Mike Stewart

Yes, the spring is an 85 kg. mm. and there is a way to convert it to lbs. in. A friend of mine did a rough est. last night using a conversion that he made up and it came out to be 475 lb. in. for the stock Ohlins spring. I just do not know if his way of figuring out the conversion is correct. The LE respring and Penske springrate both use 550 lb. in. and both shocks are very, very harsh no matter where the sag is set. Thanks, Mike

Dudes, The numbers on my Ohlins rear shock spring on my 03 Rosso are 1091-26/85 L262 I am trying to convert this to pounds so I can cross reference this to my 00 V11Sport. Currently I have a 550 lb. spring on my V11Sport which feels way too stiff, I need to know the kg. of the Ohlins so I can do the conversion. Thanks dudes, Mike

Al, I think the iceing on the cake would be the Ohlins with the remote adjustable preload. Downside is that it is heavier but for just changing the preload for riding two up or even when touring with saddle bags would be much easier than getting the wrench out and busting knuckles and pulling your hair out. I am also sold on having a 70mm. stroke instead of the 50 to 60mm stroke of the other shocks. Mike

If you want to get a higher set of clip-ons, check out Two Brothers Racing! I have a set of their clip-ons and they have different heights that can be used with their bars and fork clamps. Compleatly adjustable for every wrist! You will need the 54mm. fork clamps and then the 3.5 inch bar riser. Care must be taken when changing bar height, turn the bars to lock with the engine running to see if the idle speed stays the same. If it doesn't you will need to reroute the cable, adjust the freeplay or replace the cable with a longer one. Mike

Docc, The Penske was too long when I first received it and had to send it back to get it shortened by 10mm. I had a clearence problem with the driveshaft rubbing the swingarm in the extended state. I think it had the same shock travel as the Sachs shock at first and after 10mm. was taken out of the length of the shaft, now the travel is less. I did not know this until I measured the shock travel for this post. I think I will talk to the company that I bought the Penske from and see if they can get me a Ohlins shock for cost. Both the Penske and Ohlins shocks are longer than the Sach shock and will steepen the head angle slightly. Mike

Doc, I believe your measurements are cm., not mm. It is still a two to one ratio for the rear suspension. Just double the shock travel and that will be your suspension travel. Yes the travel on the stock sucks shock is very limited (total travel with bumper compressed 60mm.). I have been told by LE that the rubber bumper will compress to paper thickness. I find this hard to believe and had cut my bumper in half on my old Sach shock. It did feel better but still not as good as the Ohlins shock. By the way, the Ohlins shock has a longer stroke with bumper compressed(70mm.) so the rear suspension has more travel. On the Penske, the stroke is less than the Sachs shock (50mm.) and Yes, I do like the Ohlins better so far! Mike

Captain, I had an aftermarket set of clip-ons on my 00 V11Sport which mounted to the forks under the triple clamps. They are made by Vortex Racing and have a 10 degree angle to them. If you want to be low, these bars are for you. I had to change bars due to the fork swap I did a few weeks ago. I will try to find some pictures of the clip-ons. Mike

My 03 Rosso has 43mm Ohlins forks, I thought all Ohlins RT forks were 43mm? Any Scura owners want to measure? Well off to packing and loading my bike up, I am leaving for San Diego tomorrow a Guzzi Rally. Humm, I wonder if I can fit my laptop. Al, I will machine the front axle spacers and replace your wheel bearings when I return! Mike

Rear Sag, How Much, My wife says my rear doesn't sag, but the front is another story! Mike

When I sold my 94 R1100 RSL, the head gaskets were starting to leak oil as well as every other seal on the bike. I had only 20,000 miles on the bike. I have at least that amount of miles on my 00 V11Sport (don't really know since the speedo was broken for so long) and overall I think the Guzzi is holding up better. They also had transmission bearing problems on the earlier transmission in which many customers with alot of miles on their bikes usually replaced the whole transmission. Mike

Thats why I ride a carbon fiber Kestrel, my sweat just peels the paint off of any steel or aluminum bicycle frame! Come to think of it, even the powder coated frames failed under my sweat. Mike

Mikie, That would be the oil return line from the spine of the frame. Guzzi uses the spine of the frame to catch the oil from the blowby (crankcase pressure). In the frame the oil vapors can condense, turning back into a liquid thus findings its way back to the engine sump via the steel braided line. Whoa, now that is science at work! Other Mikie

Jeff, I have not tried the wires but it sounds like snake oil to me. There is nothing wrong with the stock wires. If you want a hotter spark, invest money into an ignition amp or capacitive discharge unit and that is what you will get, a hotter and longer duration spark. Now thats what a Guzzi needs. Just my thought, Mike

Better watch out for low flying sparrows! Mike

I don't think even Guzzi knows!

All, I finished up installing the Aprilia Showa forks this morning and with a few borrowed parts from my Aprilia Falco, I was able to take the 00 V11Sport out for a quick 80 mile ride. It has a very compliant ride! I had set the fork sag to 35mm. and it was very easy to do using the preload adjusters on top of the forks. Both rebound and compression are both adjustable as well to suit your riding style and weight. Front end dive was minimal and rough roads were so much better. Now I can get back to adjusting the rear Penske shock! I am going for another ride tomorrow, I lowered the rear of the bike 13mm. to slacken the head angle slightly. The head angle was at a quick 24 degrees after the Penske shock and fork upgrade. Mike

Bingo Jeff I couldn't of said it better! Mike

Mikie, I was suprised to see my 03 Rosso with the tank suck problem also. Removing the evap. canister and getting rid of the tipover valve solved the issue, same as the earlier models. Other Mikie

Brother Al, My 03 with the Ohlins forks are like the 02 Scura in which the front axle is threaded into the left fork leg. I would rather have the larger hollow axle version that you have because while being way lighter it is also stiffer. So if you run into any problems with fit, let me know and I will take the forks off you hands. You need to check the length of the fork and also the diameter where the triple clamps meet against your stock units to make sure they are infact the same. Mike

Yo Al, My 2003 Rosso uses the same front axle as your 2002. Did your Ohlins forks accept the 25mm./Ducati axle? Guzzi minds want to know! Mike

Ok Al, Well, I got out my large digital caliper and measured the inside distance of the swingarm and both bikes measure the same (2000 V11 Sport, 2003 Rosso). I kinda thought that would be the case since I have seen factory 5.5 inch rims put on 2000 and 01 Sports. I have seen a very nice carbon fiber rear hugger on a bike from Texas. It was not like the one Guzzi sells. The fit was excellent. I will have to email the gentleman to find out where he purchased it. Mike

Paul, It isn't that difficult to install the Showa forks and I do believe it will be a much better fork than the stock unit. At least it will be tuneable. A well tuned Showa is on par with Ohlins as I am told. I had my stock forks reworked twice by LE and was not happy with the fork afterwards . Way to stiff, not supple at all. If I can get the front end to work like my Aprilia, I will be a very happy camper! My Dymag front wheel uses one 47mm. bearing on one side and a 42mm. bearing that is on the right side. There is plenty of material that can be removed to fit the 47mm. bearing but finding a competent machine shop may be a different story. Mike

OK guys, I am in the process of installing an Aprilia Mille Showa fork on my 2000 V11 Sport. I am also using a 25mm. front axle, which I picked up on ebay that came from a Ducati 748 for the sum of $30 dollars. I have made the fork shims that will take up the 1mm. difference in diameter. I bought clip-ons made by Two Brothers Racing at the Aprilia site and they have a rise of 3 inches and will clamp to the new forks under the triple clamps. Here is a picture of the parts so far. Oh yeah, if any one has a scura carbon fiber fender that wants to sell, let me know. I also have to have the front wheel machined to accept larger bearing to accomadate the larger front axle. I do not want buy another front wheel from Dymag! This will be a fairly cheep way to upgrade your Guzzi. I have seen the Aprilia forks sell anywhere from $180 to $500 dollars on ebay. Mike

Al, So you were the guy Ken was talking about that bought the parts. Damm, too late again. Mike

Humm, I was up at Winter's yesterday for the monthly gabfest (breakfast) and a 2002 Lemans pulls up. After breakfast I was able to check it out. It was red with a 5 inch. black strip going down the tank and flowing over the rear seat cowl and then tail piece. Looked very sharp! What caught my eye was the filter pods placed behind the front fairing and connecting with hoses to the airbox top. Humm, I think I know who's work this is. The owner, Jim had bought it used in Los Angles. I just got off the phone with Ken at Evoluzion Sports in LA and he was the one that did the work. The horse power increase was 3 hp over the whole rpm. range, I said great how much, the answer was I only did three because each one had to be hand fitted. Guzzie's are never the same. So now I need to make my own. Oh yeah, the bike also had the ignition amp which helps the Guzzi greatly. Mike