Tom M

When I had a problem with my bike "flaming out" as in stalling when pulling up to a stop sign, I fixed it by adjusting the valve lash then sychronzing the throttle bodies and resetting the TPS. If you don't want to get into a full tuneup yet I think the first thing that you should do is set you idle to 1050-1100rpm if it isn't already there. Use only the throttle stop screw on the left side throttle body to do this. The next thing to look at is valve lash. Most here set it to .006" intake and .008 exhaust instead of using the specs in the manual. It's really easy to adjust the valve lash on these bikes if you don't mind taking the time to learn. If you dig around this site you'll find instructions on how to do that or the complete tuneup yourself. For the complete tuneup I prefer the Micha method which is simple and effective. If you have a question or run into a problem you can always post it here. Of course if you'd rather not muck with it there's nothing wrong with bringing it to a shop. Good luck!

When the rear wheel is out it's much easier to bleed the clutch and grease the front U joint if neither has been done in a while.

According to the parts manual that I have the full ring set is 30 06 06 60. Top ring is 30 06 07 60 Middle ring 30 06 09 60 Bottom ring 30 06 10 60 The parts manual is out there on the web somewhere. I think I got my .pdf copy from the MPH Cycles website, not sure if they still have it there.

Hi Crawsue, I remember seeing a pic here of someone replacing their clutch in what appeared to be their living room by removing the engine. It actually didn't look too hard. Ah ha! It was Paul Minnaert who posted it. Here it is: from http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13353&st=0&p=144558&hl="clutch%20replacement"&fromsearch=1entry144558

Sorry to hear of your misfortune Splicer. I don't recall reading about any cam failures on this board but your mechanic might be right in that maybe the cam wasn't hardened properly. Did you ever see the low oil pressure light on your dash light up? There have been reports of the oil filter unscrewing itself but that usually resulted in rod bearing failures, not cam and lifter failures. Here's Pete Roper's explanation of how the oil flows through the Guzzi engine. It seems to me (also not a mechanic) like you would have other damage if you did have an extremely low oil situation. http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8466&hl=suck FWIW I painted the lower part of my dipstick white with that spray paint that's meant for plastic. It's still hard to read but it's much better than when it was black.

I don't know how accurate they get with the GPS mount but my Ballabio bars are 28.6mm diameter in the middle.

I did something like that on my first trailbike when I was a kid to keep it from drowning in water crossings. It ran badly, was slow to rev and lacked power on top. I expect you'll find the same when you road test your setup. The place below used to sell a set of velocity stacks with pod filters that fit the V11. You might want to call or email them to see if they're still available if you want to try a real set of velocity stacks. www.sportcyclepacific.com

My : I like the header. The new signals look like they came off the roof of the F150 that you borrowed the muffler from. I don't really care for the paint, the fender, or the raised tail. Of course my opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it. Zilch. That said, if you like it then it's cool. Kudos to you for putting the effort into making it your own.

Thanks guys. Any ideas on how to clean the valve seat? Are they usually hardened steel or something softer like a bronze alloy? Would a little wire brush on a dremel tool be too harsh on the seat?

Sorry for asking about a Kawasaki on a Guzzi site but this could happen to a V11 owner if they let their exhaust valve lash get too tight... I'm in the process of fixing an air cooled '83 GPz1100 that belongs to a friend. It had no compression in the #3 cylinder so I pulled the cam cover and checked the valve clearances. All were set (shimmed) to .002" except for the exhaust valve on #3 which was .001 or less. The valve lash spec for this bike is .003 - .007 so they were all set wrong by a local shop not long before the problem arose. I removed the head and set it down with the combustion chambers facing up and filled them with water. The water drained right out of the exhaust port on #3 but all the others held water overnight. I pulled the #3 exhaust valve and as expected it's burned and the valve seat has some crust on it. I want to repair this for the least amount of money that I can because the bike isn't really worth much. It will be put up for sale once I get it running. The shop did the valve adjustment years ago so I won't even bother asking them for help. My questions are: Do I have to bring this to a machine shop for repair or should I try and clean the valve seat up myself? If so, how? I don't know if the crust on the seat is just carbon or if burned valve residue. If I can clean the seat can I just lap a new valve into it? Thanks in advance to anyone who's been there/done that before

I'm running the MG Ti exhaust and "Ti race" ECU with a PCIII, FBF crossover and modified airbox. I've swapped back & forth between stock and Ti ECUs with appropriate PC maps and dynoed both combinations. I found that the stock ECU has better throttle response below about 4500 rpm but the Ti ECU pulls harder above that point. When I told the dyno guy that's how it felt to me he complimented me on the accuracy of my ass dyno because the bike pulled about 3 more hp on top with the Ti ECU. That said, I believe both the stock and race ECUs got better mapping after 2002 for the bikes with the crossover by the alternator. I think (could be wrong) that MI parts guy Greg Field said the post-02 race kit had a different part number than the earlier one, possibly because the ECU was mapped differently for the later V11s. I'd love to find an ECU that pulled like the stock one below 4500 and like the race version above 4500. Oh yeah, the Ti cans sound great and look pretty good too.

Welcome Frank and Congrat's on your new LeMans. There is only one bolt holding the tank on. From memory here's how to pull the tank on your '02. (Later V11s are a little different because of the internal fuel pump.) - remove bolt at rear of tank - lift rear of tank a few inches - turn off petcock on left side and remove fuel line - remove fuel line from regulator on right side - slide the tank backwards until you can lift the front of the tank clear of the rubber bumpers on the frame. If you don't do this the fuel pressure regulator will hit the airbox and you can damage the reg if you force it by the airbox. - now slide the tank forward as far as you can then lift the rear high enough to reach under the tank and disconnect the vent and overflow hoses from the center of the tank. - now you can lift the tank off. If your battery is original I'd replace it before it cause problems. The stock relays can cause problems sometimes too so some of us replace them before getting stranded. Use the search function for dpguzzi or omron for a couple replacement options. At the very least keep an extra one with you. As Foto mentioned there's a shifter pawl spring that's been known to break on the '02 and some later bikes. FWIW mine went at about 15k miles. It's not a bad idea to have a spare handy just in case. I got my last one from MGCycle.com.

If I pulled the cover and found that the pin wasn't working its way out of the casting I suppose I'd try some low viscosity loctite bearing retainer. Loctite 603 might work. I'd put it around the base of the pin on the inside and maybe put a shop vac on the outside of the plate to try and draw it in if it wasn't oozing into the joint on its own. If the selector wheel doesn't ride directly on the case I suppose a normal gasket sealer might work there too. Bear in mind that I'm just a hack. You might want to ask a real mechanic what he'd suggest...

It's been a while since I had that cover off but I believe your arrow is pointing to a machined pin that's press fitted into the cover. It's the axle for one of the selector wheels. Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong. If I'm right I think the only reason for a leak to suddenly start there is that pin might be working it's way loose. I'd pull the cover and check it out if that was my bike. If it was still tight I'd try and seal it from the inside if possible. I would change the pawl spring while I was in there too, but you might not need to since the breakage is most common on '02 bikes. What's a pawl spring? Pawl spring replacement thread: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2905&hl= belfastguzzi pics that used to be linked:

From http://ottonero.blogspot.com/

That's not vibration, it's character! Is this the first large displacement twin that you've owned? I think all the big twins that don't have counterbalancers will have a noticeable vibration at a certain rpm. I don't know if that holds true for the boxer beemers since I've never ridden one. The V11 definitely has some vibes at 4k rpm and it smoothes right out at 5k rpm. I believe I've read here that the pre-2002 clipons might transmit a little more vibration that the later bikes get too. That said, I do most of my cruising right at 4k and the vibes don't bother me If everything is up to snuff on your bike and you still can't stand the vibes maybe the V11 is the wrong bike for you?

Is your 4k rpm issue vibration only or does the engine actually "cough" or miss a beat at that rpm? Do you get a rattling noise? Does it happen at small, large, or all throttle openings and in all gears as the tach passes through that rev band? If it's just a vibration issue make sure all of the engine mounting bolts are tight then consider adding a set of heavy bar end weights to your handlebars. Are your bars stock and do they have the weights installed? I bought a set of extra-heavy bar weights from Moto International after I changed over from the stock clipons to a set of standard handlebars and they helped a lot with vibration. If you have a cough like Rossi46 has it sounds like you have already addressed the throttle body balance, valve adjustment and TPS setting. Assuming that those were all done correctly I'd wait and see how things go on the dyno since you have an aftermarket EFI adjuster that could be causing a problem there. If it's lean there that should show up on the dyno. Be sure to ask the operator to do a few partial throttle runs to try and duplicate your problem at that specific RPM and whatever specific throttle opening you feel the problem is most common. If it's a rattling noise that happens at half throttle and above only in the upper gears then it may be detonation or pinging. My bike did this badly when I first bought it but it was at 5k rpm not 4000. If this is the case I found that a good decarbon procedure helps a lot. Adding a full can of Seafoam to a tank of gas seemed to help but injecting it into the intake manifolds per the instructions on the can helped more. Octane booster might help too. Good luck with it!

I think that most of the key players on both teams will be back next year so who knows, maybe there will be a rematch in '12? I'd like to see that. It's a damn shame what happened up there after the game. I hope they catch the idiots who did all the damage, which shouldn't be too with all of the youtube and security camera videos that are out there.

Congratulations to the Bruins!!! It's been a long 39 years. Welcome back Stanley

Hi Sean, If you only need rear wheel bearings there are lots of places to get them quicker and for a lot less money than from Moto Guzzi. Lots of guys get them at auto parts stores or a local bearing supplier. I posted the info on where I got mine in this thread: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15756&st=0&p=170387&hl=Mcmaster&fromsearch=1entry170387 The original poster said he ordered his from MG Cycle. If your shop won't source some locally thay could always go that route. PS I've used the Pit Posse bearing tool that I mentioned in that thread a few times now and it works great. Much quicker and easier than using a punch.

FWIW I'm still liking the Pirelli Angel ST's that I put on last year. They handle fine and look like like they're going to last longer than the Roadsmarts did for me.

I don't know if a centerstand is still available from Moto International or elsewhere but they do sometimes turn up on ebay. I use the Moto Guzzi shop stand to jack my bike for wheel removal. It's simple to use and it works well. http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2356 There have been lots of threads here on left side wheel bearing failures. I don't know why yours went out at such a low mileage (water infiltration from pressure washing?), but if the spacer that KB mentioned is OK I'd suggest that you just check all of the wheel bearings every time you have a wheel off for a tire change. I changed my front and rear wheel bearings as soon as I felt any roughness when turning them with the wheel off so I wouldn't end up stranded when they failed completely. I think I did the rear at around 15k miles and the front at about 25k. You also might want to consider servicing your cush drive the next time you have the rear wheel off. http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11820

Glad to help.

I wrapped mine with a rag and used slip joint pliers but that didn't seem like the right way to go. I later read here that you can put a long thin rod up through the steering neck and push the center button (the whitish thing in your picture) up & out of the center cap. There's a hex drive under that button that accepts an allen key/wrench.