Mike Stewart

Al, Stronger and lighter are the way to go. When my engine comes apart, I am looking into lighting the crank/rods and flywheel. Never heard of Carillo rods having any problems, as they are on my list also. Mike

Al, I think you made a good choice going with the Ohlins shock to match the Ohlins fork. I have bought two rear shocks and two sets of tires from EMA and they rock! Their tire prices are the same or lower than mail order stores and they are fairly local so you can pick up your purchases. Humm, they carry PVM wheels also. Time to pull out the credit card cha-ching.... Mike

Northend, It is so easy it is scary! Push the hose towards the fuel take unit, while pressure is held on the hose push the white collar on the hose outward (toward the hose)and the hose will slip off. You will not feel any movement of the white collar so just let the hose slide off. Watch out for fuel, it could be under pressure, some rags around the fitting might be helpful as well as safty glasses just incase the fuel sprays. Oh yeah, I would do this on a cold engine. Mike

Hey Mike, Mike, I had the crossover pipe rattle on my 03 Rosso when cold also. When I installed the Stucchi crossover the header pipes had to be squezzed inward for the Stucchi crossover. Bottom line is no more forward crossover float and no more rattle and of corse more torque and power. Mike

The cheapest place to buy Mistral exhaust is Agostini's at: http://www.agostinidullio.com Click on the english version and you will have to email them for the price list for the Mistral exhaust. They have round cans in Aluminum, titanium, carbon and oval cans in titanium and carbon. You need to email your credit card number to them and even with shipping you will save at least $100.00 over harpers. I paid $550. for a set of oval carbons two years ago. The low mounted versions will work with the Techno bags. Good luck, Mike

Guz, The Stucchi crossover does not fit like a glove and takes some tweaking to make it fit properly. Try loosening up the header pipes from the cylinder heads and with these loose you can move the crossover around to get it centered. Do not tighten any part till the cans are on and centered. On both of my Stucchi installations the header pipes were not the problem, I always had problems with getting the cans to be centered and at the same height. My Stucchi crossovers both fit shorter than the stock unit. I had one Stucchi crossover that did not fit at all and had to exchange it for another one and that one worked out fine. Are you going to the San Diego rally next month? Hope to see you there. Mike

Mal, Just last week I installed the Stucchi crossover on my 2003 Rosso with Mistral oval mufflers. It took alot of playing around to make them fit properly. I have heard of others having no luck on installing the Stucchi crossover on bikes with the forward crossover. Make sure you can return the crossover if it does not fit properly before you buy one. Another problem is some aftermarket mufflers work with the stock crossover but not with the Stucchi crossover. I think the bike has even better low end torque with the Stucchi Crossover and Mistral mufflers. The Powercommander was really needed after the change. The bike would spit and spudder at low rpms and die out coming to stops. Some tweaking on the PCIII solved the problem and I now get better fuel mileage to boot! Before the exhaust and PCIII change I would get at most 32 mpg.,now I am up at 37-38 mpg. Mike

It's only time! Mike

Humm, Spark plugs, I am a firm believer in a hot spark. The limiting factor on increasing your plug gap is available voltage at the plug. I think dual plugging is the way to go on the Guzzi mainly because the combustion chamber shape and plug location sucks. Its the flame path that suffers. What ever happened to Splitfire plugs, seems like they were the hit a few years back and now you never hear of them anymore. I would like to try Capacitive discharge system to give the plugs a longer burn time. The extra voltage would also be welcomed as would a slightly larger plug gap. Another winter project in the works. Mike

Most brake pad companies offer a pad that uses the HH composition. This pad works very well in all tempertures, wet or dry. It out performs most other pads on the street. You will notice less hand brake pressure is needed to stop the bike and you will probably find that your fork springs are soft from the front end dive after installing these pad. Mike

Janusz, My speedo needle was jumping above 60 mph (20 mile an hour swings) for the last 5.000 miles and after the 45 degree speedo gear drive blew out and was replaced after a four month wait, my speedo needle still jumped. I replaced the cable and my problem still was there. The new speedo fixed the problem, the needle is dead steady! Now if only my transmission leak was fixed... Mike

Perhaps a warped rear brake rotor? Both my 00 V11 Sport and 03 Rosso have the famous rear brake groan. My 03 Rosso started to groan after a high speed ride, I found the rear brake lever binding and causing the rear brake to drag causing alot of heat on the rear rotor. Now the rotor is warped and will drag when the rear wheel rotates. I removed the rear brake lever and sanded down the pivot ends to add clearence and now the rear brake pedal feels free. There is still a rear brake groan caused by the overheated warped rotor. Mike

I have 18,000-19,000 miles? on my 00 V11 Sport and have had no problems with my tach except for the faded out needle. My speedo on the other hand...... was just replaced and now shows 28 miles. Mike

The best way to check a TPS is with a scope. I happen to have a hand held fluke unit but most shops will not have one. This bugger cost me over $3000. a few years ago. You need to check the scope pattern to see if there are any spikes or glitches from closed throttle to wide open throttle. I have checked mine and Al's and both were good. Is your bike totally stock? It sounds like you are running lean in the rpms that you are having problems with. What year bike do you have? Mike

After installing lighter wheels on my 00 V11 Sport, the bike felt different in a negative way. On high speed sweepers 80 mph. plus the bike felt very nervous and unstable. I thought it was the tire size and I went down to a 170/60 rear tire on the 5.5 inch. rim. Slightly better but not as stable with the stock wheels. I believe the problem is due to the less gyro effect of the lighter wheels. I have talked to Lance at Hare racing and he had the same problem on a RC51 when they installed carbon wheels. The bike just was unstable. The solution for the RC51 was to readjust the suspension settings and head angle. This is the main reason for going with a Penske rear shock so I can play with shock length which will effect the head angle. Mike

The charcoal canister is there to draw gasoline vapors that would be normally vented to the atmosphere. The vapor is stored in the canister until the engine is running. The vacuum of the engine then will pull the gas vapor out of the canister thus saving the earth. When I remove the canisters, I box them up and store them in the garage for safe keeping. Just incase California starts to do emission checks on motorcycles. Mike

I weighed my Dymags last year when I installed them on my V11 Sport and the weight savings were about 13 lbs. Most of the weight was saved on the rear wheel around the cush drive. Now that is 13 lbs. I don't have to loose around my waist! Mike

It looks like it is time to remove the charcoal canister, I believe only the California models have the canister. I will be installing the Stucchi crossover as well and will be removing the charcoal canister when I do. Mike

No, I think that was a Goldmember! Mike

I think most Ducati forks are on the short side compared with the Guzzi. I just measured my Aprilia Falco and the forks are 735 mm. from top to center of the axle. The fork diameter at the triple clamps are 53mm. The Falco uses the same fork as the Mille and if you happen to come across a set of Ohlins for the Aprilia the fork diameters change to 51 or 52 mm upper triple clamp and like 56mm for the lower triple clamp. The Aprilia Ohlins fork would be hard to mount with out replacing the triple clamps. The front fender appears to be the same as the Rosso. Mike

My wife and I took the two day novice track day offered by Hare Racing and it was a blast. Linda was one of the instructors and let me tell you she can ride! I will be making an appointment tomorrow for a new map on my 03 Rosso. Thanks, Mike

I guess I will weld her up now and sell it on ebay! any takers? Mike

Rear section with a perferated wall filled with steel packing. The tube on the right side is the outlet pipe. Mike

Stock muffler 101, Here is a stock muffler sectioned from my 00 V11 Sport. It consist of three chambers in which different diameter tubes pass through. This is what creates the back pressure in the stock system. The lower large tube in the center section is the exhaust inlet. The exhaust comes in and runs toward the rear chamber, then is redirected back through the two small center tubes back to the front of the muffler. Once again after going through a baffle, the exhaust again flows back to the exhaust outlet. This is why the stock muffler gets so hot, the exhaust makes three passes through the muffler before it exits. The rear chamber is filled with some kind of metal packing so by drilling out the rear of the muffler it will create less back pressure along with more sound. When the packing burns away, one might have a very loud muffler. Mike

Bob, Where did you have your bike dynoed at? I am planning to have my Rosso done very soon. Thanks, Mike