Have you ever built your "dream bike?"

[SIR REAL ED]

a slight mutation of the "have you ever owned your dream bike?" thread.

Please include custom ground up builds, paint jobs, and personal modifications (seats, gas tanks, suspension, etc.) to that made an "off the rack bike"  better suit your personal needs and desires.

[Huzo]

This can only be called a “dream bike”, because I conceived a lot of the cycle parts myself and am responsible for the styling and manufacture of the bits that give it it’s “look”.












The styling is heavily borrowed from the original Rob North Trident, but I built the tank and seat myself. The finished article had a twin disc front end, what you see here, is just something that was thrown in to keep the front off the ground temporarily.
In reality the final product was/is, a bit of a hotch  potch of various components, but it looked pretty good in a Buell sort of way.
The motor was an A65 S BSA Spitfire unit and actually went very well indeed (comparatively).

[Huzo]

a slight mutation of the "have you ever owned your dream bike?" thread.

Please include custom ground up builds, paint jobs, and personal modifications (seats, gas tanks, suspension, etc.) to that made an "off the rack bike"  better suit your personal needs and desires.

My V85 and Norge are in that pool to some degree.

[Turin]

My 1987 Lemans SE. This was originally raced by Lance Baker and later Dave Hull, owner of Daves Cycle in Mesa AZ.

More dedtails in the builds section.







how I bought it



as raced

[Shorty]

I never got good enough at painting and welding to build what I want, and I'm too cheap to pay anyone to do it. I have cobbled together a couple loop frame bikes with bigger engines and better brakes. They were pretty laughable. 

[Huzo]

I never got good enough at painting and welding to build what I want, and I'm too cheap to pay anyone to do it. I have cobbled together a couple loop frame bikes with bigger engines and better brakes. They were pretty laughable. 

Well…
If it goes better and stops better, it’s certainly not laughable.

[cliffrod]

I’m still working on one of mine- my ongoing 1967 V700 Corsa Record project





My attention & resources have been somewhat diluted by the addition of the CX100 and 350 Desmo to the stable, but growing eldercare responsibilities have put the serious damper on things like spare shop time for bike stuff for the foreseeable future. 

As soon as time allows, Jim/Canuck750 provided great pics from the MG Museum that will guide a major revision of the tank top. I think I’ll be doing another pair of reverse cone megaphones from lighter weight 20g crs.  I was lucky to buy the last known NOS pair of correct Menani clip-ons, for which I need to make a pair of levers.  Lots to do.

[Turin]

Cliffrod, I love this build. I hope you can find some time to make progress.

[skixc1]

It's not a Moto Guzzi but it was my dream bike. One photo is when I bought it, the other when I was finished several years later. The only thing I didn't do was the painting.

[cliffrod]

Cliffrod, I love this build. I hope you can find some time to make progress.

I’m really anxious to get back into it, Turin.  Narrowing the tank top should make a big difference in the flow.  As is, it’s approx twice as wide at the rear as it should be.  I’ll probably make a completely new top vs reworking the existing top.

One thing that stalled progress was the learning curve for oxygen-hydrogen gas welding. The big benefit of oxy/hyd welding is that no flux is used.  That means enclosed vessels (whether gas tanks or artistic pieces) don’t need extensive internal post-welding cleaning to remove flux residue.   I was doing ok but couldn’t progress beyond a certain point.  I’ve since gotten excellent guidance from a friend who has mastered it.  I plan to add a few more pieces of gear to my oxy/hyd welding setup.

Thanks for being interested.  I’m not done yet.

[fotoguzzi]

Convert,  kept the auto tranny then converted to 1100cc Fuel injected electronic ignition from a donor EV. Oh and SP body.. named it the SPEVert.







In the end sold and sent down the road.. to New Zealand🙂

[faffi]

I have attempted to make two - this https://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=119004.0 and my Daybird, which I will come back to.

[faffi]

The Daybird project began with one of these


and one of these


then ended up with this


The engine, carbs, instruments, electronics, wheels, front brake, front fork, front fender and sidestand came from the Daytona.

Frame, triple clamp, exhaust system, air filter box, valve cover, water pump cover, coolant hoses, fuel tank, radiator, headlight, seat, indicators, tail light and rear fender came from the Thunderbird. Initially, the swingarm and rear brake caliper also came from this bike, but later I changed to the Daytona swingarm and suspension (that incorporated linkages and better performance), and rear brake system.

The wiring was a mix from the two bikes. I fitted aluminium handlebars in black, a LeMans I fairing copy, made a bracket so I could fit the Daytona instruments to the Thunderbird triple clamps, removed the very rusty indicator stalks and fitted the front pair to the radiator shroud, bought a luggage rack for a Thunderbird, bought a special rear brake disc that worked with the Daytona wheel and Thunderbird caliper and modified that Daytona front fender for a more classic look. Raask rearsets was the only way to fit footpegs to the Thundebird frame fitted with a Daytona engine. Modifying the Daytona side stand bracket to work with the Thunderbird frame was a massive undertaking, but mandatory; the pegs and stand on the Thunderbird are fitted to the engine that has cast in brackets not present on the Daytona.

It's been closer to 15 years since I did this, so stuff have been lost. What I do remember, is a ton of work.

[SIR REAL ED]

Very cool project!!!   

Sportbike performance with classic comfort, I would assume.  Kinda like a custom made Triumph Sprint?

Was it tough deciding between the naming the bike "Daybird" or "Thundertona?"   

Or was it a flip of the coin decision?

Enquiring minds want to know!   

[Turin]

now your talking! That's the Thunderbird sprt triumph should have built. I love the early Hinkley triumphs! Have a 900 and a 1200.



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[faffi]

Very cool project!!!   

Sportbike performance with classic comfort, I would assume.  Kinda like a custom made Triumph Sprint?

Was it tough deciding between the naming the bike "Daybird" or "Thundertona?"   

Or was it a flip of the coin decision?

Enquiring minds want to know!   

Thanks!

For me, I wanted a classically styled bike with good handling, and I managed to end up with that. It was very easy for me to choose the name Daybird over the Thundertona, others may have chosen differently.

[SIR REAL ED]

now your talking! That's the Thunderbird sprt triumph should have built. I love the early Hinkley triumphs! Have a 900 and a 1200.



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The re-birth of Triumph was a fascinating era.

I love it when the OEM modularize and use common components.
 
Always makes me think the OEM is listening to their "common sense" engineers in deciding what is produced and marketed.

Also great a few years down the line for tinkerers.  Nice to know axles, wheels, swingarms, body work, etc. will interchange between models.

[ital4me]

Made this a few years ago. Not sure it's my dream bike but it came from a dream

[blackcat]

Can't say built, more like re-built.

[John Croucher]

I had owned, built-up and restored over 40 motorcycles and worked on many more for others. I found that a Moto Guzzi  Tonti framed bike was a very versatile platform to build from.  I have owned a 850, 1000, sport 1100, Convert. I wanted to build a bike with the heart of a Guzzi and reflect what I believed to be the best of many of the V twin platform.  The first step was to find a bike to use as the starting point.  I picked a California Aluminium Special Sport Hydro engine.

After looking at what Todd Egan had done with using older body part on a later model bike  I started looking at how to mix and match oem parts.

Then I added in a few modifications.  Keeping in mind a bike building principle a friend and I use.  Keep it simple, easy to maintain, and work on.

I used parts from Lemans, Sp, 850T, Titanium, Stone , Bassa, and parts that were used on multiple  M.G bikes.

Custom parts include Magni swingarm, Price Sloan exhaust  Excel rims that are tubeless, Ram aluminum clutch, PC3 power Commander  13-1 hi- comp. Pistons , removed lower frame rails, custom brake and shift levers, chopped fenders and chrome plated, reshaped the seat pan to fit the tank and frame, and a lot of little details. 

The bike runs great  rides like a race bike, and dependable.  paint and finish is not top shelf, but looks good.  I get many questions from Guzzi owners and others.

I really like the bike. The kick in the seat feel and the sound says motorcycle. Not biggest or fastest bike I have owned.  Then I bought a 2000 Quota last August.  I really wish I had bought a Quota the day the Salesman told me it was a piece of junk. The best over all bike I have ever owned.  A Ram Clutch and Hi Comp pistons and it will be even better.

[jrt]

I've probably posted this elsewhere, but I built/rebuilt this Eldo.  It really is a hodgepodge of parts, mostly loopframe, but I converted it to triple disc, so that was sort of interesting.  I am not a painter, so I paid for that.  It had a small weep from the front main seal, so I've got the motor out to address it.  Probably change a few other things as well, like redo the wiring (again) using a Motogadget module.