docc

This is an important and interesting topic. Unmaintained rear brakes, resting the foot on the brake, or building a heavy brake pedal all seem to be extraordinarily bad ideas. FWIW I bled my rear on the Sport every one to three years and only this last time took it off the bike and rotated the bleeder to the top. I was really pleasantly surprised at all the air that came out. Definately this is the right way to do it along with the more frequent service interval. Of course, the pedals do brake easily if the bike tips to the right. I rode mine home from its mishap with the front brakes only. NOTE: The moderator has left the building.

The key is not so much the fairing itself , but how it mounts. The RedFrames headlamp and instruments mount to the forks whereas the later bikes (different) headlamp and (different) instruments mount to the frame setting them much further forward than the earlier style.

I seem to remember, rather vaguely, that the 2 characters after ZGUKRAKR are the year of manufacture. '8Y' was 2000, '11' is 2001. This is from distant memory so let's see if we can get some one in the know to chime in. You're sure the 'x1' is not '11?'

Yeah, sorry. It just seems you two spend a lot of ink going at one another rather than the issue at times. I don't think you're breaking any rules ( I'm not sure there are any), yet it does get annoying when the tone remains somewhat condescending. Maybe I misread as tone is an awkward thing to convey in this medium. I've learned a lot from both of you and do appreciate the effort that goes into the input. It's sad to say in way, but my Sport would not be running it weren't for this forum.

You promise some pictures, yes?

The Nuts and Bolts of V11 LeMans.com has been an 'unmoderated' forum for a long time. I'm having trouble keeping track of which threads to avoid. Usually when two posers, err, I meant 'posters' , bat a thread back and forth like badminton, it's a fair indication the rest of us are 'uninvited.' It's high time you guys took your pi&&ing contest somewhere else. Both of you have had much to offer the rest of us poor ba$tard$ trying to keep these funky bikes running. Yet, is there not some sense of reasonable decorum that suggests when 'enough is enough?'

I think Pasotibbs is on the right track here. This sounds like one of the boots jumped track or possibly split. Have a look between each head and the throttle body to see if one has slid back. To check for cracks you can spray the intake boot with a solvent like contact cleaner or WD40 while idling and listen for a change in the idle. A couple wraps of electrical tape make a pretty good fix while waiting for the boots if you need them. Plugs should be changed at the 6000 mile service interval. Sounds like you're due for all that as well and will have a much happier and smoother V11!

Raz, I looked back through the thread but couldn't find which new tensioner you installed. Valtec or Stucchi? Also, again, how many miles on your Sport?

Raz, Congratulations! Ratchethack won't be far behind. Let's all hope he gets the same good result!

There are several good threads on this subject. Definately there have been a few '03 bikes with this trouble. Read up on the repair:Spring Reprise Also some good photos and discussion:Gearbox Advice Finally, for more info:Shift Return Spring Poll

Tom's right. It shouldn't turn. Isn't there a locking nut you can tighten against the tank?

David, This outstanding news! Really great you have you bike running well and that it was actually nothing major. And they did the tranny work as well? Do you notice any difference in it?

I just looked at the BMW GS at the dealer at 20,000USD plus the (really nice) bags. Even then it's a tall and awkward thing with rear drive woes and a stuffy dealer base. I really want to see one of these Stelvios . . .

Well, looks like the tensioners are pretty cheap and they're really not that bad to r&r, so more than a few of us are anxious to see what happens next . . . To a fault I'm always looking for the simplest of solutions . . .

Actually, I'm pretty sure yer fooked. It's the same as when you rebuild yer forks and they squeak like yer kid's swingset. Whatever's going on with your bike is the same affliction Nose2Bleed has. We tried swapping his coils (fixed the brackets in the process) and it still coughed and missed when hot. Could it be the pick-up itself is faulty? Seems a damn sight easier than pulling the timing chest and all the sprockets . . . I thought the 'wiggle test' worth a try. I learned this trying to sort a turbo Merkur (Sierra). The Brooklands publication "How to Prepare the Sierra for Motorsport" declares in the troubleshooting section for electrical systems: (and I paraphrase with reference to five years watching folks sort their V11s), "The most common electrical faults in [Moto Guzzis] are caused by wiring faults i.e. breakage of wires or connectors, electrical shorting, poor or intermittent connections, or contamination by water or mud, rather than by component failure." While there is no substitute for meticulously sorting your harness I must admit my Merkur (Sierra) was plagued by a component failure in its fuel management system. It ran so well when I found it , I slipped the clutch and blew a head gasket!

This has all the ring of the dreaded '02/early'03 broken pawl spring. Good news is : it's actually pretty easy to fix.

And, really, the 'squeak' is much better than in the beginning. I may try to polish the 'rebound' spring a bit more and see if I can 'tune' the noise away. After 49,000 miles working to ride this bike well, it is remarkable the change in its manners. Of course, it is notable that I've spent $1100 on a $5500 bike. And it's still just worth $5500. Even as in 2003 when I crashed the Sport and THE FORUM rescued me, I feel a great debt of gratitude to the patience and indulgence of posters and the efforts of Jaap and Paul Minneart making this all possible. I must say, Ratchethack and Dlaing make a most curious balance of input. Perhaps you two don't want to hear it, but I've been on this forum a while and the effort put forth by your intense postings is most appreciated. "Users" have come and gone. Some (like me and Joe Camarda) have gone and come back again. I'm no big-time internetter, but this is the most forgiving forum I've ever clicked on. Even Ben, bless his heart, has had an education in Danish vs. Dutch without being flamed or hooted off the board. Again, I wish to express my gratitude to those who have helped me along the 49.000 miles of my Guzzi way. I know I would have had to give it up without your help, all of you. In the words of the Dane, Mikael, of guzzitech.dk , "I owe more than one guy out there a beer."

Glad I did. And so: The air gap was surprisingly low in both forks: 120mm compression / 125 mm rebound. Correcting this meticulously to 100mm certainly improved the firmness of ride even more! The 22mm setting on the blue retaining nut is exactly what allows the cap to shoulder fully. Less would certainly defeat the adjusting rods. More is not possible. I polished the springs with 400 grit and deburred the flats and corners. Perhaps the surface change is visible in the photo: left to right: polished TD, unpolished TD, original Marzocchi. The squeak yet remains seemingly on the rebound side. I must now suspect I may have bent the damping rod to the cartridge during the set screw debacle. Sure does ride great though!

Ratch, did you compare the strobe signal from side to side? I wonder if it could be dropping the signal on one side only? Also, a wiggle test might be appropriate where you have an assistant watch the strobe and you wiggle every wire and connector you can get to for the timing pick-up, coils etc. looking for any effect on the signal.

Thanks for the replies, guys. I guess I'll open the fork and take another look at the oil level. I am considering polishing the outside of the spring with some 600 then 1500 grit paper. Any thoughts?

Reading the TD instruction it is emphasized that the retaining ( blue) nut must be threaded on far enough that the cap then bottoms or shoulders fully before moving the blue retaining nut back out to lock the cap. It makes sense that if the cap is prevented from shouldering then the adjuster rods will not be seated. I have renewed my hope that my forks are just low on oil. Must ride this am, but I'll check levels this afternoon. One can hope! BTW, which was the thread with the debate on 'progressive' vs straight rate springs?

Certainly possible that the oil levels have dropped and are too low. I guess the spacers and springs have to come out to recheck and correct the oil levels. If the air gap is too big it would help explain why the dive seems little better than the stock springs when the forks were overfilled. The Marz springs are 1.37" and the TD are 1.35". ( and 1" shorter than the stock springs). The original sag was 39mm. I increased the spacer length from 109mm to 118mm to get a laden sag of 30mm. The higher ride height concerned me as I didn't want any increased rear weight bias so I dropped the triple trees 9mm. (I've left them there for now.) I couldn't find that 22mm blue nut setting anywhere. Is that 22mm from the top of the blue nut to the top of the threaded cartridge rod? I tried emailing Todd at Guzzitech but haven't heard back on the polished Hyperpro spring. Again, I didn't think I wanted a rising rate spring. I know it's been debated here before, but I missed the pros and cons.

Jason, Show us how you end up wiring in the relay. I'm guessing you can activate one relay with either switch. I've already added four relays, a circuit breaker and three fuses to the Sport. Surely there's room for one more.

Although the cams have certainly changed. I remember in Field's book Wittner discussing how much went into the V11 cam development with Crane. Yet I have no idea how it compares to other cams even the Sport 1100 or 1100Sporti. I'm going to try to get the strobe on mine today. Should be especially good since mine idles well and doesn't flame out . . . Watching the gear teeth through the window they jump 2-3 mm every 6-10 seconds. No change as it came up to temperature. I'm pretty sure it was fully warmed up after touching my elbow to exhaust. Certainly no 7mm jumps as that would shift the tooth from bottom to top in the window. Ratch, are your marks jumping around constantly or periodically ?