Living with my 1100 sport

Following on from my initial introduction I now have a few miles under my belt.
Hadn’t gone much further than Honiton to West bay on the 1100 sport because it was too damn uncomfortable and scary.

Having lived with it for a while I replaced the oil pressure switch (it is always nice to know when you haven’t any pressure, and my light wasn’t working.) nor was fuel warning light. (Thank you Ann for turning up with can.)

I then found I had fallen foul of the “blue paper under the fork dust seal” trick. New fork seals fitted and new fluids. And a lot of head scratching until I deciphered the manual and realised the forks had to be fully compressed to add oil. It wasn’t well described!

I then worked out what the tyre pressures ought to be (much higher than I expected) and no mean feat to find out what they were. I am still not 100%.

Scary handling sorted, I moved on to uncomfortable riding position.

Cheapest, and easiest, solution seemed to be inverting the bars. It’s not quite as easy as I thought as it takes a little fettling to drill holes for the switchgear locating pegs in the right place. An hour later, all done.

I wasn’t expecting miracles, as it didn’t look much different. But WOW, what a transformation!
Simple and effective. No need for new brake hoses.
Yes, hands are a little close to the top of the fairing on full lock, and l/h switchgear clouts the clocks a bit on lock as well but a 180 mile round trip to visit my father in Cornwall, and barely a twinge.

Stuff to still get to grips with…
This is not a five speed box, it is 4 speed with overdrive. If I am in 5th I am definitely speeding.
I don’t use speedo’s, I just sit anything I drive at comfortable revs in top gear.
Nothing I drive is very fast so this system has always worked. Yesterday’s return journey was 5000 revs in 5th and 90 miles in 63 minutes… I am going to have to rethink my strategy.

I am struggling to get my head around the sound of the engine too. 5000 revs in 5th just sounds wrong; it’s just sounds too low. But that is something I will have to get used to I guess.

The Straight cut gearbox I got used to pretty quickly, and earplugs are a useful addition, but the ratios are equally odd having 5th only really useable at illegal speeds, and the need for 1st and 2nd around town. Neither of which it seems particularly happy in.

As this is my first guzzi experience, does the above sound familiar to you? Or do you think I still have some issues to sort?

Other than that I think this thing is fully up together now, I just need to work on myself to accommodate the bike.

Oddly enough, with the new riding position, my normal day-to-day back problems feel much easier this morning after yesterday’s ride. Maybe, now that I have fixed the bike… It is fixing me!

Any photos of your handlebar mods ?

I agree about 5th Gear being like overdrive. You’re going to have to look at the speedo especially around speed cameras. Yes I’ve had my photo taken! 37 in a 30 and that was after I’d finished braking when I saw the camera. I opted for a speed awareness course where I was informed if it been over 37 would be straight to a fine and points on my licence, and increased insurance premiums.

I didn’t know you had an 1100 Sport Mike. Mine was great fun, but it had to be swapped for a tourer, it was that or a car :confused:

Hi Handyman,
Not typical and yet not unusual would be my view.
The 1100 Sport and Guzzis in general do take a bit of getting used to. “Involving” can be a euphemism for “rubbish” with some vehicles and yet it sounds as if you’re getting to grips with the Sport.
Glad the back is improving. I’ll see if my GP can prescribe me something similar :wink:
All the best
Steve

Sorry Steve my post was to Mike H. I had no idea the OP was called Mike too, in fact I am not sure he is :unamused:

[/quote]
Sorry Steve my post was to Mike H. I had no idea the OP was called Mike too, in fact I am not sure he is :unamused:
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OOPS! My speed-reading doesn’t seem to be improving!
I’ll amend the post.
Steve

No I never have had an 1100 Sport, nevetheless, the impression I got from both the Guzzi’s I did own, was the same, viz 5th gear felt like an overdrive. :smiley:

I would find a lot of difficulty comparing the performance of a 1995 1100 Sport with your 1970’s Guzzis Mike, but hey ho what do I know. The 1100 Sport had the same gearbox and clutch as the Daytona. The gearbox is straight cut with higher overall gearing to the Le Mans Mk V. Dr John helped with upgrading the engine which had 10.5:1 forged pistons and a lighter crankshaft, camshafts had a higher lift than Le Mans Mk V with 7.57mm lift. 40mm PHM Dell’Orto carbs and a force-fed pressurised airbox helped to make them fly.

See, knew I shouldn’t have mentioned it :laughing: