dlaing

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2-PIN-ELECT...9QQcmdZViewItem For about $20 shipped. fast lighting for those concerned about safety, efficient for those who are pushing the limitations of the V11 charging system, and good looking, for the all the rest of you... But hey, nobody is stopping you from doing it the hard way with less safety and efficiency.

No, I am not wrong. You seem to be supporting my point when you said, "The time to light is the heating time of the bulb filament." Yes, the time to light of an incandescent is the heating time of the bulb filament. LEDs light up more quickly and produce less heat for the same amount of light. You are also correct when you stated, "The electricity arrives at the speed of light regardless of the presence or absence of the ballast resistor." But what will make the turn signal light up faster is the speed of the electronics in the electronic flasher vs. the slow contact points type flasher. He only has two viable options and one is slower and less efficient and the other is faster and more efficient. I did not indicate that the resistors would make it slower, but you seemed to read it that way.... Still not sure what your position is on the efficiency. What do you mean by, "It only defeats energy efficiency"? You might care about energy efficiency if you are trying to keep your battery charged up while siting on your heated saddle, idling at a stop light with the turn signal on. But you will only save a few watts.

I don't know, just cause I read it on the internet does not make it true... from http://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/Filters.html#OilFilters "I received an email from Suzuki of Victoria, informing me that a Hayabusa they took in for service showed no oil pressure. They found the cause was an aged anti-drainback valve on a Hi-Flo filter that would not open, thus cutting off all oil pressure to the entire engine. K&N filters are made by Hi-Flo, so these filters are also suspect." and http://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/FilterStudy.html "Made by Hi Flo. Average filter with a $6 nut welded onto the end cap. " Not sure about the HP-1002, but I show the K&N KN-163 to be the fit for our bikes. http://www.knfilters.com/search/product.aspx?Prod=KN-163

Hi Greg or whomever knows, What about torquing the steering head bearings? Same strategy, or can they handle more torque? There was a fairly recent discussion on this, but without a definative answer.

The beauty of LEDs is the quicker lighting and energy efficiency. Using resistors rather than an electronic flasher defeats both benefits Not that much energy is lost to the turn signals...unless you wrecklessly leave the signal on inviting fools to step into your path

I make it a regular habit to make sure my lights work, so with the bike idling on sidestand I went to check the rear brake, but apparently when I faced the taillight I reversed right and left and dropped it into first gear. I can't believe I did that!!! Broke the tip off the clutch lever, and probably a few scratches, but not noticeable since the bike had been down on that side before. "Life is tough. It's even tougher when your stupid." --John Wayne

I also rarely use loctite But I use lots of antiseize I think alot of us on the forum rarely use a torque wrench. The feel of bolt stretch is usually a good indicator, but sometimes paying attention to the recommended spec, if you can find it, is a better idea. The cylinder head is good example of when to use a torque wrench.. I should buy a torque wrench just to refresh my memory of what 20 or 30 ft lbs feels like. I lost a few bolts durring the first 10,000 miles of my bike, all on bolts that retained plastic or the alternator cover, but now at thirty something thousand miles, all the bolts have been staying tight. Embarassingly, I did strip the 6mm threads on one of the legs of one of my Marzocchis. Those bolts are probably a good candidate for loctite rather than a heavy hand. The factory stripped my oil drain plug.

Maybe it is because I am paranoid, and maybe because my arms are somewhere between Olive Oil's or Wimpy's rather than like Popeye's or Bluto's, but I would eat my spinach, drain the precious Amsoil (you can reuse it if you are careful), and re-tighten the UFI. I think the tightening job you did is exactly what would hold fine on your car, and even on the Guzzi maybe only one in a hundred would fail to hold tight, but I would not want to be that one in a hundred or one in a thousand or whatever it is that hand tighten and then the engine gets serious damage. Before reading Greg Field's posts about filters that come loose, I would drop the pan and install the filter by putting the filter wrench cap on to give me a better grip and then tighten to about all I could muster with one hand, thinking all along that if I used a wrench to tighten, I might face a hell of a time removing the filter. After all, it always seems harder to remove than it did to tighten. I did not even notice that the filter had a recommended 3/4 turn. I too, have never lost a filter with that method, but I have never had a bike that vibrated this much, nor a bike with a screw on filter surrounded by so much heat and oil.

I agree with the "on purpose over tighten" , with "over tighten" more than recommended by the filter maker, not till the gasket explodes or the threads strip, which is truly over tightened. If you can over-tighten with a mere grip on the filter, you must have forearms like Popeye As for those of us whose only exercise is a twist of the grip, a wrench is probably needed. I pay attention to the directions and turn atleast the recommended degrees, and torque it about as much as an 8mm threaded bolt (I'd guess 15-25 foot pounds, but I have not used a torque wrench in years) I base how far I torque it on a combination of what feels right and the number of degrees beyond recommended. Perhaps that is over thinking it, but with the known problem of experienced people swearing it was tight and then it loosens, I don't think you can over think it....and thus we have endless threads that turn friends into enemies Also, after I use up my two SuperTechs, I will then only buy Purolator, until evidence proves that I might be better off with something else. So far I have only heard people suggest either that it should be as tight as tight feels right, or some say you should just use the recommended turns and then some. Anybody else have ideas on how tight tight should be? 6mm thread torque tight?!? 8mm thread torque tight??? 10mm thread torque tight!?! Maybe we need a poll

That is such a nice setup. I can just imagine many years from now someone inheriting your bike trying to find the ECU, looking under the seat, under the tank, and not finding it

Some do it yourself methods for flashing the ECU are: Axeone (very expensive) Techno Research's Direct Link (an excellent choice! ) TuneBoy (Very similar to Direct Link. I use tuneboy ) FIM Ultimap (from what I understood from documentation, not my favorite choice) Cliff's My15 (Another excellent choice that actually replaces the ECU with a flashable one that has other advantages) I forget the name but there is a slick unit available from Europe that integrates the ECU inside the tachometer...a great space saver, but a bit expensive.

Rest easy, the odds of it unscrewing are low, especially if you tightened it with about the same force you used to take off the old filter. According to independent research published on the internet, the K&N filters get a mediocre rating for quality of build. For the most part you'd probably be paying $3 for the filter and $9 for them to weld a safety wire nut on to it. If you can find a decent place to wire the nut to the engine, it might be a good choice, but I don't think there is a good place to wire it

They are the same, Brembo tt2172hh. They came with the calipers off eBay, and were kind of dirty, perhaps greasy. I cleaned them well but grease may have saturated. They seem to be getting better with each ride. I only have about 40 miles on them so far. So, I may be judging them a bit early, but the feel is better, and that is more important than stopping power for me with Pirelli Strada tires and not Sport tires. The rust has not even worn off the rotors from the 8 weeks of sitting in the garage waiting for the parts from Guzzi that still are not here for my old Brembos. I figured it made more sense to pay $250 for Brakes and $80 for new brake lines now, and ride then wait another umpteen days or weeks for the brake parts to show or not. So, why did I need parts for the reliable Brembos? A word to the wiser, don't be like me and try to recycle the cotter pins ....SAFETY WIRE in your retainer pins!!!!! The old Brembos will be up for sale after the retainer pins and plate get here. The old brakes are more powerful than my sport touring tires can grip. Better feel is what I am after. Thanks for the info. I may need to look for a kind of small bore. I like the style of the 999 master cylinders.

Redline engine oil will last more than twice as long as any decent mineral oil, like Castrol GTX or XL, and the temperature range of protection is larger. Perhaps newer Guzzis are recommending 10W-60 to get a wider range of protection. If your labor is free, you might not want to use Redline if it is three times the cost. But to me, time is money and I would rather spend $50 on oil and go 6000 miles between oil changes then send $10 and go 2000 miles or $20 and go 3-4000 miles. If you are harder working than me, stick with a decent cheap oil and change it often. But you can spend too much on oil. (EDIT Last two oil changes, I have been using Repsol Moto Racing 4T Fully Synthetic Motor Oil - 10W50 and often wonder if I am spending too much, but it does seem to last ) Could be a trade secret that is not patented, or could be information flows between Redline engineers like ice cold 20W-50 Dino through a Fram filter. ...

"THERMAL DECOMPOSITION: Oxides of carbon, phosphorous, calcium, molybdenum, and sulfur." From: http://www.redlineoil.com/msds/44.pdf

What I do for the rear brake is the following: 1 Remove the caliper 2 Remove the pads 3 Wedge something between the pistons to keep them from moving outward. 4 Clean the caliper especially around the pistons. This method should allow almost no possibilty of silicone getting on brake pads or rotors. I am not sure what the best cleaner is. Brake cleaner may be too harsh for the seals, so what I do is spray silicone around the piston seal area, and clean that area. Doing a process of clean, push piston out, clean, then push pistons all the way in, seems to work. And then I clean the rest of the caliper with brake cleaner. When getting close to piston seal area, I use a brake cleaner saturated rag so as not to wash the silicone from the seals. 5 keeping the calipers unmounted and pistons blocked apart, bleed brake. Holding the caliper up high can help get air toward the bleed outlet. 6 clean brake fluid off and reassemble. Make sure you did not get silicone anywhere hazardous like on the tire. 7 be sure to pump brake to build back pressure before riding off, and then do some test brakings. Here is an article on bleeding brakes with a vacuum pump http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcycle-tec...ycle-brakes.htm And the best article that I have read on how to brake. My only nit picks are that in point two, they fail to consider braking in turns, and also they don't cover using avoidance rather than fully relying on braking. http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcycle-Saf...raking-tips.htm And most importantly, the reason I found this old thread, was that I got a pair of 999 calipers off eBay for about $250 (about half the new price) I don't really notice them being more powerful, but they do seem to have better feel. The move also gave me an opportunity to add longer brake lines. I used a pair of Galfer lines made for a Suzuki SV 650. These lines will NOT work for the V11calipers. It was tricky setting them up so they would not twist and stress the lines, and I needed to use extra washers to make the fittings fit. Next step, some better rotors, or maybe radial master cylinders. I'll make a silk purse out of this sow's ear even if I have to live on rice and beans! Actually I think it is half way there.

Don't forget you can lube the bolts from behind the brake caliper, although the nasty half of the stiction is at the head. EZ-Outs are made by pawns of the devil, as Bellacraine hinted, but at the diameter that will fit the hex socket, you can put a little torque into it, but don't put too much, and don't hammer an easy out. But a torx of the right size could be a better idea, as Big J suggested. If you have extra hands, have someone gently torque the EZ out while you use a punch on the perimeter of the head. A little heat on the caliper might help, but not too much because of the metal's temper, finish, and rubber bits that could be damaged. Or remove the wheel and carefully drill the head off, probably a 3/8" bit, and remove the caliper. Then removing the bolt should be easy.

I love posting the before and after of rewiring with relays Not quite as bright as adding a hundred watts of fine driving lights, but easier on the charging system. I am hoping some good LED driving lights will become available and won't be too expensive. Perhaps 2 sets of 5-10 Luxeon Star III LEDs in a couple of appealling lamp housings.

"For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." Romans 13:4-4 Here is some more scary shit: http://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/FilterStudy.html http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilterstudy.html http://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/Filters.html#OilFilters http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilters.html The PureOnes seem to be favored, but I would be AFRAID of PTFE and silicone gaskets increasing the risk of loosening.

Nah, (sorry to be confrontational, but I must stop ignorance wherever I see it, no malice intended) this thread is not about oil filters loosening up, but about how to stop filters from loosening up. As for solid advice, I cannot help you. But I will offer the following. Buy a Purolator and tighten it just a little more than by the book. I think some other great ideas were proposed by Greg Field and Yaledriver (and myself), but I think Ryland's work led to the best solution short of major re-engineering. The apparent faults with Greg Field's solution are the inconvenience and the possibility of the hose clamp loosening or falling apart. The apparent faults with Yaledriver's solution are the strength of the trap door under pressure, and the security of the shim, as well as the inconvenience. My solution of putting rubber between filter and hatch, reduces the pressure problem but does not eliminate it, and has a host of other problems regarding securing the rubber. Ryland's measurements and analysis proves (to me) that the Purolator measured is less likely to come off than the UFI or SuperTechs that we measured. (But please note that some respected people disagree )

Yah, we know you did not do such a thing. One of the points I was trying to make was that the difference between how you found your forks set, and how you set them should make a positive difference, especially when approaching the lower end of travel. But others seem to disagree that the difference between right and left air gaps will make a difference. I am certainly open to the possibility that the difference is not noticeable and may not effect how it wears. But until proven otherwise, I'll stick to trying to balance the forks. I recall reading that it is common practice to mix springs to get a given rate. For example to get the equivalent of a pair of 1.05 springs, the experts use a 1.00 and a 1.10 spring. For my Ohlins forks, I would feel a little uneasy about that because I would be concerned that fork life might be shortened. For the Marzocchi forks with right and left rebound and compression, I would happilly put the 1.10 spring on the rebound side and the 1.00 spring on the compression side. But that is just my opinion based on very little experience, and based more on common sense and guzzichondria.

Louie from L&L Motorsports will be doing a dyno day on April 28th, 2007 at Buymoto.com 8969 Kenamar Dr Ste 101 San Diego, CA 92121 Currently http://www.buymoto.com has no info on it, but http://www.hypercycles.org/ has a little info on it and presumably more info to come.

Thank You All!

Disclaimer: this graph ain't from a Marzocchi, but some Ohlins R&T and note they are talking oil level not air gap. Perhaps flexing is a better word. Now I would rather bottom on air than on metal, so a high oil level could be a good thing. ASSUMING that one fork was set fourteen millimeter off of another, looking at the graph, that might be a difference in force of anywhere from 200 to 300 Newtons which I guess is not as much as I feared: 200N = ~50 pound force 300N = ~67 pound force So, if I understand a pound force correctly, and assuming that chart is per fork and not per two forks, it might be like taking one fork clamping an axle in it and then hanging a 50-67# bag of cement from near the end of the axle and seeing if the axle flexes. I am pretty sure it will flex, but now that I know the force, I am not sure how consequential such flexing will be. I was expecting hundreds of pound of force. But keep in mind those are Ohlins recommended numbers, and an incorrectly set Marzocchi could be a problem. For example if you added 400cc into each fork, but had not gotten enough out of one fork as the other, you might end up with an air gap of a hundred in one, and fifty in the other. This might have a much more drastic impact on the axle when you bottom. In the case given here, the air gap enough that the 14mm may not have been a problem, but I suspect that combined with the force of the higher air gap being on the compression side, the forks are further out of balance and more stress is put on the axle. Does it result in substantial flexing of the axle? I don't know, but I would not set it up that way for fear that it MIGHT cause a problem.

Is there a Ducati whose levers cross references against the Guzzi's?