Hi Ti

[leroysch]

This bike (2004 LeMans) is a total pleasure, i.e., awesome. Purchased with 4700 miles on the clock, I've put enough miles on it to want to equip it for road trip duty. I've been looking at the hepco-becker 30liter setup but the Ti cans look to me to run the risk of being too high and interfering with the bags/rack. Other bikes that appear to have this exhaust, images that I've pulled off the internet, don't seem to have such skyscraperish height at the back of the bike. Can any of you fine folks assess the likelihood of an interference with the hepco-becker setup and/or provide me any enlightenment as to why these appear to me to be "different"? Thanks!

[Scud]

You have some great pipes there, but they're not so friendly toward saddlebags. That Moto Guzzi Titanium kit comes with shorter-than-stock brackets - so the passenger pegs are also higher. The pipes are closer together at the tips too (compared to stock). 

 

I have those pipes on my LeMans, and I found a practical, although not "beautiful" solution with the Giant Loop Great Basin bag. More luggage discussion at the link below, including pics of bags on a few different bikes - and my Giant Loop bag at the end.

 

http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=18943

[Steve S]

Have a look at Ventura luggage kits, works for me

[JRD]

I have an '02 LM and just love the versatility of these bikes. I have both a set of H/B 40L hard bags and also a Nelson Rigg loop/tail bag similar to Scuds. In addition I have an expandable tank bag I can use in combination with either the tail or hard bags.

 

When I planned on riding for a more extended trip I installed the hard bags and tank bag. It only takes 15-20 minutes to install or remove the H/B racks. I had the rain gear and other items I may need quick access to, (camera, tools, face cloth), in the tank bag. Extra shirts, pants, shoes and shave kit were in small gym type bags inside the hard bags. Disadvantage of the hard bags and racks is the staggering heart stopping price! I was extremely fortunate to scored a set of bags off fleabay for a decent price and used set of mounting brackets from Forum member Bill Hagen. I still own him that 750ml bottle of his favorite beverage.

 

The tail bag held plenty of clothes for a several nights stay over in Daytona for Bike Week. An advantage of the tail bag is once removed, your bike maintains the original sport bike appearance. Just depends on how you plan on using the bike. Hope this helps.

Jerry

[leroysch]

Thanks for the ideas.

 

JRD, That staggering price is exactly the reason I'm trying to establish whether they'll fit before shelling out that amount of coin.

 

Scud, thanks for pointing out the tip-to-tip dimension on the Ti pipes is less than stock....I had only been concerned about pipe-to-bag clearance. Makes me wonder if the metal bracketry will also be an issue.

 

Steve S, thanks for the Ventura clue. I had not heard of them before..and the fact that their Aero line can interconnect with each other sounds intriguing.....

[Scud]

Re price - I just bought a BMW K75s with luggage for about the same price as putting new hard cases on a V11. Just as a point of comparison... 

 

Steve pointed out that my parts bike had a Ventura rack on it. So if you decide to go that direction, I have a main bracket available for cheap. Here's a picture of the way Ventura rack mounts on the V11 subframe (see post #20):

 

http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19236&page=2

[JRD]

Geeze I forgot all about the Ventura rack system. I have one installed on my Aprilia and love it. When I don't have the rack on the bike I have the grab rail installed which really comes in handy when I am just moving the bike around the garage or don't feel the need to secure any items. If I am out for a day trip I install the rack so I can bungy a jacket or small items, although you can certainly secure a medium size duffle bag. I thought the price for the Ventura rack was very reasonable as the fit and finish is top quality and the directions were easy to understand. Photos of my Aprilia with the grab rail installed can be seen in the Southern Spine Raid thread.

 

Good luck!

[pmark]

 

Ventura rack with the high mounted To pipes has worked great for me.

 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[Tom M]

The MG Ti exhaust can be mounted high with the short passenger peg mounts, or low with the stock passenger peg mounts which will allow you to use the HB hard bags or the factory soft bags.

 

I use Cortech soft bags without frames with the high mounts.  Here's an old pic that will give you some idea of how they fit.

 

 

[Scud]

Tom - I didn't know they could be mounted high or low. I guess that also means the stock exhaust can be mounted high if the high-hangers are used. That exhaust looks great with the silver porkchops - no, let's call them titanium porkchops... BTW - what did you do to get the header pipes to be so clean and silver?

[gstallons]

No kiddin' . Mine look like they go to a farm implement .

[leroysch]

The MG Ti exhaust can be mounted high with the short passenger peg mounts, or low with the stock passenger peg mounts which will allow you to use the HB hard bags or the factory soft bags.

 

I use Cortech soft bags without frames with the high mounts.  Here's an old pic that will give you some idea of how they fit.

I saw your setup searching this site. Nice. I've got an identical setup which I've used on the Buell, but was looking for something with more capacity. Oh...and the ones I've got are blue. Look great on the white/blue Buell, but on my MG....let's just say the battle between practicality and aesthetics has not yet been resolved!

 

Tom - I didn't know they could be mounted high or low. I guess that also means the stock exhaust can be mounted high if the high-hangers are used. That exhaust looks great with the silver porkchops - no, let's call them titanium porkchops... BTW - what did you do to get the header pipes to be so clean and silver?

As Mark mentioned, stock had longer passenger peg brackets...and I have a vague understanding that the mount was more like a tab. Saw a post somewhere that a height change via using the stock brackets, repositioning the loops, and rotating the crossover provides clearance for HB type luggage with the Ti exhaust. Downside was that a poster mentioned can scratches from the loops already are there and will occur when repositioned. In any event, a guy on wildguzzi was parting out a V11 and I scored a pair of the longer brackets from him.

Op. cit. my previous comment on practicality vs aesthetics!

[Tom M]

Tom - I didn't know they could be mounted high or low. I guess that also means the stock exhaust can be mounted high if the high-hangers are used. That exhaust looks great with the silver porkchops - no, let's call them titanium porkchops... BTW - what did you do to get the header pipes to be so clean and silver?

Hi Scud,

The stock exhaust cans can't be mounted high because the pipes that connect the cans to the crossover are welded into the cans.  If you rotate them upward the oval cans will end up at a strange angle.  The connecting pipes in the Ti kit aren't welded to the cans so they can be rotated any way that you want, high or low.

 

My exhaust pipes and crossover are clean because I had them ceramic coated.  There are more pictures in the "Post a pic of your V11" thread if you're interested.

http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5556&page=36

 

Hi Leroysch,

If you change crossovers or the mounting height of the Ti cans the mounting straps will end up in a slightly different spots, exposing marks where the mounting straps used to be.  The good news is they can easily be blended into the can with a fine scotchbrite pad.  I've run stock, FBF, Stucchi and Mistral crossovers with my Ti exhaust and unless you look really closely at the cans in the right light you can't see where the mounting straps have been before.