location, location, location

[Guest burke]

I heard that speedo cables are a problem on these bikes and I bought mine with a broken speedo. I was told that the gear in the tranny was stripped but upon further investigation I found the real problem:

 

The cable was broken 6 inches from the speedo

 

The speedo cable is routed between the head light and its bracket

 

When the bars are pulled right, it wedges the cable between bracket and light

 

The bracket is sharp and it cut into the cable damaging the housing

 

This either damaged the internal cable or caused friction and over time----snap

 

I don't know if this is the normal routing for this cable but if it is, you might want to reroute yours before it fails. It seems to me that all of my problems so far have been related to routing of cables.

 

I took the evap can off last night also and was able to use the longer bit of hose from the t to the can to route the throttle bodies together. It creates a slight kink but it should work.

[al_roethlisberger]

Yeah, for the 2003+ bikes that ditched the bevel-gear in favor of the bent tube housing, your experience is what many folks with this problem have observed. One owner had a longer cable made(I forget who), but I don't know how well that ultimately worked out.

 

Others have tried to more carefully route the cable.

 

I haven't heard of the internal gear getting stripped though thank goodness.

 

In prior years to 2003, the speedo cable was driven by a bevel gear that attached to the transmission. This setup worked fine, except that the construction of the gear housing was subject to failure by pushing itself apart.

 

 

The "new" bent tube housing on the 2003+ bikes was apparently to address the failures with the gear driven original(and/or support the new black ITI gauges), but introduced their own problems as you have seen. If the manufacturer of the original gear drive had built them just a bit more durably, they never would have failed.

 

But for those with the old style gear drives, some have observed that the main culprit of their exploding is ham-fisted installation. So make sure that the gear drive and its companion align smoothly when reinstalling.

 

 

Finally, FYI: the "new" bent tube housing and old gear drive housing cables are not interchangeable. The gear ratios in the speedo drive internal to the transmission are different. This also means that one cannot put a 2003+ transmission on a pre-2003 bike(and vice versa) without some additional work to get the speedo to read correctly.

 

 

al

[Guest burke]

Yeah, for the 2003+ bikes that ditched the bevel-gear in favor of the bent tube housing, your experience is what many folks with this problem have observed.  One owner had a longer cable made(I forget who), but I don't know how well that ultimately worked out.

 

Others have tried to more carefully route the cable.

 

I haven't heard of the internal gear getting stripped though thank goodness.

 

In prior years to 2003, the speedo cable was driven by a bevel gear that attached to the transmission.  This setup worked fine, except that the construction of the gear housing was subject to failure by pushing itself apart.

The "new" bent tube housing on the 2003+ bikes was apparently to address the failures with the gear driven original(and/or support the new black ITI gauges), but introduced their own problems as you have seen.  If the manufacturer of the original gear drive had built them just a bit more durably, they never would have failed.

 

But for those with the old style gear drives, some have observed that the main culprit of their exploding is ham-fisted installation.  So make sure that the gear drive and its companion align smoothly when reinstalling.

Finally, FYI:  the "new" bent tube housing and old gear drive housing cables are not interchangeable.  The gear ratios in the speedo drive internal to the transmission are different.  This also means that one cannot put a 2003+ transmission on a pre-2003 bike(and vice versa) without some additional work to get the speedo to read correctly.

al

48286[/snapback]

 

 

 

My bike is a 2003 but it has the angled drive (it looks like one cylinder mounted at an angle to the other one). Is it possible that I have an earlier 2003? Did they switch mid year?

[al_roethlisberger]

No.... well sorta You have a 2003 V11 Naked, but it is basically a 2002 spec bike.

 

MG sorta pulled a "fast one" in my humble opinion with the V11 Naked in early to mid 2003 ... in North America anyway <_>

 

I guess MG had a bunch of 2002 V11 Nakeds left over in parts

 

They marketed all the great new features of the 2003 bikes, of which several new owners of the '03 V11 Naked here thought they received(which we have discussed here a couple times).... but in the end did not. The only bike that received these updates right away was the LeMans apparently.

 

Fortunately for these 2003 2002-spec Naked owners, the 2003 improvements, while desireable, didn't represent enough of a major change that left the owners wanting enough to care about taking it up with MG(as if that would have gone anywhere anyway ) ...at least the owners that have chatted about it here.

 

 

What you have is essentially still a 2002 spec bike. There's a thread or two on this somewhere, but basically in 2003 MG revised the V11 Sport/LeMans, changing to:

 

- 2003 has a new tank,with internal fuel-pump, filter, regulator, slightly larger capacity. The new tank is immediately recognizeable because it doesn't have the "chin pad" nor the petcock under the left side, or the external fuel-regulator/return under the right. The new tank seems to eliminated the dreaded tank-suck and vapor-lock issues of the earlier bikes.

 

- 2003 has black ITT gauges that replaced the problematic white Veglias

 

- 2003 has smooth "satin" engine, transmission, and bevel paint to replace the faulty "fuzzy" textured engine paint of the 2002(and 2001 Rosso Mandello) series.

 

- 2003 has larger(43mm??) front forks with adjustable preload and either compression or rebound, I forget which, but not both. But the adjustments are available in both legs. The 2002 and earlier forks were 40mm if I recall, and only had compression and rebound(in each leg exclusively) and no preload. The 2002 and earlier forks are immediately recognizeable by their big Tonka Toy caps, and the giant "C" and "R" printed on them. The 2003 has more contemporary caps, with a blue nut/cap for adjustment.

 

- 2003 has a new front mini-crossover in front of the alternator connecting the headers. This along with the increased CR, was supposed to boost low/mid range torque.

 

- 2003 marketed(but never verified AFAIK) slightly higher compression

 

- 2003 has oil jet cooling of the underside of the piston crown

 

 

.... and of course, as you have noticed, the 2002 spec and earlier bikes have the speedo gear drive.

 

 

I'm sure there are other differences that were introduced in 2003, but those are the major ones I can recall off-hand.

 

So yes, you have the 2002 speedo parts. I am surprised your cable actually broke, but we have seen routing of the cable to be an issue for all years to some degree.

 

Hope that helps.

al

[Guzzirider]

I had a custom made cable made and that broke in 100 miles.

 

The solution for me was to retro fit the speedo cable and drive from a pre 2002 V11.

 

This has worked and has proved reliable.

 

Guzzi changed to this crap option in 2002 to save money but it has backfired.

 

In the end I went through 3 cables before I got one that lasted- I did a complete lap of the Irish coast, toured Wales, Scotland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Italy, Austria and Germany all with no working speedo so I have a low mileage 1900 mile bike!!!!

 

Guy

[al_roethlisberger]

I had a custom made cable made and that broke in 100 miles.

 

The solution for me was to retro fit the speedo cable and drive from a pre 2002 V11.

 

This has worked and has proved reliable.

 

Guzzi changed to this crap option in 2002 to save money but it has backfired.

 

In the end I went through 3 cables before I got one that lasted- I did a complete lap of the Irish coast, toured Wales, Scotland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Italy, Austria and Germany all with no working speedo so I have a low mileage 1900 mile bike!!!!

 

Guy 

48293[/snapback]

 

 

 

BTW, quick clarification/disclaimer:

 

For those that might get confused the make/model discussion. To be clear, for some reason the year models outside of North America, well at least in Europe, seem to be a "year earlier" than what ours in North America are marketed as.

 

So, for example, one occasionally will see a "2003" LeMans in Europe noted and registered as a 2002.

 

But for the sake of clarity, I'll continue to stick with the North American model year nomenclature as sold here for my descriptions.

 

In North America, 2003 models were the year the changes above were introduced.

 

 

I just wanted to clarify that before the questions about what year is what got even more confusing

 

al

[gh67]

- 2003 marketed(but never verified AFAIK) slightly higher compression

48291[/snapback]

Al, in some of the forums it has been discussed that putting aftermarket higher compressions pistons in could be harmful to the life of the engine, fuel economy, etc. I really wish we could find out what ompression the 03+ bikes actually have. If confirmed, one could go with OEM 03+ pistons instead of aftermarket. I have my lovely case swap coming up and trying to decide if I wish to go down that path (along with some new valves) while its cracked open.

 

- 2003 has oil jet cooling of the underside of the piston crown

48291[/snapback]

This is the first I've heard about different oil flow on the 03+, was there a change in the cylinder design?

 

cheers

[al_roethlisberger]

Al, in some of the forums it has been discussed that putting aftermarket higher compressions pistons in could be harmful to the life of the engine, fuel economy,  etc.  I really wish we could find out what ompression the 03+ bikes actually have.  If confirmed, one could go with OEM 03+ pistons instead of aftermarket.  I have my lovely case swap coming up and trying to decide if I wish to go down that path (along with some new valves) while its cracked open.

This is the first I've heard about different oil flow on the 03+, was there a change in the cylinder design?

 

cheers

48304[/snapback]

 

 

I doubt the change in CR was much. I think I recall something like .4 point or something, and MG is always optimistic and inaccurate in this area, so the actual CR may be significantly less. I don't know/think they changed the piston, but they may have. They probably just reworked the head a little bit.

 

As far as the oil cooling, from what I heard/know they just added some upward shooting jets.

 

al

[Guest ckamin]

So it sounds like my 2003 V11 Naked actually is a '02 (Veglia gauges, no crossover by the alternator, black crinkle engine paint)? Th vin indicates a build year of '03 (as long as I am reading it right by looking at the 10th digit).

 

Any input? Thanks.

[al_roethlisberger]

So it sounds like my 2003 V11 Naked actually is a '02 (Veglia gauges, no crossover by the alternator, black crinkle engine paint)? Th vin indicates a build year of '03 (as long as I am reading it right by looking at the 10th digit).

 

Any input? Thanks.

48328[/snapback]

 

 

.... "no input" , you simply have one of the '02 spec, '03 V11 Nakeds

 

 

Yours is indeed a "2003" and was sold and registered as such, but almost all the '03 V11 Nakeds I've seen didn't manage to get the 03 features, and were really still '02 spec bikes.

 

It's not really a problem. It simply "is what it is" But it does cause some minor confusion at times for owners, especially when trying to replace parts or troubleshoot a problem, such as this thread exhibited.

 

It's simply the quirky result of a small manufacturer phasing in new features

 

al

[Guest ckamin]

Ok, thanks for your reply. I appreciate it. It doesn't mean I am enjoying it any less!

[gh67]

Ok, thanks for your reply. I appreciate it. It doesn't mean I am enjoying it any less!

48386[/snapback]

The frame stamp can also help you...the tag is on the neck of the frame under triple tree on the left side. You may have to move aside some wiring to see it.