The LeMans in its element, somewhere outside Tucson, Arizona
Finding My First Guzzi
I first spotted my Guzzi in a free ad on recycler.com in November of 1998. I started emailing back and forth with the owner and became more and more interested in the bike. The bike was located in Valencia, California - just north of LA and about 3 hours drive from where I live in San Diego. The bike was pretty much as described in the emails - in very clean condition except for; a bald rear tire, rust on the exhaust and a few chips in the paint of the fairing from having fallen off of its centerstand once. In its favor, the bike sported BUB exhaust, individual K&N air filters, a Dyna electronic ignition, Telefix fork brace, and Koni shocks. The owner fired the bike up and it was all over. I was going to have to own this bike. A short test ride further cemented my decision.
Riding and Restoring the LeMans
On one of my maiden voyages around the neighborhood, the check ball stuck which sent a build up of oil spewing through the cracks of the dry-rotted oil breather lines that live under the gas tank. The resulting oil bath covered the motor and made it look like something really catastrophic had happened. I ended up replacing all of the dry-rotted oil breather lines and the old, cracked fuel lines. I've enjoyed many trips on the back roads of San Diego County, Baja California, northen Arizona, and northern California since owning the LeMans including a couple two-up 1,000-plus mile weekends. On the way back from a Willow Springs trip, I noticed a build up of oil grime on the inside of my right carb. Oil level is staying up there, so I ignore it. I take it on a trip to Prescott for the 10th Annual Moto Guzzi rally and the leak gets a little worse. Time to pull the tank off again and investigate. Looks like the oil lines that feed the cylinder heads are rotten too. A quick call to Rick at MG Cycles and new oil lines show up in a couple days. A friend and I recently installed new fork seals, dust caps, FAC dampers, and heavier fork springs. At the same time we discovered that the bike is due for new steering head bearings. Duh, I should've planned on that. So, a couple weeks later I tore the front end of the bike back off one piece at a time to install the new steering head bearings. Good thing I did because the old ones were rusty and nasty. I topped things off with a fresh Dunlop k591 which I don't think handles as well as the Bridgestone BT45 did, but then again the Bridgestone didn't wear very well (severe cupping within 2,000 miles).
Moto Guzzi Links
Moto Guzzi National Owner's Club
10th Arizona Moto Guzzi Rally Photos
The Cheesehead's Place in Cyberspace
Encore Performance and Fabrication
Non-Moto Guzzi Motorcycle Links
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