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I'm ready.

For polishing, TX had a great suggestion one time which was to take the part to a truck stop and employ the local polishers. I haven't tried this, but it makes sense considering the work done to trucker's rigs. You might also consider a 'fenda extenda' to reduce the amount of road grit thrown up onto the alt. cover. The cover takes the brunt of the hit- why should it?

Just wondering if cabin feever is gettin' to ya.

With the BMW's, is that to get rid of the surging? need lot's more of these for that kind of fix. I think there was some talk on this subject with regards to some of the early FI California models. Wildguzzi may have a record of it, or they may have been lost in one of the upgrades/hackings. Seems the FI works pretty well now on the V11, so I'm not sure why anyone would want to change it out. Besides- is there enough room? I guess there always is if you make your own ports.... It's an interesting question. I see no reason why it can't be done, but neither can I see a reason to do it.

I take an edgy and youth-oriented approach to life.

I don't even use a film canister- I just zip-tied the resistor to a lug on the spine.

Or you clamp or otherwise affix the drive head, then put a known weight on the handle, measure the distance from the center of the drive head to the center of downward force on the handle (the string you used to attach it or whatever). Badabing, that's your calibration- x pounds at y feet. Or convert it into newton*meters.

There was a '37 or '39 250 sport for sale (in Italy) a day or two ago. That wasn't 'too ugly'

Interesting.

My opinions- I love the motor and the transmission on the California's. They are much improved over earlier iterations, and I love the earlier iterations. I hate the foot rest position. I don't care much for the handlebars either. And the seat is awful. Fix those things (or maybe they don't bother you) and you have a bike for the ages. I have 270,000+ miles on my G5, 15K or so on my Eldorado and both of those are cruisers. They are smooth, powerful, and comfortable. Maintenance is straightforward- but you have to be willing to do some. Also Guzzi's thrive on abuse, which is an endearing trait.

zing.

Thanks Tom- every data point is helpful and words of encouragement go a long way. Cheers, Jason

I read this title and immediately thought of Tx's topic. Sorry. Also, sorry- you'll need to split the calipers to do an R&R. Good news is that it's a pretty easy job. At least it was on the old F08/9's. I guess the thing to do is measure the old backing plates and the new ones to ascertain whether you blew a seal or just sucked a bit of air. A visual check might tell you. The rear reservoir is pretty small- could you have run a bit low? Brembo HAS to make a seal kit-aren't these the same brakes as on Ducati's???

Are you just happy to see me or is that a large air force survival knife in your pocket?

The heads on Guzzi's did need to be retorqued for the earlier (round head) models. They used a different cylinder material though- maybe that's the reason? My understanding is that everyone above is correct- late model Guzzi's don't need retorquing.

A walker? A night with Belfast?

It's three pieces. You can see the seam in the picture- there's a U shaped (innermost) piece and then 'the rest of it' and then the toe piece. The only reason I did it like that is that I happened to have the aluminum in about those sizes. I didn't have a single alum. piece big enough to carve out the whole thing. I considered doing it as you say, but I didn't come up with a good mounting system. The compound curve was the problem for me. The lever reaches forward, bends to the left (outside) and bends down. When you move the toe piece back, and keep the relative position of the toe piece, you have to really increase the severity of the downward bend otherwise it fouls the porkchop. I started with a single curve then put the piece in a 10 ton jack to give it the second curve. Three pieces and a torch later, I managed to bend one without breaking it. I'm sure there's a better solution than mine...I just happened to be bored.

dammit my reply got lost. I gotta go to sleep- the gist of the message was yes, it's two pieces not including the toe. Yes there's a better way, but I haven't figured it out. I used a ten ton jack to make the compound bend and ruined three pieces before I got it right. You will find you need to make the downward bend much more acute in order for your toe to rest comfortably under/over the end of the lever. Also, it is easy to foul the porkchop...

My G5 was an LAPD cop bike- has the spots, the black and white paint scheme, floorboards and I put a Harley shield on it. I had more people be courteous and notice me riding it than on any other bike. So, in addition to the camo and the lights and riding on hilltops, there's an effect like the cuckoo bird- fool 'em and they'll respect you. (the cuckoo bird lays it's eggs in other bird's nests and lets them do the work)

Almost anything would be easier than what I did, which was carve the shifter out of a block of aluminum. Well, two blocks actually, but one piece was real easy. The brake lever is a piece of cake, since it is flat. The shifter has a compound curve in it that is hell to make. Here's some pictures in this thread (these two threads are slowly merging): http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7151&hl=

dlaing- Here's what my set looks like. Not so polished, but I've got the sizing worked out. You will appreciate that the toe lever is made out of an old set of aluminum 'monkey bars' from an old laboratory we were gutting out. The toe piece is extra long so I can easily 'cover' it with my foot. Eventually, I'll take all this off and finish it, but it looks ok as is- maybe a bit clunky. I had to shape the shift lever by hand because of the compound curve- damn, that took a long time. Evoluzione kit and unfinished brake lever: Brake side: And shifter side:

Wow, that blue looks really nice on Zeb's bike and on biesel's picture. Almost as good as black.

You might want to mention your shoe size. I like the new placement that the kit provides, but my size 9.5 (34?? cm Euro) foot had to reach for the shifter.

Well, these are just teething pains. Keep riding- work out the niggles and she'll run strong and without fail for 10's of thousands of miles. Honestly- a rear drive seal failure is rare- not indicative of mainstream at all. I'm sorry it happened, but it's just bad luck. Speedo cable on the other hand worst design ever.

That'll work for me. Thanks for the info on the PBY. That was one of my favorite models as a kid- that and the A-10. I didn't know the Cats were built in SoCal, though. I'll definitely make a note of that. Who knows, she may live there some day and be happy that they named an island after her. Dude, you should think more highly of yourself. You're practically royalty in a Hamlet sort of way. There's no Denmark smilie, so this has to do-