WitchCityBallabio

I'm basically a couple hours out, so if possible not toooo early. 10ish? I'll also need an address or directions. I'll be coming up the Pike.

Works for me. Either Sat. or Sun.

I've decided that I'm going to put the Hepco & Becker rack on and fit my Givi bags ( ) to that rack. I have ordered the latch and bottom "buttons" from Givi, and will strive to afix them to the rack. I'll take pictures of how it goes. It doesn't look like it will be that difficult. The Givi bags I have that I used on a previous bike are the E36 and E45 top case. They were fantastic during a 3 week cross country trip and pretty nice looking. With regards to touring a V11, my wife spends quite a bit of time on the pillion (we've done about 4000 miles already this season, with her on the back for much of it) and she is 5' 10" (although athletic and flexible ) and her only complaint is that the passenger pegs could be a bit lower. I'm hoping with the top case, she'll be able to lean against it and take some of the crouch out of the position. We have a 1000+ mile trip to Nova Scotia planned for August and she'll be on back and she's not dreading it. I think if you do the trip sensibly, (without 600 mile day marathon runs), the passenger should be okay (although she did a few of those on the back of the VFR without much issue). We plan on only 150-200 mile days on this trip. We'll see how it goes. This will be our first extended trip on the Goose.

I'm ready. Pick a time, date and place, and I'll be there. Was in your neck of the woods yesterday. A meet up at that Jake's sounds fine to me. After that, a nice ride. You would know the best rides in that area I'd imagine.

Italian beauty Monica Bellucci

All clean and shiney...

Congratulations on your new purchase. I hope it brings you everything you were looking for in a bike. Like stogieBill, my last bike was a VFR that also did everything asked of it, never had any maintenance issues, never broke down, was competent and fun. On the shear fun meter, I still have to say nothing compares to the Guzzi. I still grin every time I get on and off it. There's just something visceral about them, that I have yet to find in any other bike. You'll be back. I look forward to you returning with the..."I finally bought another Guzzi, great to be back" thread. Best of luck, ride safely, see you soon. Doug

As a matter of fact, there is a very large aircraft related industry in my neck of the woods (can you say GE, Pratt and Whitney etc) and they have all been devastated by outsourcing. In one case, driving the unemployment rate in the city it resided in by 4 times the national average at one point. If however you're looking for someone to blame for "their job getting moved to Mexico", blame the U.S. company that moved it there. Outsourcing of jobs is not the fault of people in other countries, but rather greedy capitalists looking to maximize profits/minimize cost. Exploiting foreign labor is the name of the game. Always was, always will be. How come you don't mention the loss of the auto industry jobs to Canadians? Is that somehow more acceptable? The reason the conservatives want this new immigration bill is purely for the reason that is ensures a hyper exploited class that they will be ALLOWED to pay sub-standard wages. Whitey never does those things eh?

I was thinking the same thing...that that couldn't be Carlin. Just not his style. Now where have I heard this rhetoric before.... Oh yeah....1939 Germany. Honestly, an illegal war costing 100's of billions of dollars is far worse a problem than some immigrants trying to feed themselves after Nafta has completely destroyed their country's economy. 52 million people in the U.S. without healthcare is more serious a problem. The immigration topic is a mere distraction to more serious problems. "I frankly don't give a @#!#$# how it all turns out in this country - or anywhere else, for that matter. I think the human game was up a long time ago (when the high priests and traders took over), and now we're just playing out the string. And that is, of course, precisely what I find so amusing: the slow circling of the drain by a once promising species, and the sappy, ever-more-desperate belief in this country that there is actually some sort of "American Dream," which has merely been misplaced." - George Carlin Now THATS Carlin. My

Here's a couple of shots of the new mirrors on the bike. I think they look a lot better. I do see a little bit more of my arm/shoulder, but I think a lot of it has to do with the mirrors being more wide angle. The upside is, I see more passing traffic, longer. And a rear shot.

I ended up using these (GPX). They are a vast improvement over the originals. They are much clearer at speed than the factory units. My factory units were pretty much useless at 80mph. These are clear as a bell. They're also a bit wide angled for a larger field of view as well as infinitely better looking IMHO.

Wow is this good timing. I have been trying to figure out a way NOT to use the mount for the Hepco Becker cases. I wonder how many liters the panniers are. The racks shown with those bags looks pretty unobtrusive. I have also been toying with the idea of the big Givi soft luggage. The Givi's look very similar to the Guzzi bags. Givi Interesting. I hope I'm able to get my hands on them... Update/Edit Here is the description of those bags from the Italian Guzzi site. Pardon the poor translation courtesy of Alta-Vista Babel Fish. These bags appear to be semi rigid and lockable from the description. Description: The kit it is composed from a brace of semi-rigid ags in woven cured in every particular, from the hinge with buttonhole for padlock to the inserti catarifrangenti, from the logo personalized to the used technical woven one for finishes. Easy removable, thanks to the system patented fast-click® with key, are equipped from supports study to you, accredited heads and from our technical unit, instructions of assembly and cap termosaldata antirain.

I think the Mistral from the description, will fit my needs better too. I commute to work on the BillyBob, and as a result, spend a lot of time in the rpm range that the Mistral shines in. I've also emailed the parts@motointernational address for pricing etc.

I'm in. I would prefer a Saturday. Not this Saturday if possible as I'm heading up to Laconia (weather permitting) to check out the races, the sights, etc. and then take a nice blast down the Kangamangus and most likely camping overnight. Doug

I'm suspecting that someone did indeed make off with the ECU that was supposed to come with the pipes. I looked at the ECU again today, (the one that is supposed to be the race ECU) and the paper sticker on it says "California" with some numbers, similar to my stock one except that one says, "V11/Lemans. I'm starting to think that my Ballabio has been tuned to a Guzzi California ECU. I removed that ECU and put the stock one back in, and now that it is richened up a bit runs better. I'm going to call the dealer tomorrow and try to find out what the score is with that ECU. I'm sure I won't be able to get my hands on the Race Titanio ECU now, so I think I'm looking at a PCIII in conjunction with the stock ECU. You ain't lyin' !!!!

Interestingly enough, my ECU does not have a sticker on it that says Titanio Racing. I wonder if I got screwed out of the Race ECU. Perhaps someone grabbed the ECU out of the box and put their stock ECU in the box. It was all wrapped up in the bubble wrap with the Guzzi stickers clear tape all around it. Interesting.

Mine also was written on the back in a sharpie that said "kit"

Just picked the bike up. There is a marked improvement over yesterday. Pulls like a train from 3000 up. Lower rpm 1000-2900 seems pretty good, definitely smoother, but real magic happens at 3000. Definitely better than stock. Apparently, they upped the CO (made it richer) by .5% and seemed to cure a lot of ills. Next step will be to put the Stucchi cross-over on, at which time, a PCIII and a trip to a dyno are in order.

I mounted mine on the original rear peg brackets. No problem. Or did you mean the brackets that replace the original rear footpeg assembly, or are you talking about the straps that wrap around the cans and then attach to that bracket?

I just spoke with the shop. They say the bike is ready and is running great. I will see when I get there. I would bet you, that the ECU was not really the right one and they had to fiddle a bit and enrichen it a bit. We'll see. On the other hand VA Sean, mine did not run that great with the performance ECU when I first plugged it in, but ran decent with the original. If you have the same problem I had (which you probably won't), just put the stock ECU back in. The can installation itself is a breeze. I'm sure you won't have any problem with it. I'd still be curious to hear what CO other folks found to be optimal with this set up.

I was wondering the same thing. Perhaps it is the wrong year ECU. I actually thought as I was driving it, that since it ran better with the stock ECU, that maybe it wasn't right. I appreciate the help. Thanks, Doug

According to the directions that came with the pipes and ECU, the bikes' CO has to be adjusted. I actually don't have the tool to balance the TB's, but I assumed reading the directions that it required more than just balancing. I did actually get the original ECU back, and they did put the performance ECU in. I actually trust this dealer. They have been in business for 30 years, are a very small personal shop and are generally known to do excellent work. They were only too happy to take the bike back to work to get it right. Every time I've mentioned putting a PCIII on, they insist that it's not necessary and that the bike can be tuned properly without it (although I now have my doubts). My concern is that since the vast majority of their service and performance tuning is done on Ducati's and Augusta's, that they are setting up the V11 incorrectly with regards to the CO setting.

Recently I purchased and installed the Guzzi Ti cans for the Ballabio. The ECU that came with the cans would not run properly without some tweaking, so I left the stock ECU in place until I could get it into the shop. I dropped the bike off this week at the local dealer and had him put the ECU in, and tune the bike to it. When I picked it up today, I was very disappointed to find that the acceleration of the bike felt in a word...bad. The bike literally felt like it had half the horsepower it normally has accelerating from 0-75. At about 2500 rpm steady throttle, the bike pops, spits, and stumbles. I brought the bike back telling them frankly that it sucked. They came out and took a look and listen. They stated that they set the bike to 3% CO which is spec for the bike. It feels very lean to me and even smells a bit different if that makes any sense. My question is, (for anyone out there with the Guzzi Ti exhausts) is 3% CO the correct setting for that ECU? Is there anything else that would cause this? Is the only real solution to this installing a PCIII? I just find it hard to believe that by adding the Ti cans and the Guzzi upgraded ECU that the bike would run worse if everything is put to spec. Any suggestions? Thanks, Doug

Ewan is a Guzzisti is he not? Didn't I read someplace that he bought a Griso about the second the first one hit the showroom?

IMHO, the new "Monza" looks too much like a Triumph. I would also hope for something more along the lines of the MGS that would compete favorably with the Ducati 1098.