Tom M

I wish I spoke Italian. Could someone translate this into English?

From MCUSA Eurogossip: "Moto Guzzi still looks on course to come up with a new air-cooled 1400cc V-Twin motor featuring four-valve heads. Primarily this will be used for a cruiser to take on Harley at their own game as it is expected to give over 100 hp with lots of torque down low. Insiders suggest the next bike to get the new engine, after the yet unnamed new cruiser, will be the Norge. Other bikes may follow in due course, but it should be remembered that they are still working on a liquid-cooled version of their existing powerplant. The Milan Show in November seems to be the favorite for the new cruiser to break cover. " No mention of anything sporty A liquid cooled version of their existing powerplant? That would only be interesting to me if they really upped the power over the air cooled motors.

If your bike is stock except for the Staintunes you should be OK. If you change the crossover and/or the intake you'll need to richen the fuel map.

Sorry to go OT but where did that picture of the Coppa come from Sean? Someone sure threw some cash at it if it isn't a photochop. I can see Alpina wheels, 1200 engine(?), radial front brakes, spiffy rotors, rearsets, a top of the line Ohlins fork (can I have the old one?), funky license plate bracket, and what looks to be ram air scoops poking out from under the tank. Nice.

Strip it and repaint it with Harley-Davidson black texture (not crinkle) engine paint. I did mine a while back and it still looks great. It really wasn't very hard to do without removing the engine from the frame. There have been a few threads on this in the past. Here's one with pics: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?...t=0#entry111316

For the record I have 10k miles on my modified FBF crossover that's in VA Sean's second link and it has not cracked yet.

Nice Rossi replica huh? Another pic from the builder's blog here. Yes that is a chain link side plate...

So sorry to hear of your son's accident Van! Best wishes to Tom for a speedy recovery.

No problem here. I can see how the could be misinterpreted. I only posted my agreement with you because everyone in the thread seemed to ignore your post and I thought your diagnosis was right on the money. Next time I'll just say I agree!

That's awesome Guy! I watch the television coverage of that event every year and it looks fantastic. Do they still have the hill climb? I think there was an incident there a few years ago. Are you going to dress in period garb like a lot of the other fans do? FWIW I went to some vintage car races a few years ago and absolutely loved it. Some pics and a link to more are here: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?...amp;hl=Limerock

I don't know about Racetech but Traxxion Dynamics and Sonic Springs both have drop-in straight rate springs for the 02. TD doesn't show them on their web page but they do have them. The HyperPros that Mr Bean installed are progressive rate springs. I have the TD springs and I'm very happy with them. The company was great to deal with too (they sent me extra springs to try at no charge).

There's a nice breakdown of the differences between model years here: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5691 The 03-04 bikes have a different and probably better ECU map from the factory than the earlier bikes, as well as larger diameter forks and the frame bracing that was introduced in '02. Any V11 that has free flowing exhaust and intake, especially if the crossover was replaced along with the mufflers, really needs to have its fuel mapping optimized by remapping the ECU, adding a power commander, or using an aftermarket ECU. They will run lean if fuel adjustments aren't made. Good luck with whichever bike you choose!

When I've pressed the starter button a few times recently I've heard the click of the solenoid and had the headlight go out but the engine didn't turn over. I let off the button after 2 seconds then hit it again and it would start right up. This only happens maybe once in every 10 starts over the last month. Today I had the same thing happen, but I had to hit the button about 5 times to get the engine to turn over. As soon as i got home I checked the battery (1 yr old PC545), it seems good at 12.8v. The battery and starter connections are clean & tight. I tried to start it with the meter on the battery and the 15A starter fuse popped. I replaced the fuse and it starts every time now on the first button push. WTF Anyone care to guess what's going on? Is my starter on the way out? I'll see how it does over the next few days, but if it acts up again should I yank the battery and have it tested and/or pull the starter and have a look inside? I'm open to other suggestions...

Lookin' good! Those pictures I used came from George Dockray's collection HERE. Here's another example like the ones above, but a little different, from Paul's fast guzzi page: The Dutch Guzzisti have some cool cafe bikes here: http://www.mgcn.nl/dameijer/index.php?opti...key=1&hit=1

That bike will look fantastic with or without paint on the tank, and there certainly are lots of polished tanks out there. Have you considered partial paint on the tank? A little exposed alloy shows that the tank isn't a fiberglass knock-off. A couple examples of tanks with exposed alloy in the knee indents: Something like an early LeMans black top tank, but with your black cherry color on top, and with polished sides instead of red might be cool too. Like I said, it will look fantastic no matter what you choose to do. Nice job!

Are you going to paint that gorgeous alloy tank??!!

This would be cool if they could do something less ugly with those radiators. The big power and light weight sound like fun! 146hp, 170kg/375lb. http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2008/07/...9-buell-1125cr/ http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/new...ell-2009-range/ I'd still like to see that motor in a half faired sport-tourer. Same goes for the Speed Triple.

What a great race! Racing would be a lot more popular as a spectator sport if we saw that kind of dicing for the lead more often. I'm surprised that Lorenzo will be back after that massive high side. I thought he broke his leg, but apparently he only broke a bone in his foot. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3jWcizboVtU

Very nice! I hope you can ride that down to the IMOC rally in Sept. I missed the last one, really hope to make it this time around.

I don't know if there's a concensus but many have dropped the front 10mm and liked the results. Give it a try and see what you think. I think "best" depends on your size & weight, your suspension and handlebar setup, and your riding style, and personal preference. I moved mine up about 1/2" after installing stiffer fork springs because the front end was no longer diving on hard corner entry, so the bike was noticeably harder to turn in. I already had a stiffer than stock shock spring. I like the handling with this setup. I haven't had any problems with headshake, and the fender doesn't hit the fairing piece under the lower triple clamp.

I get it now. About 30 seconds after I posted that I realized the problem with that scheme. Maybe I should try and think things through before I post?

I'm sure this has been brought up before but...on external fuel pump models why can't a tee be added to the supply line by the petcock and the recirc line by the FP regulator, and connect the tees with a section of line under the spine?

Nope again. Once the throttle bodies are balanced there's no need to do it again just because you cranked up your idle a few hundred rpm.

Nope. The only way to change the TPS setting is to loosen the screws and move it. From what I've read here the ECU map is based on the TPS being set at 150mV with the throttle plate completely closed. Once that is set moving your idle stop won't change it. Another way to increase idle speed is to open the air bleed screws in the throttle bodies, but if the bike is running well except for the low idle I'd just turn the left side idle stop screw in a bit. If you don't like it turn it back out the same amount. I'm no expert though, so if some else doesn't agree I hope they speak up.