Of commuting and possible winter hacks

My one mile commute is now a twenty-two mile commute as of last week.

The orifice has moved to the other side of Cambridge, so the bikes are
now *really* earning their keep for the first time in five years.

I can either just trundle down the A14, or take a considerably longer
back-roads route through the Fens.

I found that bumpy, slurry covered Fen roads are not a heavy-steering
TLR's natural hunting ground. It'll have to be the A14 for that bike
until it gets less mucky. The Quota is much nicer on these roads,
though this route will be an occasional morning thing rather than a
daily ride because of the significant extra time it takes and the
extra mileage.

Now that I'm traveling on busy roads regularly after dark, I need to
find a roud tuit and sort the Quota's headlights: they really are
awful. I've even had my own shadow thrown into their "bright" area by
following traffic.

I can't just upgrade the bulbs because the lights are an odd Bosch
fitting that don't easily take halogen bulbs and the reflectors are
looking a bit speckled, too.

I went looking for something to replace them with today, unfortunately
without success.

During my search, I saw a tatty Guzzi 850 T3 for sale outside
Cambridge Motorcycles. Now I had pretty much decided not to buy a
winter hack this year, and the bike in question has clearly not been
ridden recently and has a couple of obvious electrical bodges on it.
For all that, I am strangely tempted.

I didn't ask for any details about it at the time because I didn't
want to push temptation too far and find myself getting carried away
and buying it without having a think and at least doing some basic
research, so I don't know if it's fit for an MOT, or even if it runs
for that matter. If it isn't roadworthy, or can't be made roadworthy
easily, then I won't bother.

So, anyone like to hazard a guess as to what a scruffy but road worthy
Guzzi T3 would be worth? FWIW I *think* it was showing 38K miles. At a
glance, tyres & disks looked OK.

How well might it and its skinny tyres cope with slippery winter
roads?

Actually, the best thing is for someone to convince me that I really,
really shouldn't. I do (just) have room in the garage for another
bike, though, and I've always had a soft spot for Guzzis...

--
-Pip

TL1000R The Quietly Booming Banana
Guzzi Quota 1000: The Black Tractor
YZ250: Rough 'n' Tumble
Mongrel DT125: The Rust(ic) Garden Ornament

 

Snip

DON'T (1)

Does that help ?

1. Get a Transalp, DR350, Yamaha XT, that type of thing would seem to make
sense to me.

 

The T3 is the all-time classic working Guzzi. Exceptionally sweet
engine, can be tuned and tuned, decent chassis, utterly timeless looks.

However - as an early Guzzi, it does suffer from the usual finish and
electrical ailments, but they're nowhere near as bad as some people
would have you believe.

38k miles means it's nicely run in.

Electrics should be inspected closely - if they are bodged in any way,
then I'd walk away unless you reckon you're a shit-hot auto-electrician.

Finish - who cares? It can always be repainted and parts re-chromed or
replaced with nice black bits.

Forks are shite - Guzzi's own sealed cartridge type which *always* leak.

The rest of the thing is built to last until the Second Coming.

Ride it and make your own mind up. Value? if it's a bit ropy then I
reckon 1200/1300-odd. In really nice nick, add 50% to that.

Sweller's the man to talk to, as he owns possible the best ShiteOldGuzzi
on this ng.

 

They handle extremly well and can embarass modern machines very easy and
light machines to ride - pretty small for such a 'big' bike IYSWIM. Koni
D.A.R shocks are the ones to have.

Skinny tyres mean you don't have to lean the bike so far over to get the
same corner speed as a modern bike and as the power output is only about
70hp getting the back tyre to break away takes a bit of
effort/hamfistedness.

Can be tuned cheaply and easily too. The T3 shares engine and frame with
the Le Mans. The difference between the engines are essentially carbs,
HC pistons, heads and flywheel; everything else, AFAIR, is the same.

Brakes use the effective Brembo P8 callipers. The later ones with the
grey pistons /never/ seize. I like the linked brakes.

No more than a 25 year Jap bike except everything is easy to get to and
uses standard spade connectors.

I've had no more electrical gremlins on mine than I had on any of the Jap
bikes I've owned. So IMO it's a bit of myth.

Mines *well* over 100K and the engine's still pretty sharp. Pretty good
especially given I ride it like a cruel twat.

The mods to actively look for are:

Suprissa Generator (off later V65). Easy to tell the difference under
the front cover. It looks like turbine rather than an alternator,
IYSWIM. Far far better than the Bosch unit they normally carry.

Lucas Rita ignition, v. desirable. Fit and forget.

Hey guess what? In 60K+ I've only had one let go. The bike was still
rideable so what's the problem.

Very easy to maintain.

I like mine.

 

Yes, I have considered all of the above: trouble is that traillies are
fashionable at present and thus expensive for what would only be a
winter hack.
--
-Pip

TL1000R The Quietly Booming Banana
Guzzi Quota 1000: The Black Tractor
YZ250: Rough 'n' Tumble
Mongrel DT125: The Rust(ic) Garden Ornament

 

Electrics don't worry me too much, I can bodge with the best of 'em.
The asking price (750 GBP from a dealer), though, implies expensive
work needed.

Hmm, the weight is an issue. I really don't want a ponderous,
heavy-steering bike for icy conditions. If it's scruffy then I agree
that it might be mechanically dodgy too.

For less than a grand, I'd be surprised if *any* heavyweight Guzzi wil
really depreciate further.

Sigh. I think I'll have to be practical, here.
--
-Pip

TL1000R The Quietly Booming Banana
Guzzi Quota 1000: The Black Tractor
YZ250: Rough 'n' Tumble
Mongrel DT125: The Rust(ic) Garden Ornament

 

Bugger: reading the 'direct' thread five minutes ago, I'd convinced
myself that I didn't want it and now you two are waxing lyrical about
these bikes.

However, from the replies I've had, the asking price (750 GBP) is
suspiciously low, so it's probably a fixer-upper rather than an
(almost) going concern.

Hum. Well, it wouldn't hurt to phone up and ask about it, I suppose.
--
-Pip

TL1000R The Quietly Booming Banana
Guzzi Quota 1000: The Black Tractor
YZ250: Rough 'n' Tumble
Mongrel DT125: The Rust(ic) Garden Ornament

 

That is *very* cheap, and it's worth buying at that price no matter what
the condition, unles it's so sucked it doesn't actually go.

Yes, it probably is a fixer-upper, but as sweller says, they're
extremely easy to work on. Of course, you want a winter hack, so it
probably may not be what you actually need.

 

Or I'll swap Pip L my XS400 for 'his' T3....

Once I've got an MOT on it I'll be looking to sell said XS for about
£445. Ideal winter hack.

 

I vote yes. Anything strange and tempting gets my vote. Go with your
instincts.

 

Look, you're sighing - you know you want to. Just buy it and bodge it.

 

That is *very* cheap, and it's worth buying at that price no matter what
the condition, unles it's so sucked it doesn't actually go.[/QUOTE]

Hmm. Given that this is a dealer who's selling, then there has to be
something seriously wrong with it - or I've missed a leading '1' on
the price! I'll probably give 'em a call and find out.

--
-Pip

TL1000R The Quietly Booming Banana
Guzzi Quota 1000: The Black Tractor
YZ250: Rough 'n' Tumble
Mongrel DT125: The Rust(ic) Garden Ornament

 

I do want the bike but I have to be practical! In the other thread I
came to the conclusion that it's probably either seriously knackered
or I misread the price: erither would be a show stopper from my point
of view.

Sadly, I simply don't have enough tuits to take on a project bike on
top of the Marathon training, the Stirling engine that's been under
construction for eek years, the model ship (ditto), the house
decorating and the routine maintenance and bodgery on the existing
motor fleet.

Then there's the unexpected, like (purely hypothetically, you
understand) spending half an evening trying to flush sodding
screenwash out of the Manager's car's power steering system, for
example.

I'm also very good at starting projects and then failing to finish
them, which doesn't help.

--
-Pip

TL1000R The Quietly Booming Banana
Guzzi Quota 1000: The Black Tractor
YZ250: Rough 'n' Tumble
Mongrel DT125: The Rust(ic) Garden Ornament

 

I sense there is a story waiting to be told.

A bit like the time I filled a customer's car windscreen washer bottle
with green coolant antifreeze.

--
ColonelTupperware,
spouting bollocks on Usenet since 1997
Usenet FAQ at
http://www.its.caltech.edu/its/services/internetapps/news/news2.shtml
UPCE FAQ at http://upce.org.uk/ UKRM FAQ at http://www.ukrm.net/faq/

 

Yeah and?

WYSIWYG. Of course WYS one moment is gone the next.

 

Luscher
() says...

Are the reflectors round and 7 inches across? If so, you could
slot in one from a Mini (or many other cars) and a nice modern
halogen bulb.

--
<8P Wizard
Suzuki GS550 "I like that. Nicely shite" - TOG
Golf GTi 16v
ANORAK#17b BOMB#19 BOTAFOT#138 BREast#5 COFF#24
COSOC#8 DFV#11 STG#1
Remove location from email address to reply

 

I got some Wipac halogen replacements for the Guzzi very cheap as one of
replacement lenses was smashed. It has an excellent light spread
especially compared to the standard Lucas 7" one I had in there before.

 

sweller says...

I quite liked the beam the Wipacs gave, but they were too expensive new
and not commonly found in my local car breakers.

 

Lozzo
() says...

If course, if Pip L is a follower of The Way Of The Bodge, he
could do any of these, or even just change the connection block
and bung in a halogen bulb.

*Anything's* a step forward after a tungsten 35/35W jobbie.


--
<8P Wizard
Suzuki GS550 "I like that. Nicely shite" - TOG
Golf GTi 16v
ANORAK#17b BOMB#19 BOTAFOT#138 BREast#5 COFF#24
COSOC#8 DFV#11 STG#1
Remove location from email address to reply

 

That is *very* cheap, and it's worth buying at that price no matter what
the condition, unles it's so sucked it doesn't actually go.

Yes, it probably is a fixer-upper, but as sweller says, they're
extremely easy to work on. Of course, you want a winter hack, so it
probably may not be what you actually need.[/QUOTE]

Ok, rang up and asked. Apparently, the engine runs OK. It needs a
battery but the main problem is that the clutch bellhousing emits a
nasty noise when the engine's running unless the clutch is depressed -
they reckon it isn't rideable at present.

So the swingarm & gearbox would have to come off in order to look at
the clutch. If recent car experience is anything to go by, I suspect
that it could be the gearbox.

Looking at my various Guzzi books, it's not entirely stock, but that
doesn't bother me.

Ho hum. Not quite what I was looking for, but bags of character. Time
for some soul searching.

--
-Pip

TL1000R The Quietly Booming Banana
Guzzi Quota 1000: The Black Tractor
YZ250: Rough 'n' Tumble
Mongrel DT125: The Rust(ic) Garden Ornament