docc

When my Bitubo played up at about 67,000 miles, I sourced a Japanese Shindy (pronounced SHIN-juh) from Moto International. Their item number was PUD17-001 at a price of 132.95 US$ in August 2009. I tried riding the Sport with the Bitubo drained, then removed, but didn't like the feel.

Sounds great! I'll take a look at the map and see if we can link up a nice ride. My concept of how long it takes to get around there is really skewed. This is not so much a "vacation" as more of an insertion/extraction operation. We'll be in Yankeetown up on the Withlacootchee Thursday night and Friday then into Safety Harbor at The Ibis Saturday-Monday. Long trip home Tuesday.

I did this once, sitting on the floor at the local WalMart poring through the nail polish for a match to my gouged porkchop. After a while I could feel the security cameras trained on me . . . creepy . . .

Here in Lower Middle Mule Town there is a scale of difficulty for jobs like "cold pressing" (*bending*) delicate Italian parts of unknown metallurgy: 1) Vice and a beer. 2) Vice, beer(s), hammer(s) 3) Vice, heat, hammers, friends, beers. 4) Vice, heat, hammers, moonshine, friends, beers, moonshine, cheaterbars, >step5: 5) Next morning: order new parts; Empirical evidence prevails!

Word is we're gonna get four or five V11 together and part out the one with the highest miles.

Hey, guys, I keep thinking that dragging our way down the beaches, just to say we did, isn't the best option. How about meeting mid-morning in Safety Harbor and looping west to the gulf and north through Dunedin and maybe lunch in Tarpon Springs? I'm totally open to your suggestions since my impression of where things are and how long it takes to get around is colored by being away for some decades . . .

Aye. Note the lap solder/heat shrink connections. http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12326&p=148983 ("pre-solve" before bad things happen to good fuses!)

"pre-solve . . ."

Wait - what? Your springs are too soft.

A chink in the V11 armor:

Such a weak link, perhaps unique to the V11. All in a noble effort to make the side stand "ergonomic." That and the wire loop "lever" that doesn't figure to last. A reminder to us all to keep these fasteners snugged up (especially the "upper" engine case bolt!) and the whole Rube Goldberg affair well lubricated. If the "flange" has to come off, I would certainly add a P.roper Sloppage Sheet in the process. Accept no substitutes!

With my factory (too soft) springs, I managed to get the "preload"/sag "right", but there was so very little extension travel that the tires could not "reach out" well. Read: *crash* Sure, I did other things wrong, too (read: *crash*), but learned Step #1: Step #1: Get The Right Springs

haha! "E-ticket" might date us, buddy! Thanks for sharing the ride!

That makes sense since the ITI cable did away with the angle drives. Maybe it's time sp838 started printing some of those.

Seems like emery cloth would make a smoother surface for coating without the chance of getting small metal strands under any stray carbon fibers. What sort of clear coat would be best, acrylic?

The 8.8 designation is roughly equivalent to the SAE Grade 5 ("medium carbon steel, quenched and tempered"). I prefer to clean the threads, apply anti-seize and use a torque wrench for these caliper mounting bolts.

I'm anxious to hear how this TLM upgrade works out. The first link you made (motoInternational) is for the later black-face ITI. The angle drives were used with the early white-face Veglia.

I think those are all reasonable concerns regardless of the miles, with the exception of the valves. The prevailing opinion that valves and guides would be a big issue with the V11 seems not to have materialized.

What kind of "high mileage maintenance" are you concerned about?

There it is again - another Guzzi being loved on and a hammer within reach.

No. Agreed; a nefarious factory "solution" for complaints of "flat spots" and such. If you want your V11 to have a tractable power band, practice the complete tune-up, ride, repeat. Lovely!

I have heard maybe ten or twelve combinations of exhaust on V11 and they all sound great (I've never heard a Quat-D). Then it becomes more about the look you want. Glass packed canisters do "degrade" fairly quickly from the over-run of a big V-twin, so I don't guess my high mileage carbon fibre Mistral have much left in them. Aural patina?

How cool is that! Czakky's been covering a lot of bases!