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Thanks for all the approvals appreciate it! I don't have so much more to show you as I didn't take that many pictures. I do have a bit more things. On the original custom (can you even say that?) the rear wheel spacer was not really working really well so I had to make a new one. I made a nice new one only to find out that there had been an extra spacer washer in between on the old one. So my nice new spacer was 5mm too short.. Bugger, had to make another one with the correct height. Don't have any pictures of it unfortunately. Ulrik
I really like your build so far. Excellent work! I ran into the same problem as you with the "tall neck" frame. It is difficult to get the look of the earlier bikes with the upper triple clamp so high. A note on your rear axle spacer; make sure the inner face where it goes against the bearing is small enough to press only against the inner race, the same as that 5mm spacer you found does. Also a question, how wide it that rear rim, and what size tire fit into your twin shock swingarm?Mark
Missed this the first time around. Nice work and good write-up! I like it when someone throws away the book and builds from instinct.What happened to those awful looking head pipes?
The rim is 4.25"x17" and is currently rapped in a 160/60R17 Michelin, this is a very very snug fit, so I have bought a 150/60R17 brigdestone S20 to replace it. I had to replace the front tire anyway so I opted to get two of the same maker and model. So now I have S20 front and rear. Oh, and you will have to nudge the swing arm to make the wider tire fit. I don't know how much is necessary with the 150.
The 'nudging' (I'm not sure this is even a term.)
When I encounter a tire that's too wide for the swing arm even though the profile says it will fit, I will offset my rear wheel by 5mm using a shim I carry for that purpose. No drama as a result. It's been pointed out to me that racers do this routinely to get clearance on their overwide rear tires, and that some frames have the offset built in. If it works at the speeds they go, it should handle my plodding pace.
Hi Rick, Like your work, I'd be a little cautious about the "offset" thing - as I remember it no real conclusion was reachedon the reason for being or the affect on handling.I definately wouldn't try it just because BMW have used itas a "Bodge" type solution - there's a goodly amount of Dodgy engineering on my 1150 - not something to aspiretoo.I have a mate who works on and races Classics and while there is plenty of "strange" engineering to make things fitthe wheels are always "Inline" with each other. We had a chat about this and it just doesn't make sense.Think about this - we know it's important to have the wheels inline with each other, that's why we have chain adjustment marks and don't even trust them and stringline the wheels tomake sure of it. We know that if the wheels aren't inline andparallel the bike crabs down the road affecting handling andfeel for cornering. Having the wheels "offset" creates exactly that situation via a different route. You may "get away" with a slight inaccuracy but it would stillaffect it and be less than ideal - it's just a matter of degree orhow much it's affected.The M-Unit looks very interesting - thanks for the run downon that.Maurie.
My '85 Lemans has a stock 3" rear wheel, and a 130/80-18 tire clears the stock swingarm. I figured enough adjustment and modification could be found to go up a size on the tire width. This is handy to know. I was wondering if some of the offset can be made up by adjusting the swingarm pivots to move the swingarm to the right. I imagine there might be driveshaft/internal swingarm clearance problems pretty quick. Probably not much is available but every few mm adds up. Mark
The situation you describe with chain adjusters and stringlining is not the same as the 5mm offset. You're talking about wheels that don't point in the same direction of travel as the frame. We're talking about wheels that do point along the direction of the frame, but one may be slightly left of the other. The argument is that 5mm (1/4-inch) offset over a 5.5" tire isn't significant and is routinely used to compensate for a wide variety of real and imaginary problems.
Hi Guys, and girls if we have any I have been in the progress of ruining a perfectly almost running T5 and build it into my dream bike, it won't be anything remotely like a T5 as the only parts that are carried over is the engine, gearbox, frame and rear swing arm. All other parts comes from other Guzzis or made for the bike. I originally bought a caf�d T5 as it looked absolutely amazing. I knew when I bought it that it would be nearly impossible getting registered and road legal as it stood. This is the bike as I bought it. Chopped frame, removed lower frame rails, converted to mono shock, USD fork, 17" wheels, too modified to have a chance to get it MOT'ed in Denmark. The plan was to find a new unmolested frame and transfer all the good parts to that and get some good twin shocks to compliment the fork. After searching for a frame a while I found one from a 1978 T3 with German papers. The guy selling it wanted 700$ for the bare frame. Bearing in mind that with the German frame I still had to get the finished bike thru the Danish MOT system and get a value estimate which they use for determining how much you have to pay in "Registreingsafgift" (Registration tax) to legally use it on Danish roads I decided that the 700$ was way more than what I wanted to pay. (The estimates vary wildly and would be expected to be around 1000$ or more.)So no luck finding a frame at first Sometime later I found a cheap 850T5 that looked pretty unloved but was registered in Denmark. So I made an even cheaper offer and the seller agreed to the deal. This is the bike I picked up in dire need for some TLC. While the bike looks okay on the pictures it was running very rough and needed to have new tires and a bunch of other work to get it thru the MOT. First plan was to change the front tire and get the bike running well enough to get the MOT. But after several tries to get it running smoothly I ran out of time and out of patience. The wiring loom was completely botched by the previous owner and would need some serious work to get sorted out. (Every time I fixed something on it something else broke or stopped working�) I ditched the idea of getting the bike road worthy in the state it was in and put it away as I had run out of time. I work in the cement business and am working aboard so I can only work on the bike in my spare time. Off to work I was� Fast forward to next vacation: Started taking both bikes apart.Stripped both bikes to bare frames and removed some of the unneeded brackets from the green bikes frame, added some new brackets for mounting points for seat and electric box. Frame just after being picked up from the sandblaster:End of vacation� A small mistake I made was that I didn't know that Guzzi changed the Tonti frame to the tall headstock in between 1984 and 1985. So I have one of each... Which means that the USD fork could not be used as it was not possible to modify it to fit on the frame with the tall headstock. I found the solution in a guy who sold a brand new 45mm Marzocchi fork for the tall head stock. I don't actually know which exact model it comes from. I'm guessing a Cali aluminium or a Cali Sport. Of course the spacers and wheel axle didn't fit from the old USD fork, so I had to turn new spacers and modify an old Guzzi rear axle to get everything to fit together. Front wheel finally on the fork. On to the build finally:I haven't been very good at taking pictures of the progress with putting the bike together again but here are rest of the pictures up to the point where I am now. Showing the three new brackets to mount seat and electronic box. New timing cover gets sodablasted to match the rest of the engine. First trial fit of tank and seat. Motogadget M-unit v.2 and finished electrics box. Vroom Vroom End of Christmas holidays. back to work. This is as far as I got this time. I still have a lot of work on the wiring and I need to get a new regulator/rectifier plus paint and all the finishing touches. Front and rear fenders and so on. I haven't really decided if I want to use the seat or not yet. I have a ton of questions I will need some of you good folks to give your opinion on and are looking forward to get the bike on the road. English is not my mother tongue so forgive me if there is some grammatical errors or misspellings, I try my best I welcome all the suggestions, opinions and ideas you might have that would improve my project. Even if you don't like it Let the lynching begin!
The 'nudging' (I'm not sure this is even a term.) is done by cutting a bit out of the swingarm where there is already a depression on the T5 swingarm . You then weld a new piece in again that sits as close to the driveshaft as you can get it without it touching. It is a bit difficult to see on the picture as it is black on black. But you get an idea of how close it is. On this one it was already done when I got it and they have actually turned the drive shaft down to a smaller diameter. I am not so fond of this solution as it takes a lot of the strength out of the driveshaft. I have a second swingarm that I might modify so I will be able to run a standard size drive shaft. A wider spacer is also used between the wheel and the rear drive. This moves the tire more to the left seen from the rear of the bike. It also moves the wheels drive outside 'spline' out so you have to either measure to make sure that it is still in full contact with the rear drives inside 'spline' or it would be possible to use machinist dye to check the contact. I haven't had a chance to check mine with machinist dye, but it measured out ok. I still would like to be able to get it closer to the original position, this is also one of the reasons to move to a 150 tire. The tire center is also a little bit of the center line of the frame, so I will try to see if I can correct this so it will be on the frame center line. How much this offset actually affects handling I am not sure. According to a recent thread on this board BMW had moved their front tire 5mm out of centerline to be able to fit a ABS ring. If this was the actual reason and BMW saw this as a viable option, then I am tempted to go ahead with the small wheel offset and see how the bike actually handles on the road.
FWIW, I don't think anyone can "ruin" a T5. But, I may be biased since I turned mine into a touring rat. I wish I was in Europe and I'd take that USD fork off your hands :)
I sure do like your returning some of the period look to it. Getting rid of the awful downward streaking exhaust, the USD forks and getting back to dual shocks are great aesthetic improvements even if the previous might have had some advantages.Todd.
Also, what soda blasting apparatus did you use and were you happy with the results ?
It's odd isn't it Todd. In the normal course of events I'd agree totally with what you have said above. But in this particular instance I rather like the aesthetic of the 'penstock pipes' They seem to impart a slightly aggressive suggestion of steam-punk to the bike.