Question re last of the 5 speed and 6 speed CARC trannys

[ohiorider]

Just out of curiosity ....... when Piaggio (possibly Aprilia) introduced the 6 speed transmissions for the BNS12 series bikes, was the tranny design a clean sheet, or a modification of the existing V11 5 speed?  I've often heard that the transmissions on older Guzzis were 'agricultural,' meaning they probably shifted like first gen K bikes and 1st gen oilhead Beemers.

I find the transmissions on both the 2008 1200 Sport and 2012 8vSE Griso to be quite smooth (actually the older Sport seems a bit smoother.)  Of course, there is often that clunk when shifting from neutral into first, but aside from that, the new transmissions seem to shift cleanly up and down the gears.

[tpeever]

I don't have the answer to your query in terms of whether the design is new but I do know that the gearbox on my 1200 Sport is very smooth and very precise and is completely unlike the gearbox on the Nevada and V700 and the 850T I owned previously. I would say the gearbox on the 1200 Sport comes very close to the smoothness and precision of the AMC gearbox on my Commando and Dominator which for me is the gold standard in motorcycle gearboxes.

[Vasco DG]

The V11 Sport series used a clean sheet gearbox design with four shafts. All the Tontis and the early Hi-Cams and 1100 Sports, both carbureted and injected, used variants of the same five speed boxes. With the advent of the 2V CARC bikes there was another clean sheet re-design producing the three shaft 'Nuovo Six Speed' which is used in the 8V models as well except the 8V's don't for some reason incorporate a face cam shock absorber on the input shaft. The Cali 14 series uses another variant of the same gearbox but in their boxes the face cam shock absorber has returned, probably due to the lack of a rubber cush in the driveshaft of the 1400.

Pete