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What was 'highly debated' was the 2000/2001 models with the steeper steering angle. In '02 (or 03?), MG went to a more relaxed or more trail steering setup since some folks had complained about the early one. Yours should be a very stable bike. I would start to think about some of the front end adjustments; are the fork legs the same length without a wheel between them? same angle (in case the triple trees weren't manufactured properly)? I can't really address tires, as I am not much (at all) an expert. I have an earlier, short-frame, model that handles great. The long-frame models should be very pleasant to ride. Good luck Jason

Give her a kiss for us...

Congratulations, David! Best wishes to the boy and a long and prosperous life to both of you. Now you can start thinking about how you'll spoil him. Hopefully not with your dreadful taste in music...

Aw, cusswords. My wife is out of town that week- kind of limits my travel. Hmm, wonder if my 5 yo daughter wants to do a couple of 12 hour days in a sidecar? I definitely would not be taking her to hooters. Don't care how good the food is. They do serve food, right?

I'll preface this with the fact that I am not a tire expert by any means (if there is such a thing). You'll need to get it fixed for sure- you already know that. As to how immediately dangerous it is- I don't think you'll see catastrophic failure- the nut on the valve stem can only move up a bit until it finds threads. I'm assuming the threads are stripped next to the base at the rim. I would have it fixed asap, though. You know it's a problem and it can only get worse.

The question? Mark business, again.

What's the old adage about crazy women in bed?

Bwahahahaha. Sorry Ben, I'm not laughing at you- I'm laughing with you. Antonio- Ben is like 16 mental years old. Physical age has no measure here. Ben, too bad you didn't like the ST2. I have an ST4s, and I quite like it. It's not such a sharp instrument that it would out-handle an RSVR (having never ridden one), but it does respectably well. And it pulls harder than the V11.... and runs in the cold and the heat. I look at it as a fun diversion, but also I like to run my G5 with a sidecar. For me- that's just a huge grin. When you get back to wanting a V11, give me a call. I'll set you up with an honest, and good, deal. Less than a Dosoduro, that's for sure. You're a Guzzi guy at heart- face it and you'll be happier. Cheers, Jason

Another reason that V11' s might be scarce is that money isn't worth a lot now. Not just for resale value in general, but Guzzis have never been worth much if used. If I was to sell my (back to stock) '01 Sport...I couldn't get much out of it; maybe 5K USD, but I doubt it. After 10 years of ownership, I find that I like the V11. After many more years of ownership, I really, really love the older models- Eldorado (850GT) and the early Tonti frames. Silly as it may seem, that may be the direction I'm moving. Actually, I am now entertaining the idea of putting the V11 motor into a three-wheeler a la Morgan. My other fantasy is to mill the cooling fins back to old-school round and install the V11 motor into my Eldo. Christ, that'd be a hoot.

That's odd and I'm pretty well stumped at this point. I really doubt your #2- I've replaced the linkage on my V11, but there is zero lash...On the other hand, I have pretty decent shifting on my Eldorado, which is loose enough to make all sorts of mysogynistic comments on. Different boxes??? I know the old 5 speed enjoys deliberate shifting, but really that much different? If I had to guess, I would start with clutch, simply on cost analysis. But, as point of pride- St. Louis actually does have some interesting riding areas. The Ozark Mtn's aren't too far as well as some other regions. I enjoyed the North East quite a lot but I don't feel too left out here. It's different, but nice. Frankly, I have been very lucky to spend saddle time in most of the US. I've even enjoyed riding across Kansas. It's all about timing, I suppose. I'd still like to go for a ride with you sometime- I'm sorry we couldn't connect when I was up there. But, as Arnie said...'I'll be back' [Edit] Have you messed with the alignment bolt on the back on the tranny? Is it still there on the 6 speed or do I just remember it from the 5 speed? Sorry- I'm upstairs and my bike is in the basement. Too damn lazy to go look.

Um, you missed a sign there. ...sign, there ....sign good Lord, look at the time. Must be going.

XL250, eh? I knew there was something not-quite right with you. I used to ride my XL250 all over central Texas when I worked in the oil field. Summer, winter, rain or shine....well, it was never 'shine', as I worked the night tour. I remember some ferocious cold mornings and many a ride down a riverbed, though! I liked how the exhaust would gurgle under the water. Really, those are great windows into the past, Belfast. Your descriptions transcend individuals or locals; I have similar fond memories of youthful discretions. Cheers,

Oi.

The oil sending switch is a screw-in thingy between the cylinders, kind of toward the front...on the left side. It's screwed in at maybe 20-30 degrees off vertical. It is very close to the oil delivery lines to the heads. Look on your old bike first, if that one doesn't have a fairing. Guzzi hasn't changed the location of the sensor since the V700. I don't think the oil pump is any less robust on modern Guzzis, but there has been at least one failure that I recall. That was quite rare, and unfortunate. With the older Guzzi's...they have been around long enough that any problems have been addressed or the bike is parts. I have a couple of older models that require very little maintenance. Change the oil, set the valves, go. BTW, the advice about a loose oil filter is good- I forgot that one....

Could be one of several possibilities. The oil pressure sensor turns on/off at very low pressure, so if it truly indicates low oil pressure, you are screwed. It's too late. 1) most likely- the sensor is bad. That's what gstallions is suggesting. I personally would just replace it with a new one rather than spewing oil out in a stream...but, hey- that's just me. Really- this is by far the most common scenario. 2) the pump is bad or there is a blockage in the line. Replacing the sensor won't help. You'll probably need new bottom end bearings as they are the most prone to damage after a low oil-pressure incident. If the sensor is good and you have a low-oil pressure incident....you likely have damaged the bottom end. 3) are you pulling wheelies or doing really hard acceleration? If so, you might be pushing the oil to the back of the crankcase and starving the oil pickup, thus reducing oil pressure. If this is the case, then see 2 above and quit pulling wheelies until you buy a Roper-plate. I'm sure there are other possibilities, but these are the most common, and of these, 1) is BY FAR the most common. I've run one of my Guzzi's (not the V11) without an oil pressure sensor for 30K miles because the oil pump system is dirt-simple and not really likely to fail. And I'm too damn lazy to wire up a proper idiot light ;(. Still- it is worth investigating. If there is an actual problem, it will be cheaper/easier to fix now.

Those are great pictures- I'm glad you went again, Tom. We had a wonderful time at the last Heath Rally, bagpiper notwithstanding, and I hope to ride with you again. Frankly, I thought the bagpiper was pretty amusing in retrospect. Of course, with a young kid, I'm conditioned to get up at unreasonable hours even after some wine. These times won't last.... I saw some pictures on the Yahoo groups site as well. Tom Halchuk and many I recognized, but not by name. Ya'll were wearing...what's the word...."jackets"?? It's been 100 F during the day here and only cooling off to 80 or so at night. I only managed one camping trip this summer. It's been brutally hot. Jeez, I hope this breaks soon. Good on all of you who went. Come on down during spring-when it's nice here in STL. Jason

The roads around Heath are pretty darn nice. Glad you had a good time. We (my family) went last year, met the nicest folks and had a blast. Was the bagpiper there at o-dark-thirty?

And yer favorite drink is whiskey..... I'll see what I can do about pictures- I'm prototyping the windmill with some cardboard soda boxes right now, lol. J

I've been working on a small windmill, and looking into making a Stirling engine next. Oh, and painted the child's room. It's been about 95-100 F every day here for the last gosh-knows-when. It is just not fun to drive in this weather. The 650/KLR project sounds like fun!

ScuRoo, Mike Rich has a good reputation- I would trust him to design a proper piston, so I doubt you will be disappointed. Mike Stewart- Nice to hear from you again! Hope you are doing well Jason

Sounds like the sidestand interlock switch has gone bad. Just bypass that switch and see if that does the trick. I *think* there is a pair of connectors under the tank that you can just plug a wire with two bullet connectors into. No need to cut and splice. However, you would need to remove or lift the tank. Not sure about your noise. Have you (or anyone) run the bike low on oil or done wheelies? Have you noticed the low oil light on hard acceleration? This is a worst case scenario, but under certain circumstances, the oil pump and main bearings can be starved for oil, leading to unpleasant results...and noises. Hopefully, a fastener is loose....

Well, mostly a '74. It looks like it has dual disk up front and I can't tell but it might have a late model rear drive (see 2:09 or thereabouts). I dunno if it's Greg's, but I thought that he recently put a V11 front end on his bike. How old is this commercial. and what is it advertising? I love the Guzzi, but I can't tell what they are trying to sell. Damn, I'm old.

$500? Sheesh, that's a deal. Actually, I do remember a couple of reports on soft valves, so having less-than-properly hardened cam or followers is not out of the question. But generally, I'm with Baldini, et al. How's the bottom end? The bearings there seem to be (usually) the first to go. Or, check the oil galleys to the top end. Could be some freaky problem like the galleys are plugged.

The internal screw adjustment won't do a whole lot for clutch feel- it just changes the position where the clutch engages (unless it is wildly out of adjustment). Reflecting on what you say, it reminds me of a time on my Eldo when the clutch fragged. It was a dual plate clutch (normal run-of-the-mill Guzzi clutch) and the rivets on one of the friction discs came loose. It really smacked into gear and I thought it was a transmission problem until I opened it up. So...maybe a friction disc is bad???? I don't know offhand a link to taking the motor out, but if you have a shed, then you can basically remove the rear wheel and drive, loosen "everything" and lift the tail up, while supporting the motor. I am trying to leave town right now, so I don't have time to elaborate much- check the workshop manual perhaps or search for posts by Pete Roper- he has posted that kind of thing before (very helpful). You can get the workshop manual from groups.yahoo.com and search for V11 workshop manual. It's in the downloads or files section.

You make it sound like a good dose of fiber for breakfast