Team Guzzi Nerd

Stressed member

2012-01-19T23:29:00.001-08:00

Team Taurus

2012-01-12T08:33:00.000-08:00

My new friend Samuele from Team Taurus an Italian endurance team has kindly helped me source some parts for the Guzzi. Here's a link to the team website:

http://www.teamtaurus.it/

1 step forward 3 steps back

2012-01-08T21:23:00.000-08:00

Life would be so much easier if I could leave things alone. That's not going to happen so it's that time of the year again when I have too much time on my hands and it seems like a great idea to completely tear my bike apart and 'improve' it.

My Kingdom for some brackets

2012-01-08T11:36:00.001-08:00

Ralph

2012-01-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

Once again my friend Ralph Hudson has really helped me out in the fabrication department. I'm doing a lower frame rail deletion on the Guzzi and hit some snags with lining up the lugs that attach the frame to the V11 timing cover. Luckily I had prepped a second frame which lined up much better and Ralph came up with an ingenious drilling solution to centre the lugs whereby there was no clamping or tweaking necessary to line everything up. The frame now fits onto the cover perfectly.

In addition to his day job owning and operating a successful fabrication company, building race winning vintage sprint bikes, record setting Bonneville bikes (see below) and an endurance GS Suzuki for Spa in 3 months, Ralph kindly and patiently lets me highjack his time. Thank you!!

Getting wired

2012-01-03T09:09:00.000-08:00

Stripped the Guzzi down yesterday to do a lower frame rail delete modification.

Time to clean up the wiring.

New Year weight loss

2011-12-30T17:44:00.000-08:00

Team Incomplete

2011-12-28T18:26:00.000-08:00

Race engine

Doing a jig.

Street bike engine.

Street bike.

Race bike.

Motorcycle Classics Article

2011-12-16T08:20:00.000-08:00

Click here

Writers block

2011-10-19T22:10:00.000-07:00

While I still need to do a Spa report life goes on......

Plans are taking shape for a new engine. Here's the starting point:

Bought it on ebay and the seller tried to charge me $185 to ship it which is a bit of a rip off. After much wrangling and huffing and puffing he relented and only charged me $70. Which was still twice as much as it should've been.

Bikers Classic OK indeed!!!!

2011-09-06T18:06:00.000-07:00

I'm still formulating my race report. Homework was never my strong point.

In the meantime: got the bike back last week. Here it is at Ralphs shop. Anything steel was rusted due to salt air from it being shipped back via ocean. More protective grease next time. Bike was torn down last Friday and everything looks good. I had a broken oil ring on the left side. Hence the oily deposits on the piston top. More soon.

Stop Press

2011-08-18T17:22:00.001-07:00

http://www.motoguzziracing.co.uk/

Pistons

2011-08-04T09:07:00.000-07:00

I'm about to order some pistons for the racer from Mike Rich Motorsports. These are modified V11/ Sport 92mm and are a drop in for these models as they are the same weight as the stock items. Actual compression is raised to 10.25:1. Mike is trying to put together an order of 12 sets so if anyone out there in Guzziland needs some here's your chance. $495 a set.

Link to Mike's website here.

His phone # is 570 676 4785

Team Guzzi Nerd in the news

2011-08-02T19:16:00.000-07:00

The latest edition of Classic Bike has an article about Spa and we have some coverage:

Picture here

Thanks to Dave Shaw of Finebau Forge for cleaning up the scan and posting the image on his website. Also Greg from Benzina Magazine for spotting it and sending it to me.

Team Guzzi Nerd tryouts

2011-07-25T17:00:00.001-07:00

Spa report.

2011-07-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

Full report coming soon.

Team effort

2011-07-11T19:24:00.000-07:00

In no particular order I'd like to mention the cast of characters who made this whole effort possible:

My lovely lady friend Kristina seen here post race in Brussels enjoying a Duvel. She puts up with my shenanigans and crazy ideas without complaint. Just don't cross her she's half Croatian.

Seen here getting a lesson in endurance riding.

My younger brother Mark who you definitely want on your side. I arrived in Belguim not knowing if I was actually entered in the race even though I had sent my application and money months before (long story). Mark called the head of Spa and had a 'chat'. I was officially entered an hour later. Did I tell you Mark works for the President of the European Commission. Nice!!

Rick, who rode halfway across Europe with his wife Beth in 1 day to help and support us. He manned the timers brilliantly.

Chris, my riding partner. I never worried about him. In an endurance race that is everything.

Patti, Chris's wife who put a huge effort into running pit-stops and re-fueling.

Beth, Rick's wife who manned the fire extinguisher.

Ralph, the genius fabricator who makes anything possible.

See, I really was there

2011-07-09T16:23:00.000-07:00

Spa video

2011-07-07T02:11:00.000-07:00

Click here

Super Hero

2011-07-07T00:11:00.000-07:00

The man in the leathers is our new friend Mark George from Team Marlin, a UK endurance team. We were very fortunate to share a garage with him as he an his compatriots were absolutely the nicest guys you could meet. Obviously he's a dapper gent but the left hand in the leathers has a practical purpose: the day before he broke his collarbone in practice. Here he's celebrating finishing 9th place.

Now that's a man!!!

Pit lane pix

2011-07-06T01:53:00.000-07:00

I'm about to go out for the 3rd hour. Just cleaning up a minor fuel spill. Patti and Beth are on fill and fire prevention duties.

The morning after

2011-07-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

Stripped down ready for shipping

Pit board

2011-07-05T02:33:00.000-07:00

Hotel in La Gleize

Vital race supplies

Garage

Spa Photos

2011-07-05T02:26:00.000-07:00

Saving parking spot.

Ralphs GS in garage

SPA

2011-07-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update. Having a beer in Brussels writing this.

We managed 18th place out of 70 starters. The winning Guzzi was disqualified which means we were the 1st Guzzi home.

Excuse my language/not safe for work.

2011-06-22T00:07:00.000-07:00

1040

2011-06-21T23:25:00.000-07:00

Is the weight in lbs of a crated Moto Guzzi heading to Brussels.

After a very long weekend of late nights the bike is finally on its way. What was supposed to be a final last few things on Saturday turned into a 3 day stress fest.

Ralph was kind enough to let me bring all my stuff to his shop to prepare everything as we were going to pack and ship from there. Actually I think it was more a case of me telling him that I was coming over with all my stuff and not giving him much of a choice. What are friends for if not to impose on? In usual Ralph fashion he was more than accommodating and I wouldn't be doing this without him. Thank you Ralph.

The bikes shipped a day late as there was a bit of a scare yesterday when Ralph thought that he may not have had his application accepted. Luckily that was resolved in true Gallic fashion where everyone saved face and today was a much happier day. I have been useless all day from lack of sleep. Ralph filled out all the shipping paperwork while I tried hard to not let him catch me falling asleep in his office. Thank you again Ralph.

Highlights:

A quick tire change turned a 4 hour ordeal where we (literally) tried to blow up an Astralite wheel. Skinny race Avons, Astralites and starter fluid apparently don't play well together.

Eating large amounts of Ritz crackers.

Getting the bloody thing in a crate so we can actually start thinking about racing.

Race number.

Ralph and his GS.

Bastardlite. Dastardlylite. Cleaned up beads and resealed. I should be a painter. Oh I am.

This blog was almost called Big Hammer Racing which would've been more fitting. It's a beauty. There's a certain joy in large blunt instruments.

Crated

2011-06-20T08:51:00.000-07:00

One day to go

2011-06-19T10:19:00.000-07:00

2 days to go

2011-06-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

Bike ships on Monday.

Test ride video

2011-06-12T23:49:00.000-07:00

Click here

Nick Sharps Guzzi

2011-05-30T12:21:00.001-07:00

http://guzzicafe.blogspot.com/

2 months to go

2011-05-04T12:42:00.001-07:00

It's been a month since I did a 2 day track day at Thunderhill in Northern California.

Chris my riding partner for Spa came down from Portland and we each had a day's instruction from ex AMA champion Doug Chandler. I was beginning to think I had bitten off more than I could chew with Spa but the track time, instruction from Doug and very helpful suspension set up from Catalyst Reaction have given me a whole new confidence.

The bike ran great and the changes to the bike worked.

Pictures here: Trackday

A bit louder

2011-03-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

It's a bit loud

2011-03-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

Final stretch

2011-03-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

Almost done. Which it should be considering I have a trackday in a week and a half.

Astralite painted and mounted. Now if I can only figure out why it won't keep air pressure up......

This rat's nest is the wiring harness awaiting final routing and wrapping.

Checking wheel alignment.

Should be room in there for a cup holder

Muffler that doesn't.

Going round the bend

2011-02-10T19:53:00.000-08:00

I've been unsuccessfully practicing my Uri Geller skills figuring if I stared at the pipes long enough they would bend into an exhaust system. Unfortunately that hasn't happened and I'll have to use my much stronger phone skills and call Ralph.

Notice the ever present hammer.

I actually have a bike lift but you'd never know......

Battery mounted.

Rear brake caliper

Aftermarket XR 650 rear lights. From Flanders.

Front view with V11 headlight.

Shedding some light on things

2011-01-26T19:50:00.001-08:00

Uncle Ralph has kindly fabricated a fairing mount for me. V11 Lemans 8" headlight will provide illumination.

My friend Sean Fader who until recently was the mechanic at Moto Guzzi Classics kindly let me bring the bike down to his shop in Costa Mesa on his day off and helped me make a wiring harness. While he is known for Guzzi work he can handle pretty much any bike made. Sean's a rarity in the bike world: he actually knows what he's talking about. Sean's Info here:

Winter work

2010-12-14T08:25:00.001-08:00

Here's the Guzzi in it's current state.

After much scanning of UK ebay I've picked up 2 18" Astralites in the 2.5 width I need to run the front 110 Avon AM22's race tyres. (why settle for 1 when you can buy 2???).

I'll be fabricating (actually I won't because I'm a useless fabricator, I'll be standing over someone's shoulder), a new underslung rear brake. Partly because it looks cool and also because I want to ditch the heavy stock set up. The tab on the swing-arm that attaches the caliper holder gets in the way when I change tires which means I have to remove the rear bevel drive box to remove the wheel: a huge pain.. The new caliper will attach to a plate/spacer and have a brake stay arm attaching to the swing-arm. I can then shave the tab and save precious ounces. See the set up I'm badly describing here.

The caliper you see is from a late model Ducati and the rotor is a Guzzi item. It will get skimmed, drilled and turned to cut down the weight.

Other changes planned are: mount the Magni fairing, install charging system, mount lights, make new foot-pegs, put on the 40mm front end I just picked up and lots of other little stuff. More pictures to follow......

Current events

2010-12-14T08:22:00.000-08:00

Homer's Harley

2010-12-14T08:17:00.000-08:00

Here's my friend Homer and his bike. I just picked up the bike for him from Long Beach docks after he attended the Catalina GP. More details and story up-coming in Sideburn.

Tasty

2010-11-26T22:56:00.000-08:00

Seen over at Sideburn.

I'll take one in red please

2010-11-14T18:34:00.000-08:00

Summer racing in pictures

2010-11-14T17:44:00.001-08:00

Long overdue I know........ Guzzi footage here.

Just south of Weed, California after sleeping in the truck. Rough night.

Steve Arnett and his Imola rep.

Tim Fowler and his house in Seattle. A national treasure.

Seattle.

Vancouver BC.

Paul Brodie and his hand made bikes. Website here.

Guzzi nerdana. Moto International in Seattle.

Bret and Glass from the Past. Website here for vintage fairings etc.

Portland 160 racing. Footage here

Ben's Guzzi on ice/English summers

2010-10-10T13:43:00.000-07:00

Luckily a girl passing by was able to help lift the bike up.

Check your tires

2010-10-10T10:54:00.000-07:00

This is what happens with 7 year old tires. Check the date code when you buy race tires. They might have been sitting around for a while.

On board footage

2010-10-10T00:45:00.000-07:00

Don't get all excited thinking you'll see the next Reed/Hailwood battle. It's a couple of geezers farting around learning the track. Shot in August on my Pacific Northwest racing/road-trip. Full report soon.

Click here to have a laugh

MK 1 shininess

2010-10-10T00:38:00.000-07:00

My friend Chris has finally received his bodywork and frame back. His MK 1 is shown earlier in the blog. This is going to turn out nice!!

DTF's

2010-08-11T16:25:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to fitting my DTF head guards. I'm all set for Seattle Vintage Days now and will post again soon.

July update

2010-08-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

I raced in Portland in July at the Vintage Days put on by the local organization OMRRA. Much to my shame I didn't take pictures as I had a new on board camera to try but unfortunately I was having technical difficulties with it.

Quick report. The Guzzi ran great. I installed a new gear set 8/35 as the 7/33 I used at the previous race was too short for Portland's long front straight. I was topping out at 8,000 rpm well before the end of the straight. The 8/35 made a huge difference. I have a wonderful gearing chart from Guzzitech.dk. Click here for the link. Scroll down to table of contents and the gearing Excel spreadsheet application will be there. Using the chart I was able to calculate that with the 7/33 and tyre combo I was doing 135mph at 8,000rpm. Using the 8/35 I would be at 142mph. In the race I was hitting about 7700rpm at the end of the straight. Not necessarily any faster but it meant I wasn't flogging the engine unnecessarily. My shift points remained the same so acceleration didn't suffer. Thank you Charley Cole of Zydeco Racing for the 2 week turnaround time on the gear set.

I have finally found a jetting combo that works too. In the past I was way too lean and I think this may have been the cause of my failed rod bearings due to pre-ignition....

Without my usual long-windedness here's my jetting at the moment: 41mm Dellortos. 165 mains, 265 needle jet, 2nd clip position. K4 needle. VP110 red race gas. 30 degrees of timing.

I think there's some tweaking to be done with timing, plugs etc but I'm definitely in the ball park. The Guzzi is pretty quick (for an old tractor).

Had 3 races. Got a second and 2 thirds. Battled with a Honda 750 the whole weekend. He beat me twice (:

Steve Arnett's Duc was still broken but we will be racing this coming weekend in Seattle, his home track. I've been prepping the bike to make it somewhat eligible for the Seattle Vintage Days. Technically they have a 750cc, 1972 cut off year but the Guzzi kind of looks the part. Nobody really cares and are just happy to have bikes on the grid. I did have to take off the lovely Astralites and source some Borrani wheels to make the bike more 'period correct'.

Seattle 'tweaks': Borrani wheels with new Avon Vintage race rubber for skinny rims, jetting, fork brace to handle the crazy downhill full braking hairpin. See a vintage bike go around Pacific Raceways here .

Hopefully I'll have some footage up too in a couple of weeks.

Below is the bike almost ready for Seattle.

Bling bling

2010-07-05T00:28:00.000-07:00

Dave Shaw of Finebau Forge Custom Products sent me some great headguards for the racebike. While designed for the newer line of Guzzis they fit my Sport 1100 engine just fine. The beauty of the guards is that they attach under the valve cover and are fixed by all the valve cover bolts. In the event of a crash they will protect the spark plugs and head fins without breaking off.

I hope I never have to write a review of their performance but you can see some crash test shots in this small product promo video that prove they do the job they are designed for.

Portland pictures

2010-06-07T18:04:00.000-07:00

This is not what it looks like. It was actually a short cut.

My friends Mike and Rob flew up to see the races (that's their story, I'm convinced the famous Portland beer had more to do with it) and actually had steady hands for a few minutes and took some very nice shots (in more ways than one). Click on the following link: here to see the art shots.

Racing recap

2010-06-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

It's been a month since I had 2 weekends of racing in a row so I think it's about time I catch up on the blog.

First up was the AHRMA event at Willow Springs located here in Southern California. Generally I'm scrambling to get everything ready but this year I was fairly relaxed and just had a few things to get ready.

The Wednesday night before Friday practice I decided to check the timing on my Honda 160 racer. I had changed the clip ons a few weeks before after crashing the bike at a trackday but hadn't actually run it. I wheeled the bike out to the car park of my workshop and proceeded to bumpstart it. Usually it starts right up but this time it was being uncooperative so I dismounted and ran alongside while pushing. Big mistake. It fired right up and immediately went to full throttle, tore out of my hands and went careening into the side of my workshop. DOH!!!

After picking myself up of the ground I killed the motor and surveyed the damage. I quickly went from thinking the bike was completely destroyed to realizing that perhaps it was salvageable.

Luckily the left fork had taken the brunt of the impact and saved the engine. The forks were bent,the fairing was broken, the top triple clamp was broken and the bottom triple was bent. It also slightly bent the wheel. Damage to me was scraped leg and torn shoulder that is still giving me grief.

I had spare forks and triples so they were replaced within an hour. The wheel would have to be taken to Buchannans Spoke and Wheel the next day for straightening. My friend Ralph was kind enough to let me come over and use his facilities to fix the fairing. I also needed to mould a belly pan in fibreglass from my old aluminum one for the Guzzi so it ended up being a late night........ Ralph was busy sorting out his Honda 160 engine that he had secretly milled special pistons for. The truth only came out at midnight when he started the engine and the pistons were kissing the valves. He's a sneaky one that Ralph!! He got it fixed though and it's a flyer.

Thursday was spent running around picking up last minute stuff, finishing up work and generally feeling tired and stressed. The 160 came together but it still had a sticking throttle which I would just have to deal with at the track which is something I hate doing as I like to have everything ready before I go. I finally got both bikes loaded and ready to go at 3 a.m. Friday the day of practice.

I'm reaching my 1 finger typing limit so I'll keep the rest short:

Ralph fixed the Honda throttle. I took 4 2nd places on the Honda. Video here.

The Guzzi was handling crappy. It blew an oil pressure gauge line covering the bike in oil. I was my usual useless self at Willow. Steve Arnett and his Ducati were blazing fast. I didn't take any pictures.........

Next up Portland:

1 week later: Somewhere on the 5 freeway.

Returned from Willow Springs on Sunday night. Caught up with work and life, prepped the bikes and headed to Portland on Wednesday evening.

Kristina and I stayed with our friends Dave and Ann Stark near San Francisco that night. They are both 160 racers too and we were all going to convoy up to Portland the next day. Dave is the announcer at the west coast AHRMA events so we had a running commentary the whole way up via Dave's walkie talkies. Nothing like recreating scenes from Convoy to keep you occupied for a 600 mile trip.

The Portland event was the first time AHRMA had visited and so a big effort was made to make it special. There were 55 entries for the Le Mans start 160 race. Ralph flew up, Steve Arnett drove down from Seattle and pretty much the whole west coast racing contingent was in attendance.

Racing: The Honda ran great. I took 4th in Saturday's 160 race. Video here: 160 race. More.

The Guzzi was giving me problems. During Friday and Saturday performance felt flat. At full throttle it would run better letting off the throttle so I was under the impression that it was jetted too rich. I was already jetted lean with 128 mains so I was a bit perplexed. Being busy with the the Honda and lazy by nature I was unable to focus on the problem. On Sunday I finally got round to putting 140 mains in which made a huge improvement. The bike was pulling better and I'd shift into 5th about 100ft earlier. It felt great to get it sorted. I have changed the exhaust from last year for a freer flowing set so I think it breathes better hence the need for richer jetting.

Also discovered that 1 or more of the front brake discs is warped. Braking into turn 1 at 130mph to be met by major juddering is not fun and as a result my lap times were a little disappointing. About 2 seconds slower than last year.

Portland pictures:

Team Guzzinerd corporate headquaters.

Chris and Patty's 160's

Ralph changing his clutch without making a mess

Steve Arnett getting in the zone

Steve's Duc

Video of how a top flight racer prepares for a race

Quick update

2010-04-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

I'm back from racing at Willow Springs. Things got 'interesting' the day before I left. Let's just say Hondas, stuck throttles and concrete walls don't mix. More info to follow.

I was too busy/stressed to take pix but here's one I pulled from Flicker.

Leaving for Portland today and I'll be posting pictures and hopefully video after the weekend.

Teaser shots

2010-04-20T00:11:00.001-07:00

The clock is ticking

2010-04-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

I'm a week away from the AHRMA event at Willow Springs and the Guzzi is pretty close to being finished.

Shortened the forks by 2" which involved modifying the internals too. So now I don't have fork tubes poking me in the eye or threatening to de-ball me if I go over the tank.........

All that is left is the fabrication of a new fibre-glass bellypan and painting of the new mufflers and crossover. I'll post some picture updates soon.

The following weekend I'll be racing in Portland so lot's to look forward to. I bought an on board video camera so hopefully I'll be able to post some racing action.

Nicks Guzzi progress

2010-03-15T22:53:00.000-07:00

The U Joint hall of shame

2010-03-15T19:50:00.001-07:00

As someone famous once said; a man's got to know his limitations. Well I just found another one of mine. I spent 10 1/2 hours on Saturday trying to rebuild a $250 U Joint and the pictures show what I ended up with for my efforts. Not much!!! I did manage to give myself a sore throat from cursing so much.

I started at 4.30 p.m. and didn't leave my shop 'til 3 a.m. With the time change it was 4 a.m.

I'm not usually one to worry about advertising my failings but I was tempted to keep this level of stupidity under wraps. My only excuse is that I drank a Cappuccino and had a sugary snack from Starbucks beforehand and caffeine to me is like speed to normal people.

Today I cleaned up the evidence so I can pretend it never happened.

All dressed up and nowhere to go

2010-03-03T16:28:00.001-08:00

The bike is now in it's AHRMA get up. Guzzi MK 1 fairing, MK 3 tank and Magni Sfida seat.

Remaining work: re-configure the exhaust, axle spacers, upholster the seat, bleed the brakes, new u-joint and fabricate rear-sets. Almost there!!

Gentleman start your engine

2010-03-03T16:16:00.000-08:00

Simon's Lemans3

2010-02-25T08:04:00.000-08:00

With black wheels.......

Hows about that then

2010-02-19T21:57:00.000-08:00

One of these days I'll get a real bike stand.

And now for something completely different

2010-02-19T09:00:00.000-08:00

The blog is starting to look far too serious.

Check this : here

Inspiration

2010-02-19T08:54:00.001-08:00

The bike Guzzi should have built. More info here: Magni Sfida

Re-assembly

2010-02-18T23:50:00.000-08:00

New paint

2010-02-17T22:48:00.000-08:00

Just spent the day painting. Porsche Red base coat, Urethane clear x 4 coats. Lovely!!

New tires

2010-02-02T20:29:00.001-08:00

Chris Page's Lemans progress

2010-01-31T18:40:00.000-08:00

Chris's bike so far: engine is out, cleaned and ready for some cylinder work and a freshened top end. Sorry the pictures are placed randomly but I'm still learning the subtleties of blog layout....

The wheels are out being black powder-coated (notice a theme) as is the frame and black bits. Parts orders have been placed and Chris's spare bedroom looks like a store room at Mandelo del Lario.

My street bike.

2010-01-31T18:18:00.000-08:00

Originally a CX100 it's now a Lemans1 lookalike.

Black snowflakes

2010-01-30T21:10:00.001-08:00

I'm helping a friend with his Lemans3. We just had the wheels powder-coated semi gloss black and mounted new tires. Bridgestones: BT45 front and 11R rear. Great combination. Soft front and sport touring rear. They stick well too. It's what I have on my street Guzzi. The rear 110 is skinny but the bike handles great.

2010 plans

2010-01-17T19:32:00.000-08:00

Last summer I decided to enter the vintage endurance races set to be held at Spa Francorchamps in July 2010 (Bikers Classic). My friend and fellow Honda 160 racer Chris Page agreed to be my riding partner as there is a minimum of 2 riders per team with a maximum of 2/3rds race distance for any one rider. Being an all round good guy and an accomplished racer and instructor Chris would be the perfect team mate. He even bought a Guzzi Lemans 1 a few months ago. It's being restored to original condition and will be his practice bike. Chris asked me my opinion on whether to buy a Guzzi or an old BMW as he had a hankering for a vintage bike. Let's just say he saw sense and chose a Guzzi. See below.

While I got started rebuilding my Guzzi Spa announced the event was off. By the time they reinstated it I had decided to wait a year which is probably wise as it's only 6 months away and the bike is still in pieces. I also worked myself into a lather about doing AHRMA events this year as they are holding a race at Portland the weekend after the LA round. 2 weekends in a row thrashing a Guzzi takes some beating.

In the meantime I'm setting the bike up for endurance but making everything removable so I can run the required stock bodywork in AHRMA events. In endurance anything goes: see here

Planned changes to the bike include: endurance bodywork, lighter wheels, new rearsets, new exhaust system, and general weight saving.

2009 Bikers Classic winning bike: Team Moto Bel

Astralite wheels

Lemans 3 tank courtesy of Mark at Moto Guzzi Classics with flush filler (thanks for the fabrication Ralph).

Guzzi Magni Sfida seat from Teo Lamers

The next step to Guzzi Nerdom

2010-01-13T19:40:00.000-08:00

This was me about 3 months ago. Plans are afoot. More to follow.

Winter tear down

2010-01-13T19:09:00.000-08:00

Not sure why I'm calling it a winter tear down. LA winters consist of 2 weeks of temperatures below 70 degrees and we might get a bit of rain if we're lucky.

After September's racing I thought I'd have a look and see how the engine was holding up. Everything looked great except the rod bearings. Theories are: not using synthetic oil, oil starvation or lack of clearance between the bearings and the crank. And revving a big Guzzi up to 8700rpm trying to keep up with Steve Arnett probably didn't help.

Solutions: from now on I plan on using full synthetic, either 10/40 or 20/50. Candidates are Amsoil, Mobil 1 V Twin or Brad Penn. Also had the rods honed to give a bearing to crank clearance of .0018" as per Mike Rich's recommendation. Hopefully this will prevent torched bearings.

Ralph's shop

2009-12-17T22:50:00.001-08:00

My friend Ralph has been helping me with some fabrication work. Here's a small portion of his shop. The hammer is about the only thing I know how to use there.

Guzzi 750 S3

2009-12-13T21:55:00.000-08:00

Nick Sharp sent me some pictures of one of my favorite bikes. I saw a picture of one when I was a starving student in the UK in 1990 and I decided then that I had to own a Guzzi.

This is how deluded I was: I actually went and tried to get a loan from my bank manager to buy one. He not only turned me down but he actually laughed at me while doing it.

Great site here: http://www.s3750motoguzzi.co.uk/

Pictures of 2009

2009-12-06T22:41:00.000-08:00

Do these leathers make my bike look small.

Traveling in style

Raw power

Zero engineering at El Mirage

Helped a friend pick up a Laverda SFC from Lake Tahoe. The deal involved a whacked out owner, a crazy tattoo artist buyer and $25,000 cash in a brown paper bag.

My lovely new helmet that lasted 3 race weekends only to be ruined on a stupid trackday.........

John's Fiat Abarth.

2009 racing

2009-12-06T18:55:00.000-08:00

Not a huge amount to report from this year. I raced 3 times: Willow Springs, Portland and Miller.

At Willow in April I had the pleasure of meeting and racing with Steve Arnett on his Paul Smart Imola rep Ducati. We had a very close race which made things fun. Otherwise I would've been circulating alone. Willow is a horsepower track and as the Guzzi makes 80 rwhp if I'm lucky and weighs over 450lbs it's hard to keep the big multi cylinder Japanese Superbikes in sight. I was running 1.45 which is kind of slow. I'm probably blaming the bike more than I should. 1.40 should be a realistic time but at Willow I'm ... what's the word.....crap!!.

June: Portland Vintage Days as usual was great fun. After surprisingly winning last year my competitors were on top form . Tom Mellor on his Trident 750 was turning 1.23's which is quick. My best time was 1.27. About 2-3 seconds faster than the previous year. Again raced with Steve and his Duc. This time I beat him.

The following Monday I did a Ducati track day. Lots of laps and I felt like I improved my times so I'm hoping to do well next year at the track. Diced with several guys on modern Ducs especially one guy on a Hypermotard who clocked us at 130mph at the end of the straight. I out-braked someone on a Desmocedici which I thought was particularly heroic until my friend Steve pointed out that of course I out-braked him, he wasn't about to go throw a $75,000 bike down the track. I was certain I would be getting that GP ride after such a performance!!

Miller Motorsports Park in September is the racing highlight of the year. Many of the West coast racers try to attend and there's a particularly large turnout of Honda 160 racers. This year there were 37 of us. I managed 5th in the 160 only race. The 160 race has a Lemans start (see movie, I'm #445) and the sight of 37 grown adults running across the track to bump start tiny little Hondas is a sight to behold.

Steve A and I again had a great race in Formula Vintage on the Sunday. We were literally neck and neck the whole race. I made a mistake on the last lap and overshot my braking and Steve poured on the coals and turned a 1.56. Mistake or not I think he would've won it. My best was a 1.58. So Steve is up 2 to 1 and we are both looking forward to next season and plotting ways to gain an advantage but I think we will again have some close battles. Steve claims that he can get more horsepower out of his old nail but I think he's going to be fitting an N.O.S. bottle somewhere. My plan is to shed some weight off the Guzzi and try to improve acceleration. Can't wait!!!!!

Below are the bikes at the end of the season. Apparently the Honda makes slightly less power than the vacuum cleaner next to it.

Nick's project update

2009-12-06T18:48:00.000-08:00

Here's some shots of Nick's cafe project. Rearsets by http://www.barleycorn.co.uk/

Notice the sexy all in one master cylinder. Might have to get one myself.

Long overdue

2009-11-24T22:57:00.000-08:00

A quick summary of the past 3 weeks:

Helped my friend Ralph with his GSXR 1000 record setting land speed racer. We took it up to El Mirage dry lake twice in the past month and he reached the dizzying speed of 192mph to set a new record. Lots of dust and it was COLD.

Finally stopped hobbling around after my crash.

Crash

2009-11-04T22:28:00.000-08:00

85 mph track day highside on my Honda 160 racer (yes they really do go that fast).

Nick Sharp's project

2009-10-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

Hi Andrew,

heres a few so far.

The original bike is a 79/80 Mk 2 Le Mans that i imported from spain.

stripped down to restore . Realised it needed major overhaul, so when I was researching

the parts etc I cam across lots of Cafe racer style guzzis that have inspired me to build one.

(Much more fun than the original !)

Most inspiration was from a company in Germany called H T Moto.

A guy called Hartmutt and his son race guzzis in classic racing and also make many

special parts for guzzis of all types, cant recommend them highly enough, top pros !

So stripped the bike and sent the engine to NBS (guzzi specialist in UK) I would have liked to do it

myself but only have a lock up garage at the moment so just not practical.

They rebuilt the engine, Gearbox and final drive box.

Ali tank came from Johns Tank shop in Scotland.

Frame is just getting some brackets welded for the new seat unit (H T Moto) and will then be ready

for powder coating (not sure about black or grey silver ?)

Then the rebuild can begin

Oh yes ! and the new wheels.

I managed to obtain some rare to find Astralite wheels (Black) but having thought about a classic look

decided to go for a set of Borrani wire wheels instead.

So the Astralites will be on a plane to USA soon to Andrew ! and his set of Borranis will be making its way to me in the UK.

More later

Nick

Miller and Sandia 08

2009-10-16T21:38:00.000-07:00

Next race was at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah with Ahrma. Packed the truck with the Guzzi and Honda drove 750 miles. Just a quick jaunt for us West Coast racers. How nice it would be for closer tracks......

After Ohio I had to get to the bottom of the front end issues; mainly the chatter and subsequent temporary loss of front brake. I'd been riding around the problems but I had to put my laziness aside and figure it out. Tore the front end apart, everything seemed fine. Checked the bearing carriers. AHA!!!!! Turns out that one of the carriers was worn out and was allowing the bearing to more side to side. After bumpy corners this allowed the pucks in the brake calipers to be pushed back and I'd have to pump the brake to get the brakes to work. Apparently it's the same thing that happens when bikes get into serious tankslappers. Something that I'll probably never experience due to the Guzzi's 30 degrees of rake. Oh and it turns out I'd been overfilling the fork oil. DOH!!!

Miller was a blast. World class facilities, great people, Lemans start on the Honda. It doesn't get much better. The Guzzi handled great. Took a 2nd and a 3rd in Vintage Superbike Heavyweight. Admittedly there were only 4 bikes in the class........ Also visited Bonneville salt flats for the speed week. Very cool.

Drove back to LA on the Monday. Hummed and aahed for a few days and decided to drive out to New Mexico the following weekend to a tiny track called Sandia. Did more of the same.

And that is 08 wrapped up. Managed to be 3rd in the championship in Vintage Superbike Heavyweight. I would love to say it was because of my amazing riding skills but if you have a pulse then you can pretty much get a result.

Awards ceremony Ahrma style

Here I'm going for the Hillbilly look.

Miller garages.

Ralph and Kristina and the first seeds of love are sown .

Bonneville delivery truck

Hardware

Road trip

Two single Vincents. The bikes not the riders.

Glamour shot

2009-10-14T18:53:00.000-07:00

Here's a shot of my friend Steve A racing at Barber last weekend. We've had 3 races together this year and each was hammer and tongs. He's 2 to 1 in the results. At Miller in September and had an epic race for the ages (in our minds at least). Note the jaunty scarf.

Humbled

2009-10-08T22:00:00.000-07:00

Next race: Mid Ohio AHRMA, July 08.

Did the rock star thing. Paid to have my bikes trailered to Ohio. Flew in. Flew out. Nice!!!

Got 4th on the Honda. Got soundly beaten on the Guzzi. Mid Ohio is a tricky technical track and I was up against 120 hp Superbikes and guys with alot of experience. I didn't get lapped though and kept the winners in sight (just). A good learning experience.

The front brake issue again raised it's scary head.

Ohio barn

The bits

Art shot

Ex Raceco Guzzi now campaigned by crazy Australian Andrew Cowell

Big Jeff Bottrell. Fellow Guzzi racer.

The pits

Holy shit he's winning

2009-10-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

Second race weekend, first actual race, Portland International Raceway, June, 08.

Drove the 950 miles to Portland to take part in Vintage Days, a 2 day festival of vintage bike racing.

The back story: my girlfriend and I rode to Portland on my street Guzzi in 05 and entered it in Vintage Days (long story) and made a ton of friends, had a blast and also got bitten by the Honda 160 bug (another long story).

Anyway...... I have to set the stage. While my bike is legal for AHRMA Superbike (even then I'm pushing it as the engine is a '97, but I run under the 'like technology' rule) the Open Vintage class at Portland has a 1972 cut off year. There's an argument to be made that technically Guzzis are pretty similar from 1972 all the way to the late 80's but an 1100 square fin is probably stretching things.

So. In the interest of fairness I approached my competitors and spilled the beans about how this was my first race, "it's an 1100, hope you don't mind, but I'm not going to win anyway." "Oh no, of course, that's great, glad to have you" was the reply. Great!!!!!!!

And I then went out an won. Twice. Shit!!!!!!

The title to this posting is using the words uttered by my girlfriend to a friend of ours.

The race was great. The bike felt good. Powerful and smooth. A bit of chatter. Probably the worst thing was after a bumpy corner I'd have no front brake. This took awhile to figure out. More on this later.

There was a bit of grumbling after the racing in the pits but generally everyone was very cool.

This winning thing is fun!!!!!!

Ready to go

First race

2009-10-08T21:16:00.000-07:00

Willow Springs AHRMA. May 2008.

I finished building the bike the night before practice. Arrived at the track and the bike would run great for about 2 minutes and then start misfiring. Managed to make the grid for the Vintage Heavyweight Superbike race but it started acting up on the line. Brought it in and parked it. Not a great start but in hindsight it was probably a good thing (more on this later). Raced my Honda 160 and had a blast.

Back at the shop it turned out my brand new ignition had a short.

Breaking news

2009-10-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

Guzzi rider Bill Ross sets a new record at Bonneville.

Click here.

More thanks

2009-09-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

Before I forget I have to mention 2 very important people who have helped me. Mike Rich for his fine head work and patience for my million questions and Charley Cole of Zydeco Racing fame who has given me endless hours of advice and pointers. He spent 7 years successfully campaigning a 750 Guzzi and is an absolute wealth of knowledge which he shares unconditionally. He also rebuilds Guzzi gearboxes and rear drives. Top guys, both of them.

First start and it didn't blow up

2009-09-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

Finished

2009-09-27T20:23:00.000-07:00

And the rest of the story

2009-09-27T20:19:00.001-07:00

Engine with transmission/frame brace

Tach and oil pressure gauge

Nice milk crate

Braced swingarm

Engine

2009-09-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

Anyway, where were we.

2009-09-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

Lemans 3 tank kindly donated by Moto Guzzi Classics

T3 wheels

Lemans 3 frame

38mm SP3 forks reworked by Maxton. I made a major mistake at this point. I sent them off and had Maxton do their magic and then realised that the caliper locations are designed for smaller rotors than I planned on using. Luckily Ed Milich knew of a set of Marzocchi Strada forks that I was able to buy and use the lowers after some minor machining.

More sexy bits

Guest post by the girlfriend with a camera phone

2009-09-27T18:44:00.001-07:00

What you will see if you catch Andrew unawares at his shop...

How does he love Guzzi? Let me count the ways...

Comic relief

2009-09-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, enough of the nerd talk, it's wearing me out. It's time to introduce you to the local cast of characters who have helped me with the Guzzi. Ralph, great friend and partner in crime who I race with on a regular basis who even when I show up at his shop when he's crazy busy never gives more than a shrug and a "sure" when I have some crazy project I would like him to help with. Mark and Sean who despite being complete piss takers are good guys and have been very generous with parts and time. Just don't show up at 4.45 on a Saturday afternoon. Daniel an old friend of 17 years just showed up one night and wouldn't leave; one of the most talented and infuriating people I've ever met. Ed who paved the way and had more confidence in my riding ability than I did.......

Ralph Hudson, ex-AMA racer, Bonneville record holder and ace fabricator.

Marky Mark Ethridge owner and president of Moto Guzzi Classics.

Sean Fader, head wrench and only sane(ish) person at MGC

Daniel Lynn, crazy genius mechanic and fabricator, prodigious chip eater who sadly passed away last year, seen here studying brand new Chinese made jumper cables that we discovered were defective at 3a.m before my first race.We had been trying to start the bike for 3 hrs thinking there was an ignition problem......

Mark again showing his more sensitive side.

Ed Milich at some place in Florida where bikes go round and round.

Sexy bits

2009-09-27T12:23:00.001-07:00

The idea was to build good, reliable power without going too crazy. Carrillo rods for security, Megacycle X10 cam (not the most powerful but great for mid range), Mike Rich stage 2 heads, coated bearings and lifters, balanced crank to 51%, 41mm carbs. Timing chain was retained. The Sport 1100 flywheel and clutch were kept as they are pretty light in stock form (about 8 lbs all in if I remember correctly). It's always tempting to build the biggest, most powerful engine but the limiting factor in my first season on the Guzzi (2008) was my riding ability, not the power....

Engine

2009-09-27T00:19:00.006-07:00

Ed Milich at guzzitech was kind enough to sell me one of his stashed Sport 1100i motors. The engine is fairly easy to put in a Tonti frame: a Tonti timing cover with a seal from the Sport is all that is needed. The boss for a distributor is still cast into the case and I had this finish machined and I'm now able to use a Dyna ignition,distributor and Megacycle cam.

The build........

2009-09-27T00:05:00.001-07:00

Nerd heaven.

The story so far........

2009-09-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Team Guzzi Nerd.

This blog is about building and racing a vintage Moto Guzzi. Due to my pathetic typing skills and lack of attention span I'll be posting often but in small doses. Whew, I'm worn out already.

Where do I start....... I've owned Guzzis for about 15 years and enjoy going fast. Finally in 2007 I put the 2 together and decided to build a racer. Actually the idea started formulating a few years earlier and in 2006 I helped out a very fast racer, Will Harding, at Willow Springs raceway here in Los Angeles. The bike was owned by Stan Friduss and at the time was an 1100cc engined MK 1 LeMans. (see picture below).