GuzziMoto

Actually, Moto Guzzi has a well established history with engines that aren't sideways V twins. It is fairly recently, in Moto Guzzi terms, that they became known for the sideways V twin. That said, I am fine with other engine layouts as long as it doesn't end up being simple badge engineering. If they just slap MG badges on an Aprilia, that will suck. But if they use an Aprilia engine in a new Guzzi I am fine with that.

Springs can loose their "spring". It does happen. But it would be unusual for it to happen on a motorcycle spring. It tends to happen, for example, on Jeep JK's, which use coil springs, if your springs are low quality and not properly heat treated. That, combined with the heavy nature of a Jeep, can result in the springs sagging. But I doubt the stock V11 spring would be prone to that. More likely what might feel like the springs being worn out is the shocks being worn out. The shocks are there to control the springs. That said, the stock spring is not always the right rate for the rider depending on the riders weight and riding style. Preload does not, as mentioned, change spring rate. Preload sets ride height when you are on the bike riding down the road. Adding preload will make the bike ride higher when you are on it riding down the road. That can be a good thing, but it won't make a spring that is too soft stiffer if you add preload. This has been covered repeatedly on here, but a standard path forward is to fully set sag. Setting sag will tell you if your springs are too soft, too hard, or right. If the sag of the bike is right with you on the bike (Race Sag is the term used for that), but the bike sags too much under just its own weight the springs are too stiff. If the Race Sag is right but the bike sags too little under just its own weight the springs are too soft (that means you had to add too much preload into the spring to get the Race Sag right, so sag under just the weight of the bike was reduced). Yes, it can sound backwards. If Race Sag is right and the bike sags the right amount under just the weight of the bike your spring rate is good. From there you can go about adjusting dampening to get the ride quality you are looking for. Harsh ride over jolts can be a lack of spring rate, but it can also be a lack of dampening. Set your sag first, and if required change your springs so sag is right. Then adjust dampening. A longer rear shock usually means higher ride height at the rear. But, as mentioned, it does not always mean that. The spring rate and preload do play a role. But with most longer rear shocks you are increasing the ride height at the rear.

I think when you say "forks are raised 5mm" you mean the triple clamps are slid down the fork tubes 5mm, so that the front end is 5mm lower, right? When you say "raised" you mean the fork tubes relative to the triple clamps, I think. 10mm - 15mm is a common amount to lower the front end, but raising the rear end means less lowering of the front end would be required to achieve the same result. 10mm higher at the back along with 5mm lower at the front is roughly the same as 15mm lower at the front as far as steering goes, while not costing you the ground clearance that only lowering the front 15mm would have cost. Back when I raced a HD 883 we ran way longer shocks in back AND lowered the front to try to get the bike to turn faster. But you were flirting with the limits of not having enough trail. Stability was often an issue.

Both dropping the forks and a longer shock are common mods for the V11. But usually it is one or the other. That said, there is nothing that says you can't do both. But just because some is good doesn't always mean more is better. Both dropping the front forks and a longer rear shock reduce trail. Trail is a big part of what make the motorcycle stable. Too little trail can lead to stability issues. So, there is a point where more is not better, at least when it comes to this. That is one reason why I prefer an adjustable length shock to a fixed length longer shock. But if the shock length is fixed you can always use the fork height adjustment and the preload adjustment to get the steering where you want it.

The two valve CARC bikes are nice, but I was not impressed when I rode a Norge. It was too soft for my tastes. I can imagine that to some it would be perfect, but for me it was too soft. Like riding a marshmallow. The V11 Sport is a sharper focused tool, along with the Griso. But the V11 Sport is likely a high water mark for Guzzi. We will see if the new V100 delivers anything comparable.

That sure does look like something is up in that muffler. It could be fueling or it could be a problem physically in the muffler.

Or this one.... Yeah, I'm back

My wife keeps plants in the house. I don't mind. I keep motorcycles in the house, she doesn't mind. A woman who won't allow a motorcycle in the house is not a "keeper".

That would depend on the bike(s), obviously. If the bikes is drained of fuel the risk of smell is reduced dramatically. But even there, modern bikes in the US have a vent system for the fuel tank that is designed to capture the fuel vapors. Fuel is probably the main possible source of an odor. These are my two bikes in my living room. But they don't get run. So there is no fuel in them. I did add a secondary floor for them so if they do mess up the floor under them (Old Ducatis do sometimes mark their territory) it is not the real floor but a secondary floor that they are messing up. I did that with snap together flooring and some trim for the edge.

Sorry for getting this thread too far off into the weeds, but way back when we were racing an 883 at Daytona we got to know a guy known as "Merlin" real well. I wrecked the 883 in the chicane on the back straight at near 100 mph. It was messed up. Merlin was at the track running a mobile machine shop. He was a great guy and was a massive help to us. It got to the point that when we walked up he just pointed us to whatever we needed and we did it ourselves. It was epic. That was the bike that was never right again, it turned better one way then the other because the front and rear wheels were no longer in line. The standard term was "Rub the new off it". I have full respect for people that can do work like that without the standard machines and tools most people would require to do such work.

You and me both. Try rebuilding Ducati cylinder heads in the pits at a racetrack, hand grinding the shims to get the clearances right. Or hammering the frame to get it close enough to straight so you can rebuild the bike and race. So it turns better one way then the other, big deal. It was a Harley anyway, it really didn't turn that well to begin with.

Congrats on your retirement, Pete. And best of luck to your friend Michael in carrying on the business. Were I on that side of the world I would certainly give him my business.

Bingo. The shock length certainly affects ride height. So does the spring rate and corresponding preload of the spring, which sets sag. There is not one single factor that determines seat height. All the various factors contribute. You can change one factor, like a shorter or longer shock, and if everything else stays the same the change in ride height should be predictable. But often changes like a new shock that is longer or shorter accompany other changes like a new spring that is stiffer or softer and different preload to get a different sag amount. It is possible to run a longer shock (5mm longer) and simply have 10mm more sag because you are running a different spring and preload combination resulting in the same seat height you had with the shorter shock. That said, the generally positive improvements of running a longer shock, quicker steering, won't really be delivered if you don't also have a corresponding increase in rear ride height with the longer shock combination you switch to.Running a longer shock without the small increase in rear ride height it tends to deliver won't deliver the improvements in steering that a longer shock can. But you can get similar improvements without a longer shock simply by running a spring / preload combination that increase rear ride height by 10mm or so. It is a more complete improvement if you run the longer shock with the correct spring / preload combination. But a similar improvement can be achieved by swapping out the spring and setting preload to get the desired increase in rear ride height.

Yes, it would be close to double. If shock travel is 2" and rear suspension travel is 4" that would be a two to one ratio, and that would mean a 5mm increase in shock length would equal a 10mm increase in rear ride height. The only fly in the ointment is that it is not consistent throughout travel. The ratio changes as the rear swingarm goes through its travel. The ratio should start lower and increase as the rear swingarm goes through its travel (raising rate). The one factor not shown in your diagram that is important is the shock itself. The angle the shock runs at also plays a part in how the ratio changes through travel. But rounding it to double, or "doubleish" as Phil said, would be safe. The other thing that would cause the actual results to deviate is that the seat is not all the way at the back of the back over the rear axle. So an increase of 10mm of rear ride height would not mean the seat is 10mm higher, it would probably be something like 9mm higher. Most of my experience with Ohlins is with the higher end Ohlins stuff. I have never had a bike that came with Ohlins out of the box. But I get that the OEM Ohlins stuff is not as nice as the custom Ohlins stuff. It kinda seems like it could be no other way. No doubt the OEM Ohlins stiff is better then the standard OEM stuff, but that gap does seem to be closing. All the Ohlins stuff I have used has been custom. Some of it has been more custom then others, but it was all high end stuff. The forks on one of our race Ducati's came off a Kawasaki superbike. It is a sweet piece of kit, it worked amazingly well. As Phil mentioned, the Penske stuff is also high end. And it is built to be fully serviceable. Having a fixed length shock that is longer then stock is fine. But better is having a shock with an adjustable length that allows you to adjust from stock Sachs length to longer, or even shorter then stock length if you are on the short side. It is better to be able to adjust the length of the shock then to use preload to set seat height. Preload should be set based on weight, not based on height.

I don't think it is a one to one ratio between the shock and the rear wheels travel. I believe the rear wheel travels farther for every unit of travel at the shock. So increasing shock length 5mm should increase rear ride height by more then 5mm. How much more? I don't recall exactly. But if the ratio between shock and rear wheel is two to one that would mean an extra 5mm of shock length would lead to an increase in rear ride height of 10mm, with the corresponding increase in seat height being just slightly less then that (a guess would be 9mm). Somewhere on this forum is a thread where we dug deep into the ratio between shock travel and rear wheel travel. The design of the rear suspension is such that the ratio between the two is not fixed, it is a varying ratio. But I don't remember the starting ratio or how much exactly it changed as the suspension went through its travel. For that I defer to someone like docc to dig up. To my knowledge the V11 sport only came with one of two shocks, the Sachs shock or the Ohlins shock. The difference between the two is just length, with the Ohlins being a little longer as mentioned. The two shocks can be interchanged, running the Sacs shock (or a shock of the same length) would mean a slightly lower seat height and a shallower steering angle of the front forks, along with slightly less ground clearance. That would lead to slightly slower steering. Running the Ohlins shock means slightly higher seat height along with a steeper steering angle and the more aggressive steering that goes with it, as well as slightly more ground clearance. I think most around here would go with the longer shock option as it is generally accepted that the longer shock improves steering. But perhaps the best option is an adjustable length shock that allows you to fine tune the shocks length to where you are happy with it. One that starts at the length of the Sachs shock but can be adjusted to as long or longer then the Olins shock would be my choice. For those in the USA I highly recommend you consider a Penske shock. They are really high quality and they can make the shock to your specs. That is what the wife's V11 has, as well as the wife's Ducati Monster. For the Monster they made a shock that was shorter then stock to lower the seat height for her. It is shorter then stock, but can adjust to stock length.

Makes sense. I have met some top level racers who were nice, and others that weren't. Some were capable of being nice to fans, but at the same time were also not nice when just being themselves. Whenever approached by fans my race team and I always tried to go out of our way to be nice and approachable. Even though we were not a factory team or anything, we still understood that racing is an entertainment sport, and as such we wanted to do our best to make the experience of going to see a race a fun experience. Our team was run by a man who really understood that. I have not met many musicians, but my sister and her husband have. Based on talking to them I suspect another factor in the equation is how long they have been doing it. Musicians that have been around a longer time seem to be better at dealing with their fans. And I suspect some are genuinely nice people to begin with.

It is cool when you met someone of such fame and they actually turn out to be nice. So often they aren't. Another famous person I met, at least famous in certain circles, was John Britten. What an amazing guy he was. And a good guy to boot. Incredibly nice.

Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss, and my best, John Surtees. Briefly meeting him was a highlight of my life.

No doubt tech will continue to progress, and I suspect in 10 or 20 years the current tech will seem primitive. Hydrogen needs a breakthrough to make it viable for anything as small as a family car. The space required to store hydrogen is much greater then other options, like a way to make it stay a liquid without being super cold, then there is the danger of compressed hydrogen. I have no desire to give up our ICE vehicles. But then, no one is asking us to. But when we needed a daily driver car after looking at the options we went with an EV as it was the best option from a financial point. And it also works really well from a practical point. We do have ICE vehicles for longer trips where the EV is less practical. But for days where we are driving less then 300 or so miles the EV is generally the option we go with. We don't need to drive more then that in a single day too often.

There is so much mis-information about EVs. People make up stats showing their environmental impact that use lots of assumptions. But then when they compare the EV to the ICE vehicle they somehow don't use similar assumptions about the ICE vehicle. The reality is EVs are cleaner when you look at the entire life cycle of the vehicle. If you want to make a pro-ICE vehicle argument you might want to use a different angle then being environmentally friendly. That is a comparison that, if made honestly, the ICE vehicle will loose.

Riding motorcycles always was dangerous. That is a given. But this new tech and its apparent inability to recognize motorcycles is increasing that danger. That is a concern to me. I realize that the final destination of this tech will hopefully be safer. But it seems there is still a ways to go, and in the meantime this has increased the danger to motorcyclists (and pedestrians / cyclists). I am all for the tech to improve safety, but my personal observations tell me that a major problem is that this tech in some vehicles lacks the necessary safety interlocks to safely deploy on public roads. The core of those safety interlocks would be things that force drivers to stay at least somewhat involved in the operation of the motor vehicle they are operating. self driving automobiles are not really here yet, despite what some would have you believe. Even if you are using a feature like "Auto-Pilot" you are still operating the vehicle and it is still on you to operate it safely. But if the vehicle doesn't force you to be involved in the operation of the vehicle that would be, in my opinion, a design defect of the vehicle. Thus, in the event of an accident where a vehicle let a driver pawn off 100% of the driving to a system that was not capable of 100% of the driving blame should be shared by both the driver of the vehicle and the manufacturer that built a vehicle that would operate in an unsafe manner like that. It is clearly possible to roll out safety improvements like this in a manner that does not decrease safety for some of us. But it is the responsibility of the manufacturer to do so. And failure to do so should result in financial penalties. In the end, that has always been a major driver of vehicle safety. Financial penalties for safety issues have dramatically improved vehicle safety over the years. In the end money drives progress.

Ducati allocates its bikes based first on the team. Clearly the factory team gets the current year factory bikes. Pramac also gets current year factory bikes. It is in their contract with the factory. The other two teams, Gresini and VR46, have contracts that give them last years factory bikes. As mentioned, VR46 tried to upgrade their deal to get a current year factory bike, but failed. Ducati said they don't have the capacity to produce a fifth pair of bikes, they can only build four pairs of factory bikes a year. Each rider needs two bikes, so to give a rider a current year bike requires them to build two bikes and the spares required to run two bikes. As mentioned, the four factory 2024 bikes (four pairs of bikes) will go to the factory team and the Pramac team. The contract Pramac has guarantees them two current factory bikes. This past years two factory team bikes and two Pramac bikes will go to the Gresini team and the VR46 team. As I understand it, they are specifically giving Marc Marquez Zarco's bikes from this past year. Zarco rode for Pramac, and as such was on a 2023 factory bike for that team. I do think it is interesting that they are specific as to which rider gets which set of bikes, with Zarco's set of bikes being given to Marc Marquez. https://www.crash.net/motogp/news/1042742/1/ducati-confirm-marquez-will-ride-zarco-s-gp23-not-bagnaia-s-or-martin-s

No. Marc Marquez is on the Gresini Ducati team, and they run last years bikes. The four factory bikes will be the same four bikes as this past year, the two factory bikes (Bagnia and Bastiani) and the two Pramac bikes (Martin and Morbidelli). The VR46 team and the Gresini team get last years four factory bikes. Gresini seems to get the two Pramac bikes (hence Marc getting Zarco's bike) and VR46 gets the two factory team ducati's. Rossi did try to get an extra factory bike for next year. But that was flat out denied. That said, it doesn't seem to matter whether you are on this years Ducati or last years Ducati. Both seem capable. For sure, Marc Marquez is on a bike that could win the title. And it is possible he will win the title. But I doubt he will dominate like he used to. I could be wrong, but I don't see Marc being the dominating force he was back in the day.

Also, while Luca Marini may have been hoping Brivio was going to the factory Honda team, I don't really think what Rossi thought played a large factor in Luca's decision. If anything, Luca seemed to be trying to get out from the shadow of Rossi. Hence the move. It is still speculation that Brivio is going to Honda. It may not happen. And him going to Honda is not what will solve their problems. Perhaps the biggest factor in solving Honda's woes will be all that money they aren't using to pay Marc Marquez's massive salary. Having that money to spend on development instead of giving it to Marc seems to already be paying off. Brivio is nowhere near joining Honda yet Mir is already saying that things are starting to go in the right direction, the latest bike they brought to the test is actually better then the previous bikes. It would be funny to see Mir fighting with Marc next season....

Luckily I know better. I think it is likely that Marc will win a race or two, but I don't even see him as the favorite, much less a sure thing. While it is good that Marc is on a better bike, I think the days of domination, and even the days of a small number of "aliens" who are head and shoulders above everyone else, are gone. There was a time when guys like Marc were at a different level then everyone else. I don't see a return to that.