Mike Stewart

Ratchethach, To me it seems that the Guzzi likes less sag than normal. I think this is because of the lack of shock travel. I might be wrong, but with the stock Sach spring, I had to increase spring preload inorder to prevent my butt from leaving the seat on hard bumps. My theory is that the shock bottoms against the rubber bumper and spits you off the seat. Some of this is normal with the Guzzi rear suspension. It is much better with the Ohlin's and Penske rear shock. By the way, the Ohlins shock has 72mm. of travel which is about 20mm at the rear wheel. The stock springrate for the Ohlin's equiped bike (03 Rosso) is aprox. 475 ft lbs. and works very well. I do not know what the stock springrate is on the Sach's shock. I had a 550 lb spring on my revalved/resprung Sach shock and also the Penske and it was way to harsh for me and made the bike go wide on bumpy sweepers (fine for riding two up fully loaded). I now have a 500 lb. spring on the Penske and it is great. I weigh 195 lbs. Also, I measure rear sag at the rear wheel axle and place a piece of tape on the rear body work level to the ground. The tape measure should be 90 degrees from the floor (axle to tape). This is the most accurate way that I know of to measure sag. The rear Sach shock travel is 62 to 64 mm. and the leverage of the rear swingarm is close to a 2 to 1 ratio. So if you multiply the shock travel by 2, that should be the rear wheel travel. So 124 to 128mm. of rear wheel travel. You might be right on with your sag adjustment, perhaps more rebound dampening will help out. Mike

I have found that having the sag set to 30% of travel in the rear is still too soft on my 00 V11sport. There is only about 125mm. of rear wheel travel and that is with the shock's bumper stop compressed. By adjusting the rear suspension stiffer and cutting the sidestand rubber bumper down, grinding the side stand is much more of a challenge. Mike

I think the Binford 1000 would go nice in everyone's garagel Mike

To sync. the throttle bodys, you will need a mercury stick or equivalent. Remove the evap hose (going from throttle body to throttle body) and hook up the mercury sticks to the throttle bodys. Start the engine and raise the engine speed with the throttle to 2500 rpm., watch the mercury stick and if they are not equal, adjust the knob on the left throttle body linkage (screw in and or out) till the mercury in the columbs are equal. Now let the engine idle and recheck the balance on the mercury stick. If it is off, you will need to adjust the air bleeds on the throttle bodys to make them equal. After this adjustment, you should recheck the 2500 rpm. sync. once again and readjust if needed. The theory in high preformance cams is that a high duration cam produces more horsepowere in the upper rpm range. This is true with the Moto Guzzi engine. With a larger valve lash, the duration of the cam is changed. With the larger lash, the duration is lowered. The opening and closing of the cam is slighlty changed (with the extra clearence) and the opening is slowed by the clearence. Thus, the bike feels like it has a less duration cam and will then have less overlap and a stronger idle. I and a few others out there have noticed the difference in idle after opening up the valve lash. Mike

Bruno, The idle spec. for the bike is 1000 to 1100 rpm. The idle speed adjustment is on the left throttle body (left side sitting on the bike) and you will need a 2.5mm allen wrench to make the adjustment. The adjustment screw or stop is just about under the air intake tube to the throttle body. If raising the idle does not help, try loosening up the valve specs to .006 intake and .008 exhaust or even Raceco's specs of .008 intake and .010 exhaust. By using the Raceco spec, the bike will idle very strong and much smoother. Also, everytime you adjust the valves, the throttle body sync. should be checked as well as idle speed. Just by going to the Raceco valve specs on my 00 V11 Sport raised the idle speed by about 300 rpm. Good luck, Mike

Fantastic ride report! Sorry about dropping the Goose, it happened to me one day when I was on my 94 BMW R1100 RSL. Sogging wet, I pulled into a gas station in Oregan and while putting the bike on the center stand to get the most fuel into her, my foot slipped off the center stand and the bike went over. All I could think of was broken parts. Well, I picked it up (with the help of my wife) and lord and behold, only a scratch on the valve cover. Still was embarrased. I have been up Ebbits Pass many a times on a bicycle but never on a motorcycle. Your bike most likely did not like the altitude at that time. Each pass is at least 12 miles and is a must thing to do up in the Tahoe area. Should of stayed at the hot springs in Markleville. We need to meet up once Carl gets one of his bikes together for a Yosomite valley ride. Mike

Ok, Ok, I confess, the reverse megaphone setup was mine. There are no just bolt on megaphones except for the Bubs which are supper loud. While I liked the looks of the reverse megaphone setup, it was just too loud for my taste. Loud meaning that there was no beautiful exhaust note anymore (just a loud blaaaaa), I ended up going with the Mistral carbon ovals and now the sound is bless. Mike

JRT, Try Guzzitech.com, Todd is an Amsoil distributor. See you in a few weeks, Mike

Al, I think you should just download the accelerator pump program from Powercommander and then dial it in as per Todd, just play with the sensitivity level to see what suits your needs. I would start off in the lowest sensitivity and then raise it up little by little untill you do not notice a difference and then back it off some. Everyones riding style is different so what might be good for Todd may not be good for me. Just a thought, Mike

Carl, If you want to sell that plate, let me know. I was going to make one but just have not had a chance yet. Mike

Mathieu, Linderman revalved my stock Sach shock. I went through EMA (European Motorcycle Accessories) in Livermore California to buy the Penske. It was just closer to home and the guys are easy to deal with. I still prefer the Ohlins shock over the Penske. The main reason is that the shock travel is greater than the Penske unit. If my memory serves me correctly the Ohlins has about 10 to 13mm. more shock travel which equals to about an inch at the rear wheel. The guys at Penske said that most bikes have too much travel but to me where I do most of my riding on the street, more shock travel is welcomed. The Ohlins felt more plush at first but now with more miles on the Penske, they do feel pretty close. The big bumps are felt more with the Penske, probably from the shock bumper being compressed. On the positive side, the Penske shock is adjustable in length, so playing with shock lengths is quite entertaining. I thought this would help my 00 Sport in the handling department but the stock length seems to be where the bike likes it. That brings up another point about the Ohlins shock. The shock is 10 mm. longer than the stock Sach shock. While this being a big plus on the 02 bikes and newer, I think it works against the faster steering 00 and 01 bikes. So to wrap it up, the Penske is a very good shock. But Penske custom builds each shock to your weight. So I just hope it does not take two tries to get the shock of your dreams made. The second time I sent the shock back, they went with a lower spring rate and revalved the shock to the new spring weight. They also used the shortest shock body to gain shock travel. Went from 50mm. of travel to 60mm. which is quite abit when you are talking travel. I am pleased with the way Penske handled the problems and their service is top notch. Within a few days I had the shock back in my hands. I just wished I had talked to them sooner to figure out the problems. Good luck, Mike

There is a science behind intake runner length and diameter to optimize performance at a given rpm. What that science is, I have no clue. I had a 94 BMW R1100 RSL and the bike felt like it had no really good low end torque when riding two up from a stop. I really had to slip the clutch to get the bike rolling. A few years went on and then I read a German article on gaining 7 horse power for 35 dollars. Well in the article, this guy installed the R 1100 GS intake runners on his R 1100 RSL and had the bike dynoed before and after the intake runner change. And it was true that below 5000 rpm, there was a 7 horse power increase. There was a slight drop in HP at redline but in the real world on the street more HP at 5000 rpm is the name of the game. I ordered the intake runners from my local BMW dealer and had the parts in a week. The GS runners were twice as long as the RS runners and were slightly smaller diameter. I installed them and could not believe the difference it made from idle to 5000 rpm. It was like a different bike. Getting off the line fully loaded riding two up was much better and the bike would still cruise at 120 mph. fully loaded. Just what the doctor ordered. So after my learnings with the BMW, I am a firm believer in intake runner lengths. The large short runner length that the V11's use will most likely provide upper end horsepower. A longer runner with a smaller diameter will provide more low and midrange torque and HP. How much, I Don't know. We need someone that has alot of time on their hands to get their bike on a dyno and play with different lengths of intake runner tubes. Humm, now that I think about it, for every change in the exhaust system, I bet the intake runner length needs to be adjusted for max. HP. O, boy now my head really hurts. Mike

I have the opposite feeling that Gary Cheek has. I have a 2000 V11Sport and an 03 Rosso Corsa and all I can say is I wish my 2000 Sport handled like my 03 Rosso. Once you get the right tires (Metzeler Sportec, Pirelli Diablo Corsa) on the 02 and newer bikes, the steering is excellent in my opinion. High speed sweepers (100+ Mph) are not a problem with the Rosso. Now the same turns with my 00 Sport with the Ohlins forks and Penske rear shock, I have to be very calm for the bike to track straight. Any road irregularitys and the bike feels really unstable. Loose/twitchy rear end. Yes, I really like to ride my 00 V11Sport (ride it everyday) but you need to know its short comings. On the 03 Rosso (with Ohlins front and rear), I have not found any short comings yet. I am planning to do a track day in September with Todd and Dp Safety school and you bet that I will be on the Rosso. Mike

Bruno, The tires show the max pressure allowed. This would be for a highly loaded bike. I would suggest using the spec. that is in the service manuel. It should also be printed somewhere on the bike. It may be covered up on the rear swing arm. Mike

Bruce, In the U.S. tires tend to were out quicker on the left side. Most riders (US) favor the left turns. One large reason is that you can see farther into the turn when going left, thus leaning more and applying more throttle (at least this is what I do). Changing your own tire is higher on the difficulty list. I do my own but I have an advantage that I work at a Chevy dealer which has a tire machine that works on motorcycle wheels. I purchased a static wheel balancer and balance my own wheels also. Dirt bike tires are easy compared with the tubeless tires. To break the bead loose takes alot of effort while trying to prevent damage to the wheel. So I suggest the dealer or any shop that sells tires. Good luck , Mike

Docc, I have heard of a few PCIII maps that still needed to be tweaked after the bike was dynoed at a Powercommander facility. Don't get me wrong, the bike will be very close, but sometimes, things just do not show up on the dyno. Let's take the lean backfire that the 03 bikes produce when the exhaust is changed. The bike on the dyno will show that everything is fine but when the bike is ridden, at times there will be a backfire at about 2500 rpm. when comming to a stop. Well by making the lower throttle opening richer, the problem is eliminated. I have also heard of surging or slight flat spots after having the map made. This could be caused by just a slight leaness in the effected rpm range. What could be happening is that the correct air fuel ratio was picked but your bike may need to be richer than the optimum for this condition. Remember there is a fine line between performance and fuel mileage. Most of the PCIII returned to Dynojet are found to have had the harness pinched or chaffed by incorrect routing of the harness. There for it is very important to route the harness away from any sharp edge or anything that could pinch the harness such as a side cover or seat. There are most likely a small amount of PCIII that are defective, but you will get this with any type of electronics. Even in automobiles you will see failures in electronics. Just think about all the vibrations, heat and temperture changes that happen day to day on your bike. Just having your bike sit in the sun for a few hours could raise the temperture up pretty high under the seat. I have over 30,000 miles on my PCIII and have nothing but good to say about the product. For every change I do to my bike, it is so easy with the stroke of the keyboard change the air fuel ratio of the bike at any rpm range or throttle opening. Where else can you go online and download a map from across the Country, download it into your computor and do a comparison to your existing map. There have been many times when I have changed the map in my bike to compensate for a ping or richness at idle. Just plug the PCIII into your lap top and add or subtract in the rpm range and throttle opening that the problem occures. No screwdrivers or hammers needed. I am not saying this is the only way to adjust the fuel mixture of the bike. But to me, it is the cheapest and easiest way to do it. Mike

Getting the Sach shock repaired would be fairly costly. You would be looking at 2 to 3 hundred dollars. The seal is not replaceable so the shock head needs to be modified in order to replace it. I have a rebuilt Sach shock that I would sell you for $100.00 US. I had it revalved and resealed by Linderman Engineering. The best rear shock to me so far is the Ohlins shock. They are pricey and go for $900 plus dollars. It has a remote spring adjustment which would be nice if you ever carry a passenger or luggage. The shock length is about 10mm. longer than the Sach shock and will steepen up the head angle slightly. I feel this is a good thing on the 02 bikes and newer. The dampening and spring are well matched for the bike and a one time deal with installation gives this shock two thumbs up in my book. I have also had a Penske shock made for my 00 V11Sport, It took three tries to get the shock to work right. The first time, the shock was too long and the bolt eyelets were too small. The second time, the spring and dampening was too high and the bike was unrideable with the spring rate and dampening at its lightest setting. The good news was that Penske wanted to get it right and I did end up with a very nice shock. So good luck with your decision. Mike

The looseness felt in the rear of the bike over slight road imperfections at high cornering speed (90 mph plus) is one thing I have been combating since day one on my 00 V11Sport. While changing the forks to Ohlins and replacing the rear with the Penske and playing with different tire brands, the bike to me still has a certain looseness trait. My bike is way better than stock but when pushed hard, I/it still feels somewhat nervous. Now my 03 Rosso does not have this trait and feels like it is on rails. I don't know if it is just the wheel base difference or the extra bracing that was done on the frame. Mike

The titanium kit comes with the slip-ons and new ecm to richen up the fuel mixture to get the full advantage of the slip-ons. There have been a few that have gone this route and still had problems with leaness and had to go with the PCIII to correct the lean issues. I suggest going to a different exhaust, ie Mistral and then purchasing a PCIII to dial in the fuel mixture. In the long run, you would be saving about $300.00 bucks. Just my thoughts, others may or will vary. Oh yeah, the Stucchi crossover helps just about everywhere. Don't leave home with out one! Mike

Ahh, that would be Mark at Moto Guzzi Classics! And he does ride this bike with out the front brake. Yes, he has huge balls! Mike

No problem, My wire cutters and crimpers are waiting! See you when you get back, Mike

Here we go again! The cheapest and easiest way to compensate the air fuel mixture is by installing a Powercommander (PCIII). The dealer can tweak you stock ECM but, how many dealers have a dyno to do it correctly? My 03 Rosso ran very bad after installing the Mistrals. The PCIII enabled me to correct the lean areas to make a very responsive bike. Mike

It looks like they are for the Tonti frame. Humm, perhaps for my next project bike. Mike

Carl, Your right but it is for a Yamaha R1. Mike

Tony, I have by passed the clutch and stand switches on both on my bikes. I hate to be stranded by a bad switch! The best place to bypass the clutch switch is under the fuel tank where the clutch switch connects to the main harness. The two wires need to be spliced together. I think the same goes for the side stand switch, but for some reason my memory is failing me after a glass of fine wine. If you want to meet this weekend, we can take care of those worthless switches. Mike