Lurkers cafe build

[trumps]

G'day all, signed up earlier in the year and have been lurking and learning ( thank you all very much) ever since while slowly plodding away with my build.
bought a ratty old 1000SP/NT in March with the plan of doing a cafe-ing it, put a couple of thousand km's on it before i started just to get the feel of it
as it is my first Guzzi, beautiful bikes!

Bought a set of rotten old Boranni rims, stripped, made shiney, and relaced them, bought an alloy tank from TAB II Classics in the UK, make up a plug and
glassed up the seat unit after shortening the rear of the frame about 4". when i was happy with the basic styling i stripped the bike and now with the
frame ect blasted and repainted have started the process of building her up again.
 replaced steeringhead and swingarm bearings, carrier bearings and U/J, rebuilt the forks including new FAC units, and inner fork tubes, the chrome was
shot on the originals.
 i just finished the engine, which got new Gillardoni's, Perter Roper did the heads for me including stiffer valve springs, and opening up the intake ports to
suit my 36mm manifolds, and 36mm Dellorto's, he also supplied me with an Ergal alloy flywheel, and lightened the ring gear. B-10 cam, new lifters,
C-5 ignition, sump spacer, and early Lemans style breather system. Still weighing up options in the exhaust department.
 Transmission is stripped and i will be replacing the seals and bearings while shimming her up, the bevel will be copping much the same treatment. i will
also be rewiring the bike with the full Motogadget setup, along with a modern reg/rectifier as i'm a big fan of quality electrical systems and this old girl
was rather lacking in that department in it's as bought guise ;)
still got a few bits and bobs to find such as a front axle and spacer to marry up the boranni front wheel with the SP forks, i figure a T3 axle and spacer will
be what i need, just have to find one. Will be fitting a set of Hagon rear shocks to the back end.
I know many aren't fans of people tampering and bastardizing what to them is the perfect bike in it's original form but any tips and pionters along the way
would be much appreciated. If anyone has bothered reading this, i hope you like photos! ;)














Cheers
Craig

[Kev m]

 ;-T

[Loftness]

+3  ;-T

[Guzzistajohn]

Very nice, you're taking something that was ratty and old and making it into something that will rock and roll. More power to 'ya!

[Lannis]

That's fantastic.   Keep on keeping the forum up to date on this!!!

Lannis

[Chuck in Indiana]

Eggg sel ant...  ;-T

[Seagondollar]

The larger Del'Ortos and straight intakes  (provided you did some port matching in the heads), along with the electronic ignition should wake that engine up a bit. 

[geoff in almonte]

Twin plug the heads and you should be able to run regular petrol thru it!


The engine mods you list sound like a roadmap of the stuff I did to my T-5.

A set of upswept Contis would complete the look if you can find them.

Should go like a scalded goose!

G

[bigbikerrick]

Thats a sweet project, pardon my ignorance, but, how are you building the tail, fiberglass? or steel/aluminum?
Some day I would love to build a tonti project just like yours,.
Rick.

[Lannis]

Thats a sweet project, pardon my ignorance, but, how are you building the tail, fiberglass? or steel/aluminum?
Some day I would love to build a tonti project just like yours,.
Rick.

And where did that fuel tank come from?   I think that's the perfect tank size and shape for a Guzzi cafe or sport bike.

Lannis

[Guzzistajohn]

And where did that fuel tank come from?   I think that's the perfect tank size and shape for a Guzzi cafe or sport bike.

Lannis

And where did that fuel tank come from?   I think that's the perfect tank size and shape for a Guzzi cafe or sport bike.

Lannis
[/quote

He says tab II classics in the UK above I'm suprised a smart feller like you missed that Lannis

[grantsjeep]

Very nice.

[AndyS]

I think I've seen this build some place else as well  ;)

Can't remember where this might be...........  hurry up will you, we have Guzzis to ride  :bike

[Lannis]

And where did that fuel tank come from?   I think that's the perfect tank size and shape for a Guzzi cafe or sport bike.

Lannis

He says tab II classics in the UK above I'm suprised a smart feller like you missed that Lannis

I read that post carefully over and over to make sure that JUST such a comment wouldn't be forthcoming.    But to no avail.    Next thing I looked for was a little "Edited by" note at the bottom, but no such luck.

Must have been in my blind spot, a retinal detachment, yeah, that's the ticket ....

I do like the tank.

Lannis

[trumps]

Jobs on Andy, now that i have pretty much all my parts things should move along at a better pace  ;-T Yup Lannis it is a TAB II jobbie, the longer version, size and shape wise it looks like the perfect match
to my eye. Rick, I carved a plug out of Balsa, ( one of my other hobbies is building R/C scale aircraft and i have a huge stock of balsa) i had a local fibreglass guy take a mould from the plug, and lay up a form
from it. i then used the form to lay up a seperate seat base with a couple of drilled and tapped aluminum strips inlayed, shaped up a seat pad, and had it covered, the front will hook under an extra cross tube
i aded to the frame, and the rear will bolt down onto the inner rear guard that i fabbed up from some ali plating.






Cheers all.

[Guzzistajohn]

I read that post carefully over and over to make sure that JUST such a comment wouldn't be forthcoming.    But to no avail.    Next thing I looked for was a little "Edited by" note at the bottom, but no such luck.

Must have been in my blind spot, a retinal detachment, yeah, that's the ticket ....

I do like the tank.

Lannis

I wouldn't have noticed it either but one of my first thoughts when I looked at the pics (and I looked first) was "where the heck do you get a cool tank like that?" so THEN I started reading ;)

[Lannis]

I wouldn't have noticed it either but one of my first thoughts when I looked at the pics (and I looked first) was "where the heck do you get a cool tank like that?" so THEN I started reading ;)

Ross Thompson can build a tank like that - I wondered if it was one of his.   

I always struggle with tail-pieces, though.   Never have seen a tail-treatment on a custom that's just what I would want.....

Lannis

[Guzzistajohn]

Ross Thompson can build a tank like that - I wondered if it was one of his.   

I always struggle with tail-pieces, though.   Never have seen a tail-treatment on a custom that's just what I would want.....

Lannis

Ross Thompson can build a tank like that - I wondered if it was one of his.   

I always struggle with tail-pieces, though.   Never have seen a tail-treatment on a custom that's just what I would want.....

Lannis

Me too but this guys doing it tastefully. I have seen some that I didn't like. The fact that this guys taking a bike that was pretty much a lump of shart and doing this is great.

[AndyS]

With any luck Craig will post up a picture of his last build - if that's anything to go by, this Guzzi will be stunning

[Lannis]

Me too but this guys doing it tastefully. I have seen some that I didn't like. The fact that this guys taking a bike that was pretty much a lump of shart and doing this is great.

Heck, I've got a decent 1000SP without the fairing, and I'm starting to have visions of turning it into something like this..... !

Lannis

[Guzzistajohn]

Heck, I've got a decent 1000SP without the fairing, and I'm starting to have visions of turning it into something like this..... !

Lannis

That's a nice rig, about as nice as a CX-100 :D

[normzone]

Wow. Obligatory dumb comment: " How'd you know what I wanted ? "

Now I'll have to watch for opportunities...

[Blueboarhound]

Looks good!  ;-T

[kevdog3019]

Did someone say a "build"?    :o
Looks like you're on your way to someone very tasty.  ;-T
Show is anything and everything please. Most of us are open to this sort of thing.
Kevin

[luthier]

Nice work there Trumps.
I'm wondering why you swapped the original head protectors for the [inferior in my opinion] tubular jobbies? I had those on my Cali and once they lost the plugs from the ends they looked way shabby.
Apart from that I love every detail. The see thru dizzy cap is a nice touch and those motogadget setups are the ants pants. Perter Roper did a nice job on the heads. I thought he didn't do pretty.
Can't wait to see the next installment.
Thanks for the eye candy.

[trumps]

Cheers Luthier, mate i can't speak highly enough of Pete Roper. he has been most helpful, i have spoken to him quite a few times over the last month or so and has been an invaluable source of knowledge and recommendations.
 With regards to the head protectors, i am running the tubular ones for no other reason than i prefer them over the alloy jobbies, the bungs in the ends will probably be removed and a neater method of closing them off sorted.
I have high hopoes for the Motogadget setup, and am looking forward to installing and wiring it up then exploring its capabilities. If it performs as well as advertized i will probably order another bunch of goodies from them and
giving the same treatment to my other cafe which AndyS mentioned. Question for all you Guzzi Gurus, front axle, and spacer required for converting spoked guzzi wheels to an SP/NT front end, i seem to be drawing a bit of a
blank here as to where to source the required bits, can anyone recommend a source?

here is the bike as i bought it.


My other cafe, had this bike for about 18 years, the last 10 or so of which it was rotting and rusting away doubling as a sawhorse in my fathers shed, dragged it home at the start of last year and gave it the full treatment ;)


Cheers all

[Triple Jim]

Have I met you on any of the triples boards?  Just wondering if I know you.  I'm "Jim" on four of them.

[trumps]

Heya Jim, I dare say we have mate, more than likely the ktog forums ;) variety is the spice of life they say, and apart from having a wheel at either end guzzi's and Kwaka triples are about as different as they get eh?

[Triple Jim]

They sure are very different.  That was one reason I bought the Mille GT last year, to experience something different.  Until then, my H2 that I bought in 1978 was the only motorcycle I had ever owned.  I'm mainly on www.kawi2strokes.co m/forum so if you have time, drop in there once in a while.

Your Guzzi cafe looks like it's going in an excellent direction.  The guy I bought my Mille from has a build thread here.  It may be interesting to you:  http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=21706.0

[Allflatblack]

What did the ignition set you back? I'll have to research it!