Want to find

[Fpicabia]

Hello all,
Glad to be here and hoping that someone here might have some solutions for my questions. I have a heavily customized T3 that had been in the hands of someone else for a very long time that finally ended up back in my hands. It has Tommaselli clip ons and the riser knuckles went missing. Is there anyone out there that may have a spare set? They don’t appear to be available to purchase separately.

I’m also looking for best/long distance recommendations for new tires. Avon roadrider mkii’s don’t seem to be available until spring. Ran metzler lazertec’s but want to see if anyone has suggestions for a longer lasting tire. Hoping for 90 90 18 for the front and 120 90 18’s for the rear.

Any and all thoughts on these things would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[JJ]

You should be able to find Tomaselli's and parts on fleaBay and/or on the Swap Meet section in this forum.

Can't go wrong with Continentals, Bridgestones, Michellins, and/or Pirelli's (Those are sticky, but not really known for longevity). 

I have also had good luck recently with SHINKO's.....(Just my two cents).

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Just to clarify: do you want to reinstall regular handlebars and your T3 is missing the handlebar clamps?

On a "sporty" early Tonti, a 100 front and 110 rear is my preference.

[wirespokes]

I'll second what Charlie said - best handling is with 100 front, 110 rear.

I also like the Shinkos. They last me 10-13K miles.

I'm not picturing what you need for the clip ons. Could you post a photo?

Give us a little more of the story. When did you first own the bike and for how long? Was it stock at that time? Did you know the person you sold it to? How was it modified - what's it like now?

[cliffrod]

Are you looking for parts for bars like these?





Don’t think I’ve ever seen any separate 90degree knuckles for sale and finding old bars in good shape for cheap isn’t as common now as it used to be.  This set in pic is on eBay for $200/offer.  If that was all standing between getting my bike back on road, I would make an offer. 

 https://www.ebay.com/itm/277900102013

[Fpicabia]

@cliffrod now that’s exactly what I need. Great! Yes, missing the 90 degree riser knuckles for the Tommaselli clip ons fitted to 38mm M1R forks on custom triple trees I made with no bar mounts. Thanks all for tire thoughts. My recollection is that the 90 front is lighter on its feet than the 100 though it has been a long time. Hearing you all about the 110 rear.

At work and will respond/elaborate further shortly.

Again, thank you all

[cliffrod]

@cliffrod now that’s exactly what I need. Great! Yes, missing the 90 degree riser knuckles for the Tommaselli clip ons fitted to 38mm M1R forks on custom triple trees I made with no bar mounts. Thanks all for tire thoughts. My recollection is that the 90 front is lighter on its feet than the 100 though it has been a long time. Hearing you all about the 110 rear.

At work and will respond/elaborate further shortly.

Again, thank you all

Very cool. I watch the clip-ons regularly on eBay and don’t see these adjustable ones as often as I used to.   I have always had plain solid tommaselli clip ons on my V7 Sport & like them a lot, even though many purists complain that the bike should have the original swan neck bars on it.

Good luck getting your bike back together.  Keep us posted.  We like more info, history and bigger pictures……

[Fpicabia]

Hi all,

Soooo, my Guzzi story starts in 1987 or so. I had a Suzuki 750GT and a friend on the Lower East Side of Manhattan shows me a book of early motorcycle racing. I zero in on a few pages of a Moto Guzzi V7 Sport in action. That’s it. I’m all in. Shortly after I see one parked on the street in north Brooklyn chained to a street sign that needs work. I leave a note tucked in the seat. Turns out it’s a former Reno Leoni V7 Sport race bike. I buy it. The engine had hand grenaded but it came with a spare T3 engine and a bunch of other parts. Almost 2 bikes but not quite. I took the engine to Manfred Hecht. Legendary Guzzi builder that built Dr. John’s bikes. He had a shop nearby under the Williamsburg bridge. Had to always make an appointment. Rough neighborhood back then. He used to answer the door with a 1911 at his side and his two Dobermans absolutely ready to go. He wouldn’t take in bikes, just engines and or trannys. I spent all my money on boring it out to 949cc, big valves head work, twin plugs, big Dellorto pumpers, a light race clutch from Switzerland, straight cut gears, etc. It had, I think, MV Agusta 38mm? Ceriani forks. The fender was definitely from an MV 750S America. It was a beautiful thing.

 Had it for maybe 5 years and was running to my apartment to pick up some tools for a film job and ran upstairs for a minute. Came down and my bike was gone. Middle of the day. Local neighbors said they saw a couple of guys roll it up into a box truck. Had a padlock on the front disc so that must’ve been tricky. One of the local thug neighbors Joey, said there was a logo on the truck that sounded like the Ghost Motorcycles logo and laughed, I’ll never be sure. To give you an idea of the flavor of the neighborhood at the time, my landlady let Donny Brasco hole up in the buildings basement when he had to go into hiding.

I suspected a couple of local small time but kinda connected criminals had something to do with it, Joey included. I confronted him at the bar I used to go to downstairs from my apartment. Local spot where the neighborhood cops and criminals would hang out. Joey. Dead now but he got in my face and started screaming and the place immediately cleared out. Just him and me. How dare I accuse him, do I know who he is, etc. Didn’t come to blows but the threats were flying. Couldn’t get a word in. Nothing came of searching as best I could all over town. Even went to Ghost and snuck around the back as best I could. Gut wrenching. I would do unspeakable things to get that bike back. I have some grainy Polaroids I’ll dig up and post later.

A year or so passes and a local guy is selling a floorboard T3 for about 800 bucks. Bought that with the intention of turning it into the bike I lost as best I could. This is the bike you see in the photo I attached above. Spent many years sourcing parts, Manfred did his literal last job on my heads before he closed up shop and moved to PA. He put in big valves, and ported it for big Dellorto’s he sold me for a song. Sold me a set of straight cut gears, titanium pushrods and a few other bits and said I had to do the rest myself. He’s packing up.

I spend a number of years refining and customizing the bike. Eventually I made and painted the gas tank, shaped and covered the seat in leather, put in a ram clutch and went to Charlie Coles place and cut half of the teeth off the transmission dogs while he did his magic on my transmission. It was almost there. Almost what I had in my minds eye.

 A few years later I finally opened my own small fabricating shop in Greenpoint with metal/woodworking tools, etc. Made custom surfboards for fun and wrenched on my bikes between money jobs. Built up a Guzzi V50111 for my beautiful lady and had a ‘70 Ducati Jupiter/scrambler coming together. 10 years in that shop and with the lady. Things were good until she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was dead in less than 2 months. Stomach ache and only left the hospital for hospice care. Absolutely brutal. In abyss of grief, could barely work. I exhausted my savings paying shop rent while I was collapsing. A few months went by and my landlord seized everything and sold it off bit by bit without allowing me back in to attempt to generate money for back rent. Went to court numerous time to prevent this but I could barely function and it all went away.

A few years pass and I get a call from a guy I met at a the 2012 Brooklyn Vintage Bike show at Works Engineering. He parked his Ducati 750GT nearly next to mine. I don’t even remember what he looks like. My lady convinced me to enter my bike in the “contest” and I filled out a card with my name, number and bike model/year. I ended up “winning” the people’s choice thing with a plaque and a new Rev’it leather jacket. Felt nice.

Just so happens this guy takes a picture of my bike and unbelievably, this card hanging on my handlebar was oriented so the text is visible. He sees the bike for sale online and remembers it, calls me up and asks if I’m selling it. I’m stunned and tell him absolutely not. I want it back. The story gets kinda weird on his end and that’s a whole other thing but about a year passes and he says it’s now in his possession and he’s willing to sell it back to me. At this point, I hardly care how or why or what happened. Hardly being the operative word. Regardless, I have a dear friend go to meet him with the money as I’m no longer on the east coast. He goes to make sure that it’s really my bike and that it’s all there. It is and it gets loaded up on a trailer. It arrived at my house a little over a week ago. I still can’t believe it’s here in front of me even as I’m looking right at it.


I do wish the un-findable spark plug boots I got from Manfred were intact. He’d sourced them from the hot rod/automotive world and repurposed them. I can’t seem to find them anywhere. If someone here recognizes them, PLEASE let me know. The only makers mark on them reads Vari-Angle. See the attached photos.

I’ll stop for now. This bike brings up a tremendous amount of memories and what’s written here isn’t close to the half of it.

All my best to all and will try to post more pictures soon. The one posted can be zoomed, obviously. Thanks to all for the suggestions and tips.


.

[Fpicabia]

Hi all,

Re Shinko, do you prefer the 230 tour masters over the 712's? I'm looking around at American Moto Tire and a few other spots and can't seem to find the 230's with a rear tire in 110 90 18. Thoughts?

Thank you

[cliffrod]

Hi all,

Soooo, my Guzzi story starts in 1987 or so. I had a Suzuki 750GT and a friend on the Lower East Side of Manhattan shows me a book of early motorcycle racing. I zero in on a few pages of a Moto Guzzi V7 Sport in action. That’s it. I’m all in. Shortly after I see one parked on the street in north Brooklyn chained to a street sign that needs work. I leave a note tucked in the seat. Turns out it’s a former Reno Leoni V7 Sport race bike. I buy it. The engine had hand grenaded but it came with a spare T3 engine and a bunch of other parts. Almost 2 bikes but not quite. I took the engine to Manfred Hecht. Legendary Guzzi builder that built Dr. John’s bikes. He had a shop nearby under the Williamsburg bridge. Had to always make an appointment. Rough neighborhood back then. He used to answer the door with a 1911 at his side and his two Dobermans absolutely ready to go. He wouldn’t take in bikes, just engines and or trannys. I spent all my money on boring it out to 949cc, big valves head work, twin plugs, big Dellorto pumpers, a light race clutch from Switzerland, straight cut gears, etc. It had, I think, MV Agusta 38mm? Ceriani forks. The fender was definitely from an MV 750S America. It was a beautiful thing.

 Had it for maybe 5 years and was running to my apartment to pick up some tools for a film job and ran upstairs for a minute. Came down and my bike was gone. Middle of the day. Local neighbors said they saw a couple of guys roll it up into a box truck. Had a padlock on the front disc so that must’ve been tricky. One of the local thug neighbors Joey, said there was a logo on the truck that sounded like the Ghost Motorcycles logo and laughed, I’ll never be sure. To give you an idea of the flavor of the neighborhood at the time, my landlady let Donny Brasco hole up in the buildings basement when he had to go into hiding.

I suspected a couple of local small time but kinda connected criminals had something to do with it, Joey included. I confronted him at the bar I used to go to downstairs from my apartment. Local spot where the neighborhood cops and criminals would hang out. Joey. Dead now but he got in my face and started screaming and the place immediately cleared out. Just him and me. How dare I accuse him, do I know who he is, etc. Didn’t come to blows but the threats were flying. Couldn’t get a word in. Nothing came of searching as best I could all over town. Even went to Ghost and snuck around the back as best I could. Gut wrenching. I would do unspeakable things to get that bike back. I have some grainy Polaroids I’ll dig up and post later.

A year or so passes and a local guy is selling a floorboard T3 for about 800 bucks. Bought that with the intention of turning it into the bike I lost as best I could. This is the bike you see in the photo I attached above. Spent many years sourcing parts, Manfred did his literal last job on my heads before he closed up shop and moved to PA. He put in big valves, and ported it for big Dellorto’s he sold me for a song. Sold me a set of straight cut gears, titanium pushrods and a few other bits and said I had to do the rest myself. He’s packing up.

I spend a number of years refining and customizing the bike. Eventually I made and painted the gas tank, shaped and covered the seat in leather, put in a ram clutch and went to Charlie Coles place and cut half of the teeth off the transmission dogs while he did his magic on my transmission. It was almost there. Almost what I had in my minds eye.

 A few years later I finally opened my own small fabricating shop in Greenpoint with metal/woodworking tools, etc. Made custom surfboards for fun and wrenched on my bikes between money jobs. Built up a Guzzi V50111 for my beautiful lady and had a ‘70 Ducati Jupiter/scrambler coming together. 10 years in that shop and with the lady. Things were good until she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was dead in less than 2 months. Stomach ache and only left the hospital for hospice care. Absolutely brutal. In abyss of grief, could barely work. I exhausted my savings paying shop rent while I was collapsing. A few months went by and my landlord seized everything and sold it off bit by bit without allowing me back in to attempt to generate money for back rent. Went to court numerous time to prevent this but I could barely function and it all went away.

A few years pass and I get a call from a guy I met at a the 2012 Brooklyn Vintage Bike show at Works Engineering. He parked his Ducati 750GT nearly next to mine. I don’t even remember what he looks like. My lady convinced me to enter my bike in the “contest” and I filled out a card with my name, number and bike model/year. I ended up “winning” the people’s choice thing with a plaque and a new Rev’it leather jacket. Felt nice.

Just so happens this guy takes a picture of my bike and unbelievably, this card hanging on my handlebar was oriented so the text is visible. He sees the bike for sale online and remembers it, calls me up and asks if I’m selling it. I’m stunned and tell him absolutely not. I want it back. The story gets kinda weird on his end and that’s a whole other thing but about a year passes and he says it’s now in his possession and he’s willing to sell it back to me. At this point, I hardly care how or why or what happened. Hardly being the operative word. Regardless, I have a dear friend go to meet him with the money as I’m no longer on the east coast. He goes to make sure that it’s really my bike and that it’s all there. It is and it gets loaded up on a trailer. It arrived at my house a little over a week ago. I still can’t believe it’s here in front of me even as I’m looking right at it.


I do wish the un-findable spark plug boots I got from Manfred were intact. He’d sourced them from the hot rod/automotive world and repurposed them. I can’t seem to find them anywhere. If someone here recognizes them, PLEASE let me know. The only makers mark on them reads Vari-Angle. See the attached photos.

I’ll stop for now. This bike brings up a tremendous amount of memories and what’s written here isn’t close to the half of it.

All my best to all and will try to post more pictures soon. The one posted can be zoomed, obviously. Thanks to all for the suggestions and tips.


.

I have a friend who has some of these vari-angle ends.  Check your pm.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Quite a tale, to be sure. You have my commiserations, sir. All will be well in the end.. keep on keepin on.

[pressureangle]

Call Steve at Bevel Heaven.

https://store.bevelheaven.com/Handlebar-Related/Tommaselli-Adjustible-Clip-on-Bar-Set-Silver-many-sizes-available/