Coming back to the 750, with a seat height of low 29 inches, Guzzi is clearly aiming for the city riding/ street bike market. With a 90 degree angle to the knees and a almost upright position, you should be able to drive it all day long. The flat curve of torque means that the 750 is a pleasure to cruise in highways just as it is for fun in city driving. But that also means it will give you adequate ammount of adrenaline rush. Handling will obvious be a first rate (c’mon, its a Guzzi) and anyway Guzzis always have a rock solid center of gravity. Ride quality again cant be compromized, so it has the smoothness of the Marzocchi suspension system. For better efficiency, the bike is fuel injected. And better still, Guzzi sticks with its shaft drive system which means you won’t be lubing a chain every 500 miles and Guzzi has made it sure that you can go out for weekends with the 18 litres fuel tank. But lets not forget that going for a weekend, you may need something extra. So Guzzi will give you that. For accessories, you can order a windshield, center stand, tank and rear bag systems, a low profile seat and a rear suspension kit. So its customized. A customized bike with all that you NEED in a very good bike. It looks I am almost doing a promo for the Breva V750!

via Keeping it Simple – The MOTO GUZZI Breva V 750.

By rocker59:

*2000-2001 V11 Sports have a shorter wheelbase than either the preceeding Sport 1100, or the subsequent V11 Lemans.  They also have clipons mounted below the triple clamp and a 4.25″ or 4.5″ (can’t remember right now) rear wheel that requires a 160 or 170 mm rear tire.

*Some 2001 and 2002 models came with a single-plate clutch. (Rosso Mandello, Scura, and Tenni, IIRC).  The dual-plate clutch is more desireable.

*2002 bikes had ugly, peeling black engine paint.

*’02-’04 LeMans bikes have clipons above the triple clamp and 1/2 fairing.  They have a 5″ rim that accepts either a 170 or 180 mm rear tire.  They also went back to the chassis geometry of the Sport 1100i/Daytona RS.

*Ballabio, Cafe Sport, Coppa Italia have a “fixed-mounting” bikini fairing and Renthal tubular bars.

*Scura, Cafe Sport, Coppa Italia, Rosso Corsa, Nero Corsa came with Ohlins suspension front and rear.

*The ’03 and ’04 bikes have black-faced ITI speedos.  The odometer/trip odometer gears wear out on these requiring repair, or replacement of the entire instrument.

*All of the V11s can have shift-system spring failures in the transmission.  There are two springs on the pre-selector gearset.  One centers the shifter.  The other helps select the gears.  Both are easily replaceable if they fail.

*They’re all pretty nice bikes, but the ’01 and ’02 bikes will probably have the most issues, if they’ve not already been dealt with by the previous owner.

*’03 and ’04 bikes were well sorted.

via V11 Advice.

So here’s a custom Nevada turned “V750 RGS”, named after the owner, Rosa. Custom work done by Guzzi extraordinaire Classic Co. of Madrid. A lovely outcome. You can see many detailed pictures here. So if you have a Nevada that you’d like to turn into a V7 Café you can start studying those pictures. Bike sounds pretty damn good too!

Note the gas tank has a transparent line that actually acts as a measure for tank capacity–same as in some 70′s endurance racers.

Pete Roper on Guzzi R.P.M.’s:

General and sensible rule of thumb is if it doesn’t feel right? Then it’s wrong. That pic basically sez all you need to know.

Chuck’s Scura and Sean’s Coppa spent HOURS with our guages pegged like that or higher in west Texas Luckily we didn’t meet any ! My 1100G, the lowest geared of the lot, would sit for hours, If I was feeling brave and had a screen on with the tacho needle in the 6,500 zone. The Griso Verde with the ‘Touring’ screen in the pic in the other thread will sit all day quite happily at whatever revs its doing at 190-200KPH 125MPH to you lot. but since I have no desire to have my bike impounded and then go and spend time in a small room with a large, violent, psychopath and a ‘Soap on a Rope’ I never ask it to do this. I can, if I desire, ride at similar revs in a lower gear if I wish but its uncomfortable, will drink fuel and the throttle control will require the sort of precision I’ve never had and certainly won’t get now I’m over fifty!

If your bike has a tacho there are usually yellow lines on it somewehre meaning ‘Don’t use the engine over this for long periods of time’ and then a red line which means ‘Keep it here for long and it will be expensive.’ If you have something like a Bellagio with no tacho you just wring the little bugger’s neck until it goes ‘Blurp-Blurp-Blurp!’ that means its hit the rev limiter and its time to change up!

via Extended Cruising at 5,000 rpm, what say you?.

Danilo on his V7C:

In fact, except for a kick stand spring and one 6000 mile maintenance, the V7 Classic has been the same. Nothing remarkable but grins and good times. It hasn’t used a drop of oil, not one hiccup in the engine, and I’ve only had to replace the tires with Pirelli Sport Demons (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!) and that inner sidestand spring with a stainless steel one after I found fault in the metallurgy (Moose Racing M7712). Other than that, I have enjoyed this Guzzi more than I thought I would, and I had high expectations.

From city riding, to long trips on the road and romps through country twisties, the V7 has never let me down or not been up to the task. It’s like a scooter in the city, a Road King on the Highway, and a petite blaster when the pavement turns to ribbons. If “Standard” means “great all ’round bike,” then this is the “true” standard. I couldn’t be happier with my purchase.

via Moto Guzzi V7 Classic – 10,000, ahhh, I mean, 11,000 mile report! « As the Dude Abides….

Magni Fairing

We’ve discussed a number of options for Little Breva and V7C fairings depending on your motorcycle use and style. These bikes are versatile in ways of fairings because their styles are so adaptable, at least to my eye. Compare, for instance, with the Nevada that would not take so well to Le Mans or Magni style fairings. Anyway you can follow this thread over at Wildgoose to see various fairing styles. Remember that the 750’s are small bikes so fairing choice should take this into account. Finally, remember that your body size is of significant importance on how the fairing will work in practical terms and beyond mere style. I know of no specific “sporty or café” style fairing for the V7C so at the moment we’re talking about adapting. Classic Co in Spain is now designing a specific fairing for the V7C. I’ll keep you posted.

FlyingDutchman on Exhaust Heat Wrap

I took the headers off the bike to do it and tucked one end of the wrap in the vice on the workbench…that way I could really lean back, pull and get it nice & tight. Use a narrower wrap (I think I used 1.5″) for better results. You can wrap it back on itself if you start at the bottom (downstream) end of the header – that way you don’t need a tie and it looks cleaner. Pull back hard as you’re wrapping and overlap the tape for half its width and keep going – but take your time and make the overlap even. Try and finish as close as you can to the end and then use the stainless steel tie to hold it in place…if you get it close enough, the tie pretty much disappears under the exhaust header and you can barely tell its there. I know this gets overlay anal, but I even made sure I wrapped one clockwise and the other counterclockwise so the wrap would appear symmetrical from the front…

I sprayed it with a high-temp silicone which both seals the tape and is a nice black. When you first fire it up, take it for a ride – it will smoke like crazy and stink like hell – but it does stop after about 10km; I had to stop for a light while it was smoking and got some pretty funny looks   – I figure I may repaint them at some point as it has faded just slightly but it keeps much better than the wrap itself.

I’ve had it on for a little over a year and some 10k without trouble – if it gets wet, just ride it (it will smell a bit for a few minutes as it dries). Bugs don’t seem to stick either – and since they’re stainless steel (not chrome) headers, I don’t think rust will be much of an issue.

via Exhaust heat wrap.

Wildgoose quote from Sluggo:

I officially am old. I bought my 01 Aprilia Mille less than a year ago. In that time, I put on about a mere 1,000 miles.

In that same time I put about 7x that amount on my Moto Guzzi Griso, and a few thousand on another bike. When the garage door opened, the Griso was the choice for me.

I saw an ad on Craigslist looking for a liter bike under $5k. I responded with some pictures and the guy picked it up today. I sold it for $4200 and threw in 2 extra slip-ons, a Joe Rocket Pheonix jacket, and two sets of gloves. There were also some other random Aprilia bits that I had. In general, I broke even on a really nice bike.

The new owner – Wes seemed to have a kick-butt test ride. He handed me the cash and we went for a spin. I told him to ride it like it should be ridden. If he could drag the pegs – GO FOR IT!

I led him out to a few farm roads and off we went. (his previous bike was a Z1000) He pulled a nice wheelie after we pulled away from a stop sign.

It kinda surprised me. When we stopped, I asked if it was intentional. Big-eyed he said “My Z1000 didn’t have a punch until 9k rpm. I was only at 5k and it just took off. I didn’t mean to.”

I just laughed. No harm done. Besides, I told him to go for it. *On a side note, I was surprised how well the Guzzi kept up with him. At least up to 80mph.

Long story short. I didn’t need to sell the bike, but I felt guilty just letting it sit. It was beautiful and fun, but not for me. I may turn my attention to more of a SPORT-touring bike. There is a V11 Lemans for sale in Austin.

AJ

via Sold a bike today.

To build a racing bike is to search for, contain, and harmonize many spirits and contributions. Those of Giovanni Magni, expressed in the lightness of the magnesium disc brakes. Those of Boris Minoretti (BormiParts) which come together in how the sturdy chasis collects the boiling vapors and many other important details. Those precious and generous [contributions] of Roberto Freddi, in harmonizing the orchestra which is its motor, sketching out a path through cams, valves, pistons and cylinders that produce those doses of power we except to feel with a flick of our wrists. The contribution (which will be the loudest) of Romano Micheli, the final breath of exhausts. The spirit of Bruno Scola whose legendary hands refined her, touched her up and will touch her often. Those of Mauro Abbadini and of Miguel Martinez, who contributed nothing of material but where there from the first creative spark, the spark which started the fire that could not be put out.

via Moto Guzzi café racer | Bike EXIF | Classic motorcycles, custom motorcycles and cafe racers.

Mountains, trees, Guzzis. Joy. Lovely spring weather. There are so many trees gone following the summer fires of a few years ago that it is simply a pleasure to find those oasis that survived in Curota Mountain. I never get tired of riding up here. Get the Breva into 2^nd gear and just let it hum away. Such peace. Lots of new-born horses with their slinky legs following their moms. Pure natural goodness up here; it’s almost a shame to make noise with the bike.