Scud

Changes are coming. So far, I have only invested in electric bicycles, which are nice way to do some short trips. My wife and I go out to dinner on them, and occasional trips to the store for small purchases. Almost bought a hybrid Subaru a while back, but it just seemed stupid to pay so much more to have two motors and a battery to maintain, coupled with the reduced the cargo space and eliminated spare tire (all to make room for the battery and such). I just took delivery on what will likely be my last gas-powered car (I assume gas-powered motorcycles will continue to "cycle" through the garage for a while.) I put my $100 deposit down on a Ford Bronco almost two years ago, and waited through all the production delays for all the options I wanted. It's rated at 17MPG, with a 2.7L turbo. That's only marginally better than the MPG I get on my F250 with a 7.3L gas motor. I recently paid $200 for gas at one stop (empty truck and empty dirt bike in the bed). So... The Stelvio continues to be my primary form of transportation when I am going alone. And I notice that the majority of cars and trucks are occupied by one person. I think we should make every new driver spend a year on a motorcycle before they get a license to drive a car. Imagine the national savings on fuel and resources devoted to roads and parking if just 50% of single-occupant car trips were replaced by motorcycle or scooter trips. And people would start noticing motorcycles when they drive their cars. Ok - so that solves everything. Thanks for reading.

Looks like a great trip - coinciding with a Porsche club it appears. And one way to make an easy dirt road challenging is to attack it with 12 inch wheels (Honda Monkeys).

I'm at 8,300 feet. It's snowing. I have a dirt bike. I'm on a mission from God.

I'm not home, but I brought my courtesy phone. I cannot ship a spring for a couple weeks. I know that several of all y'all have stashed a spare one. Anybody already in BC, or elsewhere in Canada have a spare to help out a crippled V11?

Sounds like my holiday yesterday. Pushed the Moto Guzzis around and got the Husky and a friends KTM ready for a trip to the Sierra Nevadas. Just got a great little used Kendon trailer - can carry two street bike or three dirt bikes. And it folds up and stores vertically on the side of the house.

Looks like the start of something wonderful.

Good find. After you successfully fit it, would you be so kind as to document that in the aforementioned encyclopedia thread - along with the technical details as you noted above?

Haha... boil that fluid... who needs a rear brake? Seriously, though, good point.

Those passenger pegs are ankle-burners or boot melters. I kind of like how the cans look up high like that, but the connection from the cross-over doesn't feel right in my opinion. And if you're gonna go to that effort, seems like you should ditch the rear hugger and show off the swingarm... and take care of that rusty axle end. All that said... I bet she looks good walking away with those pipes tucked up high and tight.

...and how did that happen? It looks like a piston is fuzed to the back of a pad, and it looks like the piston is severely deformed.

I have a spare rear caliper I could let go. And I might even have a spare rebuild kit. You can get rebuild kits for all the calipers - they are listed in the thread "Encyclopedia of Compatible Parts" FYI - You might want to edit your post to remove all that contact information, as it can been viewed by anyone on the internet.

Andy - did you pull the motor just for this? Or you already had it out for another reason? I assumed the gears could be installed with engine in-situ.

New life goal. Be the grandpa in this video.

I so appreciate it when a seller responds promptly, and with such useful information. Please send me your PayPal password so I can transfer the money to you.

I'm in for one. Will give it a spot on the Scura along with all the other CF goodies. I'm kind of hoping it's the fine weave, like you get from Ghezzi Brian. The original CF bits on the Scura have a larger pattern. And totally appreciate you doing this. I've done it with Springs (which I still have a load of) and a short run of 12mm fuel lines (which I will not be doing again, because they are easy to make and I posted a how-to). As for cash - I'd gladly pay in advance if that is helpful.

Is that V11 the one with the regular steering offset triple or the special offsett? Waht's the number on the castings of the triple clamps? Does it still have the original Sachs shock? Have you ever performed the tank-off maintenance checklist?

Maybe you should try just cleaning the pistons on the rear caliper first.

Today I talked story about my V11. You see, I rent my TWee200 on RidersShare and had a renter today. He asked about all the cool bikes in the garage (which are not for rent). He's in from Ontario, Canada for a workshop on dental implants. He's a dentist. So of course I tell him the Scura's frame was invented by a dentist. "You should read up about it and get yourself a spine-framed Moto Guzzi." I say. We need more dentists to get into Moto Guzzis. Good things could happen. Maybe an electric Gambalunga. FYI, Gambalunga means "long legged" in Italian. Gambe lunghe e facile da convivere.

Platter for you: I got a rear master rebuild kit MG cycle. Front brake and hydraulic clutch rebuild kits are no longer available. Calipers: Caliper rebuild kits are available from Powerhouse.UK Diesel fuel in an ultrasonic cleaner works miracles. It's not a whole lot more expensive to just buy new calipers that include Brembo pads pre-installed. And it's a LOT easier... but it's so fun to install the new seals...

I think painted to match hump cap is the best look for the V11. But a carbon fiber P-cover would be a nice accent on some bikes, and a great universal-fit for any privacy shields that have gone missing. There is a CF fabricator near me, and I assume also in many cities. I wonder if a private shop would be willing to a small run of cowl caps and a member here could simply provide one of their saddle shields to the fabricator to make a mold from. Viewer advisory... this video features a motorcyclist with a passenger who is not wearing proper protective gear.

Great photo. Suspension - don't worry about playing with compression and rebound until you do the most important suspension setting - getting the springs right. You can check sag with the help of a friend. There are a few posts on this site about how to do it. You can get the sag right for you and the bike by adjusting the spring pre-load. (if you can't get sag in range with current springs, you would need different rate springs). The first time I did that on my Scura I swore it was a totally different suspension, or the roads had just been re-paved overnight. After that, play with the compression and rebound if you want to fine-tune. The small effort to learn about suspension settings will pay you back every single mile you ride. Mountains - I was once on a battlefield tour at Gettysburg (which is in the Southern part of Central Pennsylvania) with a group who were all from the Western US (mostly Washington and California). The guide explains how the Confederate army came in from the mountains. We all start looking around in different directions, and finally somebody asks "where are the mountains?" The guide points at some rolling hills... we weren't trying to be snarky, just had a different idea about the definition of mountain... like the base elevation of mountain is higher than the highest point in the whole state of PA. ...and why a Moto Guzzi? nothing beats the feel of the Guzzi engine under full load climbing a mountain. For example, this is a mountain. Feels like summer at the base, but winter at the summit. Highest point in Pennsylvania = 3,200 Feet Lowest point in Great Basin National Park (Nevada) > 6,000 feet Mountain Peaks in background > 13,000 feet.

Good info on repairs. The question remains about having carbon parts manufactured. I'v noticed that quite a few members have acquired bikes with no seat cowl, and they spend a while trying to find one - and they are sometimes pricey. A CF unit would be a nice aesthetic upgrade for some - and a paint-to-match part for others. And while we're thinking about manufacturing CF parts, the other one that might be worth looking into is the tank pad. The Scura and I think a few other models had a carbon part on top of the tank, where most models had a molded foam/rubber part that is NLA. You'd also need to get some little mounting brackets with the CF tank pad.

If a car can truly drive itself, then drivers will not be so anxious about the time spent in transit. Imagine a self-driving van or wagon where you can go to sleep at home and wake up 8 hours later at your destination. Speed limit is totally fine for that. Commuters can plug in to their networked vehicles and be "productive" during the commute. There will be some benefits. But if speeds are limited on motorcycles, I am going to cover a lot less distance in the same amount of time. That would suck. And just thinking out loud... if speeds are constrained to the posted limit, is there any way to accelerate and make a pass? Or are you stuck behind the lorry (truck) for the duration?

That Husky 401 is a seriously fun and crisp-handling thumper. I rode one on a demo day recently.

Further investigation... I just searched Google images and could clearly see a silver Ohlins damper on Scuras, Scura Rs, Cafe Sports, and Coppa Italias. All the Ohlins-equipped bikes with small windscreens had the Ohlins damper - out in plain view. Seems they just saved a few Euros on the fully faired Rosso and Nero Corsas by using Bitubo dampers where they would be hard to see. Very sneaky. FYI - every Bitubo damper I've removed has had a sticky/spot in it. It's a small sample, but it's 4 out of 4 in my experience, including a low-mileage Greenie that I had for while. If you still have an original Bitubo unit, I think it's worth disconnecting the damper to test it's range of motion and make sure it's not working against you.