Tom M

Yikes! Sorry to hear of your accident Slug, but it's great that you weren't seriously injured. I hope your insurance company compensates you fairly for the loss of the dirty bird. When will you be sharing the details of the Magpie with us? Is it another V11 spiney?

I had a similar problem with the front brakes on an old Honda. The problem was not in the caliper, it was in the master cylinder. The fluid return circuit was clogged so pressure remained in the lines after applying the brakes so the brakes dragged. You could check for this on your rear brake by pumping the brake pedal hard a few times then crack the bleeder screw. If the fluid shoots out under pressure I'd say the MC is the problem.

I think some folks here are confused about which holes need grinding. The grinding that Greg recommends is elongating the hole for the 5mm bolt in the kickstand support because Pete's original run of plates were made from 2.5mm (?) thick stainless steel. Installing the plate moves the 5mm kickstand mounting bolt hole in the side of the sump down that far, so now there's and additional 2.5mm between the 2 bolts that mount the kickstand so the holes no longer line up. I think I read that Pete's latest run of plates is thinner material so maybe the hole in the kickstand support no longer needs to be elongated?

I have the same on my LeMans (5.5 rim) and I like it too.

The frame spec for the new Griso on the Guzzi site says it's made from "high tensile steel". This was always a code word for low quality mild steel in the dirt bike and bicycle worlds. Higher spec frames were made from "cromoly steel". I wonder if Guzzi is cheaping out on the frame material to save a few bucks? I also wonder if the spine frames are mild steel too?

FWIW here's a simple explanation of how a tuned intake works: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question517.htm

I hope you're wrong about the Breva tank Goffredo. IMO the Breva tank is seriously ugly with those dumb chrome bumpers. The rest of your Monza description sounds great to me

I'll say it again...MG should slap a quarter or half fairing on new Griso, maybe tweak the bodywork and ergos a bit, and call it a V12 LeMans. They could finally release the MGS Serie with the 8v motor for those who want a street bike with track handling and ergos. IMO the MGS is the coolest Guzzi ever, but it wouldn't cut it as an every day bike for me. A faired greaser would.

I wondered if they would like the Griso better. They do. "I've a plan to improve profitability and product flow for Moto Guzzi: Make a windscreen and slightly better passenger accommodations available for the Griso. Then drop the Breva... Entirely." http://www.motorcycle.com/manufacturer/200...1100-66392.html

I close the petcock, pull the gas line off, connect a long piece of line to the petcock and run it into a gas can, then open the petcock. This will get most of the fuel out but you have to remove the tank to get it all out.

The front crossover on the newer V11's supposedly helps the midrange flat spot in the powerband, but some owners have had leaking, rattling and cracking problems with that design. On older V11s the midrange flat spot can be helped, as well as the rest of the powerband, by replacing the stock crossover under the transmission with an aftermarket crossover. There are a number of higher/closer handlebar solutions that will fit on the LeMans and clear the fairing, but many new owners who have come here looking for higher bars and lower pegs have been advised to just ride it for a while before changing anything, and they've found that the stock ergo's are actually just fine. If you're considering a new Guzzi you should be aware that a new, presumably more powerful 8 valve motor is just about to be introduced in the Griso. It shouldn't be long before it's available in the other current models, and maybe some new models.

I could be wrong, but the way I'm reading this is the Scura stalled when the clutch was pulled in while decellerating? If so it doesn't sound like an electrical malfunction to me. I'm with Dave and Paul on this. I'd go with a fresh set of gapped spark plugs and verify the 1200rpm idle to start, then move on to the full tune up if that doesn't fix it.

Maybe the Griso would have done better with it's lower gearing? I sure hope the new 8v motor at least catches up with the Duc, if not the beemer. http://www.motorcycle.com/shoot-outs/2007-...paro-64505.html

That's great! I wish I could get my 13yo son interested in something like that. The first bike that I owned was a '71 185. It was decent little trail bike in it's day. The poor thing suffered greatly from my ham-fisted attempts to fix it and "improve" it though. Your son is lucky to have a Dad who can teach him how NOT to strip the spark plug threads, strip the drain plug threads, etc.

Sean & John, they serve food and booze in the lodge. It's pretty greasy food though, so you may want to eat somewhere else before you get there. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it now. My son's hockey team has a practice is at 12:40 so I'll have to see if the other coaches can get by without me.

How many miles did your bike go before the bearing disintegrated Slug? Also, did you bother doing anything with your cush drive (grease, holes, cheese, etc) while you had the wheel off?

No, the paint is not an issue. I believe the marks are applied to critical fasteners after they have been torqued to spec at the factory.

Great pics mdude. It looks like a fun time was had by all, and I'm always stunned by the beauty of your country. Wasn't this guy in the Lord of the Rings?

...and when you buy those sockets make sure they are 6 point sockets, not 12 point. You're much less likely to round off a bolt head with a 6 point socket.

My LeMans cockpit shot. The guages turn with the bars. Spiffy clock is a $4 Wal-Mart special...

My Ti story (not the drink with the umbrella): The previous owner of my bike installed the Guzzi Ti exhaust & ECU. He wasn't happy with the dip in power that remained around 4k rpm so he installed a PCIII and had a custom map done. He was fairly happy with the results. I have the before & after dyno runs somewhere that show the mid range improvement with the PCIII. Peak hp stayed at about 80 rwhp. I had to manually tweak the map to get rid of some nasty pinging at 5k rpm. I happily the rode bike like that for a year, then decided to take the next step and added a Ferracci xover and did the Art D airbox mod over the winter. I rode with the Ti ECU and existing custom map for a week and I thought the bike pulled harder than before all through the powerband, and especially at high rpms, but it was running a little lean (popping under decelleration), so I knew I had to address the lean situation. I couldn't find any PCIII maps for the Ti ECU with open airbox and aftermarket xover on the web, but there were some available from other forum members here that would work with the stock ECU and my mods so I went that route. I installed the stock ECU and the downloaded map and the bike runs great! My seat of the pants says the stock ECU/new map pulls harder than ever from 3k to 4500 or so rpm, but I think the Ti ECU was still stronger above 5k. Since most of my riding is done below 5k rpm I'm happy with my current setup. If I decide to get another custom map done I might go back to the Ti ECU, but I'm pretty happy with what I have now so I don't think I want to spend the money for that.

FYI Apparently there's a "RICE-O-RAMA Vintage and Custom Japanese Motorcycle Show and Swapmeet" on the same day as the IMOC show and it's right down the street. RICE-O-RAMA

I used regular spray paint but it's starting to flake a bit so I'd suggest that Krylon fusion(?) plastic paint.

White or silver spray paint on the black plastic dipstick helps a lot.

Welcome back and congrat's on your new LeMans!