GuzziMoto

To be fair, I could see where it could make a great street bike if you can get it to work reliably without needing frequent attention to keep everything in working order. And I wonder how well the Yamaha street bike they sold has fared over time. But as a roadracing bike it leaves something to be desired. There is a reason why the Elf GP bike never really made that last step up.

Well, I suppose it could be good. For instance, it seemed to handle bumps better while on the brakes. But it lacked the feel I am used to from the brakes, and it did not feel like it put enough weight on the front wheel when you were hard on the brakes. All in all, I would say it was a bad strange. But I have no doubt there were good aspects to it.

I actually got to "race" one of those at Summit Point in WV. It was the one Dale Quarterley raced at Daytona. Sadly, it had electrical issues and would not run more than a lap or so at a time. But it was very strange when you hit the brakes.

Ahhhh, bike porn. I'll need a few minutes, guys.

We have a Power Commander on the wifes V11. But nowadays everyone seems to go with GuzziDiag. You can do more with it now using tools that re-program the ECU than you ever could using a cheater box like a Power Commander. That said, I like how a Power Commander works, and am not sure about the additional complexity of GuzziDiag. I know, people will say GuzziDiag is easy, but I am an old fart who hates "tech" and likes to keep things simple. But if I ever find myself needing to do additional tuning to her V11 the PC is coming off and I will have to learn the new ways. There are a few sources of great maps already made for a V11 (like from Beetle). Plus you can edit your map if you want to go in deeper. I am more likely to try a known good map and see how that goes first. But I am no expert on it yet. So don't listen to me.

I see someone already mentioned that the early versions of the spine frame with the floating rear drive unit used a reaction rod with heim joints and not bushings, so the rear suspension moved smoothly. That is how my Daytona is, and I am pretty sure the reason later versions of the design used the rubber bushing was mainly due to cost reasons. The Daytona and Centauro were much more expensive motorcycles than the V11Sport. They had to reduce the manufacturing costs and while this was only one small part of that it was likely part of it. I think switching to something more free floating, something more like it was originally designed, would be an upgrade.

Welcome to the forum. I have / had bikes with center stands and bikes without. Each has its advantages. But for the V11, with its good ground clearance and handling that can take advantage of said ground clearance, anything that reduces ground clearance (like a center stand) is a bad idea for us. But to each their own.

Yeah, the Griso's and other CARC Guzzi's definitely have an issue with over-cooling the oil. I did not know (or had forgot) that the V11 had a thermostat stock. Then all you should need is a larger oil cooler. And somewhere to mount it. Or just don't ride it in city traffic. That is what I do.

Yeah, liquid cooling tends to be more consistent. That said, I always want my oil temp to get above 212 degrees F so it boils off any water / condensation. 230 degrees F is no issue for decent quality oil. And an oil temp between 212 degrees F and 230 degrees F is what I want. You can install an oil cooler thermostatic valve that diverts oil from the oil cooler until it is up to temp. And you can combine that with a larger oil cooler to gain additional cooling capacity. That should allow more consistent oil temps with a slightly lower max temp while still getting above the 212 degree F target. But personally we don't ride in city traffic and don't have temp issues very often on our Guzzi's.

I had one like that, it came with a rubber cap to cover the output side. There are a number of those out there that will do that, the Guzzi set up is a fairly standard set up as I recall. But it has been a while and I don't remember the specs.

On my Lario you have to pull the fairing to access the headlight bulb as I recall. It comes off in one piece. It is likely the same on a Lemans.

I have seen that P-38, Glacier Girl, back when she was home in Middlesboro, Kentucky. I always loved the P-38, and it was amazing to see that plane in person. I had seen the Nat Geo special on pulling it out and restoring it. So, while we were on vacation riding down the Blue Ridge Parkway and back we swung by Middlesboro (back when that was where she lived). We also saw a B-24 down near Knoxville Tennesee called Aluminum Overcast.

As I recall a common thing with aftermarket shocks was to make them like 5 or 10 mm or so longer than the original shock eye to eye. More than that can cause issues with the drive shaft. As long as the shock is no more than 10 mm or so longer than the stock shock you should be good.

I am pretty sure I still have our original shock with the cracked eyelet sitting around. And I believe docc is right, it was the lower eyelet that would crack. My Daytona has a really nice WP shock, with a remote preload adjuster and all, that came stock on it. But the stock shock for the V11 was a Sachs shock as mentioned, it wasn't a very good shock and it has a very bad habit if the lower eyelet cracking. If Guzzi were a bigger company like Honda the shock probably would have been a recall, the failure rate is kinda high.

I would be afraid to try to weld it. That might actually make it worse. The stock shock isn't very good anyway. So replacing the stock shock is your best option. You fix the seriously dangerous issue of the shock eyelet failing and you will probably get a better shock in the deal. The wife's V11 has a Penske shock in the back. Way better than the stock shock. But there are other less expensive options that will still be better than stock.

I didn't just ride a Buell, I owned one for a while. The only issues I had with it were centered around the Harley engine (leaking, usually). It was a brilliant streetbike, and even an acceptable racebike. I still regret selling it. Also disappointed I wasn't able to scoop up a Buell when they were closing them down and blowing out the bikes they had left. Dealers were trying to get out and thus selling them at crazy discounts. But at the time I did not have the spare cash. I wonder what happened to those bikes, I rarely see one nowadays. Anyway, my Buell X1 Lightning was one of the best streetbikes I have owned. I would love it if Guzzi hired him. Apparently he is currently working on electric motorcycles.

Yeah, the PC925 is way too big. I had one in my Daytona, really it was too big for that as well. Not sure why Odyssey lists it for some Guzzi's. I suspect it fits in certain Guzzi's, perhaps the Cali.

I am pretty sure there is nothing inside you can't guess by looking at the outside. I would bet if you rolled a golf ball down the pipe (or whatever size ball would fit) it would roll right through the crossover. If you held the crossover at the right angle it would go straight through. But if you held it at a different angle you could probably get the ball to fall out the other pipe. There is surely no baffling or anything else in that crossover. It is basically two pipes weld together so that they cross in an X pattern. The stock crossover is welded up of stamped steel and has a baffle of sorts in it. But this one looks to be made better and likely flows better.

It is funny. Way back in the early 90's I used Lasertec 33's and liked them. They were a great front tire, even used them for light track duty. Then at some point they developed a bad reputation, deserved or not I don't know. I had stopped using them, not because of issues with them but because I was riding motorcycles that ran radials. When I started hearing bad things about them I was surprised.

Racing was tons of fun, that was when we were kings..... While some exhaust systems are made more for looks and more to a price, in general I have learned that when you have people that know what they are doing you should let them do what they know works. I don't try to tell them how to do something I came to them to do. I do want to build an exhaust pipe for my Aprilia 550, I think that would be a fun experience. I would love to make a double exhaust pipe for it, two separate pipes one for each cylinder, with some sort of megaphones on the end leading into the mufflers. I always liked the look of the old XR750 Harley flat track bikes exhaust systems. But it would be hard to beat the look of the underseat exhaust it has stock.

A few thoughts about this. First, many people think that a larger pipe will keep exhaust velocity up, but that is not how it works. If you were to compare two systems, one with a larger pipe diameter than the other but both close to the right size, the larger diameter pipe system would have lower exhaust gas velocity than the smaller pipe diameter system. There is a max size for exhaust pipe given your displacement and power levels. Anything above that slows exhaust gases down. Really trick systems will use a smaller diameter pipe right out the exhaust port and step up to larger diameter pipe 6 or 8 inches down the pipe. They are counting on the fact that the fuel / air mixture is still burning as the exhaust exits and as such it is still expanding. Because of that, the pipe diameter required for best exhaust flow is less right away by the exhaust port and increases further down the pipe as the air / fuel mixture finishes burning. But any sudden increase in pipe diameter / size will result in a slow down of the exhaust gases. Sadly, the stock exhaust crossover is just such a change in diameter / cross section. But the stock system is built to be cheap to manufacturer while working well enough. After market systems should be able to work better. But how much better can vary. Next, exhaust gases do no flow out the exhaust in a steady flow, they are pulses. Between the pulses there are waves of negative pressure that flow back up the pipe. Since the Guzzi V twin doesn't fire the two cylinders at the same time the pulses of exhaust from each cylinder are never trying to flow out the pipe at the same time. If the system works well, the negative pressure waves flowing back up the pipe from one cylinder will help the other cylinders positive pressure exhaust pulse exit quicker, which then can cause a stronger negative pressure wave to arrive at the exhaust port of that cylinder. The interaction between positive exhaust pulses and the negative pressure wave happens both between the two cylinders at the crossover and at the exhaust valve. But because a 90 degree V twin doesn't have an even firing interval between the two cylinders the affects of exhaust negative pressure waves are more likely to be back at the exhaust valve from that same cylinders exhaust pulse. But there are systems with complex crossovers, like the Ducati "spaghetti" system that have two separate crossovers to address the differences in timing between the two cylinders. All I can really say is back in the day I wanted a two into two system for our Ducati 750 twin racebikes (two separate exhaust pipes, basically). I did not think that a two into one system, or a two into one into two system, would work best on a 90 degree V twin. But we ended up having a system built by a guy who built exhaust art. And he didn't build what you told him, he built what he knew would work. We ended up with a two into one system. It maybe did not make the most peak power, that probably would have been from a two into two system, but it made more power under the curve and as such was ultimately faster than other bikes that claimed to make more peak power. Another really cool exhaust technology is merge collectors. If you want to learn more, google that. Merge collectors put a lot of effort into merging the different exhaust pipes into a single pipe while controlling and maintaining the size / cross section the whole way. They don't really have a lot of benefit for a 90 degree V twin like a Guzzi, but they are exhaust art.

Well, a name is just a name. But I would call that an X Pipe. And generally X pipes work well. The stock Guzzi piece is a lower cost version that does not work as well. The stock Guzzi piece is just welded up out of stamped steel. That one has far more effort into it and should work better. The X pipe is supposed to be that narrow at the crossover. It should be the same diameter as the rest of the pipe. A sudden larger cross section in the exhaust results in the exhaust gases slowing down. When they slow down the loose energy. That should keep velocity up, which keeps energy up. I think it is a reasonably nice looking system An even more extreme exhaust style is a merge collector. For those they go to great lengths to keep cross section even and velocity up. But they take up too much room and you probably could not fit one on a Guzzi easily.

I wonder if it was a titanium can wrapped in carbon fiber looking stuff or a steel can (maybe stainless). At that weight it would have to be some pretty thin steel I would think. The other option would be an aluminum can. That is a possibility. The wife's cans have a metal tag riveted on them saying "Not For Street Use".

An H pipe is a different layout than an X pipe, an H pipe fails under the category of simply trying to share the exhaust between the two sides. It is more about making the exhaust quieter than it is about making power.

I have not watched that video from them. But they are not a spoof and they do great work. They did a great segment on oil level, showing how too much oil not only costs horsepower but it also hurts oil pressure at higher rpm (the oil gets aerated by the crank and aerated oil will loose oil pressure). They are serious, and pretty smart.