes. And there's plenty of people keeping BSAs, Nortons and all sorts of other defunct marques going, so I'm not worrying too much. The V11 will almost certainly be a future classic, and if Guzzi do go under, it will probably make them even more desireable!

I replaced the original clutch on my Scura with a RAM unit couple of years ago, as I was paranoid about the prospect of an exploding flywheel. As far as I could tell from many hours researching on this forum and elsewhere, and talking to Agostini's, the "proper" RAM clutch has a good reputation for reliability, so I went for this. It's too early to tell whether this is true, but I'm optimistic. The RAM clutch does feel nicer than the 2 plater, as well as being a lot cheaper - very light action and disengages cleanly. If you do get one, I'd definitely recommend Agostini's - they are very helpful, their prices are good (or were, before the pound tanked), and it's kind of nice to know you got it from Mandello...

I've put gaiters on my Ohlins. I think they look cool.

Yes the round headlight does look much better. What's interesting is that the prototype of the 1100 sport did have a round headlight, and also looked superb. But by the time it got into production it had the strange lozenge shaped one. I reckon Guzzi must employ somebody whose sole job is to ruin the looks of the bikes created by their engineers by slapping on a bit of pseudo-japanese styling. They have always done it - we could have an interesting competition to come up with the worst Guzzi styling exercise ever. To start you all off how did they manage to turn this into this?

Motoguzznix is right. I had exactly that problem on my T3 (this was after I'd already replaced the gearbox input shaft oil seal). Oil managed to creep along the splines. and ruined my clutch plates (again). When I put it all back together again second time round I put some sealant on the splines to stop this happening, which seemed to do the trick. But I think the first thing to do is to follow Greg's advice and find out what sort of oil it is. Engine oil (especially old engine oil) and gearbox oil do smell quite different, so your nose should be enough to tell which it is, without having to resort to dyes. As to whether the springs are strong enough - I would think if they are standard springs they should be OK. The clutch slip is most likely due to oil on the plates.

I'm adding my voice to those who are casting doubt as to it being the crankshaft oil seal. I'm unsure what sort of clutch the v10 has, but if it is the usual guzzi 2 plater, a leaking crankshaft oil seal is in any case unlikely to produce serious contamination of the clutch plates, as the oil will be thrown outwards off the back of the flywheel. I rode an old T3 to Italy and back with oil pissing from the crankshaft oil seal. Made an oily mess all over the back of the bike, but it caused no problems with the clutch. But if the gearbox is weeping oil from the input shaft oil seal, it conveniently deposits this into the middle of the clutch, where it gets instantly distributed all over the clutch plates, ruining them. (Yes I had this happen on my T3 as well!).

gstallons is right that a 12v bulb in series is the best way of telling whether current is flowing. It will need to be a low wattage bulb (say 5w, but the lower the better) to ensure it will light up sufficiently brightly if the current flow is small. And it is best to connect it in series with the earth strap, as there is more than one wire connected to the positive side of the battery. With a bit of imagination you can trace most electrical faults with a bulb and length of wire. Incidentally, I recently had a battery drain problem on my VW camper, which turned out to be down to a faulty output diode in the alternator. The alternator output on the VW isn't fused (and I assume isn't on a v11 either), so if the test bulb is still lit after you have taken out all the fuses, try disconnecting the alternator output.

The engine, gearbox and final drive box on my old T3 were completely unpainted - all rough cast apart from the rocker covers and alternator cover, which had been mirror polished. It took some keeping up to (lots of solvol autosol), but after 20 years still looked as good as when it was new, and much classier than any painted finish. And think of the weight saving! When I get tired of black that's what I'm going to do with my Scura. Could be hard work getting all that paint off though!

Wimps bikes the lot of them. Now this is what I call a bike ........ A sawn off mosquito bomber engine I believe.

I also didn't know the RAM was no longer available. I bought one from Agostinis 18 months ago - it might be worth giving them a call just to check. Their phone number is +39 0341 735448. When I bought mine there was a very helpful guy called Peter who worked there who spoke English (or maybe it was Australian) so I'd give them a call. Even if they no longer sell the RAM they may be able to advise you on alternatives.