Fix It Again, Tony!

[twowings]

http://www.bike-urious.com/fiat-powered-in-italy-1981-shifty-900/

[kingoffleece]

For a second there I thought you bought a FIAT!

[twowings]

If I had the money to collect Italian bikes, a FIAT-powered one would definitely be on the list!  You can love or hate Italian design, but it's NEVER boring! 

[Arizona Wayne]

That looks like a Guzzi Ambassador seat ! 

[ITSec]

Hey, my 1981 Fiat X1/9 was among the most reliable and lowest cost-per-mile vehicles I've ever owned - kept it for seven years, about 100,000 miles of road use, and then turned it into a road-racer. Power to weight ratio was even worse than this bike though, at least until I modded it as a racer!

[ohiorider]

Well, that's one unusual bike.

[JJ]

 Never heard of one!  Learn something everyday here on wildguzzi!   Less than 70 made in the world ...for under $3700...unique and way cool, IMHO.

[JJ]

Hey, my 1981 Fiat X1/9 was among the most reliable and lowest cost-per-mile vehicles I've ever owned - kept it for seven years, about 100,000 miles of road use, and then turned it into a road-racer. Power to weight ratio was even worse than this bike though, at least until I modded it as a racer!

Hi Tony!  No disrespect, but back in the day (1977), my girlfriend in Danbury, CT at the time had a yellow X 1/9 just like this one (1974?).   Beautiful design... loads of fun when it ran...handled like a slot car....but it suffered badly from poor maintenance, (on her part mostly), so thus was totally unreliable and DID NOT like cold weather whatsoever!  It left us stranded in the cold more than a few times...

[ITSec]

Hi Tony!  No disrespect, but back in the day (1977), my girlfriend in Danbury, CT at the time had a yellow X 1/9 just like this one (1974?).   Beautiful design... loads of fun when it ran...handled like a slot car....but it suffered badly from poor maintenance, (on her part mostly), so thus was totally unreliable and DID NOT like cold weather whatsoever!  It left us stranded in the cold more than a few times...

Ahhh, but you pointed up the issue right there!

Any X1/9 prior to 1980 (CA and Canada) or 1981 (all NA) had carbs - which were notoriously a pain to deal with, particularly in weather any colder than a fall day in Sicily. The Bosch L-Jetronic fixed that (and was on my car).

Any X1/9 prior to 1979 had a 1300 - which was an interference engine and subject to cam belt failure and subsequent significant damage. The 1500 in my car was not only a non-interference design, but had better torque and HP, and was more easily hyped up with changes to the cam.

Later models also had minor improvements to the struts, the brakes, the interior, and so on.

Good things come to he who waits - particularly with FIATs!

[guzzinka]

Thanks twowings, that is an awesome bike.  So Italian

[Howard R]

That looks like a Guzzi Ambassador seat ! 

Interesting machine, in the link they say the seat is from a Benelli but they have an embedded video that is in Italian.  I swear I heard the guy say "Moto Guzzi California" around 4:30-5:00 and then point to the seat, maybe someone who understands Italian could check that out and let us know what he is really saying.

Howard