Inner Fender Mod

[Lex]

I started with something like Al's mod but found water/ dirt etc. was still getting past so my inner piece grew "wings". Still nearly invisible but very effective. I feel confident enough to not modify the trans breather.

 

Lex

[dlaing]

Lex,

Are you using that with or without the original hugger (fender)?

PS Every month by girlfriend swears by covering her "inner piece" with the pads with "wings" Sorry, bad joke and not true....to my knowledge.

Here is another great idea:

http://www.dansguzzi.com/fender.htm

Personally I want an aluminum rear hugger that raps the entire upper half of the rear tire. Possibly mounting the license plate to be sprung with the rear wheel and fender, so that a fender eliminator kit could be even slicker...but I gotta think about that...

On the front I want an aluminum fender with high strength brackets that will also act like a fork brace. I might want to talk to Evan Wilcox about that...

[al_roethlisberger]

That is a good idea... the aluminum unit, although the fit/finish could be a bit better. It doesn't seem to follow the lines of the bike very well, at least from what I could see in the photo.

 

I'd be interested in something like that fender if it were just a bit better finished looking

 

al

[exwtk]

Hello Guzzisti,

 

I tried to remove the gearbox breather too. But it is hardly possible without removing the swing-arm. (Liitle room, maybe thick hands?) Further on I noticed, when triing to slide a hose over the breather that the radius is actually too sharp. So the hose came off very soon after. Due to this I decided to do the same thing as Al did. I added two extra plastic plates. One to shield the chock absorber, same method as Al did. The other one an rectangular plastic plate all the way down from the fork triangle to the lowest shaft/pipe that connects the "kidney"side plates. Mounting was done with Ty-Raps. Sorry no pictures.

 

Everybody: Thanks for your tips!

Greetings from Co.

[dlaing]

Exwtk,

Did you pry the cap off before attaching the hose?

 

I was thinking an alternative fix to keep water out of the transmission would be to glue something like a bottle cap on top of the oil ventilation cap.

Perhaps a cap from a bottle of fine extra virgin Italian olive oil would do the trick.

It would have to be well prepped for the glue to hold...

 

The fender idea is good because it also protects the shock absorber.

[al_roethlisberger]

Exwtk,

Did you pry the cap off before attaching the hose?

.

 

 

..I hope so, otherwise the breather wouldn't work any longer, as it vents from under the perimeter of the cap. Working a hose over the vent with the cap still attached would simply seal it off.

 

Although the fitting is indeed very very short, I would think one could easily attach a hose(once said cap is somehow removed), and "clamp the heck out of it" with a fuel-line clamp, and just run the hose straight up, then add some sort of 180 degree fitting, or just gently radius the hose to some other location, even back down. A nice soft vacuum hose should be flexible and light enough to stay on I would think.

 

But I'm pretty confident that the new fender will do the trick.

 

 

Interesting side note: My trans fluid is milky/cloudy after getting it back from the shop a few weeks back. I just noticed it the other day while doing all my other work. This is odd because I haven't ridden it in the rain since last year, nor even washed the bike in months, and I'm quite certain the fluid was "clear" when I took it up to San Mateo. And I don't think the guys up at Moto Italiano did any extended rain/wet riding either. hrmm, not sure. But I guess I'll be changing my fluid

 

al

[Lex]

dlaing,

 

I use the "inner inner fender" with the stock inner fender. That is why I didn't worry too much about looks, it is pretty much invisible with the original equipment fender in place. You have to know the V11 pretty well to spot it, the only change is that the triangular opening in the front of the inner fender now shows a small part of the "wings" instead of the tire. Given that it is a satin black piece of fiberglass inside a satin black piece of plastic in a part of the bike partly covered by the seat and side cover only some one looking for it would notice. If you followed Al's lead and used ABS it would be even harder to see, the texture of the ABS should match the OEM inner fender.

 

Cheers,

 

Lex

[al_roethlisberger]

Here's a photo of my final undertail fender extender. The measurements are the same as reported earlier, except that I extended the length a bit... how much I forget, but I think it's an inch or so... and then just hand-trimmed it to clear the shock and swingarm.

 

Again, it uses the three stock bolt locations, so no special fabrication on the bike itself is required.

 

I think it adds a good bit more protection to the battery and cable area from both debris and water, especially since I've removed my rear hugger.

 

BTW, just as an aside, I noticed that while reinserting and loctite-ing the hugger bolts into the swingarm, that the threaded inserts often were loose enough to turn in the swingarm itself making tightening the bolts a bit tricky.

 

al

[jrt]

Yet another possibility (if one is so inclined) is to fit a molded unit from pratt lay (dlaing already mentioned the dan's guzzi aluminum one)

http://www.prattlay.co.uk/hugger.html

I just ran across this on the 'net.

Al, your setup looks a lot nicer than mine. I used a piece of clear floormat from a chevy truck! LOL, it's just temporary while I get the shape right.

 

Cheers,

Jason

[al_roethlisberger]

Due to popular demand, here is a drawing(and yes, it's metric this time ) of the inner fender mod shown in the photo above.

 

The material is 1/8" textured black PVC(I think), available as scrap from my local TAP plastics for about $2. Whatever it is, it is nearly indestructable

 

Keep in mind that the measurements may vary by 1-2mm depending on each bike's unique dimensions, but in general the dimensions shown should be accurate. The real trick will probably be to make the fastener holes a bit oversized, especially the top lone hole, to allow some "wiggle room".

 

It's not a perfect solution, but this certainly helps to keep debris off of the shock, and protect the battery and wiring harness that as delivered from Guzzi is exposed.

 

Hope that helps.

 

al

[nuevototem]

Hi all,

 

Ok I see that veryone work hard in this, but i will like to know if the problem of milky gear oil is fixed ? I live in Barcelona and here MG have a very good mechanic called Jose Caparros. He told me that the problem is related to the KM-counter cable. Any ideas?

 

Thanks to all!

[jrt]

Hi Nuevototem,

 

Is the "KM countercable" the speedometer cable? I doubt that is the problem- it's the same design as the old 5-speed and they never leaked. Water gets into the transmission from the breather at the very rear of the 6-speed. Water off the tire is directed right at it. It should really be changed out to the old style hose fitting.