2005 breva 1100

[melonman]

Hi all,
new to the forum and to guzzis and to shaft drive.
bought a 2005 breva 1100
14000 miles on it.
i keep sort of clunking the gear change/shaft at low speed is this something i am doing wrong ?
i have had v twins before that are happy at low revs just thumping along at low speed (labouring if you like )
the guzzi does not seem happy doing this.
the gears are sweet the engine has bags of torque.
do i need to slip the clutch more/keep the revs up a bit.?
i am going to look at the throttle cables for any slack as the power seems slightly eratic at low revs
roundabouts in the wet are interesting.
love the bike so good looking.
from the uk by the way
thanks in advance
craig

[pete roper]

How many miles on it? There were a variety of issues with very early B11's that may or may not affect your bike but if it has substantial mileage I'd expect the worst ones to have raised their ugly heads by now if they haven't been dealt with.

Pete

[Guzzi Gal]

I'm sure someone here will chime in soon (see, Pete just did) with an answer for you.  Sadly, not from me, as I'm a newb, and only ridden a shaft driven Guzzy.  I do find getting the revs up makes for a smoother shift, then I let her settle back down to where I want her to cruise.  A blip of the throttle when downshifting helps too. 

Welcome to WG!  You won't find a nicer, more helpful group of Guzzista, than here. :1:

P.S.
We LOVE bike picks, ride reports, travel logs, and the like.  So lay it on us, we can take it.

[ken farr]

14,000 miles, barley broken in.

Keep the revs up, don't ride it like an American twin.

If keeping the revs up, doesn't change your shifting problem, others will chime in.

I have an 06 B1100, great bike, I'll keep it till it quits.

kjf

[pete roper]

Whoops, sorry. Just re-read, 14,000.

In that case if the big support bearing in the CARC hasn't gone tits it's probably been replaced. Worth checking though. Look under the top boot of the reaction arm on the wheel side. There is a boss with a number on it. Get the number and ask an authorised Guzzi dealer to check it. There was a recall on early boxes because of the bearing. If it hasn't been done though you'll need to do it yourself as the factory doesn't honour recalls outside a ten year period any more.

With the clutch action on take off? Is it juddery and clunky, as if the clutch is biting and then breaking free? If so its because of the washer stack problem they had on the early Nuovo six speeds. It requires the gearbox out to fix. Guzzi said it does no harm. I'm dubious about that. I couldn't live with it, it would shit me to tears.

Your swingarm bearings and shock linkage will be shot unless they have been previously greased. Replace.

Learn how to tune it and DON'T try and alter the idle speed by turning the throttle stop screw.

Don't ride it at low RPM. It's not what they are designed to do. It's not a bloody Harley.

[melonman]

noob question
is the B11 and the V1100 the same model ?
no its not juddery on take off
and yes i have been labouring it too much i guess.
thanks for the replies

[melonman]

forgot to mention it has a venom aftermarket can on it
sounds great but would it run better with the original
the bike was not setup to run with the aftermarket can.
thanks

[Kiwi_Roy]

Hi Craig,
              Welcome to the crazy bunch.
I have a similar era Griso, yes it does seem a bit clunky at low speed, certainly more so than earlier models with a
cush drive in the rear hub.

I did the bearings on my bike at about 35,000km, the bearings were still ok but barely so get onto it ASAP
There are 4 needle rollers with lots of parts to fall out and a couple of fairly beefy tapered rollers and a spline to grease.

Advice from Pete is priceless but don't tell him I said so.

Cheers
Roy

[ohiorider]

I've put the majority of my 600,000 miles on shaft drive bikes, primarily BMW, but more recently on Moto Guzzi big block twins. 

If you were really lugging it (ie, trying to cruise at 1500rpm)  she'll not be happy.

But considering all the other variables (such as ..... who tuned it, did they know what they were doing, etc, etc) it is sometimes difficult to relate our personal experiences with our bikes to what you're experiencing.

In my case, the 2008 1200 Sport is so well broken-in as to be semi-worn out!  65,000 miles, and she shifts smoothly, and lets me cruise on light throttle at 3000 rpm or a bit less without hiccuping.  And minimal drive line clunking.  This bike has only gotten better with age and miles.

Like most shaft drive bikes, if the throttle is somewhat off/on at low rpms, you'll experience some clunking.  You might have to compensate with a bit more clutch work when you back off the throttle at low rpms.

[Scott of the Sahara]

My Norge has a similar motor just a bit bigger cc 1151. I find that it is happy around 3000 RPM in the first couple of gears and I try and keep it at 4,000 in the higher gears. I just replaced my inner plugs at 32,000 miles (I went far too long) and it made a huge difference in drivability in the lower RPM's

[mojoe]

When I got my2005 Breva 1100 I felt my gearchanges were poor and between taking just about all the slack out of the throttle cables and keeping it above 2.5-3000 rpm for changes have managed to get a compromise especially in stop/start slow moving traffic.

I am also ready to carry out a throttle body/tps reset, when there is a break in the arctic weather and possibly a Beetle remap after Christmas, they get rave reviews for smoother fuelling

[pete roper]

forgot to mention it has a venom aftermarket can on it
sounds great but would it run better with the original
the bike was not setup to run with the aftermarket can.
thanks

Depends if you're running it with a dB killer in or not. If no dB killer it won't run as well because the ECU will be constantly trying to trim the fuel to somewhere it doesn't want to go and it'll run the worse for it. If its got a dBk in it should be OK with the original map, although if it hasn't been updated the early 1100 maps were shite.

Get cables and download Guzzidiag, tune it properly and see how it goes. If you want to experiment with a better OL map contact Mark at Griso.org.

Pete

[melonman]

thanks for the replies
pete there are no baffles in the pipe.
i have the original pipe (which i prefer the look of )
so will try that and report back
thanks all 

[beetle]

i have the original pipe (which i prefer the look of )
so will try that and report back

When you change the pipe, disconnect the battery for a couple minutes to reset the fuel trims.

[pete roper]

When you re-instal the original pipe either remove and replace the main 30A fuse or disconnect the battery for thirty seconds before reconnecting it. This will clear the stored trims so the ECU can start trimming to the original pipe. This will initially take a few minutes so don't be surprised if it feels a bit different at first. Then there is a longer period of long term trimming that takes eight or so hours where it will learn and store trims for all the throttle openings used. You'll have to re-set your clock after you do this.

If you have two keys make sure you re-set the user code to something you won't forget using the code recovery function if you don't know the user code.

Pete

[melonman]

Hi pete
what exactly does the user code do ?
i have 2 keys , i assume they are original.
i have just installed a new battery but it did not ask for a code.
thanks craig

[pete roper]

It's a security feature. If someone tries to force the ignition it will damage the antenna which detects the key chip. If this occurs, even if the ignition is activated, the dashboard won't recognise a chip so it won't allow the machine to be started unless you enter your user code. If you don't know the code you're stuffed.

As far as replacing the battery is concerned this won't affect the dash's ability to recognise the key chip so you wouldn't of been asked for a code. If you do know the old code you can change it by using the 'Change the code' function in the dash. If you don't, but have two working keys, you can use the 'Code Recovery' function. I just described how to do this in another msg yesterday I think.

Pete

[Huzo]

Mate mine's a Norge of similar vintage and I know what you mean.
You must develop a "touch" when on/of the throttle especially in the lower gears.
Here's a couple from me,(my bikes done 130,000 and shifts like a Suzuki Bandit).
Make sure your reaction rod has rubber bushes BOTH ends.

In lower three gears, I ""crack" the clutch very very slightly when on/off (definitely in first).
Use Motul 80/90 with Molycote in Gearbox and bevel drive.

Also there's a thing I do when up shifting, especially if I'm giving it a bit of stick.
Occasionally if I'm changing up and shifting from say, 2nd to 3rd I'll get a bit of a "clack" and will know it's going to happen 'cos I'll feel a slight resistance under my toe when about to put it through, just a quick crack of the clutch and a small " blip" of the throttle seems to unload the box and it's perfect.
Might be the under cut on the gear dogs letting go, but that's a wild guess.
Happens very rarely, fair to say...

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

don't lug it at low rpm, she dont like that

the throttle is a little choppy on/off at parking lot & traffic jam speeds... I would check & adjust the throttle cables just to be sure tho

[rdbandkab]

We put 53,000 miles on our 2006 Breva 1100...2up!  Only part we ever needed replacing was the big seal on the rear CARC (dripped some oil on the rim).   I think it was only because the bike might have set in the same spot for a long while before we purchased it.  Other than that,  didn't know at the time about spline oilage and the like.   Our clutch was sweet and sounded even better.   We had a Mistral Carbon Oval unplugged and the sounds that bike emitted were awesome.
We we sold it to get the STelvio NTX..  (too bad I couldn't have switched back for it!).   
The current owner put hand protectors and a bashguard on it and is still adding miles to it!
She would go at low revs, but like any other bike, you don't want a "ka-chug-a-chug-a" the revs.  She would pull a high gear in town without the chug though. Not like my Caponord 1200..  Yikes she's geared high!

[melonman]

Hi all
a big thanks to you all for replies.
went out on the breva today and followed advice.
3000rpm seems like the magic number.
no clunking, smooth gear changes and a big grin.
i put the stock exhaust back on instead of the venom
and it apeared to run a lot smoother or i am just getting
used to the bike.
i will run it for a while with stock exhaust then change it
and see if there is a difference.
the stock exhaust sounds so flat and lifeless !!!!!
Question : under my seat there is a braided hose with a grease nipple
is this for the clutch ? swing arm bearing ?
any help much appreciated.
thanks craig

[pete roper]

It's not a grease nipple, it's a bleed nipple. It's the remote bleed for the clutch hydraulics so you don't have to grovel on the ground to bleed it. You should become familiar with it. CARC bikes are murder on their clutch fluid.

Pete

[Tom]

Melonman.  Your rpm's are low.  Try shifting at 5K and cruise at 4K.  You'll like it.  So will your engine.  Somewhere in there you'll find the best r's to run. 

[rodekyll]

noob question
is the B11 and the V1100 the same model ?
no its not juddery on take off
and yes i have been labouring it too much i guess.
thanks for the replies

No.  A lot of differences between them.

[Gino]

Loved my b11, only let me down once and that was due to corrosion in one of the multi plugs under the tank (Scottish winters) Took me from Edinburgh to Istanbul in 4 days, no fatigue other than from the insect bites whilst camping in the death swamp in Croatia!

[Huzo]

It's not a grease nipple, it's a bleed nipple. It's the remote bleed for the clutch hydraulics so you don't have to grovel on the ground to bleed it. You should become familiar with it. CARC bikes are murder on their clutch fluid.

Pete

Yes, why the bloody hell is that ?
Change mine every 10,000 k.
Always comes out looking like a bodily excretion from a festered sore..

[pete roper]

Your guess is as good as mine but like you we now change it on the ten because it looks so unbelievably, awesomely, crappy!

Pete

[Huzo]

Melonman.  Your rpm's are low.  Try shifting at 5K and cruise at 4K.  You'll like it.  So will your engine.  Somewhere in there you'll find the best r's to run. 

Damn right,!
Same with the Norge. (Not surprisingly)...

[Huzo]

Do you have rubber bushes in BOTH ends of your reaction rod MM ?

[tris]

No.  A lot of differences between them.

Err Guzzi call this bike a "Breva V1100" so I can see where MM is coming from