24 Gambalunga

At last, the final part of this long-running restora-tion story. I thought everyone might be sick of the sight of the green paint scheme so I’ve had another tank & side panel set painted in blue with silver stripes. I liked it in green, but I like the blue & silver even better. The go-faster stripes give a nice '70s look, and the lightness of the colours makes the whole bike seem less bulky and heavy, in my opinion. And although I quite liked the

Guzzi eagle transfers on the green side panels, I decided that proper badges looked better. However, I found the ‘proper’ V1000 G5 badges rather clumsy and, as I hap-pened to have a spare pair of T3 badges lying around, I used them. Apart from the engine capacity the bike is now effectively a T3 anyway.

The other major change since the previous edition is the wheel swap. Those new spoked wheels look enor-

G5+MOT=HappinessJohn Allaway rounds off his story

The story began here . . . and passed through here . . .

June-July 2010 25

mously better than the cast alloys and complete the ‘70s style nicely. Apart from the year of manufacture being 1981 it is pretty much a ‘70s bike now!

Looking at the finished article I can see, on reflec-tion, how I’ve subconsciously tailored it to include elements of my favourite looking bikes of the late ‘60s and ‘70s: the Norton look with Commando upswept silencers; a bit of Royal Enfield Interceptor with those handlebars; a touch of Ducati Mk III with the paint scheme; and the classic early Guzzi T3 overall lines.

One of the most attractive features of round-fin 850 / 950 Guzzis is their amazing versatility. The same basic bike can be turned into so many different styles with just a little superficial tinkering. Almost anything seems possible, from the LAPD cruiser-style California to serious production racer Le Mans and anything in between. The ads in the last edition of Gambalunga had a very tasty café racer, with alloy tank & side panels, clip-ons, the full works – made out of a Convert. But put high bars, a big screen, panniers, top box, crash bars etc on, and you’ve got what looks like a totally different bike. Or, to take it to extremes, consider the ‘round-the-world’ Heath Robinson monster featured in recent Gambalungas – still quite recognisably a round-fin Guzzi beneath all its plethora of aluminium and stainless steel and no doubt capable of traversing the globe, with or without digital solar powered baked-bean-cooking

exhaust pipe attachments! Very few other motorcycles are so adaptable. I’ve seen

some very nice BMW café racers, but they always look like a BMW that’s been turned into something it doesn’t really want to be, to my eyes anyway. Commandos could be credible tourers as well as highly successful café and serious racers, but looked daft in their Hi-Rider guise. Triumph 650 / 750 twins were easily made into every-thing from commuter machines to racers and moto-X style bikes (eg; White Helmets display machines), but failed miserably when the factory tried to make a serious touring model (the dire T140 Executive), and lost the plot altogether with the laughable Silver Jubilee & Royal Wedding versions. Whatever were they thinking of? Bonnies were Eddie Cochran, Led Zeppelin, The Clash, not Barry Manilow! Guzzis, however, can do it all, and that’s one of the reasons why I appreciate them so much.

But I digress: the big question is, how does the G5 go? All I can compare it to is my 1975 T3, which I’ve owned for seven years. Roger (Beasty Bikes) can com-pare it to many more Guzzis of all kinds, and I value his opinion. Roger’s typically understated verdict, having ridden it on its maiden voyage to the MOT station and back was: “It’s nice. Different to your T3 though”. How different? Better? Worse? All Roger would say was that I should take it for a good ride and see what I thought.

So it was with some trepidation that I ventured out

26 Gambalunga

on it for my first ride, after Roger had ridden it back for me (I had no tax or insurance at the time but Roger rode it on his trade plates). Fuel taps on, choke lever on, igni-tion on, hit the starter button and away it roared, the sharp blapping from the Commando silencers ricochet-ing off the shed doors and alarm-ing the neighbours. After half a minute or so I turned the choke lever off and held the throttle just off the stop to prevent the cold engine fading. Then clutch in and toe the gear pedal down into first: the pedal moves without resistance, no trace of a clunk – what’s happening? Has it gone in? The neutral light’s gone out so I ease the clutch out a tad and sure enough, it begins to pull away.

Unlike my T3 there is no hint of grab and the clutch as smooth as any I’ve ever used. Pulling out onto the main road and changing up through the gears I am very pleasantly surprised to find the gearchange completely free of clunkiness – every change, up or down, is as smooth as silk with only a little movement of the pedal. I keep the revs really low until the engine is reasonably warm and I’m out on the open road. A little extra twist of throttle releases a lovely bark from the exhausts and

we shoot forward, without any of the thumping power-stroke feeling of the T3. It is uncannily smooth, in fact.

Engine noise is almost non-existent, only a faint whirring and a barely audible sucking sound from the K&N air filters. Trundling along at 4000 rpm and

an indicated 80mph feels ut-terly effortless and vibration free. Another throttle twist and she surges forward, accompanied by a barrage of harmonious bass noise, and again without any significant vibration. Shutting the throttle off

to maintain a steady 80+mph cruise, the exhaust note fades to a very civilised mumble, ready to be awakened into a bark with the smallest twist of the wrist.

I could hardly believe how smooth the power de-livery was, or the lack of shudder and vibration when pulling hard from anything over 1500rpm. It made the T3 – which I’d always thought of as pretty smooth – seem comparatively rough. The gearchange was so slick as to be almost as good as a well set up Triumph, quick changes being possible without any risk of a false neutral or audible complaint from the cogs. And the volume control, ie: the twistgrip, was brilliant – instantly adjust-able between hardly audible and almost embarrassingly loud, but in the nicest possible way (to my ears any-

way!). I’d previously had no idea that a Guzzi could be as smooth and flexible – different to my T3 indeed!

It is noticeably more torquey than the T3. The T3 is pretty torquey but the G5 produces shovelfuls of lazy pulling-power from even lower down the rev-range: not quite the arm-wrenching accelera-tion of a 750 Commando, but closer to that experience than the T3, which feels more like a good A65 in that department.

As for handling, I think the Avon Road Riders suit it very well, as do the Hagon rear shocks and the new damper cartridges in the forks. I haven’t chucked it about yet, but it feels very chuck-able. The brakes are letting it down at present, but it will take some miles to bed the new pads into the old discs and, given enough pressure on the brake levers, it pulls up quickly enough.

The seat is very comfy with its new upholstery and the Corbin-type cover is grippy enough to stop one’s arse slid-ing backwards when opening

Another throttle twist and she surges forward, accompanied by a barrage of harmonious bass noise, and again

without any significant vibration

June-July 2010 27

the taps hard. Everything works just as it should – lights, indicators, horn, charging system, starting, going and stopping (almost, re. the latter anyway). Tickover was a bit high after a good run, and I had to turn the pilot jet screws to two whole turns out to improve it: I think the large K&N air filters and virtually straight through exhausts are calling for a richer mixture, and I will have to do some plug tests to get the carb settings right.

To sum up, this bike has exceeded my expectations in every way. It’s odd to recall that rainy day in March last year when I stepped outside my door and beheld, with a sinking heart, the newly acquired ugly lump that stood before me, wondering what the hell I’d lumbered myself with. If it hadn’t been for the expertise, patience and general good humour of Roger Lee (Beasty Bikes), not to mention the help of several other highly competent people (credited in previous articles), the G5’s hidden potential would never have been realised, and it could easily have ended up rusting uselessly away forever.

Roger deserves a final plug, so here it is: Roger can do anything do-able to any motorcycle, but likes work-ing on V twins best. His rates are extremely reasonable, and his workmanship is truly as good as it gets. He is also reliable and won’t tell you your bike will be ready next week if it won’t. Beasty Bikes is near Norwich at Unit 5, Green Farm, Rackheath Industrial Estate, Norwich NR15 6LQ (01603 721463), and worth travelling a bit out of your way for if you could do with expert help, whether with your Guzzi, Harley, Ducati or plastic-fantastic rice rocket (he’s good with these too!). He asks me to stress that he does not break bikes or deal in spares, so please don’t phone to enquire about a

DUE IN SHORTLY: V50 Monza and V50 Custom

RECENT BREAKERS: 3x V11s, Centauro, LMII, 750 Nevada, Cali III, Lario 650 Plus many others in during 2009

Orders being taken for collection at Vee-Twin, August 27th-30th

RebootGuzzi

Spares

For 1975models

onwards

tamping-wopple for your 1916 Keighley Trunnion!What next? Well, after a good shakedown and get-

ting all the final adjustments sorted out I intend to tour France on the G5 this summer – maybe Scotland too, if the weather looks OK. I’ll let you know how it goes.