stewgnu

damn, now i’m hungry…

might need a handydandy ‘triangle protection system’ to keep crud off it

could it be fitted t’other way round..?

yep. It rides similar to a v11, without the mad grunt obviously, but still shifts Very Nicely. Very light, very low slung, just lovely really

oh gawd yeah- one further point is that my ace h/c fabbo relay is sited 1 inch from the + terminal… i reckon i’ll live with it a while yet, but them terminal blocks are the way forward for sure. My monza has 1 wire to the neg, and 2 wires to the pos hahaa!

Just installed a KiwiRoy auxiliary-high-current-fabadoo relay! Works a dream, thanks Roy. Starting troubles be gone damn you! One particularly nice touch was that wee unused bracket sited next to the ecu proved to be a perfect place to attach the relay- it just, only just has enough clearance for the seat base. Without this, I couldn’t see an alternative handy place- there’s not a deal of room under there. One particularly irritating point is having 4000 wires hooked up to the battery.

I learned on, and took, my ‘big’ licence on a school’s Fazer 600. I was riding a cheapo, learner 125 single at the time and even though the 600 had the power i realised i enjoyed riding the single home after lessons more. It was the sound. That beat of the engine thudding away gave me a proper grin. After i got my licence i bought a w650 cos i knew i wouldn’t love a multi and i loved the ace styling. It was a superb bike and, in retrospect, perfect for a new rider. At the time there was an excellent forum for the model too. Eventually i crashed her by opening the throttle too soon on a wet and sharp bend that had tram tracks- awful road condition combo but a good lesson. So what to buy next? Always loved the first gen speed triple 900’s, and Aprilia Falcos looked funky…. Came very close to buying a trx850 (still want one) then i was re-reading an old 1999 issue of Ride magazine which had a tiny article on weird Italian bike. I think it only had 1 photo of the bike- oddball green colour, loved the styling, and it was a twin. I’m possibly a tad vain when it comes to bikes- styling and noise come first for me, couldn’t give 2 hoots about performance really. V11’s look damn fine. And with the right pipings sound perfect- booming at low revs and snarling more and more as you open it up. Perfect.

Sorry folks, seems i don’t know my assay from my elbow. Also apologies for the diagram not being ‘standard electrician’ grade- i see that anyone with colour-blindness would struggle with my crappy lash-up.

Mainly for the addition of Roy’s relay- please let me know if I’ve got the wrong end of the stick with that and I’ll amend it. Having the relays set bolder helped me anyway.

oo a skorpion?

were you on 2 wheels though?

there’s one, maybe two, weak-points in the system

I remember sitting in a cafe once when a chap pulled up at the lights, and stalled, his old Gold Star…. Gave me a chance to drink in the beautiful bike but also gave me backache just watching him trying to kick the bugger to life again!

100 bucks?? holy moly…. there’s a guy here in sheffield will powdercoat them bar ends for a tenner. He did the brake hanger on my old v11 for that much anyway. Did my monza wheels for 100…

it’s also known to be one of the heaviest, ultimo densio pieces of engineering known to man

good time to check needle bearing 31 for grittiness too. And lube the snot out of it.

Absolutely phil- whomever is making the decisions at RE is knocking it outta the park

Yeah man- ‘zooming’ on a w650 is sitting at 90 with your chin ont tank haha Although, even on the V11 i hate taking it past 90 -100mph.

Gorgeous docc. Just lovely. I’ll also sing the praises of the old Kawa W650 all day long, it’s a cracking bike, and apart from the rude welding on the frame, very nicely put th’gither. Zooming on mine from Santiago De Compostela (beautiful town) across to Bilbao to catch the ferry is an ace memory.

ah sorry- i’m a bit grumpy just now.

hummm i dunno man- the old ‘weight and horsepower’ debate? …who cares really? if a bikes fun to ride it’s fun to ride. if you spend most time touring at high speed get a sport tourer, not a retro. if you spend most time nipping thru the city get a scooter, not a retro. Get a retro cos you like the style. end of. they’re all likely extremely capable machines so get the one you like the look of. which is a moto guzzi v11. 😀

oil comes from a few sources… had a ‘leak’ recently that turned out to be blowing out of the airbox

the Enfields certainly are popular, and seem well liked for what they are… but i have a w650 so that’s that itch scratched. When I look at every year’s line-up of retros, neo-retros, modtros etc, I can’t help but think: “But I’ve got a V11 already”, and then I feel all smug likes.

Yes but they’re on the bike sorry! All shined up nice. I much prefer the look to the mushrooms

i’d kind’ve ignored the clutch safety as i’d assumed the po had bypassed it, rookie error i spose