GuzziMoto

Dalwhinnie, Jura, Laphroig, I like a variety. My favorite seems to be the bottle that is open at my house (or yours if you invite me over).

That is what I run as well. I originally put that in my post but took it out as I did not want to jump into that pit of "my oil is better than your oil". But since you are in there I will jump in with you and say "yea, me too". But as the OP is in NZ, I am not sure if Amsoil is even relevant.

What weight oil you should use depends on a few factors. Some of them are things like the temperature where you ride, along with the type of riding you do, and the bike you are riding. The V11 has a chart to show you what weight oil it was designed to use in different temperatures. Around here it gets hot, so I use a full syn 20w/50. There are more than a few companies that offer 20w/50 oil in a full syn around here. Plus, 10w/60 has become very popular and that is another option. The newer CARC Guzzi's are actually designed to use that grade oil. If where you are it never gets too hot a 10w/40 might be the best oil to use. I used to switch to that for the winter, but now I don't ride during the winter (I am older and don't like the cold, plus I hate the way the salt eats the bike). I do suggest you look for an SG oil rather than a newer spec oil like SH, or SM. That is likely to be better for a motor with flat tappets like the Guzzi motor. Other than that oil is a touchy subject and everybody has their personal likes and hates. So when it comes to oil, in the end the answer is "Yes".

And likely for a lot less $$$ than the factory would want for them, if they still offer them.

Either the BS 12 or BS16. They are both physically the same size I believe, but the 16 has more power. I vote for more power but the 12 should have enough if everything goes as it should.

The return line should run from the middle of the spine to the back of the sump. The spine is actually internally sectioned and the front half is the oil separator. On my Daytona they did not weld the frame well and the oil leaks into the back half and down to the cross tub at the back of the spine. There it drips. Annoying.

I have an undersized Odyssey on my Daytona. It is too small for the application. It works amazingly well and start the bike even when the bike is playing hard to start. I have had three Lithium batteries so far and the two I used on my Guzzi's have been a disappointment. That is not to say that they can't work, just that they do not always work as you expect them to. The two failures have been a Shorai and a Ballistic, both in my Griso. Now I have a standard Yuasa, hopefully that will last more than a year.

The wife has a Penske on hers. Awesome people to deal with, we went straight to Penske and talked to Michael Himmelsbach, he had one built specific to the wifes needs. Ohlins is nice as well, probably just as much money as the Penske. I considered the Ohlins but the support was not quite on level with Penske and the product is a bit more high end for only a little bit more money. There are other options, many of which are cheaper. But I look at it like a long term purchase and would rather go with the high end product that I know I will be able to get support for down the road. But that is me, to each their own. The Penske has been flawless for 4 or 5 years. I should probably have it serviced soon. But it has not had any issues.

The front section of the spine frame is used as an oil separator. There is a return line back to the sump for the oil the gets separated out. As long as it is exposed to oil mist I seriously doubt it is rusty. If it is you are using the wrong oil.

I have bump started the wifes V11 a few times. But that only works if you have a minimum charge in the battery to run the ECU and you also have to have a working charging system to keep it running. Or it will not run for long. I have also used jumper cables to jump start her V11 along with many other bikes. My main recommendation if you are doing that is to not start the engine of the vehicle supplying the jump start. That limits the amount of charge provided so as to not overwhelm the bikes electrical system. I also prefer to attach the cables to the positive lug of the battery and to a good ground, leaving the ground cable for the battery hooked up.

If the forks you are getting are the ones pictured in post 138 they appear to have axial brake mounts, not radial brake mounts. If they are from another V11 they should bolt right up with only the axle and possibly wheel bearings/spacer needing to be replaced.

Improving flow into an engine almost always requires changes to the fueling to compensate. Assuming your fueling is right to begin with, if your airbox modifications did not require changing the fueling to compensate then your mods did not change the air flowing in. In theory if your fueling was slightly rich or slightly lean you could modify the air flow into the motor to achieve better fueling. But that would be very unlikely to work in practice for many reason. The two main reasons that come to mind off hand are that airflow mods tend to affect flow across the board while being lean or rich tends to change across the rev/throttle opening range as well as how hard it would be to hit that target if things were that simple and applied across the board.

The Mike Rich pistons are also better than stock. And likely better then the Breva pistons as Mike puts in the effort to make the squish area tighter.

It sounds like the bike needs a typical "going over" that I would hope EVERYBODY does to any motorcycle that they purchase, especially used. I can't imagine buying a bike someone else is selling and taking it on any kind of journey without going over it with a fine tooth comb. The starting could be relays, loose connections (seems there are some loose nuts/bolts on that bike already), battery, etc. Take some time and go over it or pay someone to do the same.

Sure they do. And even when well tuned they tend to make less power over all than with the airbox. That is why I suggested you pull that stuff off and return it to the stock set up. It can run with pods, and even run pretty well with pods. But pods can cause running issues and it will never run as well with pods as it does with the stock airbox.

Everything I have heard about Mike Rich pistons has been great. They are higher compression but that is offset by the improved squish band which reduces the motors tendency to ping by improving turbulence in the combustion chamber. I did not use them because they were out of stock at the time I was doing the work. So I had the cylinders cut down to try to accomplish the same thing, higher compression but better squish. It seemed to work, more power and less ping.

There was a known issue with some V11 gearboxes. There was a recall on it. There is an issue with other Guzzi gearboxes where they use cheap bearings with plastic cages that can cause issues. I don't know if the V11 box is subject to those issues. Are the pipes stock pipes or aftermarket. I ask because if you have stock pipes I could see you being able to hear the gearbox. But if you have an aftermarket pipe I would not expect you to be able to hear the gearbox.

I like Guzzi's BECAUSE I get to spend more time riding and less time wrenching. They are some of the easiest bikes to keep running. Sorry your Guzzi does not float your boat. They are not for everybody.

Sorry to give you this info after the cows are already out of the barn, but here goes. If you do a compression test and one side is lower than the other to the point you think something is wrong, the next step is a leakdown test. During the leakdown test you are pressurizing the combustion chamber, so based on where the air is escaping to it typically gives you an idea of why the compression is low. Air escaping out the crank case breather is rings. Air escaping out the exhaust pipe is a leaking exhaust valve, and out the airbox is a leaking intake valve. Without all that we are guessing. If you are losing compression most likely it is either getting past the rings, or one of the valve/valve seats is leaking. There are other possible issues, like valve train issues (bent pushrod, etc), but it is more guessing. Since you have it apart you may want to throw a few new parts at it. If Mike Rich still offers his pistons I would go with those, new rings, have the valve checked and maybe do a valve job/porting job on it. That is, other then Mike's pistons, what I did to the wife's V11 a few years ago.

No, MG did not put your battery there. They could not have, I would think, as the airbox was there. All V11's used the same airbox. Earlier spine frame bikes had at least a couple versions of airbox. But the V11's were the same in that regard. I assume the breather was shoved up the pod filter to try and replicate the way the breather vented to the airbox originally. Pretty half-assed if you ask me. The battery should sit right under the seat in a tray, above the shock. In my opinion your best bet would be to find the parts required to put it back to stock, at least as far as the airbox and battery location go. From there you are at a known baseline where you know it should run well. Then you can do the basic tune/set up tasks, valves, TPS, etc.

I assume it is the full metal jacket version having a slightly larger outer dimension. I have not tried that version, the standard version was enough $$$. But worth it.

I would imagine putting the battery there was only possible because they removed the airbox. That poor bike, someone has spent considerable time and effort butchering it. I hope you can make it better.

No, i am pretty sure they do not use valve stem seals. At least the wife's bike does not. They rely on the valve stems fitting the guide, and if the stem and/or guide wears they no longer fit right. And, as I said, the stock valve guides are not exactly top quality. But the motor can run that way for a long time. When you fix it, if that is indeed your problem, is up to you. But it is unlikely to fix itself. Before I pulled a head I would do a compression and/or leakdown test, because otherwise you are just guessing. First I would put a fresh set of plugs in and do all the other basic tune up stuff and see how it runs. If it were me I would do any serious work, that was not an emergency, over the off season. I can't see taking the bike down for any length of time during riding season over burning a little oil. But that is me. Your mileage, and opinions, may vary.

" wow. I've never seen a choke on the handlebars" Really? I am surprised when the choke is NOT on the handlebars. Unless it is a dirt bike. As mentioned, the V11 had a fast idle lever that pulled the throttle open slightly to help the engine start and run when cold. If you look at it you should be able to figure it out. Many new bikes do not have a "choke", but the V11 is not a new bike, yours is over 10 years old. And the V11 was not quite "state of the art" even when it was new. But they tend to be very reliable and long lasting motorcycles when properly cared for. I also suggest you give this bike a thorough going over. To be that old and only have 9,000 miles on it means it was probably ignored a lot.

That was a common issue with BMW's. But I prefer to chose my oil based on how well it lubricates and resists breaking down. In that respect Dino oil comes up short compared to synthetic. I would rather have a little smoke, or even just a little oil disappearing in this case, then inferior oil. But the point is valid, you are more likely to get synthetic oil past seals, rings, or whatever, then you are with Dino oil.