Scud

This is the internet, we argue about everything. No, we don't.

I think this is part of the problem. Here, I alternated the heavy and light springs, per Gordon's advice. I can compress a light spring all the way (coils touching) with both hands. I can barely get the heavy springs to compress at all by hand. The brightest chrome ones are the heavy springs. This is how the pressure plate should look when all the springs are in the wells in both the flywheel and the pressure plate. It should sit evenly and into the flywheel a bit. If even one spring is not in one well the pressure plate will be up flush with the surface of the teeth. And given the wear on this new intermediate plate, I think part of my problem could have been that one spring was not properly seated. That would put uneven pressure on the plate and potentially account for this uneven wear pattern. And finally, the push-cup on the left shows signs of friction. I think this is from when I noticed something that felt like the clutch slipping on the freeway - and when I lost all freeplay in the lever. This is potentially what GStallons described in an earlier post - that the shim would cause the pushrod to lose freeplay and bottom-out the clutch slave. That centermost hole is 1mm shallower than the hole in the push-cup on the right. Since I had already shimmed the release bearing, I decided to try the deeper push-cup to compensate. So... slipped the engine back in to test the clutch and I am again cautiously optimistic. The lever effort is much reduced (but still not as easy at the RAM on my Scura). With the bike in gear, I can do a two-finger pull halfway to the bar and rotate the rear wheel freely. Me and some are gonna go put everything else back together. I decided not to pull the transmission - partly because I want to (in the name of research) isolate the variables. Besides that, I took a closer look at my spare transmission and it may have a leak that I don't feel like dealing with. I further speculate that the springs are so heavy, and the clutch line is so long, that the line may have been expanding a little, thus requiring more fluid to release the clutch - hence the gorilla-full-pull to the bars with 10 heavy springs and the normal-man-two-finger-half-pull with 5 heavy and 5 light springs.

I think the sidestand wears when the bike is idling on the sidestand.

But did you expect this: Is it grey as in aluminum - or as in aluminium?

Looking good Chuck. I like the black alternator cover. I think there's room for those rubber hoses behind the starter cover (in the molded channels). The red suspenders (straps) seem appropriate... And keep pointing out shop tips like the file card as you think of them.

Here's a post with some more info about the relays. http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19514&p=216995 I ended up with a set of 5 new ones that I no longer need and was going to return. Will send you a PM about it.

For your entertainment value, here is the mess I have made by pulling two engines at the same time. To my surprise, the clutch plates said LGC on them, not SD-TEC. So I checked my invoice from MG Cycle - and it also says LGC. Not only that, the plates are a touch thinner than the lightly used plates I had installed in the Champagne project. I had not ridden the champagne bike, but I did connect everything so I could test the clutch - it seemed to be working, with plenty of free play - and very easy to turn the wheel with clutch in and bike in gear. Here are comparative measurements from the two clutches: 2002 Champagne 2003 Red Friction Plates OEM LGC Miles Used 12,000 2,500 Thicknesses (mm) Friction Plate 1 7.73 7.68 Intermediate plate 2.92 3.21 Friction Plate 2 7.89 7.64 Pressure Plate 8.07 7.99 Starter Ring Plate 6.51 6.44 Pushbutton Depth 5.10 4.09 Pushrod Stick-out 11.02 11.75 Interestingly, the biggest differences are the pushbutton depth and the amount the pushrod was sticking out when I removed the engines. The pushrod sticking farther out was not a surprise, because I put a shim in there. But there is a full millimeter difference between the depths of the buttons. I assumed the problem was too-thick plates, but that is not true. I am not sure what to do next.

Plexi - do you have original relays or have you upgraded to the Omrons or similar? My LeMans had some weak starts and occasionally had to hold the button in for a bit before the starter engaged. New relays - and ensuring snug fit in the relay bases - has cured the problem.

Don't hold your breath... You might have to rely on some moto-journalists for that rain-ride report.

True, and thats why I tap the last bearing in the last 1/2mm with a hammer and small drift carefully until the spacer clearance is nil. It doesnt matter if the bearing outer race is a few thou off the shoulder in the bore as there is very little actual pure side thrust on the bearings. Ciao Thanks for this, guys. It explains a problem I had recently on my BMW's front wheel. There must have been too much pressure on the inner races and the wheel wouldn't spin freely. I used a socket for that. Since then I bought some bearing drivers that apply pressure across the whole bearing - inner and outer races.

Thanks Chuck. The Trail Bead Buddy (less than $10) is basically a tiny clamp - but it has a soft screw so you don't need to wrap it in leather. It worked a treat on my knobbies recently so I gave it a try on the street tires and it worked - although it did break through a section of the rim tape (sticker) on the front wheel. (BTW, I like Ru-Glyde for lubing the bead and the Mojo Lever.) And yeah, the Dunlop is sturdy. I think it took even more effort to install than the Pirelli Angel GT. And it made the crispest "two-pop" I've ever heard when the air pressure forced the bead up onto the rim. By contrast, I can fold the sidewall of the Metzeler M3 in one hand. All the Italian bikes have fresh tires now, and the German one can wait. There's some sort of political joke in there somewhere...

Hey - just thinking about the order of doing things... You might want to put the throttle bodies on while you can still lift the frame off the transmission. I don't think the TB assembly can be passed through as it sits now.

I flushed about 3 tanks of fresh fluid through the clutch. Went for a little ride - no difference. Next step, remove engine and pull the clutch plates out.

DUDE!!!! That's art.

That was the easiest tire to mount I've ever done. Now, I see what those guys at the bike shows that are hawking tire changers are using. They make it look so easy because it is. That M3 practically jumped off the rim - almost no effort required. But getting the new Dunlop Roadsmart 3 on the rim required nearly my entire vocabulary and constantly jamming the bead back down into the middle of the wheel. Dunlop is claiming to beat Michelin PR4's mileage - and it looks like a really good tire. Rode it to work today. Chuck - what do you use to hold the bead down and prevent it from creeping back up as you work around the tire? I just started using the Motion Pro Trail Bead Buddy that I carry in my dirt-bike tool kit. Works better than wedging a tire iron in - but I imagine that you have worked out a trick that I would like to know about...

I should consider reading things...

I saw one of those advertised recently. It also had red wheels and the ad said something about the red wheels being unique to a limited edition. I had not heard of a limited edition greenie before... anyone else? swooshdave - sounds like you already know you want a V11 as your next bike. Now to narrow it down...

Off with the old tires: Angel GT on front went 6,300 miles and the tread was flush to the wear bars - probably could have put a few more miles on it. Metzeler Sportec M3 went 3,300 miles - this new tire came "free" with my parts bike. It wore very quickly at the end, which I'm sure had nothing to do with my last ride... However, I won't use another of those on the V11. This "supersport" tire has a very thin sidewall - the benefit is that it came off the rim easily - but I think it's meant for lighter sportbikes. Installed an angled valve stem on the back (already had one on the front) Used my wheel balancer to find (and mark) the heavy spot on both rims. the back was 90-degrees away from the valve stem, and the front about 30 degrees away. Installed a pair of Dunlop Roadsmart 3s - lining the yellow dots up at the H marks resulted in very little weight being needed to balance the wheel. And Chuck - I took the top arm off the Harbor Freight tire changer - so much easier that way.

...and my Scura (with the RAM single-plate clutch) shifts flawlessly and is quite happy with clutchless upshifts. My current problem is on the twin-plate LeMans. Phil - does your bike still have the twin-plate? I think I recall that you were going to install a RAM.

Thanks Andy and Phil. I'm starting to wonder if the 0.3 mm over-thickness applies to each friction surface, not to each complete disc. If that's the case, then the two plates are 1.2mm over-thick in total. Sadly, I did not record my measurement when I installed these plates - I just remember verifying that they were thicker than the ones I removed. It's totally OK to suggest obvious stuff. I had a fleeting thought that I should re-bleed the clutch - so I will do that soon, maybe tonight. If it doesn't help at least it will rule-out something easy. And yeah, I was also thinking about the springs being pre-compressed too far due to the thicker plates. The lever effort is therefore even harder than it would have been with 10 new stiff springs - and this puts more pressure on the seals in the hydraulic system, which can't be good. As it's adjusted now, it clonks into first gear at a stop and the bike makes a little lurch. I did not have that clonk-and-lurch when I left for my trip few days ago, but then all the freeplay went away at operating temperature - so I backed off the lever adjuster (as I described earlier). I'm working on my Popeye forearms. This is pretty frustrating - I just want to put on some new tires and go riding. But it does make me appreciate the engineering and fine tolerances required to make a clutch work correctly. Assuming the clutch bleeding does not solve the problem, I'm gonna take the stock clutch plates out of the champagne project. That clutch is working perfectly with adequate free-play at the lever. I have a spare low-mile transmission too. I'll probably compare the two on the bench to see if they shift the same. Man vs. machine....

While you're at it, think about where the holes should be in order to install easily. I've had to elongate the holes to get the panels to fit without too much pressure (which causes the cracks) and to not rub under the tank.

I agree with your logic, and tried to work that out myself a while back. Here's a link: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17535&p=204731 I think the number is easily below 1,500 units, probably FAR below it. Proving it? Well, that could be a challenge.

This was in San Luis Obispo. All the coastal hills and valleys look like they've been carpeted - just endless green rollers... should have take more pictures. This doesn't do it justice. We're expecting a massive wildflower bloom this year. http://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/ca.html

...and maybe not so easy after all. Friday, after about 75 miles of non-stop freeway driving, I hit the throttle to make a pass and noticed the engine revved a bit more than it should have - then caught. It was like the clutch was slipping. Squeezed the clutch and it was really firm - no freeplay at all. In order to get it to release, I had previously adjusted it so there was very little freeplay in the lever. Pulled over and backed the adjuster out of the lever until it had freeplay again. To explain how it works OK cold, but caused a problem after a longer distance, I think that with the heat, things expanded a bit and that ended up putting full-time pressure on the clutch pushrod. After the adjustment, it was manageable for the rest of my trip (about 500 more miles). But it was difficult to get into neutral while idling and I missed a few more 3>4 shifts. I think this means the clutch is still dragging a little - even though I could hear the ching-ching-ching sometimes. Last week (before my trip) I updated Gordon at MG Cycle - that the extra spacer did release the clutch, but that I am still not happy with the lever effort and the need for a full pull to the bar. He said he had just learned that when the original springs became unavailable, then Moto Guzzi went through three phases of clutch springs for the 10-spring clutches: First - all 10 softer springs (as I removed from LeMans) - and too soft to allow full wear of the plates Then - all 10 firmer springs (as I recently installed) - and too stiff for a comfortable lever-pull Finally - alternating with 5 of each of the above - the just-right "goldilocks" solution. So Gordon has kindly sent me 5 softer springs. However, I don't think a spring change is going to solve the issue with lever travel. So... the clutch has got to come out - and probably needs the original-thickness plates installed.

The recent tranny leak on my Scura seems to be cured by splitting the cases and resealing - and carefully applying sealant all the way around every bolt hole. Long-term test in progress...