FuelCooler

Harpers MotoGuzzi sells a set of stainless brackets that I have had for a year and 5000 miles. I think they were $65 or $70 US dollars. Edit- Sorry, the Harpers are $49.95 for the pair!

Thanks for the help! Cheers, Steve

Wow, that was quick! Am I correct about the 2000-2001 interchange? Thanks Ratchethack. PS- I am awaiting my Wilbers Progressives.

Hi folks, I want to order Throttlemeisters for my 2000 V11. It has the stock clip-ons with the (long!) threaded bar-ends that screw into the ends of the bars. The application list starts at 2001 (Part # FT & AL). I assume the 2000 and 2001 bars are identical. Any info would be appreciated, thanks in advance. Cheers, Steve

Compression fork has been stripped, cleaned, reassembled and re-installed. All the shims are fine, all the o-rings are fine and the adjustment method has been studied and its action has been verified. The compression adjuster is a simple tapered needle that partially restricts a fixed orifice in the center of the shim stack. The end of the needle that gets pushed by the long actuating rod is sealed with an o-ring. The bleed oil goes past the taper in the needle and out of a hole in the side of the cartridge tube. Full hard on the compression setting bottoms the needle against the orifice. There is a 'shoulder' that bottoms against a flat so the needle doesnt stick. Everthing is fine in the fork, but there is a little more damping now that it is all clean. My sag in the front is out of range now that my rear spring is right (or more likely my assistant read the tape measure wrong the first time I checked it and it was always bad!). So, my Wilbers progressives are on the way. In the meantime, I am showing my sidestand no mercy . Cheers, Steve

My UNI filter gets tightened by a strap type filter wench, by feel. It is still tight (checked with the strap wrench) but I put an 'Ideal' brand hose clamp on it anyway. If the truely paranoid among us are worried about the hose clamp loosening, you can check on it when ever you like by looking thru the dipstick hole. Really! Cheers, Steve

I hope it is going as well for you as it is for me. 300+ miles and not a drop leaked of any kind . I will be doing a 3000 mile trip around Memorial Day, to the Ozarks. That will be the real test. Cheers, Steve

Not bright red like my frame. Darker. Its probably the same red that is on all Eibach springs. I thought I wouldn't like the color, but it looks cool against the blue and gold of the Sachs.

Nice shock dlaing! If you are interested in a relatively cheap ($85 delivered) straight wound spring, try Summit Racing and look for Eibach coilovers. My spring (500#) was back ordered but it got here 4 days sooner than they promised. It is 2.25 ID and 6 inches long instead of 6.5 like the stock Sachs, but I still have some thead left for more preload. Your Penske looks to have plenty of thread. Combine that with a couple quarts of Shockproof Heavy for you next tranny and bevel box oil change to absorb the handling charges and its a pretty sweet deal. Cheers, Steve

This one is obviously built for speed............ I can tell by the racing stripe.

This is the beauty of this forum. I did exactly what you said before I put the caps back on. The rebound acted just like you described, but the compression side wouldn't push the actuator rod in response to the stroking motion (so to speak, of course). I thought it may just be hard to tell, but if you are sure you compression side moved the actuator rod in similar fashion to the rebound side, then that is where my trouble lies. FWIW the adjusters screws on the caps will continue to click way past 16 clicks (and continue to screw down) with the caps off. The adjusters are physically being stopped by either the actuator rod bottoming out (most likely) or the adjuster screw running into the very top of the threaded rod. Thanks Dan M. It looks like that fork is coming off this weekend. Cheers, Steve Thanks Tom M, If your compression damping is really firm (and this is the norm with these bikes) I have a problem. I have decided to have look inside that fork! Cheers, Steve

Hi Dan M, My rebound leg had strong rebound and some low speed compression (checked with forks full assembled). The compression leg had zero rebound (pogo stick) and slighly less low speed compression until the last 1.5 to 2 inches of travel, where combined with the air gap and bottoming cap, it was getting stronger. Now granted, as Ratchethack says, I can't mimic the forces or the speed the fork will see, but with all my weight I could move the legs pretty quick. Scientific? No. But I realized (from doing a half dozen different forks in the past) that more low speed compression was going to be needed. I didn't dissassemble the forks completely, so there may be something perhaps holding the compression shim(s?) open. Regardless, it felt much closer with the 10wt. I went for it! Do I like the idea of it? Not really. But the effect has been positive. So far so good, but I am not done yet! I may just rip that fork apart for a look.

:!: Update on forks. :!: Well, I am doing 'shake down' runs on my suspension mods. It is much, much better than before (thanks for everyone suggestions). My findings so far (YMMV): 1. My shock oil change worked! (Bel Ray HVI 10wt) 2. When you adjust the rebound clicker on the shock, it increases / decreases rebound AND low speed compression somewhat. (Sachs). 2. The 500# shock spring is a huge imrovement. Thanks guys. (Eibach 6 inch x 2.25 x 500#) 3. The compression side fork has very little compression damping. Off the bike, the rebound leg has more 'slow shaft speed' compression damping than the compression fork does And to cause several pages of contraversy, at the last minute before assembling the front end, I dumped the HVI 5wt out of the compression side fork only and repaced it with HVI 10wt. Yup, 5wt rebound, 10 wt compression and I am living to tell about it. And I have the compression adjuster screwed all the way in. It is by no means too harsh. Not even close. 4. A sensation I was getting (but haven't brought up yet) of the front end feeling like it was going to 'tuck' under lower road speed / rapid direction change was at least partially being caused by a bad (stock) steering damper. I should have known better, my GS500 did the same thing (but worse!). Too easy to check first? Probably contributing significantly to the vagueness as well. 5. A 180/55 on a 5.5 inch later model V11 wheel works for me. It ain't slow steering the way I have my bike set up! It adds about 3mm rear ride height compared to a 160/60 on a 4.5. (I actually have both rims set up with Pilot Powers, and I measured them) I am going to experiment with raising (to slow the steering and add ground clearance) the front ride height (I am 10mm thru the clamp now). I have only ridden 20 miles with this set up and I am really impressed with the rear shock. 20 feet out of my driveway I was grinnin'.

Nice instument cluster on that scooter!

Hi Rossoandy, Perhaps you are missing the (roughly) 14mm long axle spacer that fits between the inside of the bevel box and the outside right wheel bearing? Hopefully you found the problem and fixed it by now! Cheers, Steve

Try Doug Lofgren. He has done some V11s. I hope he still does because I would like to use him as well! http://www.visi.com/~moperfserv/

I voted for #3. From my experience if you do a full restoration you will be afraid to ride it as much or as hard as you used to. As proof (to myself at least) there is a pristine restored bike in my computer room right now as I type this! I ride it less than 500 miles a year. Perhaps others have more courage. Good on ya! What ever you do, enjoy the bike and ride it. They are meant to be ridden! Steve

I used Yamabond 4. I hasn't leaked but I haven't even started it yet! I will keep you posted. What did you use? I was tempted to use Yamabond 5.

For what it is worth, gentlemen, I did not set the forks up like that (14mm differential oil height) and I would not set up forks like that! But this is making for some good reading. I did reset my air gap to 108mm (both legs of course). My 500# shock spring will be here Friday so I hope to have a test ride report by this Sunday. I am doing a bunch of maintenece right now (new stem bearings, new fuel line / filter, etc.... Thanks for the help! Steve

Thanks BigJ, Luckily, I do know what I like (some people don't!) and like you said, I will find what works best for me. I am more of a 'one change at a time guy'. I like to see the results of one change before going to the next change. Unfortunately this is my first time through these forks, and I don't know what weight fluid was in them. He (Ratchethack) and I weigh the same geared up, so our spring rates will be close. The air gap can be different, but I realize I will have to start somewhere! I will probably leave them at 102mm and wrap a ziptie around the tube and see what I am using, travel wise, and back it off accordingly, if needed. And one more interesting development as I was in the process of greasing my steering head bearings this afternoon...........drum roll please................trashed bearing cups. Big pit right on center on the bottom, and well worn and pitted on the top. Curiously, it was fairly well greased. Oh the joy of discovery!

Now the fun stuff I measured several things while changing the fork fluid today: Blue locknut (that tightens against the cap): Rebound Fork- 22mm Compression Fork- 21.25mm Spring spacers: RF- 109mm CF- 110mm Spring (straight wound): RF- 295mm CF- 294mm Air Gap RF-128mm CF-114mm My forks haven't leaked in the 5000 miles I have put on it, so the level was never set (volume method?) or not set correctly, i.e. the rebound side wasn't purged properly. The rebound side would be the side one would most likely screw up, because of the stronger damping force, making it harder to purge. I just set my levels to 102mm with HVI 5wt. I am 'freaking out' a little bit because I have changed so many settings / variables at once: 1. Fork oil viscosity from an unknown to 5wt. 2. Fork air gap from 114 and 128 to 102mm. 3. Shock oil from an unknown to 10wt. I was going to use an air gap of 105mm or 110mm to start but I figured the 5wt. would/ could/ should increase my bottoming due to less compression damping. And Ratchethack runs 100mm IIRC. So 102mm it was. I am going to leave the forks off until tomorrow so I can recheck the levels and perhaps change them if advised otherwise. Ease my mind, Oh gods of this forum.

Thanks Ratchethack, I was a little embarrassed to post this shock oil change method, but I figured what the hell, someone would get a chuckle out of it. Yours and dlaings support (and criticism) is always considered by me, and appreciated. OK, I have the forks off my bike and one (rebound side) measured and emptied.........update to come!

Thanks, We will see if it feels OK, and lasts! I will gladly forgo the bodge point if it was successful. I am not an expert (even though I do work for a specialty gas company) so I error on the side of safety. N2 is cheap and has the temperature and compression properties that shocks are (I believe) designed to handle and use. I believe pure N2 gas has the properties most similar to atmospheric air, which is mostly nitrogen so why wouldn't it, but does not have things that can hurt the shock or be physically dangerous. 1. Moisture. In this shock there is no rubber bladder that seperates the gas from the oil, instead it is set up like a brake caliper with an o-ringed piston that moves in a bore (the reservoir). The moisture could rust the bore. Yes there is some moisture in the reservoir from the air that was in it before filling, but only as much as 15 psi of atmosphere had that day. 2. Oxygen. Oil and high pressure oxygen is an explosive combination. Again this shock has no bladder, so the gas has direct contact with the oil film on the reseverior wall. It used to be hard for me to get N2 to use when I built other shocks (that had rubber bladders) but I used it anyway.

I managed to change the shock oil but it wasn't pretty. I will explain here in general for those who think I am crazy and in hopes that it qualifies me for a bodge point! After depressurizing the shock (which I measured at 150 psi) I removed the spring, shock dust seal / cap, resevoir cap and did some measuring of the gap in which the nitrogen fills. After much knuckle busting I couldn't remove the retaining clip that holds the damper together. So I decided to try something I have never done and wouldn't recommend: Filling the shock through the resevoir hole in the shock body. :!: I spent over an hour pumping air bubbles out of the shock (thats a workout!). Then I filled the (disconnected) remote reservoir and line, installed the piston in it and worked the air out of that assembly. then I quickly attached the line to the (nearly full compressed) shock while slowly forcing the reservoir piston to bleed though the fitting as I tighten the banjo bolt. I then put the reservoir end cap back on and refilled with dry nitrogen to 190 psi. I don't know what the pressure spec. is but the lowest I remeber seeing is 175 psi for one of the shocks I have done before. Disclaimer: YOU MUST USE AN INERT / NOBLE GAS!!!!! Specifically pure nitrogen. Well it is mounted back up appears to be functioning fine. I used my beloved Bel Ray HVI suspension fluid. 10 wt. I will give a ride report after I do the forks (I had to put the back end together before turning the bike around on my stand to do the forks. Worst case scenerio, I will have to buy a new shock sooner than latter. Oh yeah, I am waiting for my 500# spring to arrive. Backordered..... Fork update to come later this week. Cheers, Steve

The trans is back in place! Well, as BrianG said, "that was too easy". I dissassembed, cleaned, resealed and reassembled the trans in 4.5 hrs last Saturday, and put it back in the bike Sunday. It would have taken less time but my neighbors came by to BS with me and ask questions. Included in that time was about an hour of translating the Italian service manual to get the torque figures. I wasn't in a hurry so I didn't mind. The tools I got from Moto International were Moto Guzzi P/N tools and they worked fine. PM me if you need to borrow them. Thanks for your help everyone. Steve