Ralph Werner

Keith - if no one comes up with plans let me know. I'll measure mine and sketch it for you.

Just a few questions about an old topic: What is the oil change interval for Ohlins forks? (I've heard 1000, 12,000, 20,000 miles) Is it possible to do without the special $50 tool? Since a Guzzi dealer is not real close by, what other makes use the same fork (if I decide to have a dealer do the work)? Ducati? Sorry for the repeat.

OUCH! Glad to hear that you (and the bike) are relatively OK.

I'll second that Carl. Welcome to the Forum.

Once again, a few of us old motorcycle buddies went to Americade for a couple of days of laughter and good riding. I figured that I might see one or two Guzzis among the trikes, Wings, HDs, Boss Hogs, and more Wings. What a surprise to see two other Rosso Corsas! One was from New York (not a Forum member) and the other had a Conn. tag (I never saw the owner). You probably won't see that many Rossos at a National MGNOC rally.

Nope - the Rosso. The Beemer has to wait.

Mike, I'm with you. Used to really like WILDGUZZI but there are a few who seem to have a pessimestic, negative, or sarcastic answer for every post. Life is just too short for that! Good luck in selling your V11 parts. I'm on my way tomorrow for a six day ride in New England with a stop at Americade.

What's up with the WILDGUZZI posts on your V11 Sport? (Calling you a Harley guy, etc.). I always thought that the forum had more class than that!

Great news Joe! Keep us posted.

No apology needed - my capabilities as a mechanic would not earn me a living. You and Mike had some great input!

Problem solved. It looks like the bleeder valve had bedded into the caliper body. When I loosened it to bleed the system, it wouldn't seat tightly again. Fluid came out of the valve opening when I pressed the brake pedal (thus the air and very little pad movement). I put the bleeder valve in a drill, used a fine file, fine sandpaper, and polishing cloth. It seated right in and presto - no leaks. Never would have suspected this. Thanks again for all of your fast and thoughtful input!

Well I found the problem sort of. When the bleeder valve is closed, fluid still comes out of the end when the brake is pumped. I have three valves and they all do the same thing. I didn't overtighten any of them and the seat in the caliper body looks fine. Any ideas?

Thanks for the posts. I'm getting there. Actually, I have bled brakes before but I never sucked that much air (probably because I tried to do it without removing the caliper). I had used a speedbleeder but it seemed like the one way valve wasn't working so I went back to the standard fitting.

It looks like I have a bunch of air in the system (I guess from pushing the pads apart and forcing fluid back throught the reservoir. I don't see any piston movement and when I try the standard bleeding, I get air but very little fluid.

Here's what happened. I removed the caliper assembly so that the bleeder was pointing up. After the new fluid was added and bled, the pads were touching each other. I separated them enough to get the assembly back onto the rotor but then I had no brakes at all. It's possible that when I separated the pads that it forced fluid out of the reservoir because the cap was not on. I have the assembly off again but now when I add fluid and bleed, sometimes I get air bubbles and sometimes no fluid movement at all. The pads still don't come together but I can feel them doing some movement (with my finger) when I press on the brake pedal. I have never removed brake pads before (plenty of brake shoes though). Is it possible that I sprung them out of position? I did hear a clicking sound and there seems to be spindles that they rest on. Sure would value any input here.

After removing the rear brake assembly to bleed the system with the valve pointing up, the brake pads now don't seem to move. What happened? I had to pry the pads apart slightly to fit them back onto the rotor and now there is no rear brake. I'm sure that I did something pretty stupid but I can't figure out what.

You don't need to remove the wheel! Here is a post that I made last year which should make the job easy for you.

Mine went at about 4,000 miles. I asked the dealer if I could send the broken cable to them and have it replaced under warranty. The reply was that I needed to bring the bike in. Rather than suffer a 200 mile round trip through towns and cities I bought a speedometer cable repair kit from Crown Auto for abot $4, straightened out the bend at the transmission, and lubed it with lithium grease and 10-40 synthetic oil. 6,000 miles later it is still OK.

Great idea - thanks!

To those of you with a full face helmet and who have used the V11 helmet lock - how do you keep the helmet off of the exhaust system?

Ditto. I'm 5'11" and the slightly higher shield keeps the wind down and is much better than the stock screen. I do, however, get my fair share of bugs on my full face shield.

36 and 40 on Avons. I'm 170 lb.

It would seem that engine oil would be the only necessary thing to change every 4-5000 miles even though Guzzi recommends transmission and rear also. How many of you do all three each time (along with brake/clutch fluid)?

This looks like one more part of the Guzzi "character"that we all seem to love. While riding on a recent trip with my BMW buddy, we both read 83- 85mph at 4500+/- RPMs. His GPS at the same time was reading about 78 MPH which is probably very accurate. Confusing matters more was our trip mileage. I would read 95 miles and he would read 102 or 103. This is not the 1.24 conversion difference. I suppose that the speedometer could be recalibrated but, as Al or Carl said before, the error might save me from some speeding tickets.

I put the speedbleeders on my Rosso - changing fluids is now easy!