The Monkey

That is so true, I consider it a reason for being on this endlessly entertaining orb. If you dont have to work for it, where can the basis for appreciation lie? Hence the yawn factor on turn key machinery and strippers. Cheers man!

Ensure a tight (airtight) fit when putting the lid back on ( the forward bolt receptacle is usually stripped, but is available. Try the stock set up snorkels and all then compare without snorkels. The Guzzi "sneeze" has been around since the soupcan. We all "ride around it" that which lies at mid RPM slightly on throttle. The luxury of plug and play (aftermarket fuel management) is that which irks you can be eliminated, the stock computer won't give you that freedom. Tuning a V-Twin fuel injection for rideability has been one of the toughest tasks for the factories, let alone those in the fields. Any one can create a dragbike. Its another matter altogether to make an enjoyable rider for the street. Read the numerous threads, benefit from others learning curves. Heh heh grab a commander and enjoy the involvement in creating your own nirvana on what is indeed one the most rewarding and demanding motorcycles made

You would know instantly if the socket heads didn't clear. Just be sure to use a cad plate fastener as stainless will marry with the aluminium. If you do have stainless then coat the threads- grease, threadlock, antiseize, silicone, what have you and spin em out now and then and recoat em or you will have the threads destroyed due to the incompatability of aluminium and stainless. I agree with the philosophy though Henry. Harder, faster, if its shite then shitcan it, hell it took a grade 8 bolt to maintain a license plate holder and tailight on the panhead. But I do enjoy the challenge in making the stock item actually do its job.

No kidding, the sharpness of the learning curve has been greatly reduced thanks to their efforts. If I can add this to the Cush Drive thread. Use an impact driver to remove buttonheads intact (replace socket head end with a 1/2 to 3/8 adaptor impact type), put on 4mm 3/8 drive. Heat (propane) 10 seconds each all way round, half hearted strike on driver (each) 20 oz ballpeen, 5 second heat all now progressivelly harder hit round the circuit. Holding impact keep tension counterclockwise and weight directly down this basic advice is not commonly utitilized but is necessary in order to have success with this tool. All broke free, no damage to threads or the non-impact 4mm, nor the buttonhead! This works on your rotors and everywhere else those Mandallarians managed to tighten things past reason. One day I hope to see an Italian Allen Wrench as they apparently put ours to shame. learni

Faulty idiot switch most likely. Power will be constant to switch no pressure completes circuit resulting in idiot light lighting. Basically a ground is attained. Pooched switches supply ground when they shouldnt. It does seem odd but I seem to remember reading threads on the unreliability of the stock idiot switch (only italians and czechs have that unique ability to defy electron theory and still manage to foist the shite unto the consumer). At any rate as long as your pressure guage is accurate replace the switch with something from germany or japan. Happy dashboard!

Cut! Cut! That was too silly. All was fine till somebody mentioned a three buttocked man! Now you're either full assed or half assed but definitely not fullandahalf assed. Puerile? What the bloody hell is that? Evidence of Public School eh! Do try a little harder, and don't be so bloody silly! The Comma by the way was first utilized by Caesar describing Cleopatra's shape during intercourse. Carry on!

Its a matter of individual preference and how you ride. Those mods you mentioned are typically accompanied by an assist to the computer via PCM111 or like device. Derestricting the intake and exhaust is very common and results in more power in the higher ranges (rpm), on the down side the machine is running leaner and will have gaps (flat spots) resulting from incorrect fuel:air ratio in the lower and mid ranges. Uncorking the bike works well when your on the pipe (5500rpm and greater at full throttle). However because of the increase in air flow through the engine, the fuel amount has to be increased to match. I doubt the parameters in the stock computer are up to it. The assist device compensates over the entire range (giving you various maps to match the mods done to the machine) resulting in a happier, more efficient engine. The danger in what you have is running with insufficient fuel (too lean) this wreaks havoc in the combustion chamber. A plug reading over several different rpms is the quickest way for you to discerne the condition of the fuel:air ratio. A shop with a dyno (with an assist device installed) can tune the fuel:air most accurately, or you can choose (I know the PCM111 has it) the optional fuel map that matches your rig. How do you like to ride? I sport tour with this machine so the airbox lid went back on the bike (without the rubber snorkels). Air boxes work, they are engineered specifically for the machine they arrive in. If you've an epileptic right wrist, put on pods, aftermarket crossover and a programmable fuel manager- off to the dyno. If not so peaked then put the lid on (keep the cleanable air filter) and enjoy a good sounding smooth runner. The stock brain box will probably handle it but programmables are cheap and really add to one of these bikes. Have fun!

Air filter may be restricted, as was mentioned a thorough tune up will probably cure what ails ya. Go back to stock plug range, pack a sandwich and run a couple tanks of fuel through her.

Test plug wires for resistance, adjust valves (intntl setting) run some injector cleaner through her and re-evaluate where you purchase fuel. Good luck

That which works, shims under bucket, synthetic jackets, oversquare engines, the online community. Go to the bike show, any one of them. I always consider it time well spent especially if I find something I agree with regards a motorcycle. In 1999 it was an SV650 in 2009 it was an F800. Good on you for finding a drive. Like all sweet things, are you having difficulty sleeping? I rode a turn key for 4 years before engaging again and embracing my Lemans. The tech tree, ebay included, seems to have replaced the challenge of the swapmeet, the physical research and thinking/conversing on your feet. As the apples drop and the leatherclad horde comes upon the horizon, cuttingtorches in hand sights set on their share of the Guzzi kill, the Spines will join the Tontis as the cradles of the next generation. Dealer support? Accessible supply? Why look here, Guzzi has always been truant regards these issues. At least that small factory could get us parts in West Canada within the week. That is a fact. I wouldnt attempt that with the new owners. Back to the show, that 10 year gap with very few exceptions didnt produce something for me. But then again I still have my Pan 26 years later. Ill wager that Lemans runs the course of time too! I can appreciate the effort it must have taken to run that site. Helping people you've never met is laudible for sure. Best to you on the new ride. I, like the writer before me have sampled the wares of that manufacture and found them wanting. Talk to us in a couple seasons. Have fun amigo!

I found Metzeler Roadtec great on a bike 100 lbs lighter than the V11, but shite on this bike, too vague. Good info on the Pirellis folks thanks. I am currently running Pilot Road 2's and like the performance. I expect minimum 10000km from a rear tyre and dont like betrayal of confidence on a corner, price be damned I only have two tiny patches keeping me rolling, they have to work!

It was built with to overcome the heat issues of the 45 in North Africa. What is the old beast with the 90 degree V-Twin in dangerous's photos?Did Indian build it?

Thats hot! I wonder how accurate those guages are? Best to shut down if stuck in traffic or filter the cages. There is sufficient fin surface on these engines to disperse a lot of heat, that and the layout give these mills the edge over other v-twins. But if that reading is accurate, changing the oil is a good plan. Find a better road, stay in the wind, be cool.

I do the filter everytime out of habit, has anyone noticed any sludge build up in the pan? I use Motul 15-50, the UFI oil filter, have the cleanable air filter and have never found sludge or deposits. I bring this up as the manual suggests cleaning the mesh pickup every change, I do it every year (every 2-3 changes) Clean as a whistle so far. Ive never approached an oil filter with a torque wrench, most the gear I work on has a recommended number of turns to go after the lubricated seal first makes contact on the spin on variety of filter. Do that for enough years and you can look at the diameter of the thread on the filter and know how far to take it. Other assembled units be they pressure filters or centrifugal filters have never failed, save the one time on a Scania Vabis when I interrupted a friend mid filter clean (centrifugal type) with a bottle of rum, poor fella left the dock the following morning to refuel and painted the entire engine room as that baby spun oil from the basin to the fuel dock! (He didnt tighten the top bolts on the centrifuge) At any rate figure out what that recommended torque feels like or if you dont do it enough, then use the torque wrench. There is no excuse for a filter backing off. Sorry for hijacking the thread earlier, I couldnt resist and thanks for the excellent review Ratchet, you have made my day I am going back to the bilge, the filth, the excrement, god how I hate boats! Cheers, have fun

The movie "The cook, the thief, his wife and her lover" illustrated quite well the diabolical stupidity of the Reagan, Thatcher time. 20 years on and we are still dealing with its aftermath! Amazing and incredibly sad.

I hate to admit this but after pondering the lack of access for adjusting spring preload (I even tried a small spring compressor). I used the drift and mallet to back off the lock ring grabbed a 4 foot pry bar wrapped it in a rag to protect the frame and used that as leverage to compress the spring (from above) while spinning the adjuster ring with a long screwdriver. I used about 80-85 percent of the available adjustment, enough to have the bike settle evenly at both ends when Im on it. I am 200 lbs and the bike was transformed from a squatting old nag to a competent cornering machine. You might not have to swap your rear spring until its worn out. Crude, but it worked. Man's cruelty to man is exceeded only by Man's cruelty to machinery. Cheers

How cool is that? Thanks for the first transformer I can relate to!

One of the best, I still kept my pan after I took it off the road in 2000. Too much had happened on those wheels in the previous 17 years. I had assembled 3 different versions of that bike, taken me to the Atlantic seaboard, the gulf of Mexico, west coast North America. That bike like all good bikes rewarded my efforts with times beautiful and ugly. My mind never closed I may have been a little difficult here and there but who here hasn't. I don't know what the current crop of humanity is up to, they used to be called straights, now they all ride the same, dress the same...are the same.Dull. I come from a family of motorcyclists one a factory rider for BSA in the early fifties, another the pres for a vincent club in the forties. We have had loop frames, tontis about since that ambassador came out of a pawn shop in Victoria in '76. I bought an RZ350 when I was running fishboats cause the the roads were too tight for a hardtail. Things develop, we grow. I just rounded out a 700km day in the rain on my wives SV650S, ran into a cat on one of the new HD deals and that guy was fine, open, aware. You all are fortunate you have ridden guzzis a long time, good level head on the Guzzi folk. I'm glad to be here. That lifestyle thing? At 46 my liver, back and cock could never do that again. Like the well travelled Indian Binder Dundatt, OK in your 20's, just foolish after that. At the gas pump I usually ask, Wheres the funeral?....fuckin straights. Cheers!

No misunderstanding, that's what I implied. I haven't measured those other bikes but you do see a continuity in weight/tyre size and market be it from Japan, Germany or Italy. I am suggesting that due to the weight, it behooves a manufacturer not to produce something unmanageable, which I suspect any of these machines would be with too much on the forward skin. Hardware, rider or both.

John Day country. Hwy 395 is the spine, enjoy!

37/63, keep in mind that this is a static measurement. Once dynamic those numbers will change. I bet most the hardware in the previously posted list of Rubenesque machinery has a similiar aft bias. If this wasn't the case your front tyre would be completely overwhelmed during trail braking to apex. Ever noticed how your front skin gets totally shot halfway from crown to shoulder? Healthy gear ridden vigorously puts massive loads on that wee little front tyre.

The TLR had high mount duals as did the RC51. Might be priced right in a scrap yard. Good luck!

I bought a case of grease gun attachments just for this task (about adozen options varying degrees swivels etc). The one that ended up working was the 90 degree on a rigid length of tube. Rolled the bike till zerk straight up came at it from forward, bingo job done with no removal of parts! Rigid pipe gave sufficient leverage to engage and remove with no twisting, bumping or any other activity that risks damaging the zerk, (I find them very fragile). My preload spring is dialled to 80 percent of available compression. If your zerk is evading you, hog out the access hole (indent) on the cover (after removal) over the U-joint next tyre change. Only the Italians would engineer an awkward zerk! Incredible.

Rats. All alone again! Where did everybody go?