JoeV11

That coincides with the Marsh Motors open house - may be able to do both? He had great chili for the fall open house May 19 Marsh Motorcycle Open House 10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. 36 North Road, Route 140, East Windsor, Connecticut. 860-623-7795. Joe

Welcome! This is a great forum for sharing technical knowledge and good riding. It is also a never-ending source of things I didn't realize I couldn't live without until reading about them here. Joe

So is this thing still on? Mother's Day is a perfect day for me to get away! Really. Joe

Thanks. I went to a local dealer today for an open house and asked about the B750, but all he knew was a Breva 750, and it had a much different looking tail light in the illustration. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like the corect model info. I'm going to a different dealer's open house in two weeks, and I can call to see if they can get one by then. Thanks, Joe PS, I'll have to make up a new template, the original was not very accurate, and I had to fudge the metal part some.

Cool! I marked them on my calendar. Maybe I won't forget to watch.

Hi Edge Another MG item I didn't know I couldn't live without! LOL PM Sent Joe

Black is beautiful! Any motor vehicle looks sexy in gloss black, and like a street fighter in satin or flat black. Mine's actually charcoal, but the black tail and front fender look great; black would be cool on the rest of the bike, too. Especially with the red porkchops and plug wires. Those Italians have a great sense of style. Joe

LOL! Not counting the day lost to repaint it because I wasn't satisfied, it still took me 20+ hours to make and install this! Too much labor, and I'd want to make some improvements. Also, you'd have to drill holes in the tail light to put a clear lens to shine on the plate. PS, How much do you think people would pay? Here's a picture with the reflector installed. I forgot to take one in daylight today. It also gives it a more finished look, not seeing the back of the plate. Joe

Yeah, once you get someone to fine tune all the adjustments, it's a sweet running machine! I am still at the minor tinkering stage, but sure am enjoying the riding, turned over 1000 miles the other day. I have a 5-day 1000 mile trip planned for early June, can't wait! Enjoy yours, and sorry winter is coming for you. I got mine last September and the weather just got colder every day after that. Riding season is here now! And yes, this site does give me more ideas than are good for me. LOL Joe

Thanks. I was going back and forth with that, and I think I will put the factory relector back on below the plate. I'll put the original black metal plate behind the license plate to mount it. Probably not a bad idea to have some reflective surface back there, even as small as it is. Joe

One thing you may want to consider is electrical relay problems in the older bike. It is well documented in this forum, and would only require buying later relays to update the earlier ones. You'll have to consider the price difference in the two bikes you're looking at to make a valid comparison, but 2002 seemed to be a year they made a lot of upgrades. I consider myself lucky to have found a leftover '04 last year. Joe

I always hated the look of that government mandated rear fender, figured the Italian designers had something else in mind. Being Italian myself, I took a shot at it. The big self-imposed challenge was to reuse the stock lights, so I wouldn't cause any electrical problems. I also made it out of metal, not fiberglass. I saw a bike where they just hacked the end off and it looked like someone just hacked the end off. I had something a lot smaller in mind. So with cardboard and scissors I made a template. Then steel and bodywork led to the final product. I reused the stock splash guard to keep water out of the seat and wiring. I think it does nicely, and shouldn't cause any problems in case I run into an overenthusiastic law enforcement person. Here are the pictures of progress and final installation. Between that and removing the front turn signal spacers, the bike is much cleaner looking, and still 99% legal. Joe

Simple - ride the race bike on the track and save the street bike... Joe

Hi all I tried searching for over an hour and can't find anything that matches my problem. I have only ridden the bike a couple of times this year and twice yesterday I got stuck in second gear (upshifting). I pull the clutch in and pull hard against the shifter and nothing changes. Do it again and it's into third just fine. After that episode, I'll have no problems for a while, then it'll do it again. When it isn't stuck, it shifts fine. The bike just turned 1000 miles last night, and it had the initial service done 150 miles ago. I'll look at the linkage for a loose screw or something tonight, but I hope the problem is not deeper in the tranny. If anybody has any advice, I'm listening. Thanks Joe

My BMW riding buddy just bought a charger made for AGM batteries from Wally World for about $60. There was a cheaper one too, but that was 12A vs 14A. Anybody else use that charger? I'm not usually a Wally World customer but would make a special trip if it was worthwhile. Thanks, Joe

Cool bike. I was considering one of the modern remakes before I bought my Guzzi. Great job restoring it. Nothing like the sound of those old Kerker exhausts, is there? LOL Joe

I just want to add my to this old topic. I had the dealer (Marsh Motors) install a Stucci crossover on my otherwise completely stock '04 V11 Sport and while they were there they removed the cannister. They always join the intake tubes with a piece of hose to even out the idle. They just leave the tank vent to dangle. I do not smell any gas in my garage, which is an improvement from when I removed the cap gasket to prevent tank suck. (They fixed a misrouted tip-over valve hose to solve that problem.) Marsh Motors also synched the TPS adjustments, and told me the bike was running so well it didn't need a Power Commander with the Stucci x-over. I don't know if the stock ECU would tolerate further improvements to the motor, but for me it's running great now, and I'll leave the rest of it stock and concentrate on tuning the suspension. Riding weather is finally here!!! Joe

I got my bike back last weekend and I must say the Stucci crossover with the rest of the stock exhaust (with front x-over) makes the bike so much better!!!! In fact, Greg at Marsh Motors says it's the best running stock V11 he has ridden! It really made a big difference in evening out the torque curve. I had them do the 1000 mi service that included valve adjustment and checking the TPS sync at the same time. All I can say is it's like a different bike! The sound of the exhaust isn't really louder, just has more bass, especially when decelerating. It sounds like a bigger bike, or maybe less like a smaller bike. Joe

I don't see why the two break-in procedures have to be mutually exclusive. If you give the bike full or nearly full throttle but don't lug it or exceed 5000 or 6000 rpm per Guzzi, havn't you seated the rings with plenty of gas pressure without danger of over taxing other drivetrain parts with high RPMs? That's what I did and the folks at Marsh Motors say mine is the best running V11 they have seen (after they installed a Stucci crossover). Joe

Two of my favorite street bikes were two strokes. First was a 73 RD350 that I rode from NY to Chicago for a summer job. That was a sweet handling bike and went pretty good too. The other was a 76 KH500 triple that I loved/hated on a regular basis. I had so much trouble getting all three cylinders to fire consistently, but when they did, it was nirvana! But since we now have 4-stroke dirt bikes and outboard motors, I don't see much future in full-sized 2-stroke motorcycles. Joe

That's cool, but i was thinking more along the lines of this: or if you prefer two wheels forward, this: Joe

I have a sport naked, and I sometimes tie my leather jacket on top of the headlight on those hot day cool night times of the year. That alone makes a noticible difference to the amount of air hitting your chest. I imagine a bikini fairing would do the same. Not much difference to the helmet area, but I like to feel the wind in my face when I'm riding. Joe PS Welcome!

I'm so jealous! LOL Joe

That was one of the more memorable sights and sounds of my trip to Rome - dozens of scooters snaking to the front of the line and then taking off when the light turned green! I only saw one Guzzi though... Joe

I looked into a sidehack a while back, decided it was more than I needed and would be a pain to drive. The beauty of the Harley setup is you can remove it when you aren't riding two-up. But I think trikes are a lot cooler looking, and more stable too. That seems to be the usual transition when a riders legs are no longer up to supporting a loaded bike. Just remember to forget everything you know about riding a motorcycle when on a sidehack. Joe