sp838

Sorry for changing the subject, but I'm curious about your gas tank: the bike is an '03 but it appears to have a chin pad... the other thing is it appears to have a carbon fiber look. It is truly carbon fiber or was it painted/wrapped that way?

Love it, great job. Inspires me to get rid of my tail light.

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.

The Power Commander is only as good as the map that it's programmed with.

don't think the wires go bad

the other important dimension is fork leg length, you want that to be the same or very close. you can use the front end off of any bike you want, the reason why gsxrs are a popular choice is because it's a squid favorite. there arentons of them being sold and parted out, so a gsxr front end is generally cheaper and easier to come by. it also depends on what you want to do with the internals. I have the 30mm ohlins nix road and track cartridges which did require some machining of the lowers in irder to install. other forks from other bikes come ready to install.

this guys makes nice stuff: http://www.motobits.com/guzzi.htm

those are sexy

Thanks for this info. I wonder if this is something Stig Peterson could improve on, or if his expertise only applies to Ohlins stuff...

yes, with some grinding and polishing to remove the casting flashings. the top clamp has holes for handlebar risers, I think it is from a daytona or a sport 1100, can't remember.

It's gonna look pretty tough (sorry so low res, and also somewhat off topic):

After doing the front end job on my '01, the old stock Marzocchis were just laying around, so I decided to put them on a CB450 project bike. I'm wondering if these forks can be re-valved and sprung. This Honda will end up being quite a bit lighter than the V11, I'm thinking it might end up being necessary... What is the voodoo with these guys?

Well yeah, if you are using gears that are not designed specifically for your engine it is pretty obvious you might encounter some problems. The gears we are talking about are specifically for the V11, and they are made from high strength Al alloy.

I have some friends who build and race Guzzi engines and they have said that one of the very first things one should do for the most reliable running is to switch to gears.

Jealous of your rossopuro reaction rod. I looked everywhere, including contacting them directly, and couldn't find one. I went with the Ghezzi Brian rod, which is nice, but not as cool as the RP billet one.

I think ours are supposed to be the 5000Ω ones.

Heh. That, and supposedly unshielded spark plugs can cause interference with ECUs and electronic ignitions in our injected bikes. Points and carbs bikes wouldn't need them.

Sincere question: is there any reason why our bikes would need anything other than a standard resistor covers, that cost at most $6 each, as are fitted to thousands of other motorcycles?

The workshop and parts manuals are invaluable. Harpermoto also has parts diagrams for almost all guzzi models going back to 1967: http://www.harpermoto.com/oem-moto-guzzi-illustrated-parts-catalog.html

You could try contacting this guy: http://alutank.de/bilder.html He could make you a hand hammered and polished aluminum seat pan to fit the stock subframe, which you could then pad and upholster in leather. Nothing would look better or more "café" than that. Germany is right next door, would be relatively easy methinks.

Is your headlight mounted to the forks, or the frame? If not mounted already to the frame, here is another part you might consider: GU01578680, part 16 in this diagram. A smaller bracket for the headlight and instruments that also mounts to the neck tube. Mounting everything to a structure which is only secured to the rocker covers doesn't sound like a very good idea to me, but what do I know...

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I am definitely adding this to my to-do list, and MG Cycle can order them: http://www.mgcycle.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=68_126&products_id=2568 The crank gear is steel, the following gears are Al.

It's par for the course, the vast majority of aftermarket bodywork vendors, such as Airtech, go out of their way to tell you that you are on your own when it comes to mounting their stuff, even with bikes that they have themselves built. I once contacted someone (who shall remain nameless) who makes an MGS01 replica body kit, who had all the parts in stock and ready to ship to me, but could not provide any details as to what the hardware would need to be, even though he had built one himself and has photos to show. I found it really hard to believe he didn't have any drawings or any other documentation or measurements he could provide, and decided not to buy it because it pissed me off so much.

This is the part I was referencing, number 12 in this drawing: It attaches to the steering neck tube and provides the internal mounts for the front end of the fairing. You will need it, or something like it, to mount your headlight. The little tabs you are talking about are not enough to secure the fairing properly. This bracket might be too big, because the stock LeMans fairing is bigger, but it would be a good starting point for you because it has the proper mounts for the headlight and the correct connection to the bike frame. The mounts for the fairing itself would likely need to be cut down and or bent somewhat to suit the smaller shape of the Laverda fairing, but again, you will need this, or something like it.