Kev's new Guzzi (sharing the garage with the Duc)

[Curmudgeon]

It's a pity you can't sneak a 14T on there for her when she isn't looking. Wouldn't want you to lose a couple of fingers though. If I've learned one thing, it's never to argue with a female!

Maybe you know, maybe you don't. The stock gearing from the factory is there just to squeak past Euro3 and drive-by noise testing. Of the eight Ducatis I've owned prior to the 796, two required losing a tooth right out of the box. The rest had enough torque to ride through the dead zone and/or were smooth enough to ride at low revs and all would pull red line in top.

It might not seem like much, but ride a 696 with a 14T and you will find it much more responsive and much quicker. Best bang you'll ever get for $38-. Most who have switched say, "Ahhh, THIS is the way it's supposed to be!".  Personally I wouldn't even rate it as a "mod". Your comparison results would likely change quite a bit, regardless of rider or riding style.

This is "real world" performance I'm talking about too. No "Ricky Racer".

[Kev M]

To be clear, I'm not complaining about or poo pooing the 696 in any way.

And as such, if it ain't broke...

[somegirl]

It's a pity you can't sneak a 14T on there for her when she isn't looking. Wouldn't want you to lose a couple of fingers though. If I've learned one thing, it's never to argue with a female!

Maybe you know, maybe you don't. The stock gearing from the factory is there just to squeak past Euro3 and drive-by noise testing. Of the eight Ducatis I've owned prior to the 796, two required losing a tooth right out of the box. The rest had enough torque to ride through the dead zone and/or were smooth enough to ride at low revs and all would pull red line in top.

It might not seem like much, but ride a 696 with a 14T and you will find it much more responsive and much quicker. Best bang you'll ever get for $38-. Most who have switched say, "Ahhh, THIS is the way it's supposed to be!".  Personally I wouldn't even rate it as a "mod". Your comparison results would likely change quite a bit, regardless of rider or riding style.

My husband snuck a 14T onto my 695.  I rode with it (and grumbled a bit about it) until it was time to change the sprocket again, and asked him to go back to stock.  For me it really did ride better with stock gearing.  But that may be partly due to me being much lighter than most riders.  It also may be due to me living in the twisties and not having too much city riding to deal with.  Anyway, lowering the gearing may be great for most but not for everyone.

[Curmudgeon]

Yes, lots or variables. Maybe you could define "rides better" for us. Seems curious to me, as a 695 is down a whopping 9 ft.lbs and 7 BHP on a 696. Do you EVER see 6th gear? On my 796 with a 14T, I'm still rarely in 6th below an indicated 75 MPH. Gearing down also tightens up the ratios a bit which is nice for twisties too. Not having much town riding is a big plus naturally.

When someone like Raux says that he prefers a 15T in Germany, that I can easily believe / understand on the Autobahn or Autostrada. Would still make riding alpine passes more of a struggle.

[Howie]

My bike is back to stock gearing.  Works for me. 

[Ducatamount]

Yeah, I geared my 900 down and now find myself trying to upshift when i'm already in 6th, never did it before.
However it's much better bringing it up my path out of my walk-in basement.
Not necessarily a good mod for everyone.

[Curmudgeon]

My bike is back to stock gearing.  Works for me. 

Your's is a 5-speed, right? My 750 Paso Limited with 38mm Dellortos had no need of a gear change either.

Are we getting a bit OT here? Kev was comparing a stock 696 to his V7. IMHO  a 696 cries for a 14T. With it, a 696 takes on a different character. That's how we got here... 

Back OT, I'm wondering whether Kev is going to fit hard cases to his new toy. On the Guzzi USA site they show two cases but no pix of the hardware. I'm curious what that looks like. Maybe like an old /6 BMW case hardware? For 10% of my use, having cases on my T-100 would be great but I've never found or seen hardware for that bike which looked acceptable to me for the other 90% of the time when the bike is bare!  Only my K100RS 16/ABS had bag mounts which were almost "invisible".

[Howie]

Your's is a 5-speed, right? My 750 Paso Limited with 38mm Dellortos had no need of a gear change either.

Are we getting a bit OT here? Kev was comparing a stock 696 to his V7. IMHO  a 696 cries for a 14T. With it, a 696 takes on a different character. That's how we got here... 

Back OT, I'm wondering whether Kev is going to fit hard cases to his new toy. On the Guzzi USA site they show two cases but no pix of the hardware. I'm curious what that looks like. Maybe like an old /6 BMW case hardware? For 10% of my use, having cases on my T-100 would be great but I've never found or seen hardware for that bike which looked acceptable to me for the other 90% of the time when the bike is bare!  Only my K100RS 16/ABS had bag mounts which were almost "invisible".

Yes, 5 speed.  It seems most people gear down to improve ease of clutch usage in low speed situations and to avoid low speed rideability problems, not to make 6th gear more useful.

[somegirl]

Yes, lots or variables. Maybe you could define "rides better" for us. Seems curious to me, as a 695 is down a whopping 9 ft.lbs and 7 BHP on a 696. Do you EVER see 6th gear? On my 796 with a 14T, I'm still rarely in 6th below an indicated 75 MPH. Gearing down also tightens up the ratios a bit which is nice for twisties too. Not having much town riding is a big plus naturally.

When someone like Raux says that he prefers a 15T in Germany, that I can easily believe / understand on the Autobahn or Autostrada. Would still make riding alpine passes more of a struggle.

I mostly used 6th gear as an overdrive on the freeway.  That didn't bother me.

In stock gearing I could do long stretches of the twisties we live in using a single gear.  With lowered gearing I found myself having to shift much more frequently which was annoying.   

[somegirl]

Also, I didn't really see much benefit in taking off from a stop, I had plenty of torque with stock gearing.  It just annoyed me to then have to shift to second so soon.

[Curmudgeon]

The "new" Monsters are obviously very different. Not doubting what you are saying at all. The Siemens ECU bikes with stock fueling run very lean under ~ 4,000 and then smooth right out, but riding under load below 4,000 mainly produces vibration rather than power. One tooth less also produces much crisper throttle response everywhere in the powerband. With a 15T, 4,000 RPM = 80 MPH in 6th.

Unlike your 695, on a 696 in traffic with a 15T I was using three gears in traffic between 20 - 55 MPH. With a 14T that's now 3rd & 4th on my 796. Most of my leisurely riding is between 4,500 & 6,500 RPM where it is smooth and has "adequate" power. In VA I rarely need to ride over 7,500 as that's a really ugly ticket.

[somegirl]

I don't really think it's old vs. new, a lot of people swear by dropping a tooth in the front for the older monsters.  I think it might just be my lighter weight and personal preference.  I also prefer higher gearing on a bicycle.

[Kev M]

Somegirl nailed it.

Jenn is 100 lbs lighter than me, so torque is just not an issue, plus she specifically likes that the stock gearing allows her to hold a single gear for longer stretches of twisties.

And yes, as I said in answer to the V7 Racer question, one of the reasons I preferred the Stone was specifically that I'm adding Hepco & Becker hard cases. Frame hardware does look similar to airhead Krauser frames. But I'm powdercoating the support frames black first to help hide them somewhat visually. I need bags for most of my riding which tends to be practical more than purely recreational.

[Curmudgeon]

Found you a snap. Should look fine on that bike if they're on there most of the time.
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14661876&postcount=56

Would love to have small bags on the T-100 for the 10% of the time they'd be handy. Just never found any bag supports for the bike which looked decent with the bags detached. PITA.

[Kev M]

Yip, I've seen a number setup that way, including my little bro's 09 V7C.  

Nice snap....

The guy (s?) from Telico used to post on the Guzzi forum. But I remember a green café V7.


Ohh, I've got your answer for the Bonnie:

www.leatherlyke.com

The "modern" style bags look pretty decent, are waterproof, locking, and quick detach using 2 c-clips per bag. Most of all, they mount on two small, innocuous posts.

If you want I can show pics of our Harley with and without them.