And yet another new LeMans owner!

[Repeater]

Good evening, all!

 

Today I purchased my first Moto Guzzi - a 2003 LeMans, black and charcoal in color, just over 5100 miles on it, and nearly stock, save for some CRG levers. Which are nice items, by the way!

 

Like many others, I have a few questions about ownership of my new-old cycle. I've read the FAQs for quite some time tonight, and I'm getting a good bearing on what I have and what I need.

 

First off, I noticed the classic oil-light flicker under hard acceleration from a stop just a couple of times, and just momentarily - under 2 seconds each time for sure. Of course, this is a result of the oil pump location in the sump, and I completely understand why this happens, but it still concerns me quite a bit. So I've decided I'm going to need one of them "Roper Plates" that folks speak so highly of. Seems simple enough, and seems to be a nice bit of engineering, too. So, all I want to know is whether or not there are any shops in the US that stock them? I've seen he sells them direct, also, but I'd only seen mentions of PayPal, which I don't have an account for... The last question I have on this topic - how much of this behavior (oil starvation) does it actually take to damage the engine? I know, it's a bit of a nebulous question, but it's just something I don't know a lot about. I could imagine winging up a 20-second wheelie would mess things up in a hurry, and I could also imagine frequent 1-2 second intervals of low/no oil pressure would also do some bad things. But how much is too much? It's really academic more than anything else, as I do know that low oil pressure for any length of time isn't helpful to anyone...

 

Second, I'll need a shop stand, and it seems like some of the vendors mentioned on the site frequently carry them... so I guess I don't really have a question in that regards! It looks almost as if I could get my Redline Engineering stand to fit under the swingarms, but I wasn't quite sure if lifting the bike this way (as I had with my other chain-drive cycles) would be appropriate.

 

Third, I'm enjoying the symphony of clatters and other neat racket that this "ditch-pump" engine makes. But I guess I don't know which ones are good and normal, and which ones are "oh, crap!" sounds. Clutch rattle - I know that's normal. A bit of clacking from the rockers - also normal. Is the ticking I hear from 2500 to 3000rpm also just further valve clatter? It's tough to tell... I'd also noticed a very slight whine in 3rd gear - how much transmission noise do these puppies normally make?

 

Four - Bar risers and footpeg kits - who has them? Internet searches have yielded very little...

 

Lastly, I don't have an owner's manual. I checked the downloads section for manuals, but none of them seem to currently be online - short of going through the manufacturer, where else can I find the maintenance intervals and such?

 

I got the bike for a very fair price, and although it isn't half as comfortable or nearly as fast as the '96 GPz1100 I just sold was, but it is a more visceral form of entertainment. The sound is great, it goes pretty well (though, the oil light on acceleration will put a damper on that for now), and it's probably the best-looking motorcycle I've seen to date. I hope to have it for a long time, as long as I can condition myself to the riding position!

[jrt]

Congrats- I hope you enjoy the bike a long time.

 

1. even 2 seconds is not good. Have you checked the oil level? Make sure it is topped up. The basic problem is that the main bearings run on a thin film of oil- if you lose oil pressure, you lose the film of oil. If you lose the film of oil, you lose the main bearings. You might try Moto International (Greg Field) in Seattle WA for the Roper plate. I think they carry or used to carry them.

2. The stock lift points for the shop stand are the two nuts that stick out at the bottom of the 'pork chop' plates.

3. It all sounds normal- they can make a lot of noise, including gear whine from the transmission. Don't lug the bike around at low rpm- keep it up above 4K. Lower rpm just puts more stress on the engine for no benefit.

4. Again, MI? Not sure who has them, but there have been several long threads on the subject.

Use the V11 sport manual- it's essentially the same bike:

http://www.thisoldtractor.com/gtbender/mot...orkshop_manuals

but use 'raceco' values for the valve clearances

0.15 mm intake, 0.2 mm exhaust (.004", .006")

Good luck

Jason

[Dan M]

Welcome aboard.

 

The Roper plate will fix your problem. Until then I'd back off enough to keep the light off. You may want to top up the oil as jrt suggested. A tad high is better than starvation.

There are a few risers and peg kits out there. I use Motobits foot controls (from Moto International - call Greg) and MPH's bar risers. That combo brings the bars up and back about the same amount that the pegs are moved down and forward. Suits me well. There are many threads here about both of them that you can find with a search.

 

Yes, the sound and feel is quite addicting!

 

Again, welcome and enjoy.

[DeBenGuzzi]

St.Paul huh, maybe I'll see you at Bob's Java, or maybe I'll make it to one of these damn first thursdays in uptown.

 

TOP OFF YOUR OIL, low oil is why your light is coming on and these things can pretty easily hold 4qts, that area on the dip stick for oil level is wrong you want it ALL the way to the full mark with it not screwed in and you shouldn't have anymore pickup problems I had this early on and that fixed it. Thank god my main bearing didn't go out, maybe I got lucky using super premium oils, at that time I was using Redline but now I have AGIP in it. Also make sure you have Redline Shockproof Heavy in the gearbox, huge improvement, not sure how to check that you say? well when you look through your tranny sight class does it look like its filled with pepto bismal? cool thing is I put SPH in there about 3 years and 10k mi ago or so and its still as pink as ever

 

the riding position gets easier with time but they do make a few bar risers for it, might be hard to find but they're out there.