dlaing

If you want lighter pistons from FBF, I'd confirm with them. There website does NOT suggest that they are lighter, only that they require NO rebalancing. However, MotoEuro Magazine's article on the FBF V11S says that each piston is 28 grams lighter, and ALSO requires NO rebalancing. Compression is increased from 9.5 to 11.1. This may aggravate pinging, especially if you cannot back off the ignition timing. Probably a major benefit at high altitudes but a potential problem at sea level. FBF may have made the piston shape better than Guzzi, so it may be no problem.

I would go for it! I would also get lighter rods like the Carrillos and possibly lighter pistons like FBF's. I would just be concerned about too much compression with the FBF (wiseco) pistons.

Proper routing means minimizing the sharpness of the bends. (As well as ensuring that steering is not hampered by the cable routing.) You are on to the right solution if you can minimize the bends, whether through routing or a custom cable. I have over 20,000 miles on my cable, so they can be routed correctly on the naked bikes, unless they started making them too long or too short or something. If anything the LeMans should have less problems as the speedo does not move with the steering.

Thanks Lex!

I think oil would degrade the plastic ball joints. Are they any lubricants better suited for plastic?

Glad you are ok. My sympathies to your bike. A simple pull-open/spring-close is not the safest design. Many Ducatis use the same plastic throttle. Weren't the californias replaced with a pull-open/pull-and-spring-close design? I can only speculate -the cable lead got hung inside the plastic pulley, -the cable was mis-routed. -something went wrong with the throttle linkage, return spring or othe mechanism. But my money would be on the pulley mostly cause I have a bias against PLASTIC.

Alright Lex! Glad to hear someone care about the environment. Being a California hypocrite, with a 2000 model, I want to know how you relocated the cannisters. I was thinking of creating side panels ala V7Sport to hide the ECU, PCIII, winker relay, and cannisters, but I'd like to hear your solution. I'll bet there is wasted space in the lower frame that could hold a cannister. And if anyone has photos of the Tip-Over-Valve properly positioned, that would be great to see.

Also, don't completely trust your dealer. Check your oil levels. Check your tire pressure. Tighten EVERY bolt that you can get to. If you have the time, have them quickly check the throttle balance, because if they are off, and they are off from the factory, going at steady speed will break the cylinders in unevenly. The problem with driving within the 60-70mph range is that you will almost always be at the same RPM and in top gear. Try not to lug the engine, so when you approach a hill try to get a running start, and then as you are climbing it, gradually slow down like you were a heavy truck and drop into 4th or 5th gear. Try to vary your RPMs as much as you can without getting run over for going too slowly for the traffic condition. As much as you do not want to lug it, you should also vary the throttle load. Stop and take many lunch breaks to get the engine to go through heat cycle changes. I am not sure how important it is to let it fully cool, probably not too important. After reading Ken at Evoluzione's dyno break in results, it probably won't hurt the engine to occasionally rev it above 5000 RPM with near full throttle. But that goes against the conventional thinking, so it is your choice, and don't let the warranty guys know that you broke it in that way. The next new bike that I get, I am going to drive as hard as I can. My current bike, I broke in slowly, but the first 400 miles were highway miles where I varied the speed mostly from 40 to 65mph. I tried as much as I could to stay off the interstates and I took two full days to ride the 400 miles with many breaks. As a result, I have had little oil consumption, but I think my bike develops less power than it would have if I had followed Ken's advice. I know someone with a Jackal who broke his in by riding his normal quick pace with no regard for RPM, and he gets excellent HP numbers on the dyno. I think he is close to 100,000miles now on the original valves, rings, etc. So the fast break in can work, but I would be concerned that the bike is properly tuned before doing a fast break in. So once again, Check your oil levels. Check your tire pressure. Tighten EVERY bolt that you can get to. And balance the throttle bodies. Just an opinion, I have only broken in four engines in my life. The first was a short lived V65SP whose first 100 miles were spent between 50 and 55 mph. I think that may have effected the short life. So at the least try to vary your speed as much as you safely can.

That looks Great! Do they coat the pipes where they fit? It looks like it. And if so, do they go back together fine? Now, if you just do the engine case in the same black.(but wait many years till major rebuild time.)

Yah, fuel splashing on hot heads is scary. To remove the cannisters the dealer should have only loosened the clamps connecting to the fuel tank. But that is the perfect time to check all the hoses.... It is hard to expect them to take care of the bike like it were their own.

Sorry to be a doom sayer, but me thinks you have not found the problem. I would think that unless the line was loose enough to leak fuel, it should not allow a significant amount of air in. I could be wrong.... The line coming "out" of the fuel pump, that goes to the fuel filter, is pressurized so even if there was a leak, air would not get in, unless the engine was off. However the fatter line going into the fuel filter is only pressurized by gravity, How loose was the hose? Was it leaking fuel? The stock hose clamps are not the best but they are not the worse, either. They are designed to protect the hose from the worm gear slots, unlike cheaper hose clamps. When they did your cannisters it is possible that your clamps were replaced with cheaper hose clamps.

Mistral they be! See full photos at http://www.premus.de/v11/

Here is a list of western USA rentals that I got from http://www.visi.com/~awolkoff/rentals.html The site also lists other world wide rentals. http://www.calif-motorcyclerental.com/ rents BMWs . locations in San Diego, Seattle, and Salt Lake City. But possibly also in Los Angeles and San Francisco. (a little more expensive than the competition) K75 $125/DAY $700/WEEK R850R $125/DAY $700/WEEK WESTERN STATES MOTORCYCLE TOURS Frank DelMonte [602] 943-9030 Major credit card and valid motorcycle license required. 200 free miles per day R80R or R80RT $100/day $500/week K75RT(?) or R100R or R100RT $125/week $575/week DUBBELJU MOTORCYCLE RENTALS 271 Clara Street San Francisco, CA 94107 [415] 495-2774 100 free miles per day K75 $87/DAY $518/Week R100R $92/Day $553/Week Also found: http://www.streeteagle.com/ locations in Arizona, Nevada, and Hawai HD and BMW http://www.chosashd.com/ located in Arizona HD http://www.admo-tours.com/2003/motorcycle_rentals.htm world wide. No Guzzis but various bikes!!! http://www.akrider.com/ Alaska on dual-purpose bikes.

If the gap is too big, the obvious solution is a little fiberglass. But I would bet epoxy will bond much better than polyester resin. I am not sure what Araldite is. Perhaps it is too thick to lay up fiberglass. A boat suppy store should have what you need.

I am always hearing claims about spark duration, so I assumed that the spark is still active at TDC. How long does a spark last? I got an answer from this website, but they are talking a condensor and point system: " The effect of this is to generate an output pulse, and hence a spark, of about 10 thousand volts that lasts for about 2 thousandths of a second (i.e. 2 milli-seconds, or 2mS). Not very long, you might think, but at 3600 rpm any one cylinder is firing 30 times a second i.e. every 33mS, so at that speed the spark lasts for 22 distributor degrees, which is 44 crankshaft degrees!" Is the distance from plug to piston greater on a BMW?

I think I'll give that a try. I tried the mobil 1 15w50 and found that it was noisy, switched back to a motorcycle synthetic and it got significantly quieter. The Mobile 1 is highly rated for maintaining viscosity, but I find it hard to believe it gets a 50W rating. The addition of STP may be just what it needs. Are there any other zinc based oil treatments? When I switched from semi synthetic to synthetic, I noticed no change in oil leakage. But I have always had a little weeping of oil, but not drips...yet. 20,xxx miles and counting slowlyl

Ditto! Thanks Carl, I've read stuff like that before and been confused. Since you answered the description of what is happening as it relates to real world current issues, it makes alot more sense. Dave Gross, from what mnsmax said, go one step cooler to start, but have them send you two heat ranges, especially if they are giving you a good price! I am not sure how you read the color on those plugs, but you will probably get a good idea. The Brisk plug should cope very well with the cross flow of fuel mixture and obviously require no indexing. The most likely problem is that the piston will be exposed to the flame front too soon, because it is not blocked by the ground electrode like on the stock bike. So, the piston may get too hot. A good test may be to shine a flashlight into the sparkplug hole and take a look at the condition of your piston before and after trying the Brisk plug. Signs of arcing will be very obvious to an aluminum piston. Signs of heat damage will take longer to show, but should also be apparent after a fast half hour ride. Any increased pinging, pull the plugs immediately.You may be able to use indexing washers to back the plug away from the piston. Let us know how they work!

Nope. Dwell time is more than adequate for the coil to saturate the core. The two sides of the coil aren't separate either, they're bifilar wound. They're going to act identical and any difference between the two plugs off of one dual-plug coil will be solely the result of the wires, plugs (gap) and the mixture resistance in the combustion chamber at that specific plug when it fires. So if twice the energy is being used by a dual plug coil, than does that put the ECU at greater risk for failure?

I'd try it if the distance from the electrode to the piston at TDC was significantly greater than the plug gap. The plug gap looks like about 3 or 4 times the stock gap, so you better get good wires to go with it. I like the concept, but their are a lot of ifs and buts to be concerned about.

Al, As a dual plugger, I imagine you would benefit from the long lasting iridium plug just because the second plug is more of a pain to access. Is the amount of energy going to coils limited by the ECU such that the dual plug coils will have to split the available voltage? Or does the voltage flow unrestricted from the battery and alternator? I am sure TLM is correct that it will work, but I'll bet the output per plug has got to drop, not 50%, but significantly. But hey, you'll have twice as many chances for a successful ignition of the mixture and I am sure the bike will run great. I just think that you, as a dual plugger, are much more likely to benefit from an ignition boost. But maybe good plug wires and iridium plugs are all you need.

Has anyone tried the "New Volt" ignition amplifier? http://www.evoluzione.net/vitem87005.htm It seems like it may be too much money to spend on something that works well enough stock. But if you went to twin plugs or higher compression, it may be more critical to get enough voltage consistently, and then the investment would pay off. Also, I am having second thoughts about the Brisk plugs. Perhaps there is enough squish area between the piston and the plug so that the spark arcing to the piston is not an issue. Does anyone know roughly what the distance is from the piston at TDC to the spark plug tip? I guess it would not be difficult to measure. If the spark jumping to the piston was an issue, what problems might it cause? Main bearing failure? Ring failure? Pinging? No problems, but rather performance improvement???

Youch! I just took a look at that Brisk plug. Not sure it would be a good thing because the spark may want to jump to the piston. Maybe I'm paranoid, but unless that was LESS projected than stock, I would not try it.

Brisk recommended an extremely projected tip for our bikes?!?!? I would be careful with that recommendation. You do not want to burn a hole or crash a hole in your piston. What bugs me is the blast of gas stain on my stock NGKs. I really want to try indexing the plugs to give a surer spark. Or maybe even go with a non projected tip to see if it reduces pinging. (My bike does not ping, but that is only because it is running so rich.) I have even thought of RX7 plugs which are recessed. But I want to be sure of the heat range before trying them. Iridium plugs should allow you to open up the plug gap a little to get a bigger spark. If you do not open the gap up wider than stock then your performance improvement will be minimal, unless something was wrong to begin with. How much you can open the plug gap safely? I have no idea. 0.8mm would probably be a safe bet. (Stock is 0.7mm) Theoretically you may ping more easily the bigger your spark is, unless you go with a colder range plug.

I could not find the bike in "Friends" Could you be more specific, por favor? PS I agree that is a lot of money to spend. But, it might be worth just doing the front, especially if you wanted a perimeter disk brake, and aftermarket forks like the Paiolis or the Ohlins. But then the color and styles would not match....Oh, well. More off topic stuff: Doesn't it seem kind of backward engineering to go upside down forks and then put perimeter brakes on, which requires a longer, heavier bracket going to the calibers? Well okay, it works, but perimeter brakes with right side up forks may be the ultimate set up. Look at all the dirt bikes still using right side up forks, but I guess dirt bikes want light weight, and not nearly as much rigidity. Still, my dream setup may be the front suspension frome the Aprillia Capo Nord which has Marzocchi hydraulic fork, 50 mm diameter sleeves and 6.9 inches of wheel travel, coupled with a fork brace, perimeter brake, and a carbon fiber and magnesium 17inch wheel. Perhaps the travel would have to be shortened to keep the right hight reasonable...

Do the PVM wheels have a cush-drive(damper)? Also do the shafts and splines wear out more easily if there is no damping?