JBBenson

Crankcase: Eni I-Ride 4T 20W50 (Fast By Ferraci ships for free) Gearbox: Redline Heavy Shockproof Gear Oil ("strawberry") (Amazon) Final Drive: Motul 31721L Gearbox 80W-90 Molybdenum Bisulphide (Amazon)

Exhaust going to Kentucky, thanks for looking....

Tim.......Live The Fantasy ! Has anyone actually seen these bikes? They look pretty cool, but dealers are far and few between.

I have a 1st generation Aprilia Caponord with the Rotax V990. After fettling all the typical Italian motorcycle issues, it is a fantastic bike. One of the best frame geometries I have ever ridden, perfectly neutral handling and no weirdness. After remapping, it now has great power, and the power band is as wide as the side of a barn. It's less an ADV bike than it is a rally car on 2 wheels: a snarling fire road type of machine with a lot of suspension travel and sport bike characteristics. A friend with the same model just did a 3k+ rounder to Oregon and back, no issues. I have been eyeing the new Africa Twin, but every time I fire up the Capo I am happy.....happy having saved so much money not buying a new bike!

Cleaning out my garage, I have a pair of near perfect LaFranconi stock mufflers and stock crossover. Pulled from a 2000 V11 Sport with about 5k miles. I can ship, or you can pick up in Los Angeles. FREE, but you pay shipping..... PM or jessebenson(at)mac(dot)com

OK, throwing this out there: One or more of the lifters are snapped in two, and the ends are clicking and clacking together as the cam actuates it/them. It sounds bad. I wouldn't drive it until I figured it out.

Thanks. Turns out that the Guzzi tool kit has a wrench that sort of fits. It also turns out that the weep was coming from the drain plug, which I managed to squeeze another 1/16 turn closed. Hopefully, that stops it. Next oil change I will change the funny brass & rubber sealing washer.

My manhole cover on my sump is weeping, I would like to snug it up, any idea what size that hexagonal socket is? Because of the rounded corners I can't get an accurate measurement. Anybody know?

Try some lowering footpegs, they helped my hip joint pain, I used the 1" lowering ones: http://www.knightdesignllc.com/Products/Motorcycle/Moto-Guzzi/Moto-Guzzi-Motorcycle-Menu.html Requires adjusting the brake and shifter but that's easy.

The Lemans is really a 1980's-ish bike, so go for white wheels. Red and white. Sort of like the first Ducati Paso. That would be a bold choice....and I know Scud is bold.

This is neutral for both gears and cover plate shift mechanism:

Yes. The seat tray on my Sport had a sharp edged molding to accommodate the battery, and I could feel the edges after riding for more than 30 minutes. Solution: lower the battery a little bit, flatten the seat tray and modify the foam a little until I was happy. Took a couple of trips to the upholsterer to get it right.

You forgot Earthquake season. You forgot Riot season too.....

Hydraulics are a Dark Art, they make no sense. I have been struggling with my clutch on my BMW 318Ti for 6 weeks now, finally threw in the towel and just replaced both clutch master and slave. Now it works. But it had the same symptoms as yours: it would work fine until suddenly the clutch pedal would go to the floor with no resistance. When it came back up, it would work fine again for 5 minutes or 5 days, until......there it goes again. In my experience, a failing master or slave will slowly fail, not disengaging until the end of travel in a semi-predictable way, which is why I resisted replacing everything. I thought it was air bubbles, return spring not refilling the master, etc etc, all wrong. My new theory is that when one goes, it strains the other, so best to replace or rebuild both at the same time.

Yeah. At a typical biker hangout, you can see a line of new bikes, and the owners in their spotless leathers all standing around, discussing horsepower, active suspension, how Mark Marquez screwed up the last round of MotoGP, blah blah blah..BLAH. The Guzzi pilot mounts his steed, turns the key, and stabs the starter, while the swaggering chatter grows fainter and more desperate. I like the gas pouring onto the ground right before ignition. And then he taxis away slowly, the entire crowd watching him in envy. It's kind of like that.

I guarantee the TPS setting is out. Mine did the same exact thing.....

My felt like that in tight twisties until I got the suspension sorted: dropped the front and raised the rear, and increased rebound both ends. Much better. But it will never be an R1. The V11 Sport/Lemans is not a sport bike but a Gran Turismo for gentlemen of a certain type. The mere mention of it stops conversation amongst discerning men....."you have a Moto Guzzi?" Still the only bike I have ridden that gets the thumbs-up from both the Ducati and Harley-Davidson crowds....

This is a really good idea.......

Hahaha, I actually wrote in my reply "that Meinolf guy would know" but then deleted it as it sounded presumptive.... Anyway, the ECU must have a pressure sensor inside of it. But now, knowing that, I wonder if that doesn't create a worse problem for Scud, because now it's a mystery. The last time I rode above 5000 feet I didn't notice any performance issues....but I was looking out for patches of snow....! Maybe a setting in Guzzidiag?

You are running rich at altitude.... Unless the ECU has a barometer in it (which my Aprilia does, with an air line running from the ECU to the filter box) and you are open loop, there is no way for the ECU to adjust the air/fuel ratio, as there is no Lambda to sniff the exhaust and adjust the mixture as you climb into thinner air. There may be a way to hack this outside of tuning the bike again at altitude. I can't think of one. I would guess that as you climb, it will get colder and richen the mixture somewhat, causing the popping... But running rich for a time is better than lean for sure.......

If your theory is correct, they will also not open quite as much, as the rocker needs to first travel the gap before hitting the valve? In any case, are you running closed or open loop? Do you have a Lambda?

Great pics. How do you transport the 2 bikes with the rig and all?

Hmmm. Setting aside the time-bomb self-grenading clutch, that ultra low milage is worrisome.....I prefer my used machines to be already somewhat fettled....there's a lot to do on this machine in addition to the clutch upgrade. Add 1500-2000 not including the buyer's labor to bring it up to snuff... That being said, I do really love the Tenni Lemans....but I must resist, I already have 2 temperamental Italians in the garage....

You mean a spoiler? Well, I have the touring x-creen on my Aprilia, using the clamps. Keep in mind that the clamps are weirdly heavy, and make the lip wobble and bounce, so I am going to drill the screen when I get a second. Try all the adjustments to see what works, it took some experimentation to reduce buffeting. But the thing that worked the best was to lift the windshield away from the fairing, allowing air to come in underneath, using a Palmer mount: http://www.palmerproducts.co.uk That really smoothed it out. There are other brands as well, search around....

Got the Time Sert kit 10x1.5, fixed the stripped drain bolt and finished my "fluid change fiasco" Then went for a flying 60 mile rounder up the CA 2 and back down Oro Vista. I have been tuning the suspension and she is handling like a beautiful and muscular trapeze artist, flying through the curves as I blipped and banged the downshifts on the set-up and rolled on the throttle midway, feeling her sturdy back end wiggle under the power as I ever so gently nudged her grips to and fro.....*ahem* SUCH a great bike.