guzzi323

I tried the shim approach on my wheel spacer before and found it annoying to have one more thing that needed to be aligned while assembling the rear end. If you're able to bring the old one into a machinist and say make one similar but longer they ought to be able to knock it out in no time. (Now I have one more thing to check on my Scura...) Cheers, johnk

Actually I've heard of a few instances where the beareing spacer in a wheel was too short. One of them happened to me on my Monza. It's easy to overlook until you've tossed a few sets of bearings in your wheel. That's when I took a closer look at everything. I ended up having a new slightly longer spacer made. johnk

Hey Mike, I took a slightly different approach to the 'gotta make it comfortable for the wife' situation. You lowered the river, I raised the bridge. I make some step up blocks for the rear of the subframe. Effectively raising the entire subframe pivoting it on the mount at the back of the tank. I then made some hanger spacers and spaced down the entire stock muffler peg mount bracket. My (stock) mufflers are the same height so I don't have to worry about clearance problems though I see you don't have to worry either. The good things are this setup are she gets a lot more legroom, I get about an inch more as well. The bad things are I might have to have the seat reshaped slightly as there's now a slight slope for the driver towards the tank and I can't fit the side panels on because the were made to match to fit too closely. So far I like it better than the stock setup. johnk

Even though I knew I needed them (210lbs nekkid on a good day) I've been avoiding thinking about getting new springs for my Scura. Damn as if I don't have enough things fighting for my money these days... Maybe I'll save them for my Christmas list or something... Cheers,javascript:emoticon('') johnk

OK, First of all I need to apologise to Al. Al, I'm sorry. I probably should have thought more about how my post might be interpreted by others. I feel you definitely do have cause to be upset on a number of levels. Not only are there valid cosmetic concerns but you've been through the gauntlet a number of times with mechanical issues too. I had only meant to state my personal perspective which helps me deal with the peculiarities (sp?) of my purchase decision. I did have to think quite hard before my purchase because I suspected there might be some issues. I was stuck between a BMW R1150GS or the Scura. In the end I decided on the Scura because A) A friend of mine works at the BMW dealership and those are known for having some 'issues' as well and I didn't want to ruin a friendship. and The Guzzi had less that I didn't want (The BMW's seem to be overlaoded with needless complexity, not to mention that a quart of oil every 600 miles is considered acceptable oil consumption in Bavaria) C) Guzzi's are sexy. BMW's are not. Anyways hope to see you aound sometime.. johnk

I'm in the "I knew it was a Guzzi when I bought it" camp. Though I love the way my Scura looks, I knew I wouldn't like the black paint on the cases. Other companies may be able to use a better process that lasts a little longer but I tend to keep my bikes a while and I knew the black would eventually look crappy. Until the Scura came out with the fancy suspension I was actually considering buying an older model year bike just to avoid the black paint. But in the end I decided I had to at least once in my life own something with Ohlins suspension front and rear... I'd rather ride than wash and/or sit and look at my bikes. I knew that even if the paint did stay on, it'd just show all the dirt that my bikes tend to accumulate My 2 cents.. Johnk

I think if you have a stock setup this will make things worse. The sender causes the ECU to richen the mixture when cold. I'm guessing they had to do this because they run the 'hot' mixture extremely lean to get past the EPA. This would make it very 'cold blooded' (i.e. take a very long time to warm up to run properly like some Japanese bikes from the early 80's) The plastic adapter means the sender takes much longer to heat up and your ECU is richening up the mixture longer. Did that make any sense?? I noticed this because I used a PCIII to richen my mixture but during the warm up period everything got VERY rich. Even though it would run fine once warmed up. John always-happy-to-add-to-the-confusion Koester

First they sell us their airbox kit, then convince us that their pods are better?? Even if they have dyno runs with and without the pods it won't be definitive because with the pods you're not in a real world environment. The pods are just drawing from an even larger still air mass (the room) than with the airbox installed. Of course it'll make more power on the dyno that way... Unless FBF runs their pod kit on a dyno in a wind tunnel we'll never know. Ya know what I mean?? I'm not saying it's bad or wrong or any such thing to run pod filters. I'm just saying that dyno runs are an artificial environment and just because a computer says your fueling is correct on a dyno in a room doesn't neccesarily mean it'll be correct in the real world.

I thought a long time about this before I decided to 'core' my airbox lid. I like the look and simplicity of K&N's but just about everything I've ever read about the subject says that engines like to breathe from large still masses of air. That's why airboxes keep getting bigger and bigger on sportbikes. Individual filters make the engine breathe in what is typically a messy, turbulent buch of air (Kind of like breathing with your head stuck out of the window of a car going 80 MPH.) Once I thought about it in those terms, the 'big pile of still air' theory made much more sense. Of course I don't have any V11 feedback to offer because I had to take my bike in to the shop right after I cut the lid and I haven't even had time to change the map. Once I get it back and play with the map I'll submit my vote... -johnk

I was just writing to someone else off list about this issue this morning. Here's just what I wrote in that email.... "I'm still messing with my suspension settings. I know for myself the spring rates seem soft, at least up front. I weigh 215 lbs. and I also have the preload all the way up and am bottoming the fork. For the rear I suspect that I need a stiffer spring but checking out spring rates is on my 'to do' list. I agree with you about more weight on the front end. It feels a little vague about what exactly is going on up there and I think more weight would help. This is also on my 'to do' list. " ....I don't know for sure if it's the answer, but you're not alone... JohnK

Hi Carl, Yes, that is my Scura with the different bars (Aluminium Pro Taper knock-offs). It's not entirely set up yet however. I noticed the worn bushings when I was fitting the bars so I haven't ridden with them other than to take it to the shop. I think they're a little bit too wide for my taste. I was warned about this from a friend who tried some on his bike but wanted to try it anyway. Al, I agree with you on the hugger fender. I want something that'll cover up the space below the strut where the shock attaches to the swing arm. A whole lotta crud gets tossed up through there. I wanted to remove the airbox but decided just to cut the top off of it because of the dirt issue. john

Al, you are being too kind. My bike is filthy. (I'm gonna wash it real soon, honest... It's just that everytime I think it's done raining another front comes though...) John K oester

Hi Al, It was nice to meet you as well. I just figured out that Mike Stewart from this list is the guy I met at Moto Italiano right after I got my Scura. It's always nice to put a face on all these forum folk. I'm curious to see if the noise I was hearing goes away with these bushings replaced. The click really sounds like it's coming from the clutch housing. It may be nothing anyways. Time will tell.

I haven't pulled it apart to check to see if it's dry. I'm guessing it is but I'm only 20 or so miles from my dealer so I'm going to check about this being a warranty issue before I go ahead and pull it apart myself.

I was just starting my 12K maintenance on my 02 V11 Scura last night and when I had the bike up on the workbench I noticed quite a bit of 'slop' in the bushings for the stay arm that hooks onto the top of the final drive case. There's about 5 mm of play (fore/aft, allowing the drivebox to rotate a few degrees) There's also a similar amount of play on the front bushing for the stay arm. This isn't normal, is it? I'm guessing not. Unless I hear that everyone's got a similar amount of play I'll take it up with my dealer when I put it all back together. Now that I think about it I do remember that the LeMans I test rode before putting down my deposit for the Scura didn't seem to have as much driveline lash as my Scura does. Maybe this has been a problem with it all along. Any info you all have to offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Oops, I forgot to mention in my previous post. When I first bypassed the temp sender I took the bike out for a 20-25 minute ride and it was still spitting and popping when I tried to pull away from a stop. I was surprised how long the temp sender is modifying fueling. I guess they have to do that to get it past the EPA or something.

I don't think he's getting anywhere near warmed up on his commute. I have a 15 mile half city/half freeway (rarely over 50) commute and I had been getting around 27 or 28 if all I do is my commute. I put in a bypass for the temp sender and richened up the low end with my PC III. I've just been richening it a little at a time and now it's close to feeling right. I now get about 32 MPG in my commute. Once I have the time and find an O2 sensor that'll fit in my pipe I'll make a cheap-o exhaust sniffer and get it all dialed in properly..

I had my shifter spring break but it was fixed in a few days under warranty. That was a few thousand miles ago and so far, so good. I never had a problem with false neutrals. Have you checked the linkage to be certain that A) everything is tight and it's properly adjusted so it doesn't hit anything. I know if you set the lever height too low it can hit the frame when downshifting. Is it still under warranty? johnk