Tom M

You didn't do good, you did great! Congrat's on your beautiful new Rosso.

I did the modifications and put the forks back on the bike over the weekend. It'll be a while before I get to try them out since it's cold and snowy out there. I think I'll ski instead It took my welder about 30 seconds to fill those two holes with his TIG setup. My goal is a nice supple fork for the small hits but no bottoming except for the biggest hits. I feel like I was pretty much there before making this change, but I'm hoping that this change makes the compression damping transition from very little damping to full damping a little smoother. We will see... FWIW when I installed stiffer springs a few years back I dialed in the preload and oil height to get the right sag and get full travel out of the fork only on the big hits. While doing that I found my fork wasn't very supple even with the compression adjuster backed all the way off, so I drained the fresh 7.5wt oil out of the compression side and went to 5wt. It worked. I'm certainly no expert but the fact that it worked told me that there is some damping going on even when the damping rod piston is above all 3 of the stock bypass holes.

The 2002 and earlier Marzocchi forks have a rebound damping cartridge in one fork leg and a compression cartridge in the other. As has been pointed out by GuzziMoto, if you remove the spring from the compression side and cycle the fork leg up & down you will feel a point where the damping suddenly increases alot. This is due to some oil bypass holes in the side of the cartridge being blocked by the damping rod piston part way through its stroke. If you look at the attached pic you can see two of those oil bypass holes in the middle of the cartridge. The one that's closest to the middle of the tube goes through both walls, the second one only pierces one wall. When damping rod piston blocks the hole that goes through both walls it feels like a hydraulic brake was applied. I attached a drawing of the stock cartridge and what I'm thinking of doing to lessen the hydraulic brake effect. I actually like the way my fork works now but there might be room for improvement here. Comments are welcome. MARZOCCHI COMP CARTRIDGE REWORK.PDF

Hi LR, I know there were threads in the past on this, don't have a link handy right now. It was Traxxion Dynamics, not RaceTech, that had the ATK damping cartridges (which are now called AK-20). I bought fork springs fromTD even though they aren't listed on their website. They told me that they didn't have a damping kit for our 'zokes forks but they could install the ATK cartridges. http://www.traxxion.com/AK-20AxxionCartridgeKit.aspx I'm fairly happy with the way my forks work after changing the springs, preload spacers, oil viscosities and air spring height a few years back. As Guzzimoto has pointed out in other fork threads the compression cartridge's design is a little quirky. He made a change and liked the results. I'm going to try something similar while mine is apart waiting for new fork seals. I'll start another thread on that.

Good stuff Michael!

I know exactly what you mean Bertie. Are you thinking about a Stelvio as a replacement?

Hi Cash, Rebuilding the Sachs shock with Ohlins internals sounds good if the guy really knows what he's doing. Swapping springs shouldn't be difficult or expensive. Keep in mind that some here have had the mounting eye on their Sachs shock crack. The Marz fork cartridges aren't crimped together but I don't know of anyone who has revalved them. A while back a member here sent their forks to RaceTech to see what they could do with them. They said they couldn't revalve them but could install their ATK cartidges for about $1000 US. I believe somebody else here had Maxton in the UK rework their forks with good results. I actually have my forks taken apart right now while I'm waiting for new seals and I have some pictures of my disassembled compression side cartridge that I should be able to post tomorrow. They might help your guy decide if he can do something with them or not. You can buy straight rate springs for the forks for about $100 over here and make them work pretty well by doing just what he suggested; pick the right viscosity oil and set the preload and air gap for your weight and riding style. Hope this helps, Tom edit: here's the compression cartridge pic

Sorry to hear that you're having such a hard time finding a buyer. I guess you've already decided that a peg lowering kit and taller handlebars won't work on the Ballabio for you? The Motratech kit moves the foot controls down and forward quite a bit. http://www.motratech.com/MGC-SB10.html

Congrat's on your new Rosso Leon!

I think that's a fair price. I would be a little concerned with the missing tach glass. I don't think that's a part that you can buy. I'd ask the dealer to fix it or replace it. The only other concern that I'd have with that model is the ITI speedometer which is notorius for failing early. You should verify that both the speedo and the odo are working or get that taken care of by the dealer too. There's a thread around here somewhere that shows how to take it apart and lube it for longer life. Since you have a lift and tools I'd say that you don't need to worry about dealer support. There are threads here that explain how to troubleshoot and fix pretty much anything that can go wrong with these bikes. I'd guess that there are lots of members here like me that have never brought their bike to a dealer. Parts are available from quite a few sources. Good luck with whatever you decide!

That's what a couple former forum members thought until the day that they took off with the sidestand down. If I recall correctly one just crashed and wasn't seriously hurt. The other (bigbikerrick?) broke an ankle and his bike caught fire and burned. The switch has never been a problem for me.

Nothing should be connected to that nipple. As mentioned earlier, check your fuel petcock. The electric petcocks that were used in '00-01 have caused problems for some owners in the past. If they lose power the fuel pump can still suck fuel through it but fuel pressure will suffer and it could kill the fuel pump. A lot of owners replace the electric petcock with the manual unit from '02.

Have you set your preload and sag yet? There have been lots of threads here and elsewhere on how to do it. Once you've done that you might find that you need stiffer springs. I don't know if stiffer rear shock springs are available but I know that fork springs are. Guzzitech sells progressive rate Springs for all model years LeMans. I went with straight rate springs from Traxxion Dynamics (not on their website but they have them), but Sonic Springs looks to be a viable source too. I know that both the TD and the Sonic springs fit '02 LeMans forks but I don't know about the '03 model year. http://www.sonicsprings.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=141_144&osCsid=fc4c02e3b08363a047cf8669f6bf17d4

The MG titanium mufflers can be mounted high or low. Pull the mufflers and pipes, install the stock passenger peg/muffler hangers, then reinstall the pipes and mufflers. I haven't done it on my bike but I've seen it done on others. If you can find any pics of member Witchcityballabio's bike I know Doug had his Ti pipes mounted low. I know a few other here did too.

Hi Michael, Great to hear that you finally got your bike back together and fixed that shifting issue! I remember checking out your shifter plate assembly and I certainly didn't see anything wrong with it. It will be interesting to see what Charlie Cole thinks. The squeaky noise that you heard was probably air being sucked through a small gap between your loose TB and the rubber boot. I'd guess that you would hear it most while engine braking. That Scura definitely owes you a bunch of trouble free miles now. We'll have to hook up for a ride some time next year...

On my bike the rear brake gets hot when the pistons stick from the buildup of pad/rotor material and dirt due to the low caliper location. I remove the caliper and clean the pistons about every 5k miles, or when the brake doesn't feel right and the disk is hot after a short ride, which has happened in as little as 3k miles. I've had good luck using a Mityvac for bleeding calipers and the clutch.

Are you positive that the gear oil is coming out of the clutch housing? If not you might want to clean everything up then take it for a ride and check to see if the gear oil could be running down there from a leaky shifter plate on the starter side of the transmission. That would be MUCH easier to repair than the input seal.

Yes. It's good advice to pull the wheel but if you can't do that do what Guzz suggested, pull the caliper to clean the pistons, replace the pads, and bleed it. The pistons push in easier with the bleed screws cracked.

Not necessarily. Some '03s were actually '02s. The easiest way to tell is whether or not there's a tank pad. Tank pad = external fuel pump = an '02. Fuzzy paint on the engine is another indicator of an '02.

I'm sure MGC can tune a V11 but I don't think they have the ability to remap the ECU. There are lots of places that can create a powercommander map (don't know if CzDavec has one) but as far as I know Guzzitech is the only vendor in SoCal that can actually remap the V11 ECU.

Todd Eagan at Guzzitech.com will remap your ECU or sell you a powercommander with a preloaded map for your bike. I think he's in the LA area.

I hoped that was the case when I replaced my cable last year. It wasn't. The tach on my California had a waver when I bought it last year, sure enough the cable snapped on my trip to California I wonder if the waver is also caused by the gears getting ready to go crunch and loading up the drive at various points in rotation In my case it's either the upper angle drive or the speedo itself since the lower angle drive and the cable are new. I took the speedo apart a couple years back when it started misbehaving and didn't see anything that was obviously wearing out in there. I'm going to live with the wag for now, might get back after it next year.

I hoped that was the case when I replaced my cable last year. It wasn't.

No clue.. my normal mode of operation. It has a PCIII, BMC filter, x over and staintunes. It "sounds" like it has a cam. It'll do power wheelies. Tons of grunt. MPH did a lot of work to it, but no performance mods. Mike said Pete had better watch it, and sure enough, he binned it on the way to California. At any rate, it's more fun than a guy should be allowed to have. Hey Chuck, I remembered the guy who I think Pete bought the Scura from; soloNH. He seemed like a great guy when he was here years ago. I did a quick search on his old posts and came up with this nugget for you frome here: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5422&st=0&p=54621&fromsearch=1entry54621 "the previous owner said that Mike Rich had done stage II flow work on the heads along with titanium lifters, new valves and guides. He also added a Power commander with custom mapping." Now you know why your Scura goes like stink.

You look a little small for that bike Chuck. No wonder it seems so fast to you. Nice gloves ya got there too Any idea what's been done to it? Whatcha got for intake/exhaust setup? Stock ECU? PCIII? IIRC Pete bought that from a former forum member who lived in New Hampshire. I forget his name but he had a Nicky Hayden cartoon for an avatar. I think Pete had it shipped to MPH for a clutch and flywheel replacement. I wonder if MPH did anything special with it?