dave

The ankle is healing well. It has full range of motion ect. I have ligament damage to my knee though that have small children chanting "GIMP,GIMP,GIMP!"... a temporary thing and not the new normal I hope. Thanks for the good thoughts. I have ordered parts before from the company that seems to have my bike. A phone call will get human being, and with niceties and luck who knows the possibilities! The new bike is a monster 1100 (used). I haven't fallen in love yet... not it's fault. Maybe total disassembly, paint.......

The cluster I made from scratch using VDO gauges... The stock one was too plasticy. It was twisted in the crash and the buckets got dented. It would make a nice template though and the gauges themselves might be fine. The sending unit is perfect but is a totally obscure item that the hot rod industry has specially made in small numbers, not expensive, just hard to get. Details and item #s are in "my gallery". I am glad the parts are finding loving homes! If you have the wheels, you might care to have the diagrams that I made for putting them together. My posts about "wire wheels" will have everything. The offsets and spacer sizes are there.

I have been away from the forum for a bit while trying to get myself excited about the new Ducati. I am still not sure. But man! I come back to find my bikes carcass being picked over like that blasted deer the next day. I knew this would happen, I just thought I would be less sentimental! Clearly I need to be less western in my thinking and let its atoms return gracefully to the great Guzzi one-ness. If anyone has any questions about the parts feel free to get ahold of me for specs. Somebody really should grab the speed sending unit and petcock as both are optimum and have one off adaptors. On that note, If anyone wants to collect all the bits and put Humpty back together again and give her back to me, that would be ok too

Not unless the doctor isn't telling me everything. Maybe it is the lack of baffoonory or manic posturing; but (and it might sound corny) this is a community that I am happy to be part of (and I am not a joiner). I just bought a Monster 1100, but it was a close call between that or a v7 special. So I will continue to sip my beer and hang with all of you if it's all the same.

Thanks to all again.

Humor is best medicine.

I feel very lucky! This wasnt my 1st accedent but it is the only one where afterward I feel like death was narrowly avoided. The deer is extra dead to be sure. There is a 35' line of blood and a 150lb pile of venison at its end. My ankle broke trapped against the bike from the mass of the deer. Their buy back offer was $2900. I know between the wheels and driveline it was worth more, but sometimes closure and forward movement are what matter. I will make another bike and continue to enjoy riding but perhaps one day I will stop and do something safe like bull bating or base jumping. Oh, and I can't help but feel my bikes altered geometry helped in some small way;)

Thanks for all the support! I am opting to take progressive's money on this. It wasn't an easy choice but their check will cover most of the loss and I just couldn't get excited about going through the entire process again. I must have been saving up my karma. The deer wrapped around the front of the bike, its head caving in the left side of the tank, its body came around the right and got everything on that side. The wobble that resulted cracked off both steering stops. After the impact I found myself looking at the pavement before me as to where my body would crumple... But it settled down and I looked up at the oncoming mailbox posts as I left the road. The front end didn't wash out and the bike was on asphalt again before another collision. Thanks again to all of you and to my girlfriend who also rides and has been making extra tasty dinners. My only wish is that moto guzzi would hurry up and come out with a v11 version of the v7 classic!

Last week I hit a deer square on at 64 mph. Walked away with only a broken ankle... Somehow managed not to lay the bike down. But this was the bikes end, at least in my hands. Just saying there is one less v11 in the world tonight (this is where violins and sobbing begin). On the other hand the wire wheels and engine were untouched so keep an eye on eBay as they are sure to show up from the insurance breakers.

Thanks Guzzirider, when I have the overhaul kit, is the method of removal of the seized piston as I described, albeit with some other releasing agent? Also loving the look of your cafe racer!!!!! I am no expert, but I would recommend pushing it out from the back or take measures to not scratch the cylinder finish.

I had a very similar problem that caused one of the pistons to not be seized but nor would it completely release. After much exterior cleaning with no luck and even considering a replacement, I went ahead and split the caliper, removed the pistons and flushed the thing multiple times... far less work than one might expect. The pistons have a non-stick corrosion inhibiting coating worth protecting. The unit works fine now. I did check for a rebuild kit at the time, but found none available for this model brembo. Annoying since it was used on many of my favorite machines! Lesson: always clean the outside of the thing before retracting the pistons to change pads. Good luck!