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Mike, Right you are on the pivot distances 20CM vs 40CM. I'm surprised the Penske is shorter. Is the Ohlins longer overall, raising the ride height?

Awright, Warren! What're you up to? You're fitting a 50's style dustbin fairing? Or a telelever suspension?

Good news! Hardly anyone ever gets huffy on this board. We are such a quiet tasteful group. When I first picked up my Sport with the Guzzi CF Mistrals they had those sweet little "off road only" plaques on them. We had alot of fun with it in one of the threads. Honest, Occifer, I've been keeping the little plaques off the road ever since. I'll bet the Ferraccis will never get you pulled over by themselves. But, I wonder (just to complicate matters), who makes the Ferracci pipes?

Paul, I'm wishing I do have more travel. The 2000 sales brochure states the 64mm "stroke". But my Sachs is lying on the bench and I am mesuring the stroke until the 'bumper' is hit: 32 mm . Also, my swingarm is off the bike and I measure the distance from the pivot to axle: 40 mm . Pivot to shock mount ~20 mm. This ratio makes me believe the axle travel is two times the stroke of the shock. (This is for 2000 sport). So, what gives?

The plot thickens: The front travel is 120 mm . The rear is only 64mm. The stroke of the shock is 1/2 of the axle travel ( 32 mm). The shop manual specifies spring preload of 11mm. (This is an open book quiz)

I thought all the parts on a motorcycle ought to be 'off road" except for the rubber parts.

So if they look like Ferraccis and they sound like Ferraccis . . . . ?

Drat! Does it show?? Here I thought I picked all this crap up from reliable sources (all of you).

Are you sure your highly modified clip-on postion is not the culprit? Also, having moved the clip-ons, be sure the cables hve proper free play.

Now, Bill, you have us all hungry for a photo so that we might all know . . . .

Suspension set-up is a black art. Largely because we stay up all hours of the night messing with it. And because of what it can do to you if you get it all out of sorts. I've always heard 25% sag (preload) of total travel (bike + rider) for a sporty street bike. This assumes your spring is right for your weight. Now, I was under the impression that the wheel travel was substantaially more than the shock travel. As in 4 inches of wheel travel to 2 inches of shock travel. Such that we are looking for movement of the shck plunger about 1 inch .

Al is right about the disassembly. The lamp will come apart to remove the low beam guard. After receiving my warranty replacement I was immediately impressed with a fuller more focused beam. When mine craps out again I think I'll try to fit a unit from the V-rod. Kind of an MV Brutale look.

True. I must of confused the driver of the BMW when he rolled down his window to look at me lying in the road after the low side bounced the Sport off his air dam. "You OK?" says he. " Nah," says I, " the preload's too high to compensate for the soft springs and the damping's noncompliant."

Some oils are much more susceptible to heat evaporation. Castrol is pretty good and the synthetics are least prone to vaporization. (clandestine oil-thread hi-jack )

I guess i got the idea of venting above the head from the old Brit-bike guys (or the Brit-bike old guys) who'd run a 5/8" tube out under the tail cowl. Works great on my single which, like the big twin, makes a lot of crank case pressure. The positive vacuum of the connction to the airbox probably scavenges the crank case better but makes little difference in the real world.

I'm jazzed! You've had this bike two weeks and you're having this much fun ? What's a Guzzi for? The tube from the frame is your crankcase vent. As long as the tube stays above the heads it can vent to atmosphere. It may mist oil a bit especially if you run high rpm. K&N and others make a neat little element to clamp on the end of the tube. Hey, what did you other "box eliminators" ('pod jockeys') do with your crankcase vent? The electric connection is for the ambient air temperature sensor which can be zip tied in the airstream. It's probably smart to mount it clear of engine heat sources so it can read true ambient air temperature. I think Al or Carl have a thread on this(?).

Search some of the old threads in this forum for gearbox leaks. Lots of discussion on this. Seems like *everywhere* is a common place for the 6-speeds to leak. Seriously, several places have been noted including front seals, rear seals, sealing surfaces and the side cover where the shift plate shafts penetrate. Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

I wish I could say I've seen a Scura. Nor can I find picture of one. I think the fairings may actually differ a bit. The Guzzi accessory screen (made by Stucchi Luigi in Mandello) is fiberglass, body color and flat black on the inside. For a decent picture go to: http://www.dansguzzi.com/fly.htm]dansguzzi.com[/url] Is the Scura shield carbon fiber?

Joe, Thanks for the link to dansguzzi! I thought I would have to scrap my Stucchi and go back to naked after the crash claimed the windshield. Looks like Dan can fix me up! I like the airflow from the Stucchi. Normally I dislike windshields because they direct so much air up at the helmet they actually bother my neck worse than riding nekkid. The Stucchi has smooth flow, doesn't increase wind noise and seems to help stabilize the bike at high speed (80-90mph).

I'm afraid this haunting phenomenon cotributed to my lowside about a month ago. I was running compression 50% and rebound 75% front and rear with increased preload front and rear, forks raised 10mm, hard compound tires (Pilot Road) and too high tire pressure. Just proof that you can get your set up screwed up before getting it right. (I figure the tire-suspension set up contributed 5 or 6% to the crash. Blowing the entry : 94-95%.) But, gosh, I sure could've used that 5% edge!

Ray, Try pulling the seat off and wiggling all the relays on the right rear subframe. While you're there check all the fuses on the left. Next check the tightness of the battery connections as a little looseness there seems to confuse the ECU. Have you changed relays to the more reliable Bosch units? Best of luck!

KB, How many miles? My sport came new with Pirelli dragons stamped "corsa." The rear was gone in 2500 miles and the prices were scary. Also the Dragons had the triangular profile so popular with the guys who live leaned over. They gave the Sport really nervous high speed weave around the trucks on the freeway (90 mph). Is the 'Diablo' much less edgy than the Dragon?

~nemo, don't let me pretend to be an expert here. The great thing about this forum is we all learn from one another. Let me try to summarize some that I've learned from reading the more knowledgable: Both compression and rebound can be damped. In general, compliance is better maintained by increasing rebound damping ( or decreasing compression damping). The adjustments only affect 'low speed' (slow acting) damping. The high speed damping is fixed within the units. Lighter oil eases the overdamping. Guzzis, like many stock set ups, are softly sprung then the fixed, high speed valving is overdamped to compensate (in both compression and rebound). This gives aplush ride until the bike is pushed hard when compliance (traction) degrades and the suspension is prone to bottoming (especially the rear). The Guzzi has a lot of weight on the rear. There are lots of remedies for this to keep from washing out the front end while cornering hard , especially on a rough road: Increased rear preload, raising forks in the clamps, softer font tire, heavier front springs, moderate front tire pressure. The V11 Sport is such a great bike to make changes and ride always moving it closer to how you want it to feel. "Be back in a couple hours, Honey. Gotta check the suspension on the Guzzi"

Apparently only the 2000 an 2001 had the nervous geometry. I find the damper helpful as the tire wears and cups. With a new front tire I go back to the zero setting on the damper. With a new tire and no damping the bike feels 150 pounds lighter!

I ran into this same mystery on 'what shock.' I always thought mine was wp. One day I was lying next to the bike on the floor and, looking up, I could see the 'Sachs-Boge' ( hey, who said,' sux-big?' ) on the bottom of the remote rservoir. Nemo, have a look there. We're all still on a search for any V11 with a WP. Lex has always made a good strong argument for the correct (heavier) springs and easing the high speed damping of the stock units. No question this would help compliance. I used to think 'compliance' meant 'soft.' But I understand now (after a traction failure) that compliance keeps the rubber on the road. Much better than that "insecure feeling" of leather on the road.