pete roper

The sloppage sheet is a (Hopefully.) permanent solution for a problem that should never of been there in the first place. I dunno about other people but it certainly fits my definition of a bodge For all I know it may not solve the problem but I'm willing to go out on a limb and state that I'm pretty damn sure that if it doesn't offer a complete cure it will prevent the problem occuring in 99.9999% of cases for 99.999% of riders. It should also have the added benefit of giving the breather system an easier time. Anyway, I put the order in for 50 of 'em today, I hope they will be ready before I fly out next Wednesday. Pete

Me neither . What makes a bike stay upright is the gyroscopic effect of the wheels. What makes it go straight is the steering geometry, the machine's rake and trail. Sorry, I don't buy it, and certainly my earlier Tontis are all, (Within the bounds of construction tollerances.) *symetrical* in that the crank centreline is directly under the centreline of the frame spine. Also there would be no need for the crank to be off centre anyway. If your theory holds true there are heaps of other asymetric bits to keep things sweet, in the gearbox, the driveshaft, UJ et al. Pete

1st proto type installed on a Centauro Sport this AM. No, I didn't try and wheely a customers bike to find out if the problem was cured but the plate went in like a dream, no problems, no leaks. DID note that as Greg has previously stated the dipstick *Full* oil mark is about 1cm too low! So as others have suggested I think it is a good idea to check your oil with the bike upright and the stick NOT screwed in like the factory tell you too, (Smashes head on keyboard!!!AGAIN!) Pete PS. For going to all this trouble I demand another bodge point! I only have one!!!!

1st proto type installed on a Centauro Sport this AM. No, I didn't try and wheely a customers bike to find out if the problem was cured but the plate went in like a dream, no problems, no leaks. DID note that as Greg has previously stated the dipstick *Full* oil mark is about 1cm too low! So as others have suggested I think it is a good idea to check your oil with the bike upright and the stick NOT screwed in like the factory tell you too, (Smashes head on keyboard!!!AGAIN!) Pete

So far I've had two replies to my offer to bring plate over to the UK which fits in well with the usual owners attitude of "Why do I have to do anything? Why isn't it just *there* on a plate?" Keith, I'll bring 10 or 15 of them over, (If needs be I can use them in the flight cabin as throwing weapons to decapitate chanting fanatics! ) and I'll leave 'em with you with the dreary task of getting 'em out . Look, Northern Ireland is no problem, (I think it was BFG? DAve Boyd?) who replied and Gary Rose in Aberdeen, (oh christ! A riggy! I hope they work ). They'll be there, as will I. anyone in the Cambridge area between 8th sept and the end of the month we should try and catch up. Gary Rubert is threatening to come over from Ireland at the end of the month. If you have Gary in tow you can be as rude as you like to anyone and then run away, he's six foot seven former US Marine. Run away! Run away! Pete

Tough titty Amboman Honestly, if I can get a swag of 'em out before I go I will do my very best to do so but things here are, errr, a bit *fraught* at the moment. Not only the hassle of closing down the, (admittedly small.) business for a month at the busiest time of year but also trying to reconoitre strategies to deal withe the *situations* I'm going to have to deal with when dealing with the UK side of my family, (I personally HATE the smell of napalm in the morning! That's what it's going to be like ) At the moment I really feel like I've been stuck up the arse with a weedeater! I don't want to go, I know that the whole sorry situation will be entirely unsatisfactory, it will achieve nothing and will ensure that for another year, (Until I do it all over again!) I will be classified as the world's biggest c@nt un-hung. No wonder I 'ave a spring in my step and joy in my heart Pete PS Randy's really on fire over at WG innee?

OK, I'm about to get the 1st order in for these sheets after 2 separate prototypes were constructed. The 1st one will be going into this Centauro that is currently making the workshop look untidy and the owner is then going to ride back to far north Queensland. If I've f*cked up? This will show it up. To be honest though I think this is very unlikely. I'm about to depart, (Sept 6.) for the UK to visit my Mum. The first run of plates should be well and truly ready by then and so to save people the cost of postage could all people from the UK and Europe who want one please let me know. I'll try and get them in my luggage, seeing as I'm travelling Business class but have enough Frequent Flyer points to upgrade to 1st I'll probably be able to bring over at least a few of the wretched things without having to pay excess baggage Cost? Well the design and CAD work, along with the two Protos haven't been cheap and if they are to be produced in stainless, in a batch of 50, I reckon that I'll have to charge $150AU. I won't give you a load of old flannel about why they are more expensive than the plates for earlier bikes but believe me the reasons are genuine. Those of you in the UK and Europe, please respond with names, addresses, contact phone # etc. to me at motomoda@optusnet.com.au For people in the USA and elsewhere I'm afraid i probably WON'T have time to post stuff out before i leave for England but will do so after I get back at the end of September. Pete

I'd definitely suggest going with the RAM as long as the cost is comparable with the later twin-plater with light flywheel. While I love heavy flywheel bikes I have to say that I'd tend to shy away from them on a V11 because the driveline shock absorber in the gearbox is the later type that uses a stack of bent washers rather than a conventional spring and the heavier flywheel will give the shock absorber a bigger workout than the lighter ones. While I don't have any first hand experience of this a very reputable source has told me that late model Cali's, which have the same shock absorber and a heavy flywheel, have a bit of a habit of flogging out the splines that the face-cam mechanism sits on on the input shaft. This is principally because ith the advent of the 'Washer Stack' spring the splines are very much shorter than they used to be on the 'Spring' spring shafts. Given that the V11's use the same washer stack I'd guess you'd have the same splineform on the shaft. Pete

I'm not sure about the current tests but *most of the older ones seemed to be based on a penetrative type blow, ie, a sharp thing hitting the shell and seeing if it would penerate. This is a classic case of allowing some f*cking bonehead public servant get a hold of the reins! Someone, probably back in the sixties, was asked to look at producing a protective helmet. At that time there was even less consultation than there is now! Some bloody idiot in Whitehall who was probably more familiar with hunting with hounds thought that every time someone fell off a motorbike they smacked their scone on a sharp thing and consequently died. So! The penetrative test! Brilliant!! The thing is if your head comes to a sudden stop at ANY speed over about 20MPH your brain will spin in your skull and crush the medulla oblongata and snap the spinal cord which will kill you in exactly the same way as hanging did, or does, in those countries still barbaric enough to use it as a punishment. Any amount of compressible material will help but the main protection a helmet offers is not penetrative, or *directly* absorbtive of the forces involved in an accident, it is abrasion resistance COUPLED with the absorbtive protection against concussion of the fall from the height of a motorbike seat. Imagine you were trussed up like a turkey and then pushed over from vertical with no way to cushion your fall. Your head would smack on the ground and you'd suffer serious damage. THAT is what the foam in your helmet protects against, not a lot else. The shell is there to prevent abrasion, to put it bluntly, it gets worn away rather than your head as you slide up the road!! I ALWAYS advocate wearing good protective gear. The most importnt thing about a helmet is that a.) it fits and b.) it offers the best protection available in the event of a spill. That isn't the sort of protection offered by having a shell impregnable to a spike with 20Kg on it dropping on the top of it. OK, I'll grant that if you were an anorexic dwarf on a unicycle riding full-tilt at a medieval pike at the level of your helmet it *might* help you. I remain skeptical. For most of us it is about as much use as being told we have to ride around with a rotating toast-rack on our heads! You need a solid shell to absorb abrasion, you need decent, well fitting foam, to absorb shock. After that it's in the lap of the Gods.. Personally one of my main reaquirements is comfort as this allows me to remain alert, (The world needs lerts!) 'Comfort does NOT include wearing a plastic replica of a Wermacht helmet with a spike on the top covered in fake cow fur, but maybe I'm odd that way Pete

I was hoping to have the prototype in my grubby paws on Friday but things conspired against me and I couldn't get to the cutter. I'm off to Tasmania with Jude for a couple of days of R&R on Monday until Wednesday, (And incidentally I'm lending Phil A. my Axone so he can have a play with it and try and work out how to upload different maps into it without broaching the security codes.) After a couple of days lounging in a swanky resort on Cradle Mountain I reckon I should be fighting fit to get the plates run out and if we're lucky I'll be able to get them sorted and posted before I leave for the UK on the 6th of Sept. If I can I'll bring a load of 'em over with me for the purchasers in Pommyland and that should save on postage! Incidentally it seems that the price of stainless has recently gone up for some reason so the plates *may* be more expensive, I haven't yet got the quote. If I do them in mild steel, (and this is an application where it would be fine, it's esentially invisible from the outside of the motor and runs immersed in oil!) they will be cheaper but I'll get the quotes and work out a price first and ask before I decide. Pete

Firstly, Alex, I'm sorry if I seemed to to be having a go at you, (Or anybody else.) It wasn't my intention. Secondly, while I'm sure that there are plenty of people who are using higher comp pistons and are perfectly happy the fact remains that chasing higher CR's by putting a bidder dome on the piston of what is essentially a very primitive 2 valve motor is IMHO not a particularly good choice if you want to chase power and tractability. Unfortunately such designs invariably end up with incomplete scavenge and pockets of end gas that will pollute the incoming charge. This, along with the crap fuel we get nowadays, greatly increases the chance of detonation and all of it's associated problems. There is also the fact that a 2 valve Hemi is not exactly cutting edge in terms of volumetric efficiency so a large part of the benefit of a higher CR is going to be lost, certainly in terms of outright power, at the higher end of the rev range. I'm not saying you shouldn't fit higher CR pistons, (The FBF pistons are I believe Wisecos so they will be a good, light, forging but with a more limited lifespan than some.) although I can assure you that living where I do bumping up the CR is not something I'd be keen to do. All I'd say is that it's probably one of the LAST things I'd think about doing, and only then if I was desperate to chase ponies out of a Guzzi donk. As previously stated buying a 3 year old CBR600 and going to a few track days will give you FAR more bang for your buck and the Guzzi motor is a superb ROAD motor. Certainly it can be tweaked and improved, I simply think that high CR pistons are paddling the canoe up the wrong creek. And finally, one more time!!!!! Get the chassis and suspension set up correctly before you do ANYTHING to the motor. Getting that right is worth seconds a lap at a track day or down you favorite bit of twisty road. Honest! Pete

Dare you! Double Dare you!!! Be easier in a Sport i Pete

Greg, thanks. The thing is thare may well be several ways to skin this particular cat. The thing is that at the end of the day there is still an original *problem*. IMHO this is caused not by any fundamentally flawed engineering expertise at Guzzi, (Good God! Toddero, Tonti, Carcanno et-al don't have to even think of answering to a mob like us, they lived their lives and left us a great legacy!) Most of the problems I percieve, from gearbox bearings to fragile clutches to crap Hydraulic lifters all have the mark of the dreaded 'Bean Counter' upon them. Spoiling the ship for a H'apporth of Tar it's called and it needs to be ruthlessly stamped out, even though it's been going on since De Tommaso's time. If you enjoy the simplicty and, (God I hate this term!) exclusivity of Guzzi you HAVE to accept that it is a small factory that barely qualifies as a *manufacturer* rather than a 'Builder of Specials' in global terms. That means that at least for the last twenty years you haven't got Japanese or *european*(?) style reliability. Things like the crap V11 'Broad Sump' are cases in point and there are dozens more! While it obviously shouldn't be left up to people like Greg, Gary, Cliff, Phil and a dozen other barking mad one-eyed nutters to look at these problems, (I certainly can't offer any gaurantee I'll solve them!) the fact is that it has been left up to them and maybe in a small way me as well. If so I'm proud to be part of it rather than pissed off that it was bad in the first place! At the end of the day there are many other options for motorbikes if you want more power/performance/whatever than a Moto Guzzi. Also it remains true that the fundamentals of the package are incredibly strong and offer a level of satisfaction, (For some of us!)that outweight the fact that we have to do a whole load of useless sh!t we didnt really need to or want to. Having said that, my Griso is so tediously reliable I'm almost tempted to try and make it go wrong????? ARRRRRGH!!!!!!! Pete

Lets ignore the Hi-Cams because they are a completely different kettle of bananas but with any of the 2 valves it is possible to use any of the engines in any of the frames as long as you swap the timing cover if you're fitting say a roundfin from a Tonti to a spiney . There are lots of little things that prevent some things fitting into others, (As the actress said to the bishop!) A five speed box won't fit in a six speed spiney and visa-versa, you can't bung a six speed in a Tonti. The biggest issue though tends to revolve around the ignition/FI and general electricals If you want to stick your FI motor into a Tonti, revert to carbs etc. the FI motors don't have a distributor gear on the cam so you have to start farting about with adapting some sort of FI box or get Cliff to do you a Rec-Ignition that will work for the donk in question. As you can see, it's not really the *physicallity* that is different, it's all the extraneous other munt that will take the time, effort an fiddling, but if you really *Do* want to stick un-damped 35mm forks and a single sided, twin leading shoe front brake with a 100 section tyre on a 2.15 inch rim on the front of your tuned to buggery Scura I'm sure it's possible My *advice* generally would be that if you want to build a Frankenbike? Try and keep the parts all of *roughly* the same period, especially in terms of Tonti's. Virtually anything from the time of the 750S through to the last of the Mk V Lemans is fairly readily interchangeable. After that you're asking to be pushed over a low railing and be stuffed up the bum with a splintery broomhandle if you sart playing 'Mix and Match' Pete

Errr, well, yes. There is a LOT of disassembley involved if you want to check the main bearings, like, engine out and on the bench and a complete strip! You can, if you want, remove the *big* sump and then undo the four bolts that hold the oil filter/thermostat housing in and pull that out. That will allow you access to the bottom of the connecting rods and you *can*, if you wish, undo the bolts that retain the big end caps , remove the caps and inspect the big end shells. The thing is that if you do this it is STRONGLY advisable to replace the big end bolts on re-assembley otherwise you risk a bolt failure with all the horrors involved in that. Look, unless you think there is something wrong there should be no reason to need to inspect the big ends. While they can be damaged by oil starvation once this has occured there isn't a lot you can do and as long as they are still working well enough to, errr? work, there isn't really a lot of point worrying about them. If they do go tits you'll hear them and as soon as you do if you shut the engine of then, if you're lucky, the crank will survive. If you whip the sump off it's worth checking the bolts that hold the oil filter/thermostat housing on are tight as there have been reported failures due to these coming loose and therefore dumping oil pressure. When that's off you can have a perve at the crank and rods but it won't actually tell you much. People like to do it though. If you want to see what it *basivcally* looks like though just go and have a look at my engine strip/rebuild on the Guzzitech Dk site. There isn't anything *major* different in your engine apart from the sump design. Pete

As far as I know there were no further developments with the engine until the MGS01. I make no claims to being any sort of *expert* but I don't agree with Mr. Falloon on a number of things he's written. To be honest if you want a better apraisal I'd suggest Greg's book. Most importantly remember that there is no such thing as an 'Oracle'. All of us who have been around Guzzis for a long time have our own knowledge and interpretations of what is *good* or *bad* from the factory. I certainly don't claim to know much about Hi-Cams, mainly because I don't actually like them very much but I am a reasonably competent mechanic with a fairly long experience with doing things the 'Guzzi Way'. Talk of not having to worry about oil lights and the statement that engines will run happily for 'Several minutes' without oil pressure I'm afraid worry me, not for my own sake, I know that's bollocks, but because people who DON'T have a fundamental undertanding of how a plain bearing works may be lulled into a sense of false security which could cost the large sums of money, or worse, serious injury. Yeah, yeah. I know all the caveats about info got from the internet being worth exactly what you pay for it but dangerous mis-information opens up a whole new vista. I've got a lot of stuff published on the web. Not for profit. Not because I need to have my ego massaged, but because I HOPE that it will help other owners have some understanding of their machines and prevent them from making the sort of stupid mistakes I made before I actually got TAUGHT the how and why of how motorbikes work. If people think I'm high handed I apologise. I certainly don't intend to hand out 'Word of God' type information but it is also important to realize that some things are unattainable within the parrameters of the engine we are dealing with. 100BHP at the rear wheel is NOT a possibility, at least not with any degree of longevity, with the current 2 valve motor. Yes, you can build race motors that will produce that sort of power, but they have race-bike service intervals and service life as well. For the average owner this sort of stuff is fantasyland and it certainly isn't anything to do with an *everyday* motorbike. The Guzzi 2 valve design is a fine piece of engineering, simple, robust, tollerant of mistakes and very, very functional. Performance wise they still punch way above their weight but that is something to capitalize on and be proud of, not something to feel worried about or ashamed of, especially it's stupid if you want to play 'Dyno-Graph Wars' with anything remotely *modern*. By all means tune the buggery out of them but DON'T then try and convince others with limited knowledge and smaller budgets that it was cheap and/or easy because I'm sorry, it won't be. Pete

Apart from the suspension upgrades there are few improvements to the RS over the Racing but the Base model doesn't have the 'C' kit stuff. Personally If I had an early Hi Cam I'd stick lash-caps on the valves and fit one of Cliff's 'Pooters and that would be about it and it would certainly be cheaper than fitting the factory upgrades. I'd certainly NOT want the RS 'Broad Sump' with all the associated problems that go with it! Pete

Alex, I don't know if Carilo are now making Ti rods but their *ordinary* ones are a steel alloy. They are very good, but they are a *performance* rod and as such have a more limited life than some. The last set I bought were also out of round by 1 thou on one rod big end and 1/2 a thou on the other. I used Carilos in my 10,000RPM hot rod and was maoer than happy but for our race bike I preffer locally made Argo's even though they are heavier. Horses for courses. Pete

Alex, Titanium is a vile substance to make something like a connecting rod out of. Don't believe me? Go and look at the Arrow site and look at the service schedule. Twin plugging is easy enough althoughthere is more work required with squarefins than roundfins. Now that you can buy twin plugged heads off the shelf it is really quite a simple task though. On the subject of increasing the CR? I don't have any problems with a high compression ratio, it's just that a wide combustion chambered 2 valve hemi with a single offset plug is NOT a particularly good spot for a high CR. I don't doubt that lots of people are running higher CR than standard with good results and no serious loss of reliability BUT it is highly unlikely that these gains have been made by a simple 'Drop in' piston swap. If people are happy to expend large amounts of time, money and effort chasing a little bit more out of their Guzzi motor? Fine! No skin off my nose, more than happy to try and help them and advise if I can. I'd still suggest that if you're after a lot *more* in terms of power and performance you're better off simply buying a different, more modern, machine Pete

Exactly. You want to do the sums? The circumfirence of a circle is Pi x the diameter of the circle. Pi is 3.142. Take the diameter of the big end journal and do the sum. Them multiply it by 6,000 and turn it into metres per second. Then turn it into Km per hour. Next imagine how your arse would feel if you were dragged behind a car along a piece of smooth sheet steel with no lubrication at that speed. How do you think your date would feel after say? 3 seconds? Grab the butter and wake up to the idea that sh!t happens real quick in a motor and running without pressure fed lubrication for more than a few seconds, even under minor load, will kill the bearings stone dead. This isn't paranoid tappet-head-talk, it's very simple physics and common sense. You can't run a plain bearing motor without oil and with any appreciable load for any longer for the residual lubrication to be expelled and boundary lubrication to occur. At 6,000RPM and under full load the time that takes is less than the blink of an eye! Pete

Mate, don't fret. When tappet heads like Greg and I worry about oil starvation what we are talking about is really high load, (Comparatively.) long time applications. If Greg is trying to launch into a freeway off the slip-road he's going to be accelerating HARD which means all the bearings are going to be taking max load and max heat. Cut the oil supply off and rapid death will occur. While tipping the great tart over on it's side isn't to be recommended at any time if the revs were low and there was little or any load then the damage will of been minimal. If yoy left it thre reving it's tits off for a minute while checking your voicemail before hitting the kill switch then, yes, you'd have a problem. But low speed, low load? It can cope with that for a few seconds. It's not *good* and should be avoided at all costs but don't die in a ditch over it. If it's any consolation quite early in the piece I had a customer come up to my shop. We met at my house and I rode back with him to the workshop. Him on his bike, me on the Griso. We got to the shop and I, (like a f@ckwit! ) flipped out the sidestand on the big 'G' and leant it over to the left........ Only I hadn't flipped out the sidestand had I and proceeded to lay it over on it's side with my leg underneath it. Engine running, yadda-yadda, has it died yet? No! I nearly did, of shame but f@ck-wittery is my middle name so no surprises there . Hit the kill switch, cursed a lot, accepted that the customer was a lost cause, (I mean? Would you trust your pride and joy to someone who rides up to his workshop and falls over???? ) No, there is a difference between serious abuse and the odd 'Ooopsie!' The principals and physics are still the same but the loadings are, in real terms, inconsequential, if you just drop it at idle. Go and have a beer or three and smack your head on something solid a few times and don't do it again! (I would like to think I won't either but I'm a pragmatic realist ) Pete Mate, don't fret. When tappet heads like Greg and I worry about oil starvation what we are talking about is really high load, (Comparatively.) long time applications. If Greg is trying to launch into a freeway off the slip-road he's going to be accelerating HARD which means all the bearings are going to be taking max load and max heat. Cut the oil supply off and rapid death will occur. While tipping the great tart over on it's side isn't to be recommended at any time if the revs were low and there was little or any load then the damage will of been minimal. If you left it thre reving it's tits off for a minute while checking your voicemail before hitting the kill switch then, yes, you'd have a problem. But low speed, low load? It can cope with that for a few seconds. It's not *good* and should be avoided at all costs but don't die in a ditch over it. If it's any consolation quite early in the piece I had a customer come up to my shop. We met at my house and I rode back with him to the workshop. Him on his bike, me on the Griso. We got to the shop and I, (like a f@ckwit! ) flipped out the sidestand on the big 'G' and leant it over to the left........ Only I hadn't flipped out the sidestand had I and proceeded to lay it over on it's side with my leg underneath it. Engine running, yadda-yadda, has it died yet? No! I nearly did, of shame but f@ck-wittery is my middle name so no surprises there . Hit the kill switch, cursed a lot, accepted that the customer was a lost cause, (I mean? Would you trust your pride and joy to someone who rides up to his workshop and falls over???? ) No, there is a difference between serious abuse and the odd 'Ooopsie!' The principals and physics are still the same but the loadings are, in real terms, inconsequential, if you just drop it at idle. Go and have a beer or three and smack your head on something solid a few times and don't do it again! (I would like to think I won't either but I'm a pragmatic realist ) Pete

Errr? guido, with all due respect what could possibly be the point of fitting higher compression pistons and then fitting thicker gaskets? The detonation is *mainly* due to the CR being too high now. It CAN be treated by getting the squish height correct but only to a certain degree. if, for some reason, this motor won't take the mods then nothing is going to improve it apart from major head work. Fitting thicker gaskets is simply going to f@ck up the squish and lower the CR. So why bother with the very expensive piston kit in the first place????? Pete

Soory, I forget that these boards are international. 'Flash Harry' was a character in a couple of movies from the late '50's early '60's made by the Ealing studios in England. Ealing produced a vast array of superb acting tallent and some very, very high quality films but it is probably most famous for it's post-war productions of 'Light Entertainment' which are collectively known as the 'Ealing Commedies'. Despite their seemingly lightweight nature they were in fact burning satires on the 'State of the British Nation' during a period of austerity and empirical decline and remain, if viewed in this light, hillaroius. Especillaly for those of us who grew up during this period. 'Flash Harry' was the archytypal 'London Spiv' from those post war years. A bloke on the fringes of criminallity, fencing a bit of stolen gear here, running a betting shop on the sly there, brokering crooked deals but never really getting involved. You get the picture? The most important thing about 'Flash Harry' was that he was/is all 'Mouth and Trousers'. He can talk the talk and walk the walk but behind it there is nothing but bullshit! Just like the rest of us really! If you *can* find a decent film hire store that carries such obscuranti as Ealing Commedies can I suggest Passport to Pimlico The Man in the White Suit The Tichfield Thunderbolt and either of the St. Trinians films. If you want to go all esoteric on me? F@ck off Pete Tried to edit an failed. Just as an addendum, George Cole played 'Flash Harry. He later went on to play Arthur Daley in the wonderful TV series 'Minder' which was a time capsule for what it was like living in London during my youth Pete

Bill is quite correct. The very early Brevas and Grisos, (These being the currently available *New* Guzzis) were cursed by having some cheapskate in supply-purchase buying an inferior bearing that was used in the new final drive on these models. Some of these failed in service early in the piece and a recall was done and all the final drives replaced. Apart from this the new models seem to have had very few teething problems and as the owner of a Griso I can tell you that it's *owner friendliness* has opened a whole new chapter in my book of Guzzi ownership which stretches back almost 30 years, many of those spent working on them professionally. All bikes have some teething problems. Because Guzzi are a small outfit and have for many years been chronically underfunded they sometimes have had more than other firms but certainly not always. If you want to see the likely issues with V11 variants then simply scroll back through a few posts here or do a search on things like 'Gearchange return spring' or 'Peeling paint'. If you want to have a squizz at the *new* models there is a forum for them at; http://www.phpbbforfree.com/forums/mggriso.html All forums tend to be dominated by stories of people who have had problems. It's only natural that folks who have problems want to vent. Don't read too much into it. For every person who writes about their awful experience there are probaly many, many more who have never had a single problem! Incidentally I had a customer in last week dropping off his Centauro for a 10,000 Km service, it was jsut coming up to 75,000Km and he was saying that one of the reasons he liked it was because it was so reliable. He lives in the far-north of Queensland, (Here in Australia.) and doesn't have a dealer within 500Km. He reckons all he ever does is put fuel and oil in it and very occasionally he takes it to someone to swap the timing belts, (Centauro is a Hi-Cam design. more complex than the V11 series.). His very pertinent observation about all the internet boards was "Y'know? All the people who seem to have lots of trouble with their Guzzis are the ones who spend a lot of time messing about with them and changing stuff!" Funny that Pete

I'm afraid I too will probably end up being shouted down here but I'll repeat my usual caveats again. The V11 motor is still essentially identical in architecture to the V7 of 1967. It's been bored and stroked and it's in a considerably higher state of tune but it's still an air cooled, twin cylinder motor with two valves per cylinder operated by a fairly heavy valve-train. The cam that is in it is very similar to what used to be seen as the choice *sporting* road cam fifteen to twenty years ago. Choice because it gave improved power without sacrificing reliability too much. The fact is that the V11 is already in a fairly high state of tune and if you do tune it for more power, which is of course entirely possible, you HAVE to accept some trade off in longevity and reliability, I'm sorry but that is simply the laws of physics. While increasing the CR will theoretically give you *Free Horsepower* it will also undoubtably, increase your risk of detonation and will also almost certainly require changes to the mapping of the ECU if it is to work properly along with a higher octane fuel to combat the detonation risk. As Ratchet's mate has found out there is no such thing as a free lunch. In fact most lunches at this table will end up very expensive in the long run. I'm not trying to discourage anybody from tuning the buggery out of their machines. If that's what they want to do? Go for it! But I do like them to gointo it with their eyes wide open and realizing that the cost will be high and the results probably less than spectacular when compared with simply buying a 3 year old CBR600, sticking some Race Glass on it and going to three or four track days a year! AS far as areas to spend money and improve things? People are probably sick and tired of me banging on with the same old drum. Forget the motor, get the suspension right first. The standard brakes are pretty good but if you want to you can fling some dollars at different rotors if you want to look like Flash Harry. As far as *performance* improvements go I'd say improve the breathing by de-restricting the intake and exhaust systems and then either but a My15M or get a PCIII and some custom mapping done. My prefference would be a My15M but that's because I'm old fashioned and don't like the idea of having a 'Box stacked on a box' even though I'm happy to admit that the PCIII seems to work perfectly satisfactorily in most situations. I've also ridden a couple of bikes equipped with Cliff's ECU and they really are quite outstanding in how they deliver the goods. *Mechanical* hop-ups will be expensive, quite often disappointing and will invariably reduce service life. If you're willing to accept those sacrifices? Go for your life! and you will be encouraged and aplauded, just don't expect it to be cheap and easy. Pete