From Fireblade to Le Mans.........

[Phil Rusted]

Hi there,

I am a very recent Guzzi owner, with a 2004 Le Mans in red and silver .

Only had it a couple of days, but have come straight from a 2005 Fireblade.

Must admit that I am noticing a few subtle differences. However, previous bikes I have had include a 1100GS, F800S, Triumph T595, ZX6 etc, so I am no stranger to odd handling bikes.

My LM has non standard pipes and apparantly a power commander fitter, kicking out 76bhp at the rear wheel. The fireblade had 150+bhp.

I have spent a while now searching through threads on this excellent forum and have not found what I was looking for.

 

Suspension seems to be a hot and somewhat debatable topic. I have picked this bike up with 14500 miles on the clock and god knows what suspension settings. I want to put it back to how Guzzi would have had it originally and merely adjust the rear as and when I have a passenger. I have the seperate R and C on the front forks and standard suspension (not Ohlins) on the rear. Where do I start??????

 

Secondly - Pillions - slightly more comfy for the good lady than the blade and less prone to high speed wheelies - the blade used to lift front under hard accelleration between 85 - 110mph in second - however, she is cramped as hell and keeps sliding into me all the time - bloody engine braking!!!!

 

Thirdly - running rich as hell??

 

Lastly - feint battery light on last night with lights on (also without lights on) when I returned frolm a quick thrash - anything to worry me??

 

Love the forum, very well laid out and looks very professional.

And its free, which is better than the UK Guzzi Owners Club one which is £20 per year!!

 

Thanks

 

Phil Rusted

[Admin Jaap]

Hi Phil,

 

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your purchase! It's exactly that biked that attracted me to Guzzis. There is plenty of info on all your issues when you use the forum search. And this thread will be interesting: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5692 But don't let it put you off!

 

Oh... not to burst your bubble, but your V11LM is a 2001 model. It probably got it's plate in 2004.

 

Good luck!

[pasotibbs]

Hi there,

I am a very recent Guzzi owner, with a 2004 Le Mans in red and silver .

Only had it a couple of days, but have come straight from a 2005 Fireblade.

Must admit that I am noticing a few subtle differences. However, previous bikes I have had include a 1100GS, F800S, Triumph T595, ZX6 etc, so I am no stranger to odd handling bikes.

My LM has non standard pipes and apparantly a power commander fitter, kicking out 76bhp at the rear wheel. The fireblade had 150+bhp.

I have spent a while now searching through threads on this excellent forum and have not found what I was looking for.

 

Suspension seems to be a hot and somewhat debatable topic. I have picked this bike up with 14500 miles on the clock and god knows what suspension settings. I want to put it back to how Guzzi would have had it originally and merely adjust the rear as and when I have a passenger. I have the seperate R and C on the front forks and standard suspension (not Ohlins) on the rear. Where do I start??????

 

Secondly - Pillions - slightly more comfy for the good lady than the blade and less prone to high speed wheelies - the blade used to lift front under hard accelleration between 85 - 110mph in second - however, she is cramped as hell and keeps sliding into me all the time - bloody engine braking!!!!

 

Thirdly - running rich as hell??

 

Lastly - feint battery light on last night with lights on (also without lights on) when I returned frolm a quick thrash - anything to worry me??

 

Love the forum, very well laid out and looks very professional.

And its free, which is better than the UK Guzzi Owners Club one which is £20 per year!!

 

Thanks

 

Phil Rusted

Welcome, you have the same bike as me as Jaap says it's a 2001 model that must have sat in a showroom for a while as that colour is 2001 and it doesn't have the balance pipe between the header pipes that later bikes had.

The common suspension mod is to replace the Sachs shock as its pretty poor and in the UK we've had a few fail on the bottom joint due to corrosion(mine included),check this for cracks!!! (Hagon do a replacement for around £250) and then respring the forks for your weight or have them rebuilt (Maxton around £400)

I managed to get an Ohlins rear shock for mine(big improvment)but haven't done the forks yet.

 

I got a anti-slip cover for the pillion pad from M&P or MPS(Triboseat £20)that works very well.

 

I'd remove the PC, set the valve clearances and TPS then see how it runs without it, plenty of people here have PC's so will probably be able to supply you with settings that work if you find that it is required.

 

Battery light is a common issue (again corrosion due to our weather !!)remove the tank and look for the wires from the Reg/Rec the connections will be corroded. If it still does it then a new Reg/Rec may be required (around £70)

 

All the info is here

 

Dave

[Phil Rusted]

Dave and Jaap - Thanks for hte info, even if it is a little worrying.

Was hoping to not have to do too much to the bike initially.

 

However, I am taking it to Belgium for a track day soon, so that should be erm interesting........

 

Think it needs some Dyno time at the local Guzzi dealer once I get the standard pipes.

Was out on it the other day and it really is a pleasure to ride, reminds me very much of my old BMW 1100GS in the way that you have to plan ahead a bit more but never have to slow down.

 

I will have a fiddle with the suspension and see where I go from there. As for hte pillion pad, I think I will get some non slip stuff from the local cheap shop for a couple of quid and see how that goes.

 

Its in such good condition that I cant believe there is too much wrong with it, 14500 miles should have sorted most of the little niggles.

 

Also - impressed with the headlight considering it is a standard bulb. Will try a Phillips Extreme and see if that improves it, but it doesnt really need too much improvement I dont think.

 

Thanks for your comments and I will now spend some time trawling the forum.........

 

Phil Rusted

[jrt]

As far as the charging system goes- it will never be "great", however there are a couple things you can do to improve Guzzi's poor layout.

The ground circuit for the headlight runs through the steering head bearings, grease and roller bearings and all. It's not a particularly good path. Bypass this by running a wire from the headlight ground to the engine (one of the bolts on the timing case). It doesn't take much, but helps a lot (thanks to Gary in Michigan for originally sorting this out).

Also, the current for the horns run through the horn switch. Consider putting in a relay to reduce the wear on that switch. Oh- same for the brake light- current runs through the switches. I put a relay in for front and rear brake lever/pedal.

There are no big fixes, but there are a lot of incremental improvements.

Jason