Big trip

[Guest gavin]

Have just completed a 2000 mile trip over 6 days. This involved taking the ferry from the UK to Spain then riding down to Madrid, over the Pyrenees mountains (messed about for a couple of days) then up through France, Paris and home.

 

The only object of the trip was for me & my friend (riding a Kawasaki ZXR 750) to get in in some quality riding and have a ball - a true holiday, therefore reliability was critical.

 

I can only describe the performance of my V11 as fantastic, absolutely nothing went wrong, required 'bodging' or topping up - thats right, during 2000 miles of hard riding (cruising at 100+ for several hours, city congestion at over 40 degrees and high altitude scratching) NOTHING, yes NOTHING went wrong.

 

The bike was comfortable, fast and easy to get on with and this trip has finally banished any misgivings I might have had about Guzzi ownership, this bike really does suit me and I am in for the long haul of ownership.

[Baldini]

YEEEHAAAAA!!!

[dlaing]

Alright Gavin!

Of course, that's how it should be.

Come to think of it, I have not had anything go wrong since the tachometer was repaced a year and a half ago. That is not altogether true, I crashed once (My fault), The oil pressure light and alternator light have not worked in a long time and the tachometer will flutter a little after a couple hours of riding.

Still on original battery. Replaced the relays along time ago. Have not missed a gear shift and found a false neutral in probably a year. (FWIW running synthetic 70W90 gear oil, NO molybdenum and the bike has 20000 miles on it. I think the transmission has to break in as I used to miss a shift every other week or so.)

I keep the idle at 1000rpm because it is easier on the gears going from neutral to first gear.

Perhaps that has helped it break in nicely.

Longest trip I have taken was 1000 miles, no problem.

Anybody else been having good luck?

[al_roethlisberger]

...excellent! It's so funny to see the Europeans take these relatively "short" trips, and include basically all the great European cities of history(well, the western ones anyway). Amazing

 

Great to hear the bike ran like a clock Mine has actually been doing pretty well too since the valve-adjust(knocking on wood).

 

al

[Orson]

Have just completed a 2000 mile trip over 6 days. This involved taking the ferry from the UK to Spain then riding down to Madrid, over the Pyrenees mountains (messed about for a couple of days) then up through France, Paris and home.

 

Glad everything went well Gavin!

 

We need pictures!

 

I rode from Italy to Portugal in late May / early June. Only problem being having to replace the rear wheel bearings with 16,500 KMs on the odometer.

 

Otherwise the Goose was a rock

[Guest PAULSMART]

Great - I think egines / bikes enjoy a good long run as much as their owners.

 

I'm off around France in August, and I'm not concerned about reliability....

 

I'm taking my mobile, spare relays, fuses, breakdown cover,list of bike dealers... and probably a pray matt!!

 

Paul

[callison]

I just got back from a 2850 mile 8 day trip to the National in the the great North Wet. The only things that went wrong with the bike were the two screws holding the instrument panel loosened up and the bracket for the front brake reservoir broke. I did manage to drop the bike while making a u-turn on an incline and broke a turn signal, but that is not a bike failure. Didn't add any oil and only added air to one tire in nearly three thousand miles. It does appear to be slowly leaking on the front engine gasket now, so I need to clean and tighten and see if that cures that problem. Highest gas mileage was 38.93 mpg, highest speed was 124 on the digital bike speedo and highest altitude was 8511 feet and the bike ran just fine even up there. It didn't start out this way, but the trip became a "Ring of Fire" tour. I did six volcnoes, Mt. Mazama (Crater Lake), Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Ranier, Mt. Baker, Mt. Shasta and Mt. Lassen - in that order. After viewing the blast zone around Mt. St. Helens, I will never, ever, live in the shadow of a dormant volcano. Period.

[Martenni]

Hey

I did the national rally last weekend 5/6 july and the Tenni was perfect i rode 760miles in 24 hours the bike was comfortable,economical[44mpg] fastish,sweet handling great to look at[lots of compliments at check points and fuel stations etc and of course absolutly nothing went wrong .i drilled the silencers before the trip and am pleased with the extra music and as the engine is running so well i guess the bike likes the music to.

Regards Martin

Tenni 165

old 950

[Guest scott]

Glad to see that a few of you V11 owners are not having too many problems. I recently returned from a 900 mile trip to Elko, Nevada. I'm glad to say the bike preformed flawlessly.

 

Rode to an elevation of 8800 ft to sea level without any problems. Averaged 37-40 mpg at speeds of 75-90 mph. The bike runs better since I installed a PCIII from Todd at Guzzitech.

 

After reading all the problems many of you have been having I was concerned about taking the LeMans out in the backroads of Nevada. Fortunately the bike didn't let me down. I hope it stays that way!

 

It's just too bad that when you buy these things you have to put a couple thousand miles on them to work out the bugs! A Honda it is not.

[MotoG5]

Hondas they are not and praise be for that! I have nothing aginst Hondas or any other brand for that matter. Its just that all of my Guzzis have pushed the right buttons for me and flaws and all I have loved every one of them.

Ray

[th_01]

I took my 00 V11 Sport on a 12000 mile trip over 4 1/2 weeks a coupleofyears ago. I had absolutely no problems. I went through 3 sets of tires. I changed the oils at 5000 mile intervals.

 

I run synthetic oil all around with moly in the trans and rearend. The riding was hard and fast. I carried about 75lbs in luggage.

 

The bike performed great. Out in the southwest US I ran the bike at 80-100 MPH

for hours on beautiful roadways. The bike was very comfortable. After the odometer hit 5000 miles it really opened up.

 

I rode through 3 days of continuos rain when I headed back East. The bike didn't even hicup.

 

Tom

[Mal]

All sounds like good stuff , just got back from Italy myself, 2,200 miles on my new (2002) le mans which takes it up to 3,000 miles, coping with thunderstorms, blazing heat, German autobahns and 2,500 metre alpine passes - no problems, had a fantastic time - next long trip being planned although nothing special until the V twin rally in August.

 

No - I tell a lie, there was one problem - the exhausts are too quiet! but I think that will be remedied soon.

 

All the best

 

Mal

[callison]

I just passed 24,000 miles on my 2001 V11 Sport TT Friday. To date, the list of problems includes:

 

A.) 3 sidecover screws that have rattled off after the shop forgot to tighten the screws after service.

B.) Alternator cover that fell off after the shop forgot to tighten the screws after service.

C.) Tachometer light socket falling apart.

D.) Instrument panel mount screws loosened up.

E.) Front brake reservoir mounting bracket fractured and broke.

F.) Rear brake cylinder needed to be replaced due to corrosion (actually, it may be still be good?).

G.) The infamous tach failure. Replaced under warranty.

H.) The infamous relays. Replaced under warranty, but actually they weren't at fault.

I.) Clutch switch bullet connectors developed a poor connection preventing bike from starting.

J.) Infamous tank suck cured by removing offending hardware.

K.) Rear disk scored from worn brake pads.

 

Of these, D, F and K are my fault.

 

D and E occurred during last weeks 2850 mile ride to the National, very minimal interferrence with the trip (I had enlugh tools along to effect a road-side fix).