dlaing

Please consider bypassing the headlight current with a pair of extra relays. I was the first V11S adopter of GEI's and still going strong, but I bypassed the headlight current, so that may explain the success, more than the GEI's, but the Siemmens failed within a few months, the Bosch lasted little longer, and the GEI's showed they cured the problem and that they were superior for our purpose than the Bosch, which was superior to the Siemmens. I ran the GEI's for over a year before I did the current bypass sometimes running the high and low beam at the same time. The current through that one relay's NC on the early V11s is too strong, and I would not be surprised if my abuse to it would eventually have killed the GEI relays. Those that drive with headlight off are less likely to have relay problems. Those that have blown fuses, failed to maintain batteries and have blown voltage regulators are all more likely to kill their relays. Also, blaring your horn isn't good for the early V11s, either. I trust the GEI's, but some here have had them fail, so do give the Omron's a try. They are more expensive, but lights failing on you while riding can be deadly. Again, consider bypassing the current to the headlights. I did before and after shots of the headlight after the bypass

Look for a kinked fuel line. Are you getting a tank suck issue? To test, go for ride, pull over, pop gas cap, and if the tank bloats like a balloon, you have the tank suck issue and need to properly re-orient the tip-over valve. I have not heard of the tank suck issue causing your symptoms, but maybe???

I am not going to argue here, but provide food for thought and just hint at one important FACT that each of you may take or leave on your own accord. If you think this if over analyzing, fine. I expect that from the majority of the forum. Think about how much force it takes to lift the front wheel off the ground. Imagine putting a lever between the axle and one of those vanes and provide enough leverage to lift the front end. Do you think the one vane might break? What if you applied one third of that force? Obviously Greg's and others' haven't broken, so we have evidence that it can probably handle one third of that force. If you put a wedge of that rubber under torque, at what point do you think it would reach a point of no longer absorbing energy? If you want to be scientific about it, should you weigh the front end, determine the wheelbase, determine the center of gravity, get an engineer to calculate the force for you? Or should we go with known typical dyno torque forces of 60-65 foot pounds of torque? What is 65 foot pounds of torque and how could that possibly lift the front wheel off the ground? What force is enough to break the fusion of rust? Compare that wheelie poppin' force to the force of an aggressive downshift that causes the rear wheel to skid. Are the forces during maximum acceleration and deceleration significantly different, so as to warrant different numbers of wedges for acceleration and deceleration? What wears the splines more, the vibrating forces occurring as we drone the endless highways, or the on again off again throttling in the twisties, or the occasional maximum force in either direction? Like spring firmness on a motorcycle's suspension, there is an ideal and there are compromises. Do you think a silicone grease might work best with rubber wedges? Now engineer your drilling and puck removal or lack there of, targeting that ideal. Your splines will thank your uncommonly good reasoning. Best of luck.

Funny, I thought he was just another racist Libertarian. Here is a thread with missing photos and missing dyno charts http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8555

Captain Nemo, aka Enzo, is or was a resident of Seatle or thereabouts, who had someone fabricate the exhaust pipes to run under the oil pan, and crossover into a single Cobra brand glasspack muffer. Quite possibly the best possible design for making power, but the trade off is noise, ground clearance and probably more difficult oil changes. The photos of that LeMans look similar to what a bay area gent named Frank had fabricated (by a welder coincidentally named Enzo) from the OEM mufflers. It sounded great! But I don't know how it tuned. It had no crossover. Maybe that is Frank's bike????

Sorry, my turn to split hairs, again. The EPA measures more than just CO and HC. From what I could gather from Google, the EPA regulates the quantity of CO, NOx and HC per distance ridden.

Sorry, I did not mean to add another crap-fest sub-topic. I better get my O2 sensor out and verify my claim for the national enquirers or inquisitors or whatever they be. FWIW I just read through some of this thread. Impressive. And I see Dan beat me to splitting hairs about the rotation count vs time. Apologies for duplicating info and belated thanks to Dan for clearing up potentially mis-leading info. BTW isn't Tucson exempt from the test?

Yep! And to split hairs, technically it is not 3 minutes but a specific count of revolutions. So, if you double the RPMs, the time (read 'irritation' if you are impatient) is cut in half. If the engine is not shut off at an electrical switch but simply stalls, I don't think it would it need to cycle again, but I am not positive about that.

No, you are challenging me to prove something that I have never claimed. You have claimed that you cant turn a V11 into a Hayabusa beater and I have shown that on paper you can. Get over it. You lost dude. For those just joining us, I am defining the Hayabusa beater as bike that can beat a bone stock, top speed regulated, Hayabusa from the model year that this conversation began, on the street, ridden by your typical forum member, with heavier set ones doing better on the V11 spine, since it would have the best possible custom suspension while the Hayabusa would be wallowing on the stock suspension and tire set up. There is evidence of V11's that weigh nearly 100 pounds less than a Hayabusa. Combined with top notch suspension and tires and that alone is enough to "win" on most streets. It is possible to build the Big Bore kit up to 160HP which is close to the Hayabusa's stock 175HP. I don't know if that is RWHP or HP at the piston ring, but I do know it is powerful enough to win Daytona. Strip the Guzzi's weight down and the HP:weight ratio changes in Guzzis favor. Yes of course one could build the Hayabusa up to 300+HP, or strip its weight down and spring it properly, but we are talking a very non-stock Guzzi going up against a bone stock, 300kph top speed regulated, on the street, with average and equal sport bike riders, pushing it as hard as they are comfortable with.

I'll agree that you should check the other things first, but avoid Slick 50 Gear Lube® (probably not what Dan meant, but just making sure) The linkage shouldn't go out of adjustment either, but the angles can be set wrong from the factory or previous owner, which combined with dirty lube and or the adjuster under the acorn less than perfect can lead to bad shifting. The adjuster under the acorn was off for me, but I had had the gear box recall, so it may have happened then. Ideally the linkage should be set to about 90 degree angles at the articulations, and check to make sure the shift does not bind against anything. Does anybody have a recommendation for linkage lube? I know Ratchet will frown on WD40. Marine grease is probably too thick. Chain wax is probably too thick. Anything thinner might not stay on long. Running dry will avoid stiction from dirt mixed with lube, but has inherit friction and will increase wear. I think we need 20 pages on the ideal linkage lube

Your riding gear smells like an old stinky dog that been rolling in his own, and you oughta go back to riding Honda Rebels!!!! Feel better now? Try making some crazy indefensible statements, or talking politics, and then see what happens!!! BTW, I really wish I had the time and money for track days. The one I attended at Streets of Willow made me a better rider. Finding a safe parking lot away from over zealous law enforcement officers is a good alternative. Another idea that I think would help me, and other riders who ride far from the bike's limitations, is to find a safe turn with open visibility and run it a few times, reducing the chicken strips a little bit each time.

Failure to shift correctly in only one of the directions may indicate a need to adjust the adjuster under the acorn nut on the left side. Attempting to adjust it can open up a can of worms in that if you are not careful and patient, you can make things worse. The first thing to realize is that on the other side of the screw is a lobed cam and that turning it 360 degrees will ESSENTIALLY get you to the same setting. I say essentially, because it is possible for it to go too many turns in or out. The simple and sure way to set it is to remove the acorn cap nut, mark the current screw position, unlock the lock nut and turn it either clockwise or counter clockwise just an eighth of a turn, lock the nut, test ride. If better, congratulate yourself. If worse, go back to the mark and then an eighth turn the other way. Narrow it down with small eighth or sixteenth turn adjustments, so that the screw position results in the best possible shifting. Put the acorn nut back on, and change the gear oil. Or just change the gear oil and that may be enough??? Personally I keep using ShockProof because I think it is the best gear oil I have tried and Ratchet directed me to a place that sells it for under $10 a quart or liter, and it is local, so I don't have to pay for shipping. The alternative is to get a quality gear oil and add a molybdenum gear oil additive. To maintain ideal shifting, I just change it about once a year. When I start mis-shifting and the fault is not completely me, I change the gear oil.

That has been my experience too, counter to Ratchethack's quotes from Redline's "expert" about Shockproof's need for, what was it , never needing changing??? Or what did there expert say? This expert is either a liar or misinformed mistaken. EDIT here is the quote: ROTFLMAO! EDIT for clarification, ROTFLMAO means hahahaheeheeehahaha. I believe it is laughable to believe that shockproof need no changing at all.

I have made the credible reply that I have not seen a V11 with a Big Bore kit, that does not mean that one cannot fit such a kit. I did not say you were calling Big Bore (not C&G) liars. I said "Are you calling the folks at Big Bore liars when they say the kit can be fitted to a V11?" Just admit the kit can be fit and move on.

I have never mentioned the C&G 8 Valve DOHC water cooled engine before, but there you go, one more option, but the Spine frame might get in the the way of the throttle bodies. http://www.gg2.it/ I had mentioned the Big Bore® two valve per cylinder water cooled kit, that fits most big block Guzzis. The engine kit was used to modify an MGS01 to win at Daytona. There have also been photos of the kit beautifully installed in a Griso. There is NO reason it can't be installed in a V11, and to suggest otherwise is dead wrong. It is a very pricey option, but it is a REAL option.

Is that your secret?

Big Bore sent me an email saying it can be done, with prices. They did not say that they have done it to the V11. There is no reason to believe that this is an imaginary ferry tale. You are terribly short and narrow sighted in your vision of what a V11 should be. You continually mock those that invest more than you do, and tell people who do less than you that they should do the same as you. Boring.

Hey Karl, if you follow Ratchet's advice you will probably lose peak horse power and somewhere between $500 and $1000. For about ten times that price you can get a Big Bore Kit and increase HP 50 - 100%, the choices are yours! Or you can just enjoy your nicely tuned bike, or maybe invest in track class, suspension springs and or nice Pirelli tires.

Are you calling the folks at Big Bore liars when they say the kit can be fitted to a V11? That is slanderous!!!!!!!

That's great! Just be sure to note what the TPS, Valves, and Idle are set to, so you can repeat this fine state of tune! You might not want to follow the group think and buy the aftermarket crossover since you already invested in the dyno tuning. The aftermarket crossovers give a lot of bang for the buck, but since you would need to spend another $200-500 on dyno tuning, you might skip it, or wait until you have other mods going along with it, like the Air Box mod that gives even more power per dollar!!! Or if you wanna really go nuts Hot Cam, Carillo Rods, bigger valves (don't get Roper started ), Super Charger, Big Bore® Kit, etc.

Lucky (or smartly) for Kurt the engine cantilevers out and should provide full access to the oil pan, and better access to most Guzzi components. I'll have to take a better look next time I see it to see if the drain plugs are easily accessible. The gear oil might be trickier to reach, but I'll bet they gave it access. But you probably won't be able to drive this over the pit of your local QuickEEELube FWIW I recall Kurt said it took about 20 minutes to get the engine and tranny in, but a bit more time to hook up the drive shafts, exhaust, etc., much of what has not yet gone on the bike, yet. In any case, replacing the clutch on the Guzzi Blackjack will take far less time than on a Guzzi motorcycle. The tranny and many of the parts are VW, so most parts should not be a problem to source, in the long run.

Guzzitech has an article on it. http://forum.guzzitech.com/index.php?optio...;catid=30#17578 Should be a blast to drive!

if two shocks differ in length but have the same stroke (in theory at least) the rear wheel travel will be the same, but the longer shock will result in a taller ride height, assuming sag is the same. If two shocks are of equal length but differ in stroke, rear will NOT bottom at same height, the longer stroke will bottom at a lower ride height. And the one shock with longer stroke will allow more travel, of course, (but not a taller ride height, although ride height can be set (with consequences) by setting pre-load and spring weight to desired ride height) Because the Ohlins has a short body and long stroke, the Ohlins shock has better potential than any other shock to set the ride height maximum high or maximum low, using sag than any other shock on the market. The Penske is the only other shock that comes close. Finding an Ohlins that fits could be difficult, but a Penske should be easy to find. Keep in mind that the swing arm and shaft limit travel, so I would not dare venture out of the range of wheel motion allowed by the OEM Ohlins.

News Flash! Michael Jackson is still dead. BTW, apologies to him for being the butt of jokes. The man may have crossed the lines of normalcy, but was never convicted of rape or abuse, and besides, child abuse is not a laughing matter. More importantly, he was a phenomenal artist that touched many. RIP Michael! As for Guzzi???

No, I have the Ohlins Fork and Penske shock, but I have seen a few Ohlins shock equipped Guzzis parked next to Sachs equipped and have always seen the Ohlins ones sitting higher, of course one could set sag to have the reverse result, but I have seen no such thing, also, ignoring the alleged specs the bottoming out point could vary between the two shocks. I have no reason to doubt the Ohlins shock numbers Beisel posted, which I may have posted long ago(with some error of measurement) but I think the Sachs numbers could be off by as much as 2mm. Öhlins 286/70 --------------- Sachs 278/60