Tom M

If the article is true I'm sad for the end of an era, and for anyone who may lose their job, but moving production to a modern facility will in theory produce better motorcycles at reduced costs. The part that I really don't like, even though it's probably already happened, is this: "And while the distinguishing characteristics of the Moto Guzzi brand will remain intact, it permits what the parent calls “significant economies of scale by rationalising the technical, industrial, design and style operations of the two companies”". What this likely means is there will be an office complex full of engineers, some of whom will be assigned Aprilia projects, some will get Guzzi projects, and some will get scooters. Maybe each engineer will work on all three product lines at the same time. IMO this will lead to a sameness across the brands and Guzzi will lose much of it's uniqueness. Will Guzzi at least have a dedicated lead designer, or will the same guy, girl, or team be doing Apes, Guzzis and scooters simultaneously? Ideally I'd like to see the Mandello facility become the Moto Guzzi design and R&D center, but I think it's too late for that. I'm glad I have my Mandello Guzzi!

Many auto parts stores can load test your battery, and some can test your starter too, usually for free! You do have to remove them from the bike though.

http://www.visordown.com/motorcyclenews/vi...guzzi/5586.html Their headline says "factory set to close" while the article says "likely to result in the closure of ..." . So is this definite, probable, or just a guess by these alleged journalists? "Piaggio gobbles up Moto Guzzi By Visordown News Historic Moto Guzzi factory set to close as a result of new merger PIAGGIO is merging its wholly-owned Moto Guzzi subsidiary with the parent company in a move likely to result in the closure of the historic Moto Guzzi factory at Mandello Del Lario, where the marque has been based since its inception in 1921. This merger, which will be completed at management level by the end of November, will create a single global competitor on the two-wheeler market in terms of size and resources, according to Piaggio. And while the distinguishing characteristics of the Moto Guzzi brand will remain intact, it permits what the parent calls “significant economies of scale by rationalising the technical, industrial, design and style operations of the two companies”. Industry analysts expect a transfer of production and related activities to Aprilia's base at Noale near Venice or the main Piaggio plant at Pontedera near Pisa. The latter probably has plenty of spare capacity after the off-shoring of much of its 50cc scooter output to China and light truck manufacturing to India. "

Fast or slow...it looks just FINE to me Skeeve!

I think I got it right. 180/55 = 99mm sidewall height, 170/60 = 102mm sidewall, so the 170/60 has a larger diameter than stock 180/55. FWIW here's the final drive ratio (engine to rear wheel) for each gear according to the owners manual in case anyone wants to check speed vs rpm in other gears. 1st gear = 11.7589 to 1 2nd = 8.7103 3rd = 6.6812 4th = 5.4439 5th = 4.7306 6th = 4.1737 Since these are engine to rear wheel ratios I entered 4.1737 (6th gear) into the transmission gear ratio field and 1 into the differtial ratio field into the calculator referenced above to get my numbers. The calculator I used is at http://www.kabamus.com/garage/gears.html Rocker, either my numbers are off or your ITI gauges are Do you have GPS and if so how does it compare to your speedo?

Leslie Porterfield. Wow. "One person in particular who had a lot to be happy about was Leslie Porterfield, who returned this season after taking salt samples of her own last year on her turbocharged Hayabusa. Leslie ran her CBR 1000RR against 71-year-old salt veteran, "Rosey", Roosevelt Lackey, both making passes over 193 mph, with Leslie getting the nod by a manicured whisker. She also ran a personal best on the same Hayabusa that parted company with her a year ago, posting a whopping 234.197 mph!" link edit: Here's her sponsor page with info on her new records and pictures in the gallery. http://www.highfivecycles.com Again, wow. Some pics of the Mandello Meteor are in there too. Congrat's to those guys as well!

MG cycle has alum and steel tanks on their site. The alloy tanks might be from the tank shop. http://www.mgcycle.com/bodyparts.html#fuel%20tanks Board member WitchCityBallabio is just finishing a tonti cafe project. I met him a few weeks ago and he told me where he got his tank, but I don't remember the source . I'm pretty sure it wasn't the tank shop. If he doesn't see this post you could PM him to see where it came from. His bike is at the end of this thread: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11859 I hope he posts some pictures here when it's done.

I think you may be misunderstanding the micha method TPS adjustment. With both air bleeds set at 1 turn out from fully seated use the left idle screw to set your idle to 1100 rpm. Now loosen the TPS torx screws and turn the TPS until it reads 500 - 532mv. I doubt this will fix your problem but it should allow you to get to the 500mv idle target.

Your bike will probably run fine with the idle TPS set to 500mv if you follow "the Micha method" below. The key is to get the bike to idle nicely at 1100 rpm with both bypasses turned out 1 turn, then loosen the TPS screws and set it to 535mv. Your idle won't budge when you reset the TPS this way. I say use 535mv because that's 3.6 degrees according to the chart here. Micha method Step one - Set your valves to world settings Step two - Set your bleed screws to open 1 full turn Step three - Synch throttle bodies at just off idle (around 1800 rpm) Step four - Set idle to 1100 using left idle screw adjuster only Step five - Set TPS to 3.6 degrees Step six - Ensure idle trim is set to zero Here's the thread where this info came to light: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?...=13188&st=0 That said, if your bike was running fine one day and lousy the next, it seems like something went bad. Maybe your TPS is dying? I think Dave has posted TPS curve here before. You might want to check it with a volt meter to make sure it's in range.

Thanks for that biesel. Now I'll have to see that movie since it was shot in my home state and it has a Guzzi in it. The Griso sounded mean in the youtube vids. I hope they don't dub Harley noises over it in the movie! Interesting local newspaper quotes; "Los Angeles stunt man Matt Taylor was driving the evil-looking motorcycle", and "the bike looks like something out of Mad Max" . I predict a bump in Griso sales when this movie comes out

From jobs on a film set on boston.com: "Stunt double Actors aren't really superheros or experienced motorcyclists or black belts in karate. They have stunt doubles who jump off buildings, get in fights, and outrun the police for them. At right, stunt man Matt Taylor filmed a motorcycle chase sequence for the film "The Surrogates" on Munroe Street in Lynn. " I hope the Griso ends up in the movie

Terrible news indeed. Heal quickly Myles! There was mention in biesel's link that Gyles may have been riding his Dad's bike. I thought he was racing Guzzbun's MGS-01 this year. Does anyone know what bike he was on? If someone nearby wanted to send him something from the forum to cheer him up or help out his family I'd happily donate...

My speedo is not as far off as I thought. With my 170/60 rear tire at 5000 rpm I should be going 89.21mph according to the calculator. My speedo showed about 92mph.

I believe board member Ryland3210 found faulty tail light wire routing on his '04 that led to a chafed wire and a short circuit. Search his name and the word "wire" or "short" and see what comes up.

I sometimes wonder how fast I'm really going during my highway commute. I do know that my "vague-lia" speedo is pretty optimistic, but I still really don't look forward to the day that a state trooper answers this question for me. Since I didn't find anything here after a quick search I plugged some info from the owners manual into a gear-speed calculator that I found and came up with these numbers for 6th gear with a 180/55-17 rear tire. The numbers for my 170/60 are slightly higher. RPM = MPH 8000 = 141.39 7500 = 132.55 7000 = 123.72 6500 = 114.88 6000 = 106.04 5500 = 97.21 5000 = 88.37 4500 = 79.53 4000 = 70.7 3500 = 61.86 3000 = 53.02 2500 = 44.18

If you're really cheap like me you can make your own manometer. I made mine for well under $5.00. You don't need restrictors since the nipples on the V11 intakes have tiny holes. I used ATF as a fluid since it's easy to see. It works fine! Here's mine: I used intructions from here: http://www.powerchutes.com/manometer.asp

It was nice to see Hayden back on the podium for a change. The announcers were going on and on about how this was the worst racing conditions they had ever seen due to the water on the track. I guess they didn't watch the WSB race at Donnington last week. THAT was ridiculous (but entertaining).

Tell her that he's obviously the next Roger DeCoster. Everybody in Belgium knows who Roger is, right?

I hope Hayden signs with Ducati then kicks Pedrosa's arse next season! Pierre, what's your take on the new competing US superbike series that the MIC announced for next year? http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2008/Sep/080910ussb.htm

No, according to Alpina. See post #59 here: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?...lpina&st=45

Good for her! The small japanese cruisers are great for learning on and relatively cheap to fix if they get dropped (get crash bars!). I imagine dinging up the V50 could get expensive. I have a neighbor who's way into Harleys and choppers. When his wife decided she wanted to learn to ride he bought her a lowered Sportster. She dropped it repeatedly and absolutely hated it! She went and got a used low mileage little Kawasaki cruiser and was really happy with it. After a couple years she sold it for nearly what she paid for it and moved up to a 750 Honda cruiser, much to the dismay of her hubby. I think he's the type that doesn't like to ride with non-Harleys

Hello funhunter63, The pinned instructions are for V11 Sport models. Your EV11 is a little different. See this link for instructions for your bike: http://www.guzzitech.com/EVTuneup-Jeff_B.html Since you are a new owner you may not know that there's a few other Guzzi forums out there that might have more info for your particular model. Since this forum is more focused on the V11 sport models you might get more/better responses to questions about your EV at one of these sites that cover all Guzzis: http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?board=1.0 http://forum.guzzitech.com/index.php?optio...at&catid=13

I don't believe that the pawl spring will effect shift quality until it breaks. If it breaks the gearbox will stay in whatever gear was last selected. If your shift quality is getting worse you likely need to lube all of the pivot points in the shift linkage. Changing your gearbox oil to Redline shockproof heavy sometimes improves shift quality too. I know of 2 sources for replacement springs: Moto Guzzi and Cannon Racecraft. Guzzi supposedly updated the spring design to eliminate failures. See the spring on the MG cycle webpage here: http://www.mgcycle.com/trans.html#Return . Cannon Racecraft is in Oklahoma, they can be reached at 405-524-7223. There have been a number of step-by-step instruction threads posted here over the years. Here's one, the search button will turn up more. http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?...ic=2905&hl= (Nice write-up BFG! )

Martin, whether or not I'll need more chianti would entirely depend on who's giving the massage Thanks Mike. It sounds like the V7 will just be getting some new paint, bags, and a windshield.

I'd love to see a V12 retro sport, but think a sporty version of the V7 classis with the small block motor is more likely. Hope I'm wrong and they do manage to wedge the 1200 in there. biesel posted this in the Guzzi gossip thread over in the 24/7 section: "EICMA 2008 rumors: from the "Anima Guzzista" Forum: - "nuova" V7 sport con telaio rosso e serbatoio verde legnano - "nuova" V7 special votata al turismo, - 1200 Sport con motore 8 valvole da 111 CV - nuovo California 1400 con potenza tra i 90/100 CV "