Author Topic: 76 Lemans is Finished (Read 4978 times)

blackcat · « **on:** August 16, 2020, 12:20:27 PM »

The bike was purchased about four years ago from a good friend of mine and the bike was in a bunch of boxes which is the way my friend bought the bike. The bike was from the Miami area and we assume that it has been apart for ten plus years. The clip on one of the pistons worked it's way loose, scoring the cylinder with the expected loss of compression and there it sat.

A new set of one over pistons were sourced by my friend and the barrels were bored to accept the new pistons, but there still was some scoring so I decided to source another set of stock matching pistons and cylinders instead of using those original barrels.

I would have preferred to have the frame painted but at the time I hadn't sourced a local painter who would do the work so off to the powder coater and they did a very good job:

And of course I found a painter and he did a good job though I have to take the fairing back for some additional work, but that is minor.

I rebuilt the engine with the Roper tutorial and of course my thanks to Pete:

There wasn't a local source for soda blasting, so I purchased the desk top model. My compressor could be bigger but it does the job:

Along the way I purchased the new re-pop seats as per the original run but haven't mounted it yet.

Due to the virus it took about three months to get the mufflers and the headers:

The parts collection was missing the velocity stacks and unfortunately they are also wanted for vintage Ducati's, but I did source a NOS pair from a European source on FB.

And four years later I finally got it all back together, of course there were problems like the final drive leaking, carb issues and I'm still dancing with front brake issues but the linked brakes work fine. I wanted to document the red whizzers before the color disappeared:

Early ride with the spitting final drive:

Leaks solved, and this mornings ride:

The bike still needs some things, thanks to Charlie's tip I source a V65 headlight from Greece as I'm not a huge fan of the USA headlight, the light also took months to get so that will get powder coated. I'm also waiting on a set of foot peg holders from England as the ones on this bike are from my CX and the original ones did not have the boot kicks. And I'm still looking for the front brake line holders that mount to the front fender. I have a pair of brackets that mount under the tank for the brake line but the ones on the fender have a much shorter stalk. Funny thing is that the original front fender does not have the holes to mount the brackets.

If I can't find the proper holders I may try to cut them down and form a circle to mount the brackets, but I haven't figured out how to do that cleanly.

PeteS · « **Reply #1 on:** August 16, 2020, 12:32:05 PM »

Very nicely done. How does it feel compared with your CX100? Mine is probably due for a spruce up but its running too good to take it apart.

Pete

john fish · « **Reply #2 on:** August 16, 2020, 12:34:47 PM »

Congratulations. That's awesome.

blackcat · « **Reply #3 on:** August 16, 2020, 12:37:13 PM »

Quote from: PeteS on August 16, 2020, 12:32:05 PM

Very nicely done. How does it feel compared with your CX100? Mine is probably due for a spruce up but its running too good to take it apart.

Pete

Thanks.

The CX has a lightened flywheel and a B10 cam and the Lemans has a P1 cam from Raceco and I think the Lemans is a bit faster. I kept the stock front & rear suspension on the Lemans and actually think it handles quite well for my weight. The CX has Bitubo's with Wirth springs and it rides a bit harder than the Lemans.

Cam3512 · « **Reply #4 on:** August 16, 2020, 12:44:48 PM »

SPECTACULAR Tom. That right there is my dream bike, color and all!

Cam

blackcat · « **Reply #5 on:** August 16, 2020, 12:47:10 PM »

Quote from: Cam3512 on August 16, 2020, 12:44:48 PM

SPECTACULAR Tom. That right there is my dream bike, color and all!

Cam

Thanks, it's too bad that the one you purchased from that guy in upstate NY didn't pan out.

JJ · « **Reply #6 on:** August 16, 2020, 01:00:01 PM »

Fabulous...beautifu l job! Well done!!

Always loved that "Ice Blue" color!!!

sdcr · « **Reply #7 on:** August 16, 2020, 01:44:25 PM »

Very nice, great work.

ampm7 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 16, 2020, 02:52:30 PM »

Excellent!

Guzzistajohn · « **Reply #9 on:** August 16, 2020, 03:03:00 PM »

Nice work!

Chuck in Indiana · « **Reply #10 on:** August 16, 2020, 03:53:55 PM »

Dang that's pretty. Attaboy, Tom..

lucian · « **Reply #11 on:** August 16, 2020, 04:16:45 PM »

Beautiful job! Awesome to see such a cool bike restored and ridden. Has your buddy, the PO seen it yet?

blackcat · « **Reply #12 on:** August 16, 2020, 04:35:20 PM »

Quote from: lucian on August 16, 2020, 04:16:45 PM

Beautiful job! Awesome to see such a cool bike restored and ridden. Has your buddy, the PO seen it yet?

Thanks.

No, he has only seen photo's but I need to ride over there and show him the bike, plus he has a bunch of cables and whatnot that I have to retrieve from him. Of course he regrets selling it now, but his cost to bring the bike back would have been much higher than mine as he doesn't have the time to rebuild the engine,etc.,etc. And he finished an Eldo restoration in which he put way too much into the bike and sold it for a $5K? loss. He regrets selling that bike too.

I rarely sell bikes, so I avoid the regret part.

blackcat · « **Reply #13 on:** August 16, 2020, 04:38:05 PM »

Quote from: Chuck in Indiana on August 16, 2020, 03:53:55 PM

Dang that's pretty. Attaboy, Tom..

Thanks Chuck!

Certainly kept me occupied while avoiding other humans.

Scout63 · « **Reply #14 on:** August 16, 2020, 04:45:51 PM »

Nice build. That must have been a wonderful first set of rides.

blackcat · « **Reply #15 on:** August 16, 2020, 04:51:13 PM »

Quote from: Scout63 on August 16, 2020, 04:45:51 PM

Nice build. That must have been a wonderful first set of rides.

It was considering the pile of parts sitting all over the garage when it first ended up in my garage.

Antietam Classic Cycle · « **Reply #16 on:** August 16, 2020, 05:03:42 PM »

LowRyter · « **Reply #17 on:** August 16, 2020, 05:07:29 PM »

Lannis · « **Reply #18 on:** August 16, 2020, 05:43:24 PM »

A real classic AND a ride-able roadburner. That's a nice result for all the stick-to-it-tiveness that it took to hang in there for four years with all the things that can happen in that time ....

Lannis

Canuck750 · « **Reply #19 on:** August 16, 2020, 07:28:52 PM »

Lovely!!

stubbie · « **Reply #20 on:** August 16, 2020, 08:22:05 PM »

Nice work. LeMans is my fave bike. I need to get a new set of them sports pipes.

anonymous image hosting

Dukedesmo · « **Reply #21 on:** August 17, 2020, 03:53:42 AM »

Very nice indeed.

TRw1 · « **Reply #22 on:** August 17, 2020, 04:12:35 AM »

Looks great. Thanks for documenting the build.

Groover · « **Reply #23 on:** August 17, 2020, 07:34:41 AM »

Nice recovery and bringing that one back from the boxes. Been following your thread on and off in the builds section, but nice to see the summarized version here. Great job, looks perfect!

guzziart · « **Reply #24 on:** August 17, 2020, 08:05:08 AM »

Very nice! I wish I had your enthusiasm & drive.

Dave Swanson · « **Reply #25 on:** August 17, 2020, 08:39:47 AM »

Good going! Not an easy project!

bodine99 · « **Reply #26 on:** August 17, 2020, 08:45:03 AM »

Great Job!!!

I may have asked before but not sure. You in FL.?
Also This coming weekend the 20-23rd the is a www.britbike.com and a Guzzi get together @ Two Wheels Of Suches Ga.
PS love the color combo!!

blackcat · « **Reply #27 on:** August 17, 2020, 09:27:45 AM »

Thanks guys,

Unfortunately there were quite a few little parts missing from this project, like brake and clutch brackets, master cylinders, brake calipers,etc.,etc. and I tried to source original where I could find them.

This wasn't a project I wanted, but my friend kept insisting that I take on the bike. It helped that he kept lowering the price, but that wasn't the deciding factor for restoring the bike. I've always wanted an early series Lemans and I likely wouldn't spend the current asking price for the bikes.

blackcat · « **Reply #28 on:** August 17, 2020, 09:31:13 AM »

Quote from: bodine99 on August 17, 2020, 08:45:03 AM

Great Job!!! I may have asked before but not sure. You in FL.?
Also This coming weekend the 20-23rd the is a www.britbike.com and a Guzzi get together @ Two Wheels Of Suches Ga.
PS love the color combo!!

Yes, Pensabubba.

Tempting but I'm looking at a potential hurricane in the Gulf sometime early next week, so I'm not going anywhere.

guzzi ride · « **Reply #29 on:** August 17, 2020, 02:20:53 PM »

That turned out really nice :drool:Great restoration.

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Author Topic: 76 Lemans is Finished (Read 4978 times)