stefano

thx to all for the hints on wheels R&I. the yam/kaw/honda shop was very competitive on price of tires(pirelli angels)& mounted/balanced without scratching/damageing anything, i'll go back to them again. i've never had a shop mount my M/C tires before, the wheels aren't scratched & i'm not bleeding. the wheel bearings & u-joints were in good shape. i greased the driveline,all 3 fittings, the front zerk is kind of PIA. and the needle bearing in the final. while the driveline was apart, i aligned the punch marks/paint lines. they had been installed 90deg off by someone (which still allowed the u-joint crosses to be in alignment) but it looked kinda wierd. new tires are sure great. cheers, stef

i'm taking my wheels in tomorrow morning to have new tires installed. nearest guzzi dealer is 85 mi. away, so it'll be the other/closer dealer. anything i should know/tell them/bring with me when i leave them? they assure me its no problemo...... thanks, stef

i get the travel channel here in the states, hope it's the same one, i'll look for the program. was in los angeles last week & a yellow one passed us, was gone before i could see it properly, but it sounded just like my '74 commando (although a bit more reliable i suspect) ;D i still miss it...... stef

if it's any consolation, i've not seen my lo fuel light either. although the batt/charge light kinda works when it wants to(the charging system works fine)all other lights work like they're supposed to. i usually fuel up at 150 to 170 miles,maybe it'd come on if i went further, i dunno. think i put 4.3 us gals. in it once. your mileage seems kinda low, don't know what others get, but my '02 le Mans usually gets low to mid 40s, with a high of 47.8 mpg (oddly enough when i was pushing it pretty hard in the mountains). i have a power commander & mistral silencers. (silencers?..ha!) and i live where it rarely gets above 70 deg F, it gets MUCH hotter where you live, i don't know if that would have any bearing on your mileage. or the low fuel light. cheers, stef is that a lotus 7?

the marzocchi forks on my '02 le Mans measure 53mm, BUT are stepped up to 54mm where they go through both triple clamps. stef edit.... the 54mm extends to 1 3/4 " below the bottom of the top triple clamp.

that V11 (chopper?) looks like it would steer quite similar to my troy-bilt rototiller(now there's a machine with some mechanical noise). hasn't moto guzzi got a bit of an agricultural past? anyway i'm not too fond of the looks of this bike, but what the hell do i know. the fellow sitting on it looks like he enjoys it, & after all, isn't that what it's all about? good for him...... stef

Please explain the 2nd paragraph? The 90 degree one............ the u joint cross's have 4 bearing caps at 0-90-180-270 degrees apart. i guess our driveshaft halves have splines that allow them to be assembled in miss-alignment. which wouldn't allow them to work at all just 1 spline off. but i guess they have the correct number of splines to allow them to be assembled in 4 right angles, which are like mine, 90deg (or 270 degrees) off. BUT the crosses are in perfect alignment, which works fine. BUT the trunions on both halves of the driveshaft are also off by 90 degrees.(crosses still in alignment) so if the shaft was assembled 180 degrees off (think punch marks on top on one half, punch marks on bottom on the other half)then the crosses & the trunnions would be perfect just the same as if the marks were lined up. i hope this makes sense, i'm a machinist & work with indexing fixtures, & machining in degrees every day, but i sometimes am not able to articulate it in words. i haven't had the driveshaft apart, but rest assured i will when i take the wheels off soon for tires. it sure is a mystery to me why someone would assemble it 90 deg off, when the alignment marks stand out like a diamond in a goats ass....... stef

driveshaft alignment? my '02 le Mans has alignment marks on both halves of the driveshaft. three punchmarks, with a paint line over them. wierd thing is, they were put together 90deg off by a PO. (that is, one half will have marks on top, the other half will have the marks on the side. someone would almost have to do this on purpose, as the marks couldn't be missed. 90 degrees off will actually put the crosses in alignment. seems to be fine, although i intend to install with the marks lined up after tires change which will happen soon. (or i may discover why they aren't in alignment) i've had the bike for a year, 3500 miles, all the maintainance appears to have been done right (except the driveshaft?)the bike looks & rides like new with 18000 miles now. i really like the bike, and would buy it again. stef edit.. of course, this was done at the factory, (it is an '02) as someone already mentioned

yeah, i'm here. but not for long, gonna ferry across the columbia into oregon, ride to astoria then either down the oregon coast or back into washington then home. perfect day, overcast & about 65F screw work stef

i seems my big hobby is my house, built in 1897, summers are spent working on it. finished painting gables tonight,(again) 4 colors, victorian doncha' know. took tomorrow off work, gonna take the le Mans out for an extended gallop...... cheers, stef

Yes plenty of old geezers out there. Our local bike club has links with the University, and I know plenty of younger riders but they are in the minority. Although I was speaking to an 18 year lad on a Fazer 600 at the MOT station the other day and he told me it was cheaper for him to insure his Fazer than it was for him to insure a little Vauxhall Corsa so there is hope. I bought my first Guzzi when I was 20- a V65 Lario which had a bit of go in it (until the motor went tits up). What would a 20 year old buy now from the current Guzzi range? Much more likely to want an R6. hell, I want n R6, & i'm an old geezer stef

yeah, also a writer

i have a book of short stories,"she's a bad motorcycle" writers on riding. edited by geno zanetti. has short stories by thompson, eric burdon, peter coyote, sonny barger, tom wolfe, many more. i highly recommend it. stef

jesus......

makes perfect sense....i like it

we don' got to have no stinking badges.........

yeah, it's almost painful to watch him bumpstart his bike after the hip surgery....... great period film, really enjoyed it. stef

yeah, my '02 really pings under hard acceleration if i don't keep the revs higher than 4000 rpm. these are very high spirited engines & don't(in my opinion) like to be lugged. i put 800 miles on the le Mans last weekend to the Chief Joseph BMW rally in John Day Oregon (site of the U.S. MG national last year). my beemer wasn't charging at the last minute, unpacked it, loaded the V11 & left. the V11 ran perfectly all weekend, got quite a bit of attention. out of about 500 bikes, there was only one other guzzi there, 1200 sport. averaged 43.8 mpg. and i didn't get that speeding ticket on the Washington side of the columbia river gorge (that i deserved) i thanked the patrolman, he likes the le Mans. stef

bfg, you did a good job, if it works, don't keep screwing with it, it'll eventually break. stef

Interesting. What size (length) should the spacer be? I've got a lathe and some aluminum stock, and I'd rather take it apart again and get the right size in, if I got a short spacer. is the original spacer made of aluminum? i think if i was making one i'd use steel, less apt to crush especially with 86 ft. lbs. torque. jeez, that spacer that was 1.6 mm short? that's about .062. no wonder the bearing failed, a miracle it lasted as long as it did. sure handy to have a lathe, eh? scf

thanks

is everyone in agreement on a proper torque for the rear axle nut? or maybe i missed it? i think there was quite a wide range of opinion on another thread. cheers, scf

jesus,it took me about a week of concerted effort (with The Book) to solve rubik's cube, many, many years ago. scf

hi paul, like u i was looking for an '03 or '04. had been for a coupla years. then saw an '02 le Mans for sale with 15,000 mi. about 75 mi. from my house for about $5000. drove there that night. the bike was cherry, it was instant love , i had to have it. 9 mos. later, & i've put a couple thousand miles on her thru our rainy (sw wash.)winter. i guess i'll pass the true test, i'd buy her again in a second. and yeah, there are a couple issues,(i have to wiggle the bars to start her half the time now, gotta fix that) i haven't changed the shift pawl spring yet, but i guess i better. having said that, i think they are pretty reliable, but you need to be an involved owner. oh yeah, and you won't find an easier bike to adjust the valves on. good luck, stef

neat photos. looks like great riding roads. yeah, it looks windy with the hanging sign on an angle. are those the official greeters on either side of yer helmet? cheers, stef