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OK, second guess- Kohler. J

Does it go into the automatic transmission motorcycle (forgot the company name)? Jason

RU-0600, that's what I've got on mine. I couldn't remember while I was at work. If you can use Al's version- and not cut the intakes- that's probably the way to go. J

I cut out most of the dash- that's about the worst looking part of it, since it looks somewhat unfinished. I trimmed a minimum amount out to fit around the inst. cluster, but someday, I'll go in and trim out the rest. I used nylon screws and nuts. They strip out pretty easily also, but I didn't want to use metal on the fiberglass and plexiglass. Nylon has the nice behaviour of self-locking, so I don't need to worry about them backing off. Unfortunately, all I had were white screws, so I took a marks-a-lot to them so they'd match. Quality is job one. I'm sorry you crashed too. I bet your fairing looked cool- and I like the alternative mounting options. Thanks for posting it, Jaap Cheers, Jason

But the Reader's Digest version is that you're loosing oil pickup and consequently oil pressure- bad stuff. No oil to main's, to rods, etc. Let off the acceleration if you have to, and make sure you're oil is full to the top. I haven't looked in the crankcase, but it seems like a rearward mounted pickup should be on someone's 'to make' list. Anyone try a windage tray like Pete Roper put on his bike? Cheers, Jason

Cliff, you get it set-up as plug and play in the V11sport/LeMans, and I'll buy one. I don't know how much I would use it, but sure would be fun to play around with. Besides, I'm a sucker for cottage industry guys like you. I notice on your website that you currently offer a kit form- that's even more fun since I like to sling a little solder occasionally. Good Luck, Jason

Hi Marcel, I tried to give costs on some materials, but I, uh, filed my reciepts and forgot what the bars cost. Something in the neighborhood of $100 US- maybe a bit more. The clamp I got used for $50 US. The bolts were $1-3 US. Took a couple of days, since I had to machine the triple clamp, so maybe winter is not a bad time to do it. I'm liking the set up more and more as I get used to it. It allows me to sit up just a bit more, and my butt is just a little further back. That cramps my legs more (more acute angle at the knees), but there's a lot more support on my ass from the seat. Good trade-off in my opinion. I might even ask Rich if he'll modify my seat and add a little 'button' or lump in the front, so I don't slide forward as much. On the other hand, I might just get accustomed to it. The (R.M.) seat is pretty comfy. Performance wise, the bike seems to handle just as well as before. I don't push to the envelope of the bike's handling- I'm one step back from that. I do find that I'm countersteering much, much more now. Hope this helps, Jason

It's the nature of a board that problems get advertising. Why should anyone write in that they had an uneventful ride? There's probably more than just soft valves contributing to wear. Soft valves will wear fast, but the rate will be modulated (enhanced, retarded) by tolerance of the parts assembly. Does anyone know what Rockwell hardness range is reported? Carl? There's quite a variety of them, B,C,F, 15T, 30T...

Scott, I with everyone else- hope your bike gets fixed. Is it running at all? But also remember- it's just a machine, and it can be fixed. I'm not trying to be facetious or an asshole here- just trying to keep it in perspective. I always approach a problem like this as if it were a puzzle. With measured care and the scientific method, one should be able to test and probe and assess a problem area to fix it. It takes a hell of a lot of patience and some background knowledge. A punching bag helps sometimes (ask me how I know). Are you close enough to Moto Int. to have them look at it? Have they already looked at it? Dave Richardson is supposed to be the man for Guzzi in that area. Also, generally speaking, Guzzis take a hell of long time to break in. They're like babies- they spit and cough and puke before they learn to sing. I hate breaking in a Guzzi cause it takes so long, but once it's done properly, they run like a dream. Seriously- 8-10,000 miles before it loosens up. I've got 9000 on my V11sport, and it's just starting to come in on it's own.

That is so weak. Reminds me of a Britsh officer evaluation I once read: "This man is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot" Glad to hear things are getting sorted out. J

You mind me asking how much he charges to redo a pair of heads? Looks like I'll do that this winter. I'd probably be interested in a mild porting, replace valves. He doesn't have a web presence, does he? That is a real shame that Guzzi would shoot themselves in the foot with this kind of problem. One of the percieved Guzzi advantages is longevity. If they loose that perception, they are hosed (to use the vernacular) Jason

Alright, thanks for the input. I've emailed a copy of the 'bars' and a copy of 'mounting a fairing' to Todd at guzzitech. He'll get it up on their webite in due time. Jaap, do you want a copy as well? With pictures and all, they come out to about 7-8 megs. That may be a bit too much, based on some of your earlier statements. If you don't want to host the actual files, we could put a link to guzzitech (or my computer for that matter). Whatever works for ya'. Cheers, Jason

Hmm, I haven't had any trouble on Topica, new MGNOC, Yahoo, or any other site with Safari- but I read it on the web- no email. Sometimes other folks' posts aren't included, but mostly ok. I've set up my mac hosts file to deny almost all the adservers, though. Maybe that has something to do with it? Jason

I've written up a rough draft of how I mounted handlebars (as opposed to various styles of clip-ons) onto my V11 sport. It's clear to me because I did it and I wrote it, but I thought I would let ya'll read it so I can make improvements. Final draft will be submitted to Al and Jaap, for the Faq section, and to Guzzitech.com. Comments here or to me personally are fine. If someone sends me a picture of an unmodified upper triple clamp (with the offset M6(?) hole in the boss), then I will add that to the pictures I have. Unfortunately, I didn't do much for 'before and after' photos. My bad. Cheers, Jason Adapting a set of bars onto a V11 sport (or how to make a Ballabio from your ?01 sport) Parts: Used (2X) M10X150mm bolts (I think it was M10) (A 125mm length would have worked just fine, but I didn?t see one in the hardware store) (2X) nuts for above (4X) stainless washers, 3/8 (4X) flat rubber washers (for 3/8 plumbing fitting) go on top side (2X) 3/8 rubber washer from plumbing fitting (toilet fitting, actually- the flat, not cone, compression washer for the water inlet) The bar that I used was spiegler part number Z122LN01SI (Alu-Lenker AN1, silver) I think its just the "AN1"- its the low or flat superbike bars. I also bought bar-ends in silver, Z135-004. (later, I attached a CRG mirror to one of the bar ends. Works great.) Here's a link to the bars- http://www.spiegler.de/gb/More_Products/ra...ng_the_bar.html Oddly enough, here's a link to some more bars and the bar-ends. They must have re-done their website, cause it looks different (6/19/2003): http://www.spieglerusa.com/sbkbars.htm http://www.spieglerusa.com/barends.htm Spiegler can be contacted at: 94 A Westpark Road Dayton, Ohio 45459 Telephone: 937-291-1735 Fax: 937-291-2368 e-mail: mail@spieglerusa.com I don?t have any association with them, other than buying their products. If you get a bar from another source, just make sure the center width is wide enough. I used a set of barclamps from Moto Guzzi (Jackal/Stone/EV/etc work). There?s pros and cons to this- I actually think the individual clamps (like on the Ballabio or the Cafe Sport) look very nice. On the other had, the M10 bolt-heads fit into hex-shaped recesses on the Guzzi part and the spacing is already correct. So, easy as mac and cheese. For those of you who like abbreviated instructions- take everything off (not your clothes, dang it), drill the holes in your triple clamp, mount the bar clamps, remount the triple clamps, mount the bars and Bob?s your uncle. You guys only need to print one sheet of paper. For the rest of us. Step one- remove the upper triple clamp. Completely remove the nuts that hold the handlebars in the clip-ons. Slide out the bars (I took the controls off while the bars were loose in the clip-ons). Remove the bolts that hold the instrument cluster on the tripleclamp. Cut the zip ties that hold the wires onto various places- they?ll need to be pulled out just a bit. Remove the throttle cables from the grip. Remove the bolts that clamp the triple clamp onto the forks, and the remove nut in the center (no not you). Carefully lift up the triple clamp (I helped it with a rubber mallet), then you can access the two screws that hold the ignition switch in. After looking at it, I realized how easy it would be to hotwire these bikes. Time to buy a lock. Another note- the clutch/brake switches are tiny little delicate things. Don?t bugger them up my yanking on the wires. Mods you need to make: Mark the centers of the bosses on the upper triple clamp (mark the bottom side). Make sure the centers line up with the Guzzi-supplied bar clamp. Drill the holes. The holes in triple clamp are 13/32 drill bit, but I had to drill a pilot hole on the mill first, because the hole overlaps with an existing one. I actually milled it out just a little larger than the threaded hole (which is off-center in the boss). If you just try to drill it out, the drill bit will wander around and never give you a clean, straight hole. Note here- the aluminum is crap. there?s hard and soft spots going through it, so don?t be surprised when your mill-end gets caked with aluminum. Wanna see the cut I got on my finger trying to pick it off? Another note- you will lose this threaded hole- it?s the ?safety? hole that the bars are bolted to the triple clamp with. Not necessary anyway. Remove the plastic locating buttons on the inside of the hand controls. They?re there to make sure the controls don?t twist on the handlbars, but the new bars don?t have holes to accommodate them. I used a dremel tool and a knife. Remove the line from the brake master cylinder (at the banjo fitting) because you will need to reroute the line. Brakes probably needed bleeding anyway, right? I routed the brake line behind the fork tube, and I carefully bent the brake line banjo fitting to make it ?straighter?. Use a tool with a flat jaw. If you score the banjo fitting with a toothed jaw tool, it will never seal again. I sandwiched the banjo between two pieces of aluminum just to be careful. You can see the result more clearly in the pictures. Anyway this orients the brake line straight down the fork tube, and it needs all the slack it can get. You can loosen the clutch line (again at the banjo fitting), but it doesn?t need to be removed. If you?re careful, you won?t get air in the line. That clutch fluid can wait a while longer ;^). The wires (to the controls) are quite easily long enough. I zip tied them back to the frame and brake/clutch controls as necessary. The brake and clutch levers have very delicate switches on their outsides- don?t bust them up. That?s it. Re-assemble and drive it around. I didn?t have to replace any lines, but I did loosen a few wires and cables. Don?t forget to put everything together kind of loosely and then tighten it up when it?s assembled. see http://plasterbath.chem.uiowa.edu/triplecl...lamp/bars1.html and http://plasterbath.chem.uiowa.edu/fairing/.../bars/bars.html for pictures.

One that got me was the ball in the front brake switch. I was messing around with my brake lever and apparently dislodged it. My brake light was stuck on, but I didn't realize the cause immediately. It was right about the time Carl posted his 'rear master cylinder rusting out' thread and also about the time I had been messing with the pegs, so I got confused (typical). Two freaking hours of pulling wires and greasing fittings, then I loosen the itty bitty switch on the bars and the ball seats itself. Carl, I should have called you when I was putting a porch on my house- I didn't know you were such a burly-man. I know how it feels, though- I hauled 2000 pounds of concrete in 60 pound sacks for all the footings. Funny- the deck is larger than one floor of our house Raised in Texas- I just can't do small. Good to hear you fixed the V11- I'll keep an eye on those things. Cheers, Jason

That's interesting- thanks for the info. There's a couple of books I need to read- I want to learn more about engine modifications and I want to learn more about suspension. As it stands, I know just enough to be dangerous. Like many, I picked up most of my skills and information from my dad (grew up on a farm) and young friends (we liked bikes/cars). We weren't rich, so it was always 'how can we make this thing go?' not 'how can we make it go correctly?' Makes me wonder how many bad habits I've picked up. Cheers, Jason

Al, I've got 8500 or so miles on my V11sport- it runs better as I put more miles on it. Typical for Guzzi. So.... Get out there and put some miles on. Even short 50-75 mile rides add up if you go every day. Cheers, Jason

I think you're right, Jeff. I thought about that after I submitted the post. But it can't be a whole lot- I was dinking around with my eldo this morning and the rockers come down reasonably straight. Jason

Well, there's certainly a law of diminishing returns in engine tuning. Another of my hobbies is building my own stereo equipement (tubes- valves for you Euro-types- of course). Talk about an amazing amount of money for an unmeasurable return. Some of the capacitors and resistors are outrageously priced, and I can't tell the difference between them and a radio shack special sometimes. To be fair- Al hasn't really done a whole lot to his bike. 0.25 in compression? That isn't too dramatic, I would guess. Is the porting where it's coming from? I don't know, but I am curious. Or does the porting do more for efficiency (yes, I know they're related) or smoothness of power delivery? I'm curious, cause it's something I'm tossing around in my head. As far as the spitting and popping and whatnot, I wonder if this correllates with temperature? I notice my bike backfires on an infrequent basis, but only when it's hot out (ambient temp> 90F, 32C). You want to gather some info? Set a poll maybe? Cheers, Jason

Al, The lateral thust bearings (stock is just a spring and some washers) and bearings on the rocker spindle are ones that should be (relatively) easy to fit. The roller bearing on the rocker tip...now that would require some effort. Sorry to confuse ya'll- I snagged the photos here: http://www.mgcycle.com/racing.htm The other thing that I've seen recently is a windage tray (on that page and on guzzitech). Maybe that would be a solution to the oil pick-up under acceleration thread? Cheers, Jason

A handful of lead shot would be just as effective and a lot cheaper. Not real environmentally sound if you crash, so don't crash. Cheers, Jason

Welcome to the harsh, unforgiving world of Italian motorcycles, Joe. I'm afraid the only thing you can do is take a trip. A long trip. With curves and changes in elevation. Trust me, I'm a doctor. Cheers, Jason

I saw a shim and bearing set to replace the spring, but not a bearing-supported rocker assembly. If I missed that, I'd be interested in where it is. I'll probably buy the shim/bearing replacement for the spring anyhow. Looks cool. Anyhoo, I have a couple extra rocker assemblies. I'm going to send one to my father-in-law and see if he can make one (uh, four) like the MGCycle pic. We'll see. Cheers, Jason

Dont forget to take the door off the yard-fridge I've done my karmic debt for a while, I guess. Right now (knock wood), five Guzzi's are running and one's in a gazillion pieces in my basement. It's going to be a rad machine. Based on G5, with all sorts of cool bits inside. I've a home-made leading link fork setup for it since it's going to be pulling my sidecar. Now if I could only have time to work on it...my wife is starting to give me hints- 'sure would be nice to take the sidecar out...' She's the best. BTW, two bikes are for sale....guess I should visit the 'buy and sell' section. Sorry bout the rear main. That is a PITA. At least you can check spline wear and replace clutch springs if they're old. I need to replace the front main seal on my eldo, but it's such a small leak that I haven't convinced myself to do it yet. Too much fun riding it. Cheers, Jason

Like these? (Taken from MGCycle website). They're cool looking! $120 doesn't sound like too much for a Guzzi part (sigh). Anyone else tried these? They might help for rocker guide wear, but it wouldn't help valve stem wear. The valve is moving up and down in the guide- the stem of valve is what's wearing out, so then the valve can wobble around while it moves up and down. That, in turn, wears out the seat that the valve sits in (in the combustion chamber).