kaput

Beautiful but my personal fave is their 2005 classic lemans in blue and white road trim. Kaput

For sale my metallic green 2003 V11 sport located in S. Florida. 13K, M4, guzzi carbon kit (screen, fender, cover), powercommander. Very nice for bargain price of $4,590 pictures by request

I'm with the V11cafe and bet that some version of a Guzzi will be in my garage ten years from now unlike some others but.... in the meantime its fun to speculate. If the Buell and other forums are to be believed Buell has a sales winner on their hands. In regards to Rotax reliability it is just as the orangeokie says - my own experience was with an Aprilia Falco that went 45,000 hard miles without any serious mechanical problems and with all the valves still in spec. - great bike but perhaps without the smiles per gallon of my Guzzi as the Falco is no longer in the garage and I don't miss it all that much but I sure as hell would miss my Guzzi. Just to stoke a few more conspiracy theories and get somebody worked up .... the American sportbike Fischer was originally designed around a Rotax 60 degree Vtwin like the one in the Aprilias but the Rotax factory suddenly backed out of the deal about a year ago just about the time development of the new helicon Buell/Rotax engine must have reached a fever pitch. You don't suppose the Buell contract had anything to do with that now do you? Kaput

Buell has existed for a long time in a parrallel universe where ultimate engine performance supposedly didn't matter and things were done the Buell way lightness, engineering for the sake of function, simplicity, compact packaging, weight down low and centered etc. etc. Yes the racing competition will now come from water cooled Japan and Italy but if you think Buell does not care about remaining the fastest best handling American sportbike you can buy then you haven't been reading the bi-monthly magazine I get sent from the good people at Buell - one of the perks of owning one of their quirky machines. Cheers Kaput

My take is that with the Fisher, SV 650 engine since they could not source their original choice of an Aprilia engine, and the Roer with the Vrod engine, the competition for a competitive American based sportbike was getting too close to home and Buell had to pull the trigger. I like it and also hope there are more rational spin off models to follow. My take on a Harley sportbike:

Sad moment for me. For sale: 2003 V11 sport (light green) with 12,000 miles. M4 exhaust, K&N pods, dyno tuned, complete carbon fiber kit. $5,600 or best offer. Located in South Florida, Contact Kaput.

To those of you going to Daytona this week you will be pleasantly surprised by the good Guzzi turnout. Unlike last year, demo rides from all the major manufactures have been available from Monday until this upcoming Saturday. All of the current Guzzi range including new Norge and California Classics are waiting for you for you to try out in triplicate. I counted (alright I didn't count) but there must have been at least ten shiny new guzzis lined up. I remember the good old days when they had one V11 sport on display minus the engine internals! Kaput

For those of you who remember Nielsen's Daytona victory fondly, he was supposed to take a leasurely honorary "parade lap" on the Old Blue replica (Reno Leoni took his two up on a scooter!) but you know how that goes. After absolutely flying for his first lap he decided to take one extra parade lap. He finally rolled up to the announcer for his post lap interview and said something like "one hundred fifty miles per hour on a Ducati on the high wall of Daytona is the greatest experience you can have." Oh yeah. Kaput

I was lucky enough to see the race sitting in the Daytona grand stand with no kidding about ten other people in the middle of about ten thousand empty seats. A very eerie experience indeed hearing all the sights and sounds of a motorcycle race but no audience. I didn't realize about the Guzzi entry because I was too busy watching two "Old Blue" Cook Nielsen Ducati replicas that started from the back row. I'm old enough to have seen Old Blue and Nielsen win at Daytona. The relicas got a great hole shot and knifed their way to run one two for about one lap then all of a sudden the announcer started excitedly talking about a fast Guzzi pressuring the leaders. At the end of the first lap the Guzzi rider was trading places back and forth with a "special experimental" (according to the announcer) Ducati with the Guzzi rider avoiding the draft just right at the end. Great rider. Great race. No audience to speak of - maybe they were all too busy attending the Harley Owners Group convention held at the same time right in the infield. Please help me understand. Kaput

Thanks Karl Von, info very much appreciated. I'm going to start working on my schedule. Kaput

Fernando. I'm located in Plantation. I didn't realize from your post that that you are local. I'm glad to have company! Kaput

Fernando. If you feel like going riding while in Miami just send me a message. Also if you need anything while you are here just let me know. Daytona for vintage racing and to see the crazies is always on my yearly schedule. Kaput

Man that made me want to go riding. Right now! Terrific stuff. Kaput

OK thanks Pierre. Now I'm happy.

Greg, all of your modifications are a nice blend of aesthetics and performance improvements. I'm into that. Kaput

Owned an MK4 which is similar to the CX. The biggest differences you will experience are faster engine response, more power, quicker steering and most pointedly - a quicker shifting mostly accurate gearbox. The engine will rev quicker, feel faster and more responsive, and will feel more sorted in the lower rpm range. Strangely it might also vibrate more at cruising speed but that can be fixed. The vibes in general are different in that the old one shakes like a wet dog until it becomes smooth once past 4 grand and the newer one shakes itself dry much quicker but in the process never quite manages to get rid of a higher frequency tingle that seems to vary in severety from bike to bike. It is not really bothersome it just feels different. The handling will be much quicker in that the V11 will fall into corners more readily but still feel stable like the old one (especially the later versions starting with the Le Mans). The V11 is generally much more agile and obviously benefits from newer suspension and tire technology. I always thought that my lemans was efficient in directing airflow but the newer one offers better protection. Still, all in all, you will immediately feel at home, you will know you are on a guzzi sportbike and will marvel at the progress made (for a guzzi). They are really much more similar than different. Both will make awesome noises with the proper aftermarket encouragement. Riding the two models back to back is a real treat. Kaput

Yumi roasted alligator. Seriously, sounds like an eery and entirely scary experience, the kind that makes you marvel at how beautifully horrible mother nature can be. Alligator Alley is amazing enough at night even without those kind of fireworks so I can only imagine the scene. Sounds like it's time though to do it again for old time's sake Ratchet - for some even greater thrills I would recommend hurricane time as we've just been through a bust season that is sure to change next year with a nice bang. Kaput

Thanks bro. Much appreciated, Kaput

Pow. A three letter word meaning sensitive, caring, and sophisticated.

Would assume that your bike would not run all that well with those mods without a PCIII. For what it's worth my own first experience with mounting a PCIII on my V11 sport (or on any bike carbs being my thing you understand) was painless once I figured out that the instructions or pictures were of an earlier model. On the newer ones you have to plug the PCII into the bottom of the computer which means you must first detach from the bike. I won't tell you how long it took for me to figure that out The applicable generic map downloaded (again not too difficult to figure out) to the PCIII worked well and the gains from the final dyno tuning were noticeable but not exactly earthshattering. It is all self doable. Ofcourse as others have mentioned you have to first set all the basic settings. Kaput

Nothing subtle about 30 pounds! Kaput

I would ask you which Honda part but then this is a Guzzi forum so I won't ask you. So please don't tell me. Thanks in advance. Kaput

Its dampening as heck down here but there aren't any hills to run to.

Thanks for that informative and well researched tip for a useful mod. The bike certainly feels like it needs firmer springs - and even though I've achieved a workable set up - sounds like re-springing is vital to getting the most out of the suspension. It is on my Christmas wish list Quite right by the way, no mountains here, the closest thing we got is the local refuse dump piled several hundred feet high high and only dump trucks get to ride the twisties. Kaput Will try it. Sounds like a cheap sublime trick. Thanks. Kaput

It's winter - even though it doesn't feel like it here - so it's project time. I need some inspiration, not for the more obvious stuff like pipe, PC-111. airfilter etc. but for more subtle, easy and read cheapo mofifications to make my steed work better and give me something to do. The best subtle mod I've been able to come up with was to rubber mount the napolean mirrors to their spot on the vacant brake and clutch lever mounts (do a search for mirrors if you have not seen this before) by using K100 valve cover o rings - which I happened to have lying around. The mod cost too much - beemer parts are expensive! - but completely cured any distortion in the mirrors at speed (hence sublime speed secret). I'm sure though any decent harder o-rings would do the trick. Hows about you, got any cheap and easy ideas to help all the winter garage tinkerers. Kaput