Mike Stewart

Toe, The only thing that is the same between the Aprilia and guzzi are that they both have two wheels. I had a 02 Falco and it was a very easy bike to ride compared to the Guzzi. Buttery transmission shifting, slipper clutch, a fast reving engine, well balanced and handling bike. Reason for selling it was, I just rode the Guzzi's more. The Guzzi just plainly has soooo much more soul. Is it the vibes from the 90 degree V twin, or the clunkieness of the transmission, or just the lines of the bike that make me want to ride it all the time? Oh yeah, no need to stand around putting your helmet on and gloves while your bike warms up to temp so you can ride away. The Guzzi is a start up and ride away type of bike. As far as the PCIII, this is not a magic box to get more horsepower, it is a device which corrects the Air/Fuel ratio of the engine to get the maximim power out of the engine (remember the engine is just a vacuum pump). The stock bikes from 2003 up, run really good from the dealer. If you change the exhaust, air intake system, then you will need to adjust the fuel system to get the most from the mods. My 03 Rosso was perfect from the dealer and when I changed to a free flow exhaust, the bike ran terrible. Yes, the PCIII corrected the problems. Humm, I am also thinking of purchasing a Aprilia RS250 for track days. What a way to learn cornering speed. Mike

My 2000 V11 Sport would ping at freeway speeds when the throttle was rolled on around 4200 rpm. This only happens when the weather is hot. My 03 Rosso, never has pinged. The bikes were set up with the same exhaust, crossover, lid less air box. RacerX told me that he uses the PCIII accelerator function when the weather gets warm. This eliminates his ping. Just a thought, Mike

Most riders do wear the left side of the tire out more (sooner), at least in the US. This is because you can see farther around left hand turns so it is easier to lean more with out fear. At least that is what I do . Mike

Nah, I don't mind what they think, to me it is all about dollars and cents. I know some of the guys on the Wildgoose list, they are harmless. Perhaps stunned that parting a bike out with alot of add ons is easier than selling a complete bike. I have received many emails of people wanting to purchase the complete bike, but they are talking $5000. Thanks for your support, Mike

Ralph, Thats why I hang out here! Mike

Carl, you kill me Mike

I have over 50,000 miles on various V1100 engines and I have not had any problems with the valve train. I usually run .008 intake and .010 exhaust. I can't see the failure happening if you over tighten the lock-nut. Sorry , Mike

This is getting weird , If I had never saw the Le Jackal project in the works, I would of never thought of buying a Jackal . Well, I am happy I did, now I just need time to finish the project. The small circle of Guzzi ownership! Mike

Wait a minute, You were the owner of the Le Jackal? I too have a Jackal project, 1100S in the works. I believe I talked to you about it. Humm, small world. Mike

Ralph, It is normal when you spread the pads apart that the master cylinder reservoir fills with fluid. This is how some bike mechanics bleed the air from the brakes. When I first read your post, I had the feeling that the caliper seals could of been damaged from the pistons coming out too far (pads touching). This still could be the case, but should not cause the pads to get stuck. Also, you would have a leak at the caliper when you apply the rear brake. Have you tried pumping the rear brake pedal many times to move the pads back to the rotor? You could remove the caliper again and watch the pistons/pads to see if they come out some with every stroke of the rear brake pedal. If they don't, I would rebleed the rear brake. Alot of times, I just gravity bleed the brake systems. Have the bleeder up like you have done and crack the bleeder. Just let the gravity of the fluid leak out and just add to the master cylinder as needed. No pumping needed If you are in need of a master cylinder or rear brake caliper, PM me. Good luck, Mike

There is alot of confusion on where the tps should be adjusted to (myself included). I think the trend is about 500mv at idle now. Look at my last question on the subject and you will see the maps all over the board. http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5121 On my 00 V11S, I went through the pain (time) of disconnecting the throttle linkage and backing out the throttle stop screw and then adjusted the tps to 150mv (0 throttle point) The tps voltage with the idle set is now about (off the top of my head) 268mv. I have not touched my other two bikes and their tps voltages are quite abit higher and run the same or slightly better (to my assonometer). We are talking 466 mv (03 Rosso) and 642mv (Ghezzi-Brian) which is about double the tps voltage of my 00 V11 Sport. I also have the Powercommanders on all of my bikes and they all use a different map. This could be the reason why the bikes all run right. As RacerX tries to get across to PCIII owners, check your tps voltage or know where its at before you get the bike dynoed. This way if the tps voltage gets changed, you will know where to reset it to for that PCIII maping. He also wishes when the maps are made, that the tps voltage would be written down on the comment part of map. I have read Carls tps adjustment and have done it that way also (with the bike running). It just seems weird that on the cars I work on that the tps voltage stays the same, engine running or off. This, to me is because of the 5 volt reference going to the tps. Maybe the Delco electronics are just better than Marelli? Another thought, is there a difference between the 15m and 16m systems on how the tps should be set up? So after all this thinking , I still think where the tps voltage is at idle makes most sense. Just set it to 500mv and go for a ride. Mike

I wanted to do this months ago but never took time to do it. Well here goes more of my Global space. To check your TPS voltage I do the following. 1. Locate the tps sensor on the right side of the throttle body, slide the boot on the connector down to expose the wires. I remove the connector from the tps and then nsert a T pin (even a sewing pin should work) into the rear of the connector (back probing) where the wire comes out of terminal A and also at terminal C. The pin slides down against the connector terminal. This is better than piercing the wire! Also make sure that the ignition switch in the off position! 2. reconnect the connector to the tps. You must keep the pins seperated, I usually bend them slightly to advoid any contact. 3. Connect your voltmeter clips to the pins. Negative goes to terminal A and the positive clip to terminal C. If you get it backwards the tps reading will still be correct but will have a - (negative symbol infront of the reading). 4. Make sure the fast idle lever is turned off. Turn on the ignition switch and read the voltage. Mine reads .466 volts or 466 mv. What should your tps voltage be, I am not sure. Between three of my bikes, they range from .268 to .650 volts. They all run fine Good luck, Mike

The new cable should have less bend where it comes out of the transmission. Getting one from MG Cycles may not be the new style that you need. Shouldn't this be a warrantee issue? I still have the old style (90 degree bend) and have over 10k on the bike (now knocking on wood) Mike

Well, I just spent the last two days at Thunder Hill, a race track in Northern California . Two years ago, I did my first novice track day school on my Aprilia Falco. This bike was fast and handled well. I wondered how a less techno (modern) bike would preform. Some friends and I had signed up for the Keigwins ( http://www.keigwin.com/ ) two day novice track day months ago and now it was time to go out and do it. I had reservation about taking the beautiful Ghezzi-Brian, but I was very curious on how it would do on the track. It also would be a great place to learn any short comings of the new bike. Weeks earlier, I was still working on the bike to make it more driveable. A valve adjustment, throttle sync. , remaping, remaping and more remaping to rid the bike of the cough at lower rpm's. (We are talking a big hic-up here) Having a big cough when the throttle is rolled off and back on while leaned over could cause major issues. I also had false neutral problems, mainly on down shifting. This could be a problem going into turns at speed. I thought it was going to be a internal transmission issue, but after looking at the shifter/linkage, I found that the linkage would hit the frame if the pivoted was in the right spot. Just an adjustment to raise the shifer up 10mm. fixed the problem. I was going to bring my 03 Rosso Corsa as a back up bike, but the Ghezzi-Brian was running excellent. I still wondered about doing two days on the track with very low clip-ons, and I also was worried about the harsh vibration at 6500 rpm. The first day at the track the bikes were inspected for the normal, brakes, leaks, loose bolts etc. Yes, the Ghezzi got the most attention of the 60 plus bikes. There were many remarks such as, "shouldn't that bike be in your living room?" and " Don't make us cry" (meaning please don't drop it). We had our riders meeting and went over the rules of passing (just on the outside), the meaning of the flags and a few other things. I was in the B group (the slower of the two groups), I mainly wanted to start off slow so I could learn the bike as I picked up speed. The site in laps were at 60-65 mph, this was quite abit faster then what I remembered at this track two years ealier (same school). It still was not a problem for me, but already some students could not keep up. Anyway, the Ghezzi performed flawlessly, (after a remap for the ping at 3500 to 4k coming out of some slow turns). The Ghezzi is very stable at any speed, braking is second to none, bike turn in is effortlessly and the sound of the exhaust turned many heads. I visited the free suspension setup booth by GP Suspension Inc. I had the compression of the front forks cranked all the way in to rid the forks of the fast fork dive when the brakes were applied. A few sag measurement and hard jounces on the front forks revealed the forks would not move through their full travel. Loosening up the front fork preload and compression damping made the forks way too loose and now the suspension specialist now knew what I had been fighting. He suggested a revalve of the compression circuit and checking the fork oil level. The forks will have to be removed for the repair. He added more spring preload and less compression damping so I could finish the second day at the track. The bike was more compliant now, but I will still take the forks off and have the valving redone as suggested. I was wearing the red riding suit on the first day but the right shoulder was too tight and did not allow me to point or lead with my right shoulder while hanging off the bike. The second day felt much better and I could move around more freely. I have to recommend Keigwins at the Track to anyone wanting to do some trackdays, great detailed instructions, very patient instructors and alot of track time! Mike

The only advantage of the Volt Amplifier is that you can run a larger gap of the spark plug. I doubled the 28 thou gap to 56 thou and the bike runs great. Just did a two day track day and the bike ran flawless. Well, it did have the normal ping at 3 to 4K, but an adjustment with the powercommander helped greatly! Mike

Mighty Nice indeed! Mike

The final drive is from a 2000 V11 Sport, the wheels should be the same, I had 03 wheels on the bike. The inner spacer length is 12.5 mm long, (roughly 1/2 inch in length). The spacer should be able to fit inbetween the opening of a 13mm wrench. Measure your spacer to compare. Man, nothing is ever easy with Guzzi's I can mail out the spacer if needed today, but with the holiday, it won't go out till Tuesday. Mike

How about some nice pictures of the polished titanium cans on your bike Mike

You will need to take both bolts out of the rear driveshaft coupler. The bolts keep the joint from sliding off if they loosen. The rear joint fits tight on the pinion shaft and you will have to find a suitable object to tap the broken splined piece out of the driveshaft coupler. Remember to realign the marks on the drive shaft if they are seperated. Mike

Oh yeah, Don't forget to fill the final drive with your favorite fluid. And, with the rear axle tighened up, make sure the rear wheel turns freely. And, never, never dump the clutch again! Mike

I sent the right outer spacer and washers with the unit. The inner spacer (between the wheel and final drive) the 1/2 inch long one, is sitting on my work bench. Now, I need a drink lol, Mike

How big is the hole in the spacer? Is the hole the same size as the rear axle? The only spacer I know of that is about 1 inch long is the one that goes on the right side of the final drive unit that the needle bearing rides on. Could it be from your old final drive unit? The spacer that goes between the wheel and final drive is about 1/2 inch long. A picture would do wonders here Anyone have a parts diagram of the rear drive/wheel assy? Mike

I too have hundreds of dollars spent (yes, I buy from Snap-On, Mac and Matco for my work tools) on tire pressure gauges. They all differ by 2 psi., I have found that the best gauge out there are the digital gauges. The good ones calibrate themselfs each time they are turned on. I bought one from Mac tools for $25 dollars and I also have two different ones from Snap-On that are $90. each. This does not account for all the big dialed air pressure gauges I have purchased for my don't want to wear glasses sydrome Mike

I was working on the Ghezzi Brian and had the body work removed and I found a module under the tail section. A little research and what I thought was a capacitive dicharge unit turns out to be a voltage amplifier that takes 12 volts going to the ignition coils and converts it up to 15 amps and 20 volts. You can open the spark plug gap from .028" to .056". All I can say is this bike has the best burning plug I have seen on a big block Guzzi. Anyone else have any experence with one? Mike

If I remember correctly, you need to cut the harness going to the ECU and splice the Techlusion in. Also I heard that it could do the ECU harm if there is a failure. The Techlusion is old school. I would stick to the Powercommander , has more maps available, many tuning stations and very good support! Mike