Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's Daytona

[Blueboarhound]

For heavens sakes don't worry about the origin of the brakes or fork! Tokis are great brakes, better than period Brembos but you'll ger through pads at a great rate, guess how I know!

The forks are I presume yer standard Showas? Great, great fork. Yes for ultimate feel and compliance Ohlins are better but you'll pay a price in servicing and parts. The nice thing about Showas is that they are not only easily tuned and rebuilt but since just about every Japanese Sportsbike spares are readily available from Captain Fleabay. They are infinitely nicer than the original 'Zocchis or whatever they had WP's? At the end of the day the Showas are a much better thing than anything other than the absolute 'Creme deLa creme' suspension units. No shame in having them on a truly great Guzzi like a Daytona.

Pete

I do plan on leaving the GSX-R front end on. I rode this bike years ago when it was stock and although it was a while ago from what I remember there's no comparison with the OEM unit. The GSX-R front end really improves the turning performance. It doesn't have the same "rocket on rails" feel that the OEM unit had on long sweepers but it's much more flickable now. I'm not sure of the year/model GSX-R the front end came off of. I'm trying to narrow that down as we speak.

I may change out the brakes but with modern Brembo units not period ones but for now I'm leaving them on as I want to upgrade the brakes on the Sport 1100 first.

The one thing I would like to do is find matching wheels. If you look close you may notice that the front wheel is from the GSX-R donor and the rear wheel is OEM. They are similar but not the same. The previous owner painted them gold to match. I think that kind of plays a trick on your eyes and you tend to not notice that they are different.

[Kentktk]

Looks great and well done upgrade with those forks. Be quiet on those wheels, no one will ever notice and if they do who cares.

[geezerboy]

 Congratulations ! What an absolutely stunning motorcycle
    Geezerboy





07 Norge
03 Nomad
47 Chief

[oldmxdog61u]

Wow! I could really dig it. That's a very beautiful bike!

[leafman60]

The Daytona series is, for me, the best-looking sporty bike they've built.

Congrats.

[Blueboarhound]

Although I have big plans for it (don't we all have those?) I haven't done to much with the Daytona so far other change out to a K&N air filter.

Before:


After:


It was a rider for the previous owners as well as me so I think I'm going to tear it down this winter for a complete detail/cleaning and to replace anything needing it. A lot of the rubber and plastic clamps, fitting etc. are cracking and showing signs of wear and age. The previous owner DIY'd the wheels gold and it's starting to show so I'll either redo them properly or upgrade them, something I've wanted to do since purchasing it, while it's torn down.

 

[Chuck in Indiana]

Hey, Rocker.. I see the lemon voltmeter is still reading low. Just for giggles, why don't you pull the fuses, clean up the connectors and put new fuses in it? That cured the same problem on the Lario.. IIRC it was the forward fuse in the stack that was the culprit.

[Curtis Harper]

Not to put any sort of a jinx on the Daytona or you, but since I watch the parts supply very closely especially on the 10 years plus bikes. Find head guards. I don't have them anymore, but someone still makes them. Daytona / Centauro valve covers are just plain not available. So protect them with good headguards. Could render the machine unusable, which is no good.

PS Love the bike!

[rocker59]

Hey, Rocker.. I see the lemon voltmeter is still reading low. Just for giggles, why don't you pull the fuses, clean up the connectors and put new fuses in it? That cured the same problem on the Lario.. IIRC it was the forward fuse in the stack that was the culprit.

Yes.  Reading low.  My multimeter shows all good, though.

I need to get some of Wayne's elixir, too.

I'll mess with with them this week and let you know what happens.

[Blueboarhound]

Thanks Curtis!

I picked these up I just need to get them on. I believe the gent that made them was from VA. and at the time he said he was ceasing production. When they first arrived I thought the amount of material that made the bolt hole seemed a little thin but overall they seem like they're well made.

[Curtis Harper]

Excellent. Enjoy the toy!

[Guzzistajohn]

Sweet ride! Have a ball 'yall!

[Chuck in Indiana]

Thanks Curtis!

I picked these up I just need to get them on. I believe the gent that made them was from VA. and at the time he said he was ceasing production. When they first arrived I thought the amount of material that made the bolt hole seemed a little thin but overall they seem like they're well made.

I used to make head guards for the 8 valves back in the day. Having that thin area at the bolt hole is by design. It's designed to fail, hopefully scrubbing off enough energy as it does it, and not damaging the head itself.

[Blueboarhound]

Head guard crumple zone.....sweet. Thanks for the info Chuck!

[Blueboarhound]

Gratuitous Daytona shot outside Emmitsburg Maryland.

[Turin]

You may have to squint a bit, but I've got the old Guzzitech head guards. Maybe Ed Milich could run another batch ?






Bonnie Callander Max Plowman

[Blueboarhound]

Sunny and a high of 68 yesterday, go for a ride? Hmmm.....let me think about it, YES!

I don't think I'll have too many more riding days like this in '14 so I headed north into coal country. Most of the bright colors are gone now but the foliage was still nice, just darker shades of red, yellow and orange. Stopped to check out a dam, didn't get any dam souvenirs but did take a few dam photos. No dam wildlife to be seen but the water was dam clear.

On the return trip I cut through Ft. Indiantown Gap. There are great roads in and around FITG as it is an "open" installation however you need to be wary of the "Tank Crossing" signs. You also don't want to be wandering onto the ranges the A-10's use for their gun runs, that would be a bad day. When I fueled up in Lickdale at the start of my ride I was about 5 miles west of FITG and I could hear and feel the impacts of something being fired.

All in all it was a fun afternoon.



































They don't call it Pennsyltucky for nothin'.....

[Blueboarhound]

My wife rocks! Here's is the 4V Parts Manual she put together for me. It includes the models that tend to share parts with my Daytona.

[blackcat]

Very nice!

[Turin]

How did she figure all that out? That's awesome.

Since you have both a Daytona 1000 and an 1100 sport, how about a comparison right up? I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd like to read that.

[trippah]

FT. Indiantown Gap - such fond memories of a week long NCO school there.  After leading a five hour ambush patrol, I got back and hit the showers counting 5 ticks in private areas and few more enroute; and I had taken lots of preventative measures. Poison Ivy as well, but not one deer crossed my path. OH well, my pay checks used to come from there also. ;D ;D
Your Daytona is really good looking so the not coveting thing strains. ;)

[Old Jock]

For heavens sakes don't worry about the origin of the brakes or fork! Tokis are great brakes, better than period Brembos but you'll ger through pads at a great rate, guess how I know!

The forks are I presume yer standard Showas? Great, great fork. Yes for ultimate feel and compliance Ohlins are better but you'll pay a price in servicing and parts. The nice thing about Showas is that they are not only easily tuned and rebuilt but since just about every Japanese Sportsbike spares are readily available from Captain Fleabay. They are infinitely nicer than the original 'Zocchis or whatever they had WP's? At the end of the day the Showas are a much better thing than anything other than the absolute 'Creme deLa creme' suspension units. No shame in having them on a truly great Guzzi like a Daytona.

Pete

I would never contradict VDG and this is no exception. Sorry its so late and its not a biggie but the bike looks, judging by the big alloy casting on the frame, attaching the swingarm, to be an earlier series bike. The original forks were Marzzochi and they were SHOCKINGLY BAD, as I remember one leg did compression the other damping, they really were pants. When you did an oil change on the forks one leg drained like new fluid the other came out jet black, go figure what was happening. On later bikes Guzzi went to WP they didn't do that because they like giving money to Dutchmen.

The GSXR front end was quite a common conversion. When the BEARS racing series was in vogue, I think it was Cobby was one who used a Daytona for a while anyway and I remember seeing his bike at Knockhill (a bleak race circuit in Scotland) when I asked him about the front end he told me it was a GSXR conversion and then absolutely insisted I sit on his race bike and pump the forks to feel the difference, nice nice guy. Oh they felt a lot better!!

John

[Waterbottle]

Lots of good info here guys, thanks, Beautiful bike BBH, what a find, ;-T
 I've got my eyes peeled for one myself. Seriously if anyone is selling or knows someone ETC.........
Cheers Ron

[jas67]

Sunny and a high of 68 yesterday, go for a ride? Hmmm.....let me think about it, YES!

I don't think I'll have too many more riding days like this in '14 so I headed north into coal country.

Nice pics -- it looks like you were on some of my favorite roads!    I can't wait 'till spring!

I'm going to try to get out for a ride this afternoon, or tomorrow afternoon.

[Blueboarhound]

The original forks were Marzzochi and they were SHOCKINGLY BAD

The owner that did the conversion had originally swapped out the OEM forks for a set from a black '96 Sport 1100 he owned. Later on he did the GSXR conversion which is what you see now. Although I had rode this exact Daytona back in the late '90's when it was stock it was only once so it's hard for me to compare before and after. I can say it turns noticeably quicker than my Sport 1100 but it also does not have that "riding on rails" stability the Sport 1100 has.

[Old Jock]

I'm like you and cannot really compare only having ridden the bikes with the older style Marzzochi's and limited time on anything else of that model.

My early Daytona did have that "running on rails" feel, but I put it down to the length of the bike, it was an absolute bitch on a tight road, really horrible and hard work. As I also recall the Marzzochi's were too soft as well.

Not only me that thought so, obviously the factory did and so did Amedeo Castellini of Raceco fame, who raced a real fire breather of a Daytona in the BEARS series. He was the first that I know of to offer the WP conversion for the bikes and said that the forks let the bike down really badly. I never did the conversion as it was about £1000, or so in the mid 90s and I could not afford to splash that sort of cash.

Just passing it on make of it what you will

[Blueboarhound]

I could not afford to splash that sort of cash.

Been there.  :(

Now if money wasn't an option.....

[Blueboarhound]

How did she figure all that out? That's awesome.

The manuals can be found online, they're all open source info on the internet that I had on a thumb drive. She took the time to print and organize them for me all into one place. I think she did a pretty good job, she's awesome. She's been riding with me since we met (still had a boyfriend when I was courting her and asking her to go for a ride on my then new 900SS) and we actually purchased the Sport 1100 together as a leftover in spring of '97, ironically the Sport 1100 is her least favorite bike to ride due to the pillions position, height, etc.. The first time she saw the Daytona when I purchased it she looked it over then said "wait a minute......where am I supposed to sit?".

[Blueboarhound]

Lots of good info here guys, thanks, Beautiful bike BBH, what a find, ;-T
 I've got my eyes peeled for one myself. Seriously if anyone is selling or knows someone ETC.........
Cheers Ron

Thanks Ron.

Moto Corsa has a '96 Daytona Racing for sale. Pretty much the ultimate Daytona 1000 from the factory.

http://www.motocorsa.co.uk/bikes/index.php?section=details&bike=V9P4NYQ0PUHBM7U5

[Waterbottle]

Thanks Ron.

Moto Corsa has a '96 Daytona Racing for sale. Pretty much the ultimate Daytona 1000 from the factory.

http://www.motocorsa.co.uk/bikes/index.php?section=details&bike=V9P4NYQ0PUHBM7U5

Ron sad now  :'(  At a stretch I'd have it, if it was here in oz, but god knows what the shipping costs would be. I missed one in NZ a while back
, thought about it too long ....... and then it was gone. If it's still there after xmas I'll do the sums on rates / shipping.
Thanks BBH 
Ron