jrt

Might need a number 3 for the Guzzi....depends on the thickness of the eraser, I suppose.

Mike, while you have easy access to the flywheel you might want to paint a mark on it for each (actual) TDC.

Slavomir came across as a good man. He went home too soon. Godspeed, sir.

This is really unbelievable. You have my greatest respect that you still want to ride this bike. You and Belfast are now part of an elite group! Of masochists! Yeah, I'm part of it, too. We're not the only ones.

I agree with you insofar as there is only one reasonable alignment of the flywheel. I think sometimes- or some bikes- the marks align and on others they don't. I have never worried too much about it- I don't use the alignment marks. I use a chopstick whenever I set the valves. As long as I am pretty close, then the valve adjustment is going to be fine. And it's quick.

Not an exact match, but look here: http://www.swva.net/jkenny/ or here: http://www.harpermotoguzzi.com/head.htm or ???

Mike, the marks on the flywheel are approximate. You only have a few orientations of the flywheel based on the bolt-up pattern, so get as close as you can and that's it. The spark plug idea is good, but you can do the same thing on the ultra-cheap- even using a chopstick. Just spin the motor on compression and stop at any point before TDC. Put a chopstick in the sparkplug hole and mark it with a pen - level to the head or some other point. Read the degree wheel. Now spin the motor the other direction until it pushes up the chopstick to where the mark aligns with the head again. Read the degree wheel and split the difference- that's TDC. The critical thing is being able to measure the piston height at forward/reverse spin- how you do that is open to interpretation.

I saw an ad today on the tv (reminded me why I don't watch tv on any regular basis). Progressive insurance is apparently offering a policy where they give you a discount if you put some kind of dongle in your car. I can only presume it is a GPS device to monitor speed. Bear in mind- I've only seen a short commercial and have not followed up, but why the heck would I want a few percent deduction on my policy just to let my insurance company follow me around? Stopped in too close a proximity to a bar? There goes your car/bike insurance. Stopped too close to a McDonalds? They let your health insurance know.... dang tin foil hat. It must not fit right, since the radio transmissions still get through to the transponder in my brain...

That just took the wind out my sails. I hope he is ok, and I'll have a good thought for him regardless- life is short...

So far none of you mentioned the prime necessity, the you-know-what. ping/snap spare underwear?

Is she wearing bicycling shoes?

Nice. You'll enjoy the ST- they are really wonderful to ride. I'm sorry I (had to) sell mine, but I am now having a blast with a Multistrada.

Naively

I have never heard of any of those places that you mention, therefore in the flying over the head spirit of V11 Quizzes, I am awarding you 3 points for those excellent answers. I can tell that you want them. Just let De Ben try to take them away. Just let him try. Oh, you're just sucking up. It's not like you posted a 1953 Quintax Rotary to win a stump point.

I can't say about the model, but I can spot the matte black paint.

What the hell do you have against floppy rears? Dang, man, most boys would have loved to ride on one when they were young. I do understand that as a developed, sophisticated person, you might prefer a tight rear...still don't impugn those less erudite. Oh- and don't insult your wife. At least not if she has a good right hook.

In order to run ducatidiag (which, happily is free- or more precisely donation-ware), you'll just need to download the software, get a connector (not sure which ends you'll need, so I can't help there) and post a screenshot of your ECU config. My French is awful, so I can't help much, but start here: http://ducatidiag.xooit.com/index.php And do a google search on where to download the software. Good luck!

Wipes sleep from eyes.... What's going on back there? If you damn kids can't keep it down, I'm pulling the forum over and I'll give you what's coming.

BFG, hey, where'd you get my picture? 68C, I was just yanking your chain. I and many others visit here often, though I have to admit I don't post much anymore. I can detail them in a later post or non-post.

Bless you, Ferguzzi and may the wind be at your back!

And when you get around to wanting to 'unleash the sound', then get a set of mistral mufflers and stucchi crossover. Enrichen the mixture a bit via the TPS and you will be good to go.

Ben, I'm sorry, but nobody really frequents this board anymore. Welcome back, and good luck with the Griso!

Ace Mallot and Charlie Cole are F-ing good mechanics. You certainly had the right guys do your work. Nice looking bike! J

I think the best way to answer that question would be to look at the valve timings on a V7 vs. your bike. I don't think an Eldo set will work. Let's see if I can remember why- it might have to do the fitment of the gears on the shafts. I don't have the books in front of me to check valve timings at the moment. I do know you can buy aluminum timing gears- straight cut and helical- or a set of Al driven gears + steel crankshaft gear. That would certainly work. Heck, I have an unused set of straight-cut Al gears for a round fin tonti I would part with and guarantee they would fit in said application. For a windage tray, if Pete doesn't still sell them, then look at the outside oil filter adapter sold by MGCycle. It includes a windage tray. Warning though- you will need to cut about a 1/2" wide X 1" long slot in the back where an oil-return tube sticks down. Attached is a picture of the modified product. It kind of pissed me off, to tell the truth, but it was an easy fix. If you don't have a mill, then you can probably use a dremel. Don't be like me- do it before you try to bolt it up.

Generally, the 2-3K rpm range isn't very good for running the bike. They are much happier above 4K. Lugging the motor sounds great, but causes unnecessary wear on the drive line. I wasn't aware that any of the v11s had an O2 sensor....do you mean air temp sensor? But, to start answering your Q's. Yes, a crossover will help, mostly between 3-5K rpm where there is a slight dip in the power curve, or at the upper end above 5K rpm. Different crossovers help in different areas though. I have a Stucchi crossover (ok, had), which worked great to eliminate the dip at 4K. The Mistral apparently improves upper end power (5K +) more. On my V11, I had changed the intakes to K&N pods, exhaust to Mistrals and the Stucchi mid pipe. I enriched the TPS setting a bit, but never added a PCIII. Although I have heard good things about them- you can have them mapped to your bike with your specific mods on a dyno- I never felt any need to do that. So, I would say a PCIII is not required, but might be useful for your specific bike.