GuzziMoto

The complaint is that the early V11 forks have little to no compression dampening as delivered. If that is not an issue for you then you need not worry. If you ride in a manner that having compression dampening would make things better then this does concern you. It has nothing to do with Ohlins, although they are nice. But even run of the mill Showa and KYB forks have real compression dampening. Yes, there is always better options, but what we are talking about here is an option that is free to little cost and gives you the compression dampening that the forks do not have in stock form. Again, if you have no need for compression dampening then don't worry about it.

I don't see how going towards a damper rod fork (holes or a hole in a tube to bleed fork oil through) is a good thing, but if Skeeve wants to go that way I wish him luck. KTM has had a bitch of a time getting progressive dampening to work. Not sure they have gotten it yet 100%. I prefer to reduce the amount of bleed off through the holes and let the valve stacks perform the dampening. That is what they are there for. I am not a fan of progressive spring rates nor am I a fan of progressive dampening. By the way, the moving piston is the normal low speed dampening and it is externally adjustable. The other valve at the bottom of the cartridge is the high speed dampening and it is not externally adjustable. The bleed off through the holes in the tube will diminish the effectiveness of the low speed valving and the external adjustment until the suspension movement is fast enough that the oil cannot all go through the holes. It is as if there are three stages of dampening instead of two. The low speed stuff is handled by the bleed holes until speed rises high enough to force oil through the valving in the piston. The bleed holes are large enough and there is enough of them that their dampening rate is very low. Almost no resistance to compression is provided by them. As the speed rises and the valving in the piston comes into play there is the potential for normal dampening in what I think is a pretty small window. Then, if the speed gets high enough the bottom valving comes into play. That applies until the fork compresses past the bleed holes, at that point the dampening rate shoots up dramatically and the are just the two standard valving rates being applied as the bleed holes are out of it. It is not a great system but it can be improved on as mentioned. I would try to find a balance between reducing the bleed off and fork oil weight, but if you want to take the valving in the piston out of the equation and focus on the bleed off of fork oil ala damper rod method you certainly can.

Some Ballabio's were sold as leftovers a few years back. It may be one of them. Anyway, other then the usual stuff, tires may be rock hard, the fork seals may need replacing, etc. . Not a big deal. I would not pay a premium for ultra low miles but I would not shy away either.

SpeedHut also offers combo units with the tach and speedo in the same gauge. Again, the idiot lights are optional. That is the version I find most interesting. But as Roy is does not want a GPS version I do not know if they an make a mechanical speedo combo unit. He would have to ask.

The only BMW I have ridden is the Rockster. It had a pipe (Remus) that gave it a great sound. It was pretty cool, and fun to ride. I had issues with the switchgear, but other then that I would not mind owning one. It was not the sharp tool the V11 is, but it was fun in a typical German way. But my brother felt otherwise and he sold it. He does that. Would I pick one over a Guzzi? Well, no. But then I am a member of a couple Guzzi forums but not of any BMW forums. I suspect the answers you get on a BMW forum would be tilted the other way. Guzzi's are like a red headed girl friend, tremendously rewarding relationship but requires more effort to keep that relationship happy. You have to listen to her and do things SHE wants to do. But the rewards are high. In the end it comes down to which one speaks to you. Guzzi's (and BMW's) are not for everyone. Ride one and see if it(She) speaks to you.

As I recall..... There is dampening in the pistons on either end. The adjustable dampening is in the piston connected to the rod. That one is moving down through the tube under compression. The valve on the other end is fixed dampening. Neither really matters until the piston moves past all the holes in the tube as fork oil just blows through the holes instead of being forced through the valving. That is why the compression adjuster has no effect until the last part of the travel, where the fork nearly locks up. It is something of an adjustable hydraulic bump stop. I do not claim to be a suspension expert, but in my opinion the forks on the V11 are not that bad. But the do have a correctable basic flaw in the compression side. The only have any noticeable compression dampening in the last inch or so of travel. The rest of the time the oil just freely blows through those holes in the tube. Closing up one or more of the holes to force oil through the valving, coupled with appropriate oil choice (with the hole closed up you may want slightly lighter oil as you now have dampening), can result in a decent fork. It is still way behind the Ohlins forks or even forks from most late model sportbikes. But those upgrades cost $$$, this is something you can do yourself for little or no money. You could just use thicker oil but then you still have the issue that the last inch of travel is hitting that hydraulic bump stop, and with thicker oil that would be even more pronounced. Plus your adjuster has no effect on the first four inches of travel. Fixing this is something you can do yourself, or you could pay a suspension guy to do a basic set up to make what you got as good as it gets. If I was paying someone to do a thorough revamp of my V11 forks I would have to at least consider upgrading to '06 GSXR 750 front end as that would have much more capability in the end, on many levels. In fact that is almost exactly what I did for my Daytona except it was an '04 GSXR 1000 front end.

As I said, if it is anything like the forks on the wife's red frame bike there is no compression dampening, until the forks go past the ports in the damper tubes (as pictured),then all the sudden you get full (lock) dampening. Feel free to test this next time you are changing fluid by re-assembling the forks minus the springs and run the forks through the stroke. That is what I did and, while I did not think it was bad before, I was impressed in how much more controlled it was after.

Maybe over this winter I will take the wife's forks apart for another freshening, and can take pictures of what I did. But if you re-assemble the forks with out the springs in them it is very apparent what the issue is. You can feel the lack of compression dampening. No wonder people did not like the red frame bikes, no compression dampening through most of the stroke and then it hits hard all at once.

I have actually been on the race track at the same time as Stroud and the Britten, at Daytona. I have seen it in action both from the saddle and from the stands. It was not over-rated, it was stupid fast. The reason the Raceco Guzzi was up there with it was the Raceco Guzzi was also stupid fast and it had a very good rider as well (plus Stroud was biding his time). Were there aspects of it that were not perfect? Yes. Would I have designed the bike the same way? No. But he did it his way and he made it work very well. And talking to John Britten was impressive. While he was way above me in terms of his thinking he was able to talk to someone such as myself and make me feel like 50% of the conversation. Eric Buell can be like that as well. The Britten was one of the fastest twins of its day. Stroud liked to pull wheelies while waiting for the end of the race when he would put his head down and push for real. Once he put his head down the wheelies all but stopped until he had the race won. I was also hugely impressed by the Raceco Guzzi.

Y, T, either one. T fittings are cheap and common. Y fittings are probably as well. Either way will result in the same outcome. It doesn't matter. Once the cap is closed the drain one lower in your pic is closed off from the tank and does nothing as far as fuel goes. The gasket around the tank opening would have to fail to allow fuel there AFTER the cap is closed. Mostly that is for water when it rains and fuel spillage when filling up.

Sorry, I thought I had said which was which. Normally you are supposed to have a hose on each. If you are only going to have a hose on one I think I would have a hose on the tank vent as it is more likely to have gas coming out of it. But gas can come out of either and if gas spills onto a hot engine there is always a chance of bad things. So you decide. Hose is cheap. You could even T the two together and then run the hose down to safety. You can use compressed air, either from a compressor or even air from a can like we use with PC's, to blow through the drain and confirm that it is not blocked.

It looks nice enough to me. I like the Ohlins forks, but they can be a little more prone to seal failures. Some have used non-Ohlins seals for a longer lasting seal but then you do not get the reduced stiction of the Ohlins seal. To each his own I guess. The leak does not sound like a big deal to me, but how much is it leaking? Are we talking a weep or a drip? The clutch I do not think is the bad type, should be a normal type clutch but that I am not sure of. The tanks doe have an issue with modern gas, not sure if it is the ethanol or one or more of the other additives they now put in pump gas. Usually it is not a huge deal, just do not let the tank sit with fuel in it but not mounted to the bike for an extended length of time, had that issue with my Griso and boy it was a bitch to get back on. Some have had issues with the gas bubbling the paint from the inside, others have issues with the tank swelling. I dried the wife's V11 tank out over winter and sealed it with epoxy, so far so good but others have not had as good results from that. Guzzi's are not perfect bikes as delivered from the factory. A good dealer and/or a willing owner goes a long way towards a happy experience. But they do reward the extra effort with being truly unique rides that deliver an exotic feel with stone axe reliability once sorted. Not for everyone but those who get it get it.

Pretty sure they both have tamper-proof screws, the helmet lock and the ignition switch. At least the wife's V11 did. The helmet lock could be easier, but would be paranoid that a key cut for the lock does not automatically work for the ignition. It would not surprise me if more then one key worked in the helmet lock and gas cap, it could be a simplier lock. Probably completely unjustified, but that is just me. Besides, it is easy to pull the ignition switch. As I recall it was just the gauges, top mounts for the headlight bracket, and pull the top triple clamp. But either way, as I said before, getting a new key is more a matter of the number required and not one of pulling the part and doing anything with it. If you are replacing then you want to do all three.

I would think the SuperTwin would steer lighter then a Griso but not sure about the Ducati. I have rode/raced a few Ducatis and I did not think the Ducati's stock steered that lightly. Again.....perspective. Checking the steering head bearings as Pete suggested. Also, some people have dropped the front end a little by sliding the fork tubes up through the triple clamps to speed up the steering a bit. Also, air pressure can make a big difference in how light on it toes the bike feels. I run 34F/36R, other run higher. Higher pressure will make the bike steer lighter. But with that long wheel base, even if it turns in quicker with less effort, it will never turn as tight as the other two bikes you came from.

The one larger one lower in the your picture should be the drain that should be drain water from around the cap. It sounds like it is clogged. The other vent as I recall vent the inside of the tank through the cap. When the cap is closed it has a port that lines up with the the other hole and it vents through the middle of the cap around and down to that port, the upper of the ports in your picture. I would first try blowing compressed air through them and if that does not work a thin piece of wire to poke it out. Cover the hole into the tank to prevent debris from failing in during this (Thanks captain obvious!).

Typically both the helmet lock and the ignition switch use bolts that the head snaps when tightened so they cannot be undone without more effort. I use a dremel to cut a slot in them and then use a large screw driver to remove. I am not sure a locksmith could cut you a new key. Usually you get a numerical code and you can get a new key cut from that. Maybe a locksmith can cut you a key, but I would check first. The other option if you do not have the number anymore (look in the owners manual in case you or the previous owner wrote it down in there) would be a new lock set. I bought one for the wife's bike after I broke the original ignition switch swapping from clip-ons to bars (don't ask). She used two keys for a while (the local dealer had an ignition switch by itself) but when I found how cheap a full set was (I forget how much) I splurged and went whole hog. Good luck.

That is funny. I guess it is a matter of perspective, what you are used to. I find my Griso to be very easy/light steering. It is a little slow turning in the twisty bits but that is more a matter of the long wheelbase resulting in less turn for a given amount of lean. But I find the effort required to achieve whatever lean angle to be light. I assume that is a result of the sideways engine layout, same as my other Guzzi's. The comment about "counterpush" I find intriguing. I wonder if you mean the same as when we say counter-steering. The act of turning the bars left to result in a turn to the right. That is the only effective way to steer a motorcycle (or any two wheeled vehicle) above a walking pace is by that method. The Griso is no exception.

Actual warped rotors is very rare. I am sure it can happen, I warped a rear rotor on a dyno by absent mindedly hitting the rear brake to slow the rear wheel down, way back it was not unusual to have a Dyno-Jet dyno with no brakes. But in normal use it is pretty hard to generate the kind of heat required to warp a floating rotor. Stuck float buttons and/or pad build up is almost always the real story. And both can be resolved without new rotors using one or more of the methods discussed or others. But new rotors can be fun. Personally I prefer the cast iron rotors like most Brembos to the stainless steel like most EBC's and other aftermarket rotors. I do not mind the rust after they get wet and the high coefficient of friction is my friend. But that is just me, enjoy your rotors. New parts like that or tires always seem to feel so much better then what they replaced. Follow the bed-in instructions as best you can.

I just sent them an e-mail request for info, but I assume the unit itself is not completely water proof and would require a little additional steps taken, like covering the backside with a dome the same way the stock V11 gauges are. I expect them to be comparable, but I will let you know what they say and if I buy one I will let you know how it goes.

Not sure what the rev counter (tach) has to do with the speedo swap, maybe you are looking at replacing both while you are at it? Or maybe the unit in question is a speedo/tach combo unit like the one I used to replace the speedo and tach on my Daytona? Well, I can say for sure that the Daytona version will run with the original tach disconnected. And I am pretty sure (well, really near positive) that the V11 will also run with no tach. What company are you looking at? I went with an Acewell unit, and while I really like it in some respects I am not 100% thrilled with the quality of it. In particular the sweep of the tach needle has some issues that I have yet to resolve. I am not sure yet if they are a shortcoming of the unit or possibly I have yet to get the installation 100% right. Time will tell. I have also seen some nice units from a company called SpeedHut. I like this one. http://www.speedhut.com/gauge/GR4-DUALGPS-ST-03T/1/Dual-Gauge---160mph-GPS-Speedometer---8K-Tachometer-(w--turn-signal-and-high-beam) It uses GPS for the speedo. The graphics are customizable. How sweet..... Couldn't you just unplug your tach and take the bike for a ride?

I would start with getting yours running right, it does not sound like it is but it can be hard to tell from someone elses description. For instance, the motor should be able to pull from below 3k rpms but is really happier above there and should not be lugged. My favorite comparison between a V11 and another bike was the time I rode with my racing buddy on the street, he on his R1 and me on the wifes V11. He could not believe the way the bike effortlessly pulled his R1 out of the corners. The R1 required way more revs to make power. The V11 is not a stump puller, it is more a mid-range motor. It does rev out well and makes good power all the way up to redline, but it seems well suited to between 3500 and 6k. Most recommend keeping it above 3k, some say above 4k(I am in the 3k camp). So, to sum up, it should be faster then your older Guzzi unless you had cams, porting, and valves done to your older Guzzi. Because that is what the V11 motor has over your older Guzzi. If it is not you may need to do a basic tune or take it to someone who can do it for you. As part of that I would check/change the air filter (don't you do that on EVERY used bike you buy?), change the fluids, set valves, and sync/TPS set on the TB's.

I thought he was asking about the metal extension on the side stand that lets you catch it with your foot to put it down or retract it. That is the part outlined in red.

I wish you were not so far away as I am building a twins racer from an Aprilia 550 and would love either Daytona or MGS01 bodywork.

There has been much discussion about this already. There are aftermarket options like Pro-Taper & Spiegler, bars from other Aprilia's (and Ducati's), and modifying the stock bars as mentioned. That is the beauty of a bike with handle bars, it is easy to do what you want with it.

There is also the crank case vent, which is there at the back of the block. That can leak and the oil can make its way on to the clutch plates. But there would likely be a small drip at the bottom of the clutch bell housing.