Steve G.

Performance wise, which will ultimately be a determining factor by a larger majority of the bike purchasing public than we can all imagine. This machine WILL be compared, if not by bike magazines, but by potential buyers. Maybe not you guys, but many others. The output of this engine is sad actually, less than what was the slowest 'retro' bike out there, the Hinckley Bonneville. Nice looking bike yes, but I say it would be much more popular with 80-85 hp. Steve

They really should have used the big engine for this bike. They are missing a great opportunity to sell this against the Classic Series Ducatis. It does not stand a chance with the small engine. Steve

What's the time span on this unit? Steve G.

Lefty + 4 ! Steve

Great story. I know about this grin you talk about, it's true, they are funky 'ol things arn't they? Be carefull how you tune this engine. It is a push rod 2 valve aircooled twin, it may not respond to high performance upgrades with the same hp-per-$ as your previous bikes. Many people on this site have gone the high performance mod route, and while they ended up getting another 10-15 hp, the power was at the top end of the revs, and in some cases the mid range suffered, the main atribute of this engine. Steve

Absolutely Brilliant!! Steve

Check valves?? This all I do, as there's nothing on my flywheel either. Lucklily, the only time I've ever had to actually adjust the tappets was when I adhered to the advice of members of this forum to change clearances from North American clearances to European clearances. They havn't moved since, 35,000 kms. Steve

The electronic [automatic] petcock may be a sound device in theory, but this particular device is engineered poorly, with it's main weak link being the flopping loose wires coming out of it. I've had two replaced under warranty because of vibration induced fraying. The current one I built up a ball of autmomotive urethane adhesive around the bottom where the wires exit to try to strengthen it. It is one of the first things I check at the start of every year. If it buggers up again, a manual one is going in without question. The way this thing works though, it's either open or closed, so it probably has little to do with, what I think is a heat/fuel line problem. Steve

Agree totally! Steve

There's so many noises from these old lumps. What's the difference between a dogga-dogga, a clunkity clunk, or a chatta, chatta? Steve

Go to another locksmith that has at least 1/2 a working brain!! Steve

Must have been another slow day at work, hey Ratch! Actually, I've ridden dozens of other EFI equipped bikes besides the V11, as well as other V11's. The crude EFI on the V11 is the best of the bunch. That said, i've got 6 other bikes with carbs, and, 3 of those have better 'use characteristics' than any EFI equipped bike I've ever ridden. Honestly! Steve

This is correct. There is a member of our local vintage bike club, of Chinese decent, who is legally bringing these things in, restored models 15 yrs old and older [ Transport Canada minimum age for non U.S. sourced vehicles] . Even in restored updated condition, these things make Urals seem space age. I personally would never buy a Chinese made bike, whether it's a copy of a WW2 German R71, or a recent copy of a Honda Z50, Yamaha TT250, or Vespa scooter. Nothing about banning Chinese goods [ heck we'd all be walking around naked if we did that], it's just that these products are so incredibly bad as to seem unimaginable. Brutal!! Steve

Agreed! The handling on these bikes only starts to feel 'willowy' over 170 kmh, and only if you hit a bump mid corner, mainly a tail waggle from it's well noted shaft drive rear weight bias.

I love it!! Steve

No, I think it was superheated fuel, not bad gas. The 'burping' you have done will do the trick for a while. But it will do it again if the heat/short term stopping conditions continue. This happened to me 3-4 times till I got totally pissed about the whole thing. I re-routed the fuel lines away from the back of the cylinders, and it hasn't done this heat-stall thing for 3 years. Steve

I think all V11 based bikes can be considered limited production when compared to all other makes out there. With Moto Guzzi total production hovering around 5500 bikes a year for the last few years, including all the 750 variants, California variants, police issue bikes, and all the variants based on the V11 Spine frame, they could have put limited number status on every Guzzi made. Steve

Gasoline, and a match! Steve

Mine's pretty well ground off from left turns anyways. I think I'm going to talk to Greg to see if he's got any of those centre stands still available, and take the entire side stand thing off. Steve

This is another one of the funny 'Italian' things that happen with these bikes. That these screws are 'security' head one way bolts makes it even more funny that they just fall out. Mine fell out 5 yrs ago, so I replaced them with stainless steel socket head screws, and put just a wee dash of loctite. No worries since! Steve

There have been more than rumours that the 675 has a reputation of breaking up inside. I'd like to see your bike on the dyno, unless it's something you want quiet. There will be a dyno at the big swap meet next weekend!! I got myself a Kendon lift 3 months ago. I've had 2 others, and, for me, this Kendon's a keeper! Even if I wasn't pressed for room, it still would be the one. I really do not like leaning over to work on my bikes. I want to be right up against where I work, and only the Kendon gives you this ablility. Steve

I like that! It works well. Steve

Loosen up the tappet clearance to Eropean specs, and put the TPS back to where it was before. Steve

Hi Ryan, Who's bike popped? When do you plan on a dyno run? Steve

I have an inexpensive way [free] to change the ratio of your bike. Get a higher profile side wall tire, a 70 or 75% side wall. I run with a GPS sometimes with my bike. I can confirm the Veglia speedometer reads 4 mph [6kph]optimistic pretty well from 40mph right up to the maximum it can do. At a GPS indicated 150kph, my Vegila tachometer [again taken with a grain of salt ] reads engine revs @ 5500rpm. My personal thoughts are that the gearing is just fine. The maximum I can legally go in Canada is 110kph, and find that a fine cruising speed for this machine is a GPS indicated 125kph @ 4000rpm. Mechanically, if you were to find a lower revving axle ratio, I think it would be harder on the gearbox bearings, which will be spinning slower, yet accepting the same output from the engine. Steve