Me & My Bike

[gstallons]

The June issue of Motorcyclist magazine has the usual segment called "Me & My Bike" .. This month has a bike owned by Frank Yang in Fullerton,Ca. 

Well it is his 2002 MG LeMans. Apparently he has the usual......no .... read it for yourself, it is a good read. 

 I hope he joins V11lemans.com....

[fotoguzzi]

I saw that as I was racing to the Erik Buell news.. the dude is Awesome.. I almost want to go work for him.  I already want the 1190AX that won't be shown till end of this year.  for now my Uly is the main ride and Lemans sits on the stand..

 

[gstallons]

Well the E Buell info is incredible. H-D was a bad marriage with Buell....I will leave it alone..

[rayb24]

Neat article on the V11, however I'm pretty sure an Editor edited a bit to much out of the article to make it fit in a half page. Pity I wanted to know more

[gstallons]

Oh yeah... I would like to contact him and communicate w/him .

[GuzziYang]

Hi Guys,  Its me on the June issue of Motorcyclist.  I still can't believed they printed the story but I got a feeling I speak for most Guzzi owner's out there on the love hate relationship especially the transitional bikes when Aprilia took over Guzzi.   The editor Aaron Frank did took out some chunk of my article, the rules are 500 words max which is what I limit myself to but its more like 400 in the end when they edited for publication.  Both Aaron and me are avid bicycle enthusiast as the Cinelli decal on my bike hints so we talked about passion for two wheels in general.

 

I joined V11 forum almost 3 years ago when I bought my LeMans but this site was pretty dead with almost no activity back then, maybe got to do with economy but its much better now the past year or so.  I got many help form the members here like Kiwi Roy and others who points me in the right direction to address the common problems with V11's so thanks to all who has helped along the way.

 

 

[chamberlin]

Bravo Frank! Very nice article, and great photo (your wife took) too!

[docc]

Bravo, Frank!! Thanks for posting - hope you'll be here more. It's great to hear what you have to say about Moto Guzzi and your fine looking champagne LeMans!

[GuzziYang]

Thanks guys,  My Guzzi is a keeper regardless the things I need to overcome but I'm comfortable riding my LeMans cross state line any day now.  The air cool big twin rumble is one of a kind sensation you don't get to experience from other brands.  Italian Harley might sounds like oxymoron but it fit Guzzi's persona in my opinion.

 

I've done the typical stuff that applied to V11's like replacing all the relays.  The previous owner replace the shift spring.  I'd upgraded the positive & negative battery wires from some guy on Ebay that sells the wire for Ducati's and its the size of OX tail, and if it still won't flow enough current to the starter to address the IDS (I don't start) symptoms, don't know what will.

 

I've added additional ground wire from voltage regulator to engine casing to cure the intermittent instrument light intensity symptoms.  I'd lube the speedo cable as its dry from factory.  I readjusted the valves to World Spec found in the site.

 

Flush the brake & clutch fluid, take extra caution on clutch as if any air in the system will cause the clutch to disengage when warm up, don't ask me how I know

 

Brake light switch failure, but later found the rear tail lamp contacts loses tension due the vibration so if your rear brake light flickers, open up the rear tail light and bend the two contact tab back into position with the bulb.

 

The best mods I've done is the GPR 2 into 1 exhaust.  I only use the GPR mid pipe and put a Area P canister as I have it already.  You can put your hand 3-4 feet behind the exhaust tip and when I blip the throttle, the exhaust will blow your hand back another foot.  I'd never seem another bike flow this much pressure and you can feel the difference by how lively the engine feels.  No hesitation at any RPM , so I didn't feel the need for Power Commander but the lean/lack of power below 4k still there.  It breath so much better that the Rev limiter cut in several times as I was having too much fun and run out of revs way too fast!

 

I put a Aprilia bar-end from their Futura model, I think.  It weight 1+ pound each bar-end and I adapted the Guzzi rubber insert/damper onto the Aprilia's bar-end and my hands have never been fatigue or go numb ever since.  300 miles a day ride is no problems.  With stock bar-ends, my hand will go to sleep after 30 min. or so.

 

I think Motorcyclist might have a soft spot for Guzzi's as the Me & My bike section has feature 4+ Guzzi's (3 LeMans) so far and each is as different as next. 

[AndyH]

Great article Frank. Sequoia National Park Canyons sound like true riding country. I'm envious.

[czakky]

 

The best mods I've done is the GPR 2 into 1 exhaust.  I only use the GPR mid pipe and put a Area P canister as I have it already.  You can put your hand 3-4 feet behind the exhaust tip and when I blip the throttle, the exhaust will blow your hand back another foot. 

I've been wondering about that exhaust. Any vids, so we could sample the music?

 

I think Motorcyclist might have a soft spot for Guzzi's as the Me & My bike section has feature 4+ Guzzi's (3 LeMans) so far and each is as different as next. 

I have a subscription and have always noticed the bias towards Guzzi in that section. Not that I mind I'm partial too. Thanks for the great article!

[GuzziYang]

Thanks AndyH,  Yeh, the guys I met are crazy bunch and hard core to the bones and if you ever visit California, Sequoia National park is a treat.  Giant Sequoia Red Wood trees is a sight to behold, you can drive a car through it.  The guys I rod with have Guzzi's in their blood and one guy warn me that this is the unofficial Guzzi Olympics and I'm probably walking into a ambushed and they left me for dead in the forest.  The funny thing is I made a wrong turn and end up at an Indian Casino in the middle of nowhere in National Forest.  I'd almost throw in the towel and treat myself to a Buffet at the Casino when a kind soul on a California found me.  We didn't make it back till close to 9pm I think and the group can't reach us (what do you know, there's no cell phone reception in the national forest).  You should of see their faces when we walk in to the restaurant as if they saw ghosts, they write me off for dead

[GuzziYang]

Czakky,  I never took a video of the exhaust sound, but I'll try to play around with my SLR and see but you won't be disappointed.  I think I hear the GPR 2 into 1 setup on Youtube before but mine is lower and throatier in comparison.  The Area P Canister came from a exhaust system I got my 86-87 Ninja 250r and canister was just to big 2-1/4" inlet and long 18" for a 250, later I found out  instead of designing dedicated size canister for different size engines, most company built the biggest core they need and reduce it down when they fit it to 500 and below size engines.  Anyway, I'm not afraid to experiment and with the volume of air our Guzzi engine produce, I think it might be okay to run 2-1/2" inlet canisters.

 

I bet one of the senior staffers at Motorcyclist must own a Guzzi before, it seems like they know exactly what I'm going through with my bike.   My LeMans is a keeper for sure and its my first Italian experience and a challenge I know well before going in but some things still gets me like every bolt is allen type (which is pretty) but in some situations it easier to fit hex type bolt as I need to remove another part just to fit a allen wrench or socket.  Not complaining, just getting acclimated with Italian ways

[jwh20]

Frank,

 

I'm a new LeMans owner here in Central Indiana but I really loved that article when it came out last month and you helped me make up my mind to jump on the next V11 that I saw advertised.  You just don't see Moto Guzzis all that often here in Indiana so you don't see them for sale often either.  A guy from Cincinnati advertised one and that's only 100 mi away.

 

I'm loving mine already!

[GuzziYang]

Hi Jwh20, I'm new at Guzzi ownership but lusted after these soulful Italians since the 80's when I follow Dr. John Whittner's who race his LeMans  against the big factory's in Battle of the Twins and it has captivated me ever since.  Even in California we don't see that many Guzzi's so it must be a rare sight in mid-west.   It took a good two years before I found my Guzzi and even though people warm of early  models of V11 which I assume 98-2000 but  02's have their own "unique" charm as I found out later.  Champaign color, half fairing with LeMans name and tank pad just sold me at the spot. 

 

Check the intake rubber on both airbox and manifold side as mine has crack and been replace since.  The rubber damper that hold the instrument cluster can also fail so check that too.

 

Guzzi ownership will always be work in progress    Cheers!