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Interesting. You don't hit the cross-brace (big round trans-frame brace in front of the wheel) when you shift? On mine, the stock setup is pretty close to it. I guess you rotate the shift-dog forward one notch? Cheers, Jason

The sidestand "safety" switch goes bad occasionally (uh, regularly?) as well. Make sure it's not that. cheers, Jason

Boy, the Canadian dollar has sure taken a nose dive! I pay $145 a year for my 2001 V11 sport, comprehensive, $500 deductable. Whew, I was worried after reading some of the reports above. Cheers, Jason

Badass! Be sure and let us know how it handles. I love that it's in your dining room. Ahhh, art. Cheers, Jason

Hi Paul, The stand can go on either side- on the left the handle goes back, and on the right it goes forward. Pretty convenient actually. I kind of like takemasa's jack stand. Cool. Cheers, Jason

GPS enabled cell phone is my guess. Their website is remarkable uninformative. Now you guys are going to make me look up my insurance. Sigh. 5 bikes. I'm as bad as Mike. At least I'm in no-wheresville, so it's cheap. cheers, Jason

Either or both. I bought some moly concentrate and diluted it into synthetic gear oil. It doesn't take much. That goes into both transmission and rear drive on my Eldo. I haven't changed the oil yet on my V11 (though my dealer has- so I let him worry about it for now). I think it helps a little bit, but nothing over the top. Cheers, Jason

Or a shot of laudanum picks you up while it calms you down. Cheers, J

Some of you folks put a lot more miles on your V11's than I do, so I'm interested in the valve train story as well. I'm also jealous Al got TiN coated valves. It just sounds cool enough to make me want to spend money. So...what other options for wheels are there? I'm not disrespecting your's Rich, I'm just curious. Stock wheels are kind of heavy- has anyone changed out to lighter rims? I recall seeing something on Rick's website (webbikeworld.com) about a guy who was tricking out his V11. Cheers, Jason

Hmmm, weird. If changing the oil helped that much, you might want to get some moly additive to further smooth it out. Every time I change my oil, there's always a bit of metal. Mine usually looks like sludge, though. Keep the filings in a plastic bag- just think of it as evidence Then change the oil in 3000 miles again and compare. Previous posts are correct though- even though this is an 'improved' transmission, Guzzi tends to like an authoritarian shift, and having a correctly setup and lubricated shift mechanism is key. cheers, Jason

That's because Rich IS from the future. :!: ok, ok, time for coffee. J

Waddya need brakes for, Rich? With wheels that fast, you could just do some quantum mechanical tunneling through objects. Give 'er the gas. Cheers, Jason

Oh, I don't know... Is this a cardinal or a venal sin? We have to decide that before we know whether you're going to hell or not. You might get by with a minor penance. But the bike should be fine. Cheers, Jason

Hi David, I would look real carefully at the fork tubes- I think they taper down a mm or so 4 or 5 cm down the tube (from the top). That would really limit how much you could drop the triple clamp. Is that something you want to do anyway? If you lower the bike, it'll affect cornering ability and overall geometry depending on what you do with the back end. Consider replicating what I did- it was simple and reasonably priced. Handling is a little bit lighter in the front end, but it rides well up into the triple digits. Vibrations are much reduced. Overall the bars are moved 1.5-2 inches back and about 1 inch up. cheers, Jason edit- two more notes- I do tend to set farther back now- my backside just touches the seat cowling when before I would sit about, uh, 1.5-2 inches further forward And, you should be able to find a drill bit that size at either a tool shop (a good one that sells individual drill bits) or talk to your machinists at Scripps Mine are very helpful here.

Hi Buck, Try this for an easy fix to the tank suck problem. Open the gas cap- there's a rubber grommet or o-ring underneath on the flat part that makes a seal to the cap. Remove the rubber grommet. Problem fixed. If you tend to ride your bike horizontally, gas may leak out. But if you ride upright (recommended), it works just fine. Cheers, Jason edit: By affixing the 'bier' smilie, I am in no way suggesting that you should ride after many biers. Grommet removal is a one-bier job unless it's raining.

Spiegler makes the handlebars, MG (and others) make the clamps. I have some pics on my website, here's one of them. Cost has been about $250 (without looking at receipts). Cheers, Jason

I can print it to a pdf file if you want and email it to you (5.4Meg before optimiziation). Let me know off-list. Or try a different browser? Opera, Netscape, or if you're one of the lucky 3% using a mac try safari. Works great. Cheers, Jason

Hey, that's gotta be good for a couple of horses! I'm tapping the risers today- I'll get them sent out today or tomorrow. Cheers, Jason

Ditto. I've got them on my V11 sport. I've no complaints about the conversion and I don't have a PCIII. It also opens up the mid-section of the bike, because you have to remove the side panels. I dig the cheese smile... Jason

Weird. Thanks for the heads-up- I'll check mine when it warms up a bit. Cheers, Jason

I made a set of 'clip-on risers'. Hmmm, guess I had foresight. I never did try them, though- instead I put a set of handlebars on my bike. Send me your address, you can test them out to see if they work. They're not as pretty, but I made them for the V11, so I guarantee they'll fit. They are hell for stout, too. Aircraft grade aluminum (from Rockwell-Collins). You'll need to furnish a few allen-head nuts to make it work. I don't have a crossover- never felt the need. Of course, I haven't tried a bike with one to really make a comparison. I also have a ventura rack. Its mostly removable, kind of ugly, but holds a ton of stuff. I also have tecno bags. I have an o-ficial MG tank bag. Works great. No complaints. Not huge, but big enough for me. Cheers, Jason

Warranty. It's the best price I've heard yet. cheers, Jason

Sorry Rich, 'The Cheese' has to go to Gordon at MGcycle. Tradition, ya' know. Cheers, Jason

I doubt you are missing anything. Everyone is built differently, and we all have different riding styles. I like a more 'upright' position than the stock sport gives me. I also have a small fairing (R90S style) so I don't have as much lift on by torso. I hate to bring this up, but maybe its a compensation mechanism. Or...it could be your monkey-like appearance. Cheers, Jason

Forte cojones, eh? That's impressive...be sure to send a pic to the 'shrapnel italia' page. Cheers, Jason