Lucky Phil

The Ohlins forks you have bought AREN'T Radial caliper forks so your original calipers will be ok. As an aside, I dont like to reserviors you have fitted for 2 reasons, the mounting system looks so complicated it will probably give you issues eventually, and it just lacks elegance. Secondly powder coating will eventually start to blister and peel off due to sweating from the reservior cap seal. Even the stock ones do this eventually. Anodised units are the only way to go IMHO. Good thread though, lots of useful info:) Ciao

Yes Dan Kyle is the man when it comes to Ohlins, supply and maintenance. Dont even think about going anywhere else. Ciao

I guess you're horrified then by an electric fuel pump mounted inside the tank submerged in fuel Ciao

Scotchbright wont touch a Nikasil cylinder. Take them to your nearest engine reco place and get them to run a "flexhone" through them. Its like a bottle brush with stones on the ends and is commonly used after the final hone to finish cylinders. Wont remove any material to speak of and will give a nice finish for new rings. Will do that while you wait, takes all of 5 min. Make sure you clean the bores with warm soapy water and a brush after they are done then let them dry and wipe some engine oil into the cylinders with your hand then wipe it all out with a paper towel. Lube the gudgeon pin and rod fit the pistons and start it up. Rods straightness? why would they be bent? Cant see the reason for that.

How much oil was in the airbox sp? how many CC's ciao

Well sp838, I would be interested in a Galfer rear rotor if you can get me one. I cant find anyone selling them and they dont appear in their latest catalog. I just want one because they look a lot cooler than the dinner plate currently fitted. Ciao

I fitted an adjustable aftermarket one whos brand escapes me at the moment but it doesnt have the rubber isolators just rose joints on each end. It transmits noticeable but not really annoying level of bevel box gear rattle and driveshaft slop vibration through the footpeg on a neutral throttle. The l/h footpeg suprisingly. Ciao

Your kidding me right? have you ever lifted the rear wheel of a V11? I was in shock at the massive weight of the rear wheel of a std V11 the first time I removed one as i'm used to dealing with real sports bike wheels such as those on my 1198 Ducati and GSXR1000 Suzuki track bike. It was there and then that I decide that excellent handling was never going to be achievable with the V11 as on top off all that wheel lard there was still the weight of a bevel box and 1/2 of a reaction rod and drive shaft to consider. So a 3mmx 6mmx 230 mm ring of disk rotor material missing is but a drop in the bucket of lard that is the std rear end and it wont make a scap of difference in the real world. BTW the first thing I did when I felt how ridiculous the weight of the rear wheel/drive assy was on a Guzzi was to go and buy a decent high quality rear shock purly out of sympathy for the poor old std Sachs unit. The rear shock on a V11 has a man sized job to do thats for sure. Ciao

Why are people so obsessed with accurate idle speed? Who cares if the tacho says 1000 when its actually 750? Unless there is something dramatically wrong with the engine like low compression or an overly rich or week mixture then who cares if its idling at 1000 or 1200 as long as its not ridiculously out of the ball park it doesnt matter. I set up all my vehicles to idle where the engine seems happiest and most stable and ere on the high side. I can tell if its to high by the way it sounds and if it needs to be that high to be stable and reliable then there is an issue and I investigate. So my 1198 Ducati idles at 1400 rpm because thats where its happy. I could probably set it lower but why bother? My V11 i havent a clue, but its happy enough where its at and doesnt cause any riding issues and doesnt stall or overheat. Kind or reminds me of old guys obsession with how low a speed an engine will pull top gear or how steep a hill it will pull up in top. Ciao

I have several spare tanks and have tried the non chin pad on my 2000 green V11 which has the chin pad version as standard. I intend to fit the later tank when I get a chance as I think the external pump version has very messy feed hose arrangement. Any way the later tank will fit you just need to elongate the rear mount point to allow the slip nut to line up with the later tank. There isnt much in it, I measured the mount point dimensions of both types and there was a 3 mm difference. I believe the later one was longer from memory but it could also be just a natural variation in the manufacture of the tanks. Ciao

Looks like the venu is the Nurburg Ring. Ciao

This statement and owning 10 MG's somehow seem at odds to me Ciao I am always at odds to that statement and I have only 4 Guzzi's ..... 4 Ducati's, a Cagiva, a Laverda 750 SFC, a BMW R90 (in parts), a BSA Sloper (in parts), 2 Puchs, a Honda mini-bike and a KZ 750B twin vintage racer project. I am at odds with a lot of things ...... Jim I thought I had a sickness:) Are any of these residing in your lounge room? like 2 of mine. Just thought I'd up the anti a little in the " no hope for" stakes. Ciao

I may be missing something here but from the description this isnt a dry sump setup. I would imagine the aluminium box to which you refer is a breather box.If there is oil on the end of a dipstick in the engine sump its still the standard wet set up. Draining the oil cooler is counter productive and just introduces air into the system on oil changes. The small amount left in the cooler is of no consequence and would be less than the total leftover oil that hides in the engine and doesnt drain during a normal oil change. Ciao

This statement and owning 10 MG's somehow seem at odds to me Ciao

Hey Jim whos that riding the Magni in the Hailwood leathers? Ciao

Ok Jim, your talking about looks,thats purely subjective, but for what its worth I think an 888 SP4 looks way better. As for racing success, well I dont consider Daytona and the other "amature" ( respectfully) race series around the world as any real indication of the ultimate worth of a sportsbike design. To many variable inc the ability of the people that prep and engineer the bike and the biggest one as you pointed out The Rider. The Britten is a good example...I love it as a creation and engineering piece, it appeals to my engineers brain but in truth it never won anything of any real note and had a few major design flaws/limitations. The only true way to judge the ultimate value of a design from a performance perspective is in the white heat of battle at the very top echalons of racing. My current yardstick for ultimate potential as a pure sportsbike bike design is WSB and for the ultimate sportsbike design as a road bike its world Superstock. Anything that can win in WSS 600 or 1000 is going to be a seriously good sportsbike for the road. Ciao

Dont know if you're living in a parrallel universe Jim but a Ducati SP2/3/4 would chew one of these up and spit it out. Even a std 888 would probably be better. There are a few reasons a Guzzi has never won a WSB race let alone a Championship and one is because they are an archaic design as a sports bike from which to build the platform for a racer. Even as a road sports bike that fundamental design shortcoming is plainly obvious to anyone that owns a guzzi and a modern sports bike. From memory the Marni bikes did very little to correct this, mainly because the primary limitation is the engine transmission architexture Ciao

No but cast iron sleeved cylinders are a backward step from the std Nikasil. Ciao

Thanks Jaap,nice to know I wont have to buy new pipes. Ciao

Hey Gritman are those the standard 2 valve headers and exhaust on the 4 valve engine? Ciao

Using a grinding head,cut through the inner ring it'll fall apart relatively easyI use a wooden dowel the size of the bearing to drive it in, about a half dollar invested for both As others have said the proper tool is best but I've heard that using a Rawl bolt to grip the inner race and then hitting it from the other side also works and is cheaper !! You know thats not a bad idea Ciao

Thanks Gritman Ciao

Hey Gritman can you tell me what paint is used on the cases and gearbox and what the colour is? Ciao

what a load a cods wallop man, why you believe such crap I dont know... heres a little info reguarding that race, the Britten was and is a farking fast machine that handled briliantly "Read the book... it's not what it looks like. Stroud had been asked to make it look good so backed right off out of sight of the stands. Louie apparently had no idea what was going on.... Tim Hanna quotes Stroud as saying Cathcart was trying to promote the class and asked if he'd make a race of it. Stroud agreed. Page 421 for your ref" Spoken like a true Kiwi,eh Ciao

I have a full spec Wilbers shock ( high and low speed compression adj and rebound with remote preload adjuster) fitted to my V11 bought here in Aus for if I recall about $1300. I have Ohlins fitted to my other Ducati's (1198, ST2, 1000ss) and the Wilbers is a least as good in quality. It was a bespoke unit made for my weight and riding. Well worth the money. Ciao