Tom M

That's the funniest picture I've seen in quite a while! Thanks Jim, I needed that.

The Sport looks great up there Dhansen. The weather here in the Northeast US has really been very moto-friendly this fall. Nice to see you taking advantage of it. Watch out for the black ice in the morning though. A Harley guy went down on a patch around the corner from my house yesterday morning. I hit the same patch in my car and thought I was going to slide right into the downed bike for a second there. I stopped to help the rider but he was unhurt and already had help on the way. It was nice to see a Harley guy with the sense to wear a full face helmet I brought my bike into my basement and started tearing it down for some maintenance & upgrades last weekend, and now it's going to get up to 60 degrees this Sunday. I just may have to put it back together and get in one last ride for the year!

Ahh yes. That picture must have been taken after lunch. He looks to be nodding off from too much grappa...

Congrat's on the new bikes guys. I look forward to hearing Bill's impressions of the Norge vs the Ballabio at some point.

I want to know which one of those guys is Luigi. You know, the Luigi who's always being accused of drinking too much Grappa at lunch then forgetting to grease the steering head and wheel bearings?

Mattress, have you seen this bike in the gallery here? V11 with Superhawk fairing I believe the owner posted more pictures somewhere else on this site a while back. A good search should find them if you're interested.

"What should I expect?" Expect to be thrilled! You may have trouble prying yourself off of it after only 5 miles though. I think I did over 100 miles the first day I got mine. Don't lug the motor means keep it over 3k rpm. As it's brand new you might want to keep it over 3500. I don't know who set your bike up but I would give it a quick inspection before you just hop on and ride. Definitely check all accessible fluids, especially engine oil, check tire pressures, etc. I would turn compression damping adjusters on the fork and shock* all the way out, and maybe set rebound about half way as a starting point. If you have tools you may want to verify that the axles, brake, and controls are all tight too. (* I don't know if your shock has compression damping) If you haven't checked it over for cosmetic flaws or shipping damage yet you might want to bring a camera to document any flaws that you find before you ride it. Congrat's on the new bike!

Now THAT Quat-D arrangement looks like the answer to the ground clearance problems that GeruGuzzi and OldButNotDead are having on the track as mentioned in another thread here. Hopefully they'll do a version of it for the V11.

My Don't buy helmets, boots, or skates online unless you are absolutely certain that they will fit. The hassle and expense of shipping stuff back and forth because it's not quite right usually isn't worth it to save a few bucks.

Somewhere on his website Jay Leno has (had?) a little video where he extolls the virtues of nitrogen as a tire inflator. IIRC in addition to nitrogen not degrading the tire, not leaking down like air, and not being as temperature sensitive as air, it also doesn't carry moisture like air so your rims won't corrode on the inside as quickly. Seems like a good idea to me if you have access to it. Lots of cool cars and bikes here: Jay Leno's garage I saw a segment of some car show on the tube about some of Jay's cars and bikes a while back and I noticed a V11 Lemans in his garage, so he may be somewhat of a Guzzi guy!

Maybe they want to sell more of the 4 valvers they have in stock rather than have customers hold off on their purchase while waiting for the 8 valve version?

Sorry for your crash there OBND, hope you weren't hurt. How did the rest of the bike fare? Since you would probably have destroyed a side mounted can in a lowside I guess the Quat-D proved itself more crash worthy. Seems like high mounted set of cheap aftermarket cans would be good for track use rather than risk $1000+ MG Ti cans or expensive aftermarket cans if money is at all an issue. Ugly but effective? I remember someone posting that a buddy of his mounted low cost automotive "Cherry Bomb" type cans on his V11. He said they looked and sounded good but unfortunately never posted pictures.

Another member here, OldButNotDead, posted his Quat-D vs Stucchi xover/Ferracci cans dyno chart here: MG TI & QUAT-D COMPARISON, AGAIN Here's his chart. The upper green & purple curves are for Stucchi/Ferracci combo, lower red & blue ones are for Quat-D if I understand his post correctly. Dyno chart Based on this I can't understand why anyone would go for a Quat over the available alternatives if they are interested in performance. Looks to me like Quat-D is for show, stucchi + cans for go!

Nice bikes Steve! How did you convince your wife to climb the phone pole and take that picture?

I had the same symptoms on my previous bike, cause was a loose battery terminal bolt.

Nothing against Arlo but I'm with you & Todd on this. I hadn't heard the song for quite a while now, thanks for posting the video.

If any of you V11 owners who have switched over to pod filters would like to get rid of your airbox & lid, I'm interested. PM or email me. Thanks, Tom

I was expecting something more along the lines of 'Sea Yak' Thanks for the deep sump vs slop sheet info.

Feel free to respond there captain. Have you picked a name your yacht yet?

The external oil filter is a real nice feature too. If you can swing the price I think the deep sump is a great choice. Congratulations on your new bike Steffen!

My throttle advance didn't seem to work when I bought my bike last April. Once I looked it over I realized the cable was broken. Installed and adjusted a new cable and all is well. Have you looked at the cable where it attaches to the advance cam on the right side throttle body? Check it to see if it's moving the cam properly.

Beautiful bike! Thankfully they didn't let Terblanche anywhere near it. I wonder how long a 160hp twin motor will go between rebuilds?

The "full floating" caliper mount is not intended to prevent swingarm flex, it's supposed to stop rear brake lockup that's caused by suspension movement. Full floating rear brakes became popular on dirt bikes back in the 70's for the same reason.

Murray, I don't know where you live but MG cycle in the US shows the deep sump on their web page. http://www.mgcycle.com/oil.html

I wouldn't be surprised if you've been smacked in the mouth a few times given your sense of "humour" there Mike. Thanks for contributing so much on the topic of Icon jeans.