Steve G.

Yeah, I don't know. Maybe if it was one color. It kind of reminds me of Captain Nemo's bike [remember him on this forum from a while back], where it had so many things going on, all the differet colors were fighting each other for attention. Some of G&B's stuff was cool, other stuff they had was like it was designed by Pierre Terblanche [Ducati] on crack!! Steve

!!! Frickin' brilliant!! Steve

I forgot to mention HDL Parts out of Florida. Steve

Listen here, I no sooner informed you that you bought the wrong motorcycle, than you informed ALDad that he bought the wrong motorcycle!!!!! You sure do like to exaggerate. I don't think I am the one that came up with the term Hayabusa eater. I just said that by building up the V11 so that it performs like Guareshi's Battle of the Twins winner, it can keep up with a stock (2007) Hayabusa on some roads. Yes, the longevity of certain parts will be reduced when the V11 is putting out 140++HP using the BIG BORE kit. Yes the Hayabusa will have PEAK HP advantage at high RPM, but the Guzzi has more low end power. Ohlins and Penske suspension custom tuned to the rider could give an advantage to the Guzzi over the out of the box Hayabusa. FWIW they both weigh about the same, so shedding some weight on the V11 could also give it an advantage. The bevel box is about the only handicap a $50,000 V11 would face. "Impossible" you said. Simply evidence of how small your world is. No wonder you think I am out there. But repeating your purply galactic crap is rude and unappreciated. I'm uncomfortable to be involved in the 'morphing' of this thread, but had to clear things up for Mr. D. I'm looking at the hp figures you are talking about out of a V11 engine. With those numbers, you can forget about mid range anything, everything will be at the top of the rev range with 140hp. Oh, have you ridden a Busa? They are decidedly quite homly looking things, but their mid range is pretty frickin' strong, in fact not much off idle it's pulling pretty damn hard, and it's midrange, around 6k, makes your eyes water a bit. Steve

Your price is very competitive if Cdn pricing is taken as the standard. Unfortunately, Cdn pricing in all manner of products [ motorcycles and accessories especially] is extremely high. You should keep your price the same I think, as it is 10% higher than other sources I've found. Steve

I checked the local Omron rep, with typical Canadian pricing, $12.75 each, plus taxes of course. Steve

The only thing that's stopping me from using full throttle WAY more is the pinging that happens at strangely irregular times. That said, if you bought a MG for all our performance reasons, you have been misguided in your persuit. The tuning goal for an engine such as this [air cooled, 2 valve, push rod, 2 cylinder] would be to enhance it's midrange, so upshifts would not be needed for times when more "urge" is needed. Steve

I don't think mine is a metal jacket one, not sure what the difference would be. It's just the red plastic case. An interesting note. The instructions with the battery say NO trickle charging. I've never once done this in spite of my 2 Deltran battery tenders at the ready. No issues! In fact I fired my V11 today in preparation for the season's use. 5 months in my garage, it fired strong with no labouring from the battery/starter. I was impressed, and I don't impress easy. Ciao, Steve

I bought one of these when my original battery died after 2 years. The PC 545 is now into it's 6th yr, no worries! Steve

You've been lucky I think. When I bought my V11 new, the dealer gave me two handfulls of Siemens, and I went through all of them. A fresh handfull of Bosch relays were also deleted. The GEI's have been much better, but they too seem to be taxed to the edge on one of the V11's circuits, namely the tachometer/lighting circuit. I still have a bunch from my purchase, but am going to go with the Omrons once I hear feedback. Steve

It's good to have a well rounded garage with machines of different capabilities. I'd keep the Aprilia just to put things in perspective. The V11 is also a keeper. But you also need a bike that gives you the opportunity to take that gravel road splitting off the paved road, you know the ones that head up to some ridge that promises a great view from the top! I've ridden a GSA Beemer many times. The price of these is quite silly, they are over technical, and expensive to fix if you crash in the dirt [and you will!]. I rode to Baja last yr with 1 GSA, 3 GSPD's, and a KLR. The GSA crashed, and cost 7K to fix. Every other bike crashed as well. I took a spray bomb to my GSPD, fixed! The GSA's are a brilliant road bike, untouchable in the tight twisties [as are most all big dual sports] , but pricey. You know, there are 2 M.G. Quota's for sale here in Vancouver. 6K OBO, low miles, aluminum panniers, mint. They are ugly of course, but so are every other dual sport bike ever made. Steve

I've got the Evoluzione lowering [and slightly more rear set] peg kit. What they do is basically set the pegs at the hole access just rear and back of the original hole on the z-plates. This kit's main advantage was price [$25]. It's worst effect is that it moves your left foor back, but not the shifter, so a shift with anyone with less than size 11's means shifting with your heal on the pegs to reach. I'm 6'4", have Bobby Orr knees [too much hockey], so needed these to consider the V11 as a long term bike. They did the trick for me. Steve

Does the Stelvio have a 21" front wheel? If not, it's capabilities off road will not be anything to write home about. IMO, if the looks of a bike are questionable [and the Stelvio is no beauty], it better have extreme capabilities masking it's homeliness. Steve

http://www.hondaparts-direct.com/default.asp . I think these guys are in Florida too! Steve

Very cool, I've done the same sort of thing to a couple Smiths guages, although the case is not plastic, so can't be cut. Tell me Greg, is this an option on the 1999-2002 bikes with Veglia guages, should they fail? Are the Veglias failing becvause of lack of lubrication? Steve

Here you go: http://www.angelfire.com/biz/laverda/itcatalog/mainframe.htm You need Brembo, here it is, everything! Wolfgang's in Italy right now buying more Italia. Steve

+2! Smooth imputs avoiding the torqing over of the machine. Steve

Looks better from the back!! You don't see the bug eyes! Steve

My bike has had the recall notice gearbox upgrade. This 'anomoly' you describe, my bike has done this before and after the recall gearbox re-build. I don't know what it is, but I have found that it does it only when ripping hard through the gears on acceleration. And only sometimes. I get the shifter to come back to it's proper 'centre by decelerating using the gearbox, it snaps back to centre. I have put it down to 'another Guzzi thing'. Steve

+1 !! Steve

DEZ-MO-SEDICHI You are right, the sound they make is quite lovely! Ciao, Steve

I can confirm that I did not do any heavy breathing, in fact I waited days for a confirmed direction wind, did everything outside with the bars vised in a black & decker workmate. Left it to sit overnight. Oh, and the lead, got the chunks for free from my local bike shop, cast off weights from previous tire balancing installations. They all have pounds of the stuff. Ciao, Steve P.S., I can confirm that I still produce great swimmers despite this dangerous procedure. Ciao, Steve

I poured melted lead [make sure this is done outside/upwind] into the bars, and installed bar ends as well. It's finally solved. I could not have lived with it otherwise. Steve

No, actually I don't work. I'm sorry if I gave you that notion. Steve

You must get alot of time to kill at work Ratchet. Steve