Tom M

Good stuff Moto. I've been fighting a detonation problem for a while so I'm very interested in your results. If you don't mind my asking...how did you know the left cylinder was lean? By spark plug reading or did you probe the left header? Did you end up with a map that's significantly richer for the left cylinder? And finally, do you know how MI adjusted your timing? I didn't know there was any way to adjust that. PS Ratch, I appreciate your experiments.

If I was going on a long trip I'd feel better if I brought: - Spark plug and cap in case of a tipover. - a couple extra relays - shifter pawl spring and instructions on how to replace it if it breaks. I don't know if your bike is in the range of bikes that may have a defective spring and/or oversized pawl boss that can lead to eventual breakage. Mine went at about 15k miles. I know that forum members Belfastguzzi and Slug both replaced their pawl springs on the side of the road, but having done mine at home it's not a job I'd want to do for the first time on the roadside. If I was in that situation far from home I'd have the bike towed to a repair shop, give them the instructions and the part, and let them do the repair. The pawl spring failure poll might give you some idea of how vulnerable you are. http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?...;hl=pawl+spring

The toughest part of the spring change for me was getting the selector cover back on because I didn't fully understand how to align the forks in the gearbox. Once I went back and read a bunch of threads here I found KB's tip on how to position the forks correctly . To clarify (?) what KB said, you need to slide each of the selector forks inside the transmission to the middle of their travel range on their respective rods before installing the selector cover, which must have the shifter/shift drum in the neutral position. Something that I did which I thinked helped a bit was I made sure the shifter was in neutral before I removed the selector plate, then I made a mark across the gear teeth on the selector plate so I could find neutral easily when I reassembled the selector mechanism. Good luck!

Welcome bugs! If you want a half-faired V11 you will save yourself a significant amount of hassle by just buying a LeMans. Adding the LeMans fairing to a V11 Sport can be done, but it can be an expensive pain in the arse, especially if you're starting with a red frame Sport.

My bike has a Brembo radial master cylinder on it, though not the RCS model, and I'm really happy with it. I've never had a problem with it. I can't compare it to the stock MC since the radial unit was on my bike when I bought it, but I can't believe it's made my bike "lots more dangerous". It does fail miserably in the parking lot pose off though. No one has ever noticed it! Maybe I should glue a belt buckle to my fairing to attract some attention?

Thanks Greg. I'll keep that in mind if I rebuild the Bitubo.

My thinking was since nitrogen charged shocks don't work well when the charge goes away, why would a steering damper be any different? You don't have to answer that, I'm just letting you know why I thought a rebuild might be a problem without the gas charge. I'm sure the reactive HyperPro works great, but I expect the simple Shindy will work fine for me once the snow & ice goes away here. I've never had a head shake problem with this bike so I consider any steering damper more of an insurance policy than a necessity.

That's interesting Raz. Thanks. I already ordered a Shindy replacement, but I might take the Bitubo apart to see what's wrong and maybe try the rebuild. It seems strange that a rebuild would work without recharging the nitrogen though. By the way, another issue that mine has is the adjuster knob has a gritty feel to it when I turn it. I suspect it needs more than a fluid change, but I could be wrong...

Do you have the active model Doug? If not I'd like to know how it feels different from the stock Bitubo.

I guess I missed Ernst's post when I did my forum search. A decal on the Bitubo says it's gas charged so I think a home rebuild is out of my league. FWIW the Shindy can be rebuilt with a $15 kit, not sure what Traxxion gets for a Sprint damper rebuild. I got a bit of a scare last Fall when I suddenly felt like I was really wrestling with the bike just going slowly down the road. I thought I was going to drift into an oncoming car for a second there . I stopped and hopped off the bike expecting to find a flat front tire but nothing was wrong with either tire. I took a guess and backed all the way off on the damper and the bike returned to normal. I suspect something is floating around in there and sometimes clogging the damper orfices. FWIW the seals haven't leaked.

I might have found what I'm looking for here: http://www.ronayers.com/catalogs/pu/parts....26&type=208 The standard model is 20mm longer than the Bitubo but I think I can live with that. Any other suggestions, or comments on Shindy dampers are welcome. Edit: I used part # D17-001 from above and it works fine on my LM.

My stock Bitubo is shot and from what I read in other threads here it's not rebuildable. I see HyperPro and Ohlins are popular replacements, but they seem awfully expensive to me. Traxxion Dynamics has a rebuildable damper that's interesting, but they don't have one with a ~80mm stroke like the Bitubo. Their next size up has a 100mm stroke which might be too long to fit inside the LeMans fairing. I emailed them to see how overall length of the 100mm unit compares to the Bitubo. Do any of you have any other suggestions for replacement units? It seems like there should be some sportbike riders out there who replace perfectly good factory dampers that would fit our bikes with Ohlins, GPR, etc, because that's what all the cool kids use. I don't need something off a MotoGP bike, one that works like the Bitubo did when it was new is fine with me. For future reference here's what I got for measurements on the Bitubo: overall length = 290mm stroke = 80mm body diameter = 22mm body length = 160mm

It's perfectly balanced! I think the stand was photoshopped out of that picture. See the red reflection on the sump in the first picture? I bet that's from cloth draped stand shown in this pic:

Here's what that bike looked like at GMG 2006 before the new paint. Unfortunately I don't know who took the picture or whose bike it is.

It's certainly umm...different and creative. I'd love to take it for a ride. Kudos to Mr Barbacane of Firestarter Garage for pushing the Guzzi styling envelope. http://www.animaguzzista.com/page_builder....amante_body.htm

That bike belongs (belonged?) to forum member Belgiancentauro. I'm sure a search of his posts will turn up some pictures and descriptions of what he did to it. Nice bike!

Here's a product that's a little like you describe, except it isn't very complex, and probably could be adapted to a Guzzi if someone was real concerned with lack of startup oil pressure and/or loss of oil pressure while riding those looong wheelies . AFAIK it's pretty popular with the sports car racers. http://www.accusump.com/accusump_tech.html

I think the dyno thread that's pinned at the top of the tech forum might be a good spot to post or link your results, along with the RC registry. Glad to hear that you're diggin' the Guzzi even though faster bikes in your stable

Motorcycles have been exempted from the tarriff list. http://www.motorcycledaily.com/22january09_tarrif.htm

I have no experience with the Electrosport but maybe someone else here does. It seems like it could work as long as someone can work out the wiring and the speedo and tach feeds. Just make sure that you don't lose any functions like the low fuel and low oil pressure alerts. Mounting an aftermarket gauge set like that could hurt resale value, especially if you have to hack up the wiring harness.

I think they did it just to piss us off! Actually I'm a little fuzzy on the exact history, but didn't Aprilia buy Guzzi about the time that the MGS01 was revealed? I can only guess that Aprilia decided they couldn't make enough money off another Vtwin sportbike that would cost more and go slower than their RSV. Horsepower rules in the sportbike market. Too bad because I think it's the coolest bike Guzzi ever made.

I have to give Redline credit for admitting it's the same oil, instead of saying it's a new formulation that you should be using in your motorcycle and oh by the way we'll be charging a little more for it.

In case anyone was wondering about the difference between Redline Shockproof Heavy and Redline V-Twin transmission oil with shockproof...there is none! I emailed them about it a while back and they said the Vtwin product was RSH in a motorcycle package. http://www.redlineoil.com/products_gearlub...ubCategoryID=16

Definitely go with a Sigma. I used a Cateye on an old Honda and it stopped reading at around 70mph. Sigmas are good well into triple digits. As for which model Sigma, the BC1606L is what Aerostich is pushing in their catalog, so it should be good on a motorcycle.