al_roethlisberger

I would be very impressed with, and consider a well-behaved and reliable 87 RWHP from a relatively stock V11 Sport engined bike .... BIG HP al

Gotcha .... just doing "due diligence"

Before going to the trouble/expense of the smaller wheel, have you tried a few different brands/models of tire? There are quite a few different profiles out there of the same size tire, even the stock 180, and one may give you the kind of ride you are looking for Mike Stewart has good things to say about the Pirelli Diablo and it's profile making the steering much quicker. al

Done ...and I repeat.... "ouch"

...heh, well here's an interesting anecdote. How many times have we all told eachother that the very first thing we should check when we have a problem with the bike, any problem, are the relays? Well, it's a rhetorical question, but I'll answer it anyway for you.... ALWAYS! So, here's my MY testimonial As you may remember, I had this "family event" about 6 weeks ago.... a new baby And frankly, both since the baby arrived, and for a month or two prior, I really haven't been riding the bike(not any significant distance anyway).... after all, I've been a bit busy and preoccupied But in the meantime, I have "tinkered" here and there in the evenings and weekends to wind down and relax. Well, this weekend I decided to button everything up, and get the bike back on the road, which included a quick "shake down" run around the neighborhood to make certain that I hadn't forgotten to hook up anything "critical" So, I'm zipping around the block, low RPM, low speed.... and all seems fine. So I decide to take the bike down a more major street at a bit higher speed. As I ride down the avenue, at about 35mph, all seems fine and the bike is running like a champ. So I slow to make a right turn onto a street that will take me in the general direction of home. As I approach the corner, there are 2 police cruisers and the "paddy wagon"... gumballs flashing like crazy... and as I pass, they all stop to give me the "look". I laugh and shrug to myself as I go by, and mentally "dare" one of them to peel off and pull me over on "General Purpose". To my luck, and admitted relief, the San Jose Gestapo doesn't take the bait, but as I'm running at about 3k RPM about 50 yards past the gendarme, the bike sputters.... bucks.... misses... and just dies. Dead as can be... electrics on and fine, just no go-go. OK I think as I coast to the curb.... this is interesting Fortunately I'm an only a block from the house(which to my credit was the whole point of a very "local" shake-down run ) .... so I wasn't too nonplussed. But as I sat here in the dark hitting the starter a couple times with no result, I was really at a loss as to what I could have forgotten to reattach properly before the ride. I stood there in the dark thinking through the fuel-pump harness mods(via the 2003 tank retrofit), a plugged injector(the tank was off many times, debris in a line??), or maybe one of my dual-output coils was SNAFU'd. But before the thoughts of complex systemic failures took hold too strongly, just on a lark I pulled the seat and yanked the Fuel-Pump and ECU relays, and jammed them back in. Guess what? .... OK, you've probably already figured out the climax to this story just by the revealing title, but YES, the bike started right back up. But even at this point, I couldn't be SURE that was the culprit. After all, my old vapor lock demon had similar traits, so it still could have been something else intermittent that after a few fuel-pump cycles, cleared itself. So I rode the bike home and figured I'd diagnose more in the morning. As an aside, do you know how hard it is to sleep when all the possible failure scenarios are running around in your brain? So, this morning, I put the bike in the driveway, got it warmed up, and noticed right away that at any RPM over around 3k, the bike missed every so often and was generally unhappy. ...not enough to die, or even really be a problem per se, but certainly not ideal. And at one point, the engine died after coming off of a high-RPM roll-on the throttle Well, knowing now that I had a recurring problem, as opposed to a one-off from who-knows-what from the bike sitting a month or two... I can't say whether I was more relieved or not. But at least I had a starting place with the aforementioned relay(s). OK, well cutting to the chase, I soon found out that by wiggling the fuel-pump relay, I could get the engine to stumble and even die. I didn't have to wiggle it much, and after closer inspection it seemed generally more a loose fit than I had remembered. I put in another relay that seemed to fit tighter, and then the 3k RPM stumbles seemed to quit, and the bike would not die even if I tried(reasonably) to wiggle said relay. So here's what I think was happening. The fuel-pump relay was a bit loose. At 3k RPM and up, the vibes set up some sort of harmonic in the socket/relay that shook it enough to break contact and interrupt smooth and consistent fuel pressure/delivery.... hence the misses, and in a couple cases, dying. I think that over time, my various removals of the relays has loosened up the sockets, and with the addition of some dielectric grease this Spring, made things too slippery and exacerbated the "loose" issue, along with impeding a good contact. So, I cleaned up the sockets, bent them tighter so they grip the relay spades a bit better, and so far it seems to be fine now. The moral of the story? Relays... Relays... Relays... even for something as odd as the scenario I describe above, which IMHO I would have never initially predicted relays would be the cause of an RPM specific misfire Interesting... al

...ouch Yeah, I'd check on the recall, and see what the importer/dealer can do for you. Sorry to hear about that

Excellent, hope you are having a great time! ...I remember nearly losing my rear suspension on the FJ near Moab in July... whew it was hot Let us know when/if you get down to Northern CA, so we can all try to get together for dinner or something! al

Well, just as an aside... if you live in the San Jose area, and planned to get any number of Buell "interchangeable" parts for your V11 Sport/LeMans, don't plan on getting them from San Jose HD/Buell anymore(which is a real bummer for me, as they are literally just a few blocks away). ....I guess they haven't bothered to change their signs, but according to the staff, they didn't sell hardly any Buells last year, and had a parts "fire sale" about 6 months ago, and officially stopped carrying the brand(and parts) at about that time as well. I don't know what this means for those in San Jose that own Buells WRT to parts and warantee, but since San Jose HD is a really large dealership, this doesn't bode well for the brand I guess I'll have to go up to Fremont or Redwood City to see if they still carry the parts I wanted, or check online ... in this case for the Buell Footpeg Conversion al

....BTW, just did read that Tim is indeed from Sacramento, so you are correcto-mundo al

...OK Rob, you're starting to scare me here But seriously... all perfectly reasonable questions, that have simple answers, but in all seriousness.... based on the questions you are asking, I would recommend taking a bit longer to study and understand the basics of the electrical system you are working with. It sounds like you may still have some basic questions in this regard, that may make it easy for a mistake to be made, or hard for you to troubleshoot in the event of a problem. Otherwise there is some degree of risk of damaging your wiring harness, and switchgear if you end up essentially doing a battery "load test" by send a full battery's worth of juice the wrong way in this circuit But here are the answers to your questions: 1) There will be TWO power leads going to the relay. a- The first power lead is the switch(ing) power. This is the positive lead that used to actually power the OEM horns. This will send 12V when the horn button is depressed, and in this case will now be used to trigger the relay switch. b-The second power lead is the new one you will be running directly from the battery to the switched portion of the relay, if I recall will be either terminal 30 or 87. But in both cases, any power from the battery that enters the harness should be fused. In case (a), yes this wire is already fused and has a relay, so you don't need to worry. But in the second case, you absolutely need to install an inline fuse as close as possible to the positive terminal connection at the battery. You may need to test a couple times to find the right value, but I'd guess that a 5 or 7.5amp fuse would be about right for this application. 2) The positive battery terminal. You should crimp a ring terminal on the end of power lead, and just "stack" this ring along with the couple others under the positive terminal bolt. You will need the ring size that is typical for 14/16 gauge wire. If you have bought a premade/molded blade-type fuse holder(available in the electrics/trailer section of any auto parts store) , you can just use one of it's leads as the wire to connect to the positive terminal via the crimped-on ring terminal, and crimp the other lead to your power cable, thus minimizing the number of junctions/splices/crimps.... which is always a good thing. 3) 18 would probalby work fine, but as long as you are going to the trouble, I would use at the minimum 16, just because.... and I would not go beyond 12, as that's overkill and becomes hard to handle. 14 or 16 should be ideal. 4) Like question #1, the answer is "both". You will have two ground wires. a- The first ground wire will be, like question "1a", the original ground wire from the switched harness, and will need to be attached to the opposite pin(86?, I forget off-hand) for the positive trigger to be able to actuate the relay switch. b- You will need a new ground for the horns(or splice into the original ground in part a above), and run it to the frame. If you are going to the trouble of running all this direct power to the horns, you may as well run a good new unobstructed ground though instead of piggy-backing on the old circuit. Well, I hope that clears it up some for you. Good luck. This really is an easy modification, but do take your time and double-check your wiring before powering it all up. Cheers al

...that's too bad with regard to Evoluzione. I haven't talked to Ken in ages, but even then he wasn't actually *selling* much Guzzi specific stuff So I guess the market just wasn't there for what he offered, plus he did get frustrated with MG's inconsistent QA and build, such that some products couldn't be easily standardized. But I really like this peg solution I have 9.5-10 shoe size, so I'll be very interested to hear how this modification works in practice for you as well. Please let us know as soon as you get some test riding in. Very exciting and clean solution al

....or how-a-bout this one? At least you could count on finding spares along the neighborhood homes as needed

BTW MPH Cycles in Houston, and/or Moto International in Seattle usually have the manual petcock in stock. If you really get in a bind, I have two or three used ones, that now sit unused since I sold my 2002 tank. al

Since Kawasaki was mentioned above(by reference to the ZX6), this just in: Kawasaki Recalls ZX-10 Due To Front Wheel Failures .... is the wheel different on the 6? al

Hrmm, well then.... may just have-ta get me one of them thar things one day then I think that will be on the very bottom of the list though, after I simply can't find anything else to tinker with for a "good reason". Although $500 is hard to let just lie around for "no good reason".... so it's unlikely I'll get one. Who knows But then again, my sump spacer is bubbling pretty badly along with the cases, and MGNA won't warantee replace that, sooooo So, do you think that the increased cooling offered by the V-Sump extension is good enough to actually completly offset the need for the oil-cooler radiator? Or is it even "better". Just curious if anyone has measured oil-temps with and without this extended sump. al

OK, I guess we'll see about Renton, but what about Skagit? Did anyone ever find out if they are actually a Certified Tuning Center? (Heh, I guess no one is stopping me from calling them myself But then again, I don't live up there yet ) al

I agree, it's just a "wand" that slides up into the end of the exhaust cannister, and they only "need" one. Maybe they are talking about some sort of screw in O2 sensor, but that's a pretty standard size(or three) so they wouldn't need a large assortment. But then again, if a bike ran a closed-loop EFI system, and consequently had an 02 sensor, I don't think they would want to take the 02 sensor out to insert their own Anyway, something isn't right here.... dunno what exactly, but it sounds like maybe the guy you talked to didn't know what he was talking about, or maybe you misunderstood Odd.... but it would be interesting to know the whole story. al

Yes, as mentioned.... *do not* change the filter to any old plastic filter(or glass, or even a metal unit not specific for this application), such as those intended for a non-pressurized fuel system. ~45psi and a hot plastic filter would not be a good combination The stock filter, being on top of the spine(generally ) probably isn't the main problem with the VL, and I simply put some heat shielding around it with acceptable results. Here is the "evolution" of my efforts: Relocating Fuel Pump Thread Until I finally: Retrofitted a 2003 spec tank.... And while we are at it: Wasted Fuel Thread 2003 Tank Capacity al

It's interesting.... from the photo it appears that one loses the sump spacer(the part with the oil-cooler fittings) that goes between block and sump?? It would make sense that you do, but "just checking" al

...don't worry, you won't be going THAT fast as compared to.... I haven't heard the FBFs, but then again haven't heard that they are very loud either al

Heya Kurt, WRT to where Tim lives, you may be correct.... I really can't recall for certain Although he rides with some of the guys down here on the BARF(Bay Area Riders Forum) and SBR(South Bay Riders) quite often, is the Sport Touring forum moderator on BARF, and works up in SF.... sooo, dunno. Well, he makes it down here quite often regardless Also, although there will always be debate and opinion with regard to things like the "10 best", "Top 5", etc... anything, Tim made an effort to review this list with the members of the whole "Region 1" forum on Sport-Touring.net before committing to the list. So I think he tried to get a statewide consensus, and even if FZ is SoCal focused(is it?), Tim certainly isn't He's got a great site never-the-less http://www.pashnit.com al

These relays, the NUMBER ONE first thing to check(by pulling/reinserting/replacing) when something doesn't work on the bike, especially not starting ....

....let me guess, you bought it from Orange County Guzzi didn't ya? If so, yeah there's a "price to be paid" for their bargain-basement prices I guess I, along with a lot of dealers will be much happier once they sell out of the infamous "Wal-bikes". I've actually heard a class-action lawsuit is in the works against MGNA and OC from a few other dealers with regard to the under-the-table deal OC got on the batch of bikes, such that they can sell new bikes out the door for less than the cost other dealers pay for the same bike Then because OC's follow-on service is so poor(or the buyer isn't local), guess which shops get the loss-leading warantee work? ...and of course, the bargain basement pricing does wonders for resale Sorry for the rant, but if this bike is one of the infamous "OC stock", a lot of buyers have had similar experiences with poor follow on service. It's too bad really. But, for those that got a great deal, regardless of where the bike was bought Glad to hear you finally got it all sorted out though, and are finally on the road Sounds like you went through the wringer al

Well, of course, in your photo... there should be TWO lines, each attached to a nipple. The one on the left is the overflow/overfill drain, and one on the right is the cap vent. Although either could leak fluid, typically only the left would in normal circumstances, and as such Guzzi usually only includes a spring/thumb clamp on that line. The vent line on the right typically just "pops" onto the nipple, and isn't that critical if it comes off... although you really don't want it to on a regular basis Anyway, point being... clamps are not required, but if you want to clamp one, clamp the left one. I wouldn't put any type of clamp on there that you can't get off by hand though, otherwise it will make future tank removals a PITA Oh, and BTW.... get rid of that big black thing in the picture... that's the infamous "tip over valve" that will undoubtedly cause "tank suck" for you, especially in the position you show it in the photo, as it will not stay perfectly vertical. See: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=462 Hope that helps al

I guess it depends on what you are trying to do If you let us know what your goal/project is, we might be able to give you some suggestions on alternative approaches. But WRT the tank, the Bassa/Jackal/EV(fuel-injected) models is connected the same as the Sport tanks. Yours, being a 2000, has the external fuel-pump/regulator. So as long as you close the petcock(there's nothing to "close" on the regulator side), you can pull both fuel lines and there will be no leaks. Now, the lines will drain a bit of fuel after disconnecting, but the tank will not leak. And the vent/drain lines just pop off, with no risk of leaking. ...then just lift the tank off Just follow Jason's directions, and the tank will lift right off. It's super easy al