What's the Plan, Stan?

If you have read my other restoration blogs, you'll know that I like to have a fairly clear idea of what I'm trying to achieve before I start. This helps to avoid "project creep" where the whole thing can become a huge money pit!

So, overall, what I'd like to achieve is pretty much the same as I did for the Crusader. I'd like to bring her back from her "hipster cafe racer" experience to looking pretty standard and end up with a presentable bike that I could happily roll up to a classic show on and display, safe in the knowledge it would never win a prize for best in show, but also that I won't be afraid to sling some camping gear on the back of and head off on a weekend camping trip. 

Here's what she would have looked like as standard:

In terms of paint, I'll probably do the same as the Crusader, as I was pretty happy with the finish from the Halfords enamel rattle cans. And then I'll apply 2-pack lacquer from spray cans again for fuel protection. I think the colour will be the Italian flag colours - mainly red but with green on the lower part of the tank and white on the panel below the tank badge. Then I'll use my pinstriping tool again and do a gold stripe betwen each of the bands. Although that also sounds a bit cliched, so I might change my mind! I do think it looks quite nice in the pale metallic blue as well....

Another influence might be one of the Guzzis that first piqued my interest many years ago, the original California:

Hmmmm ... a baby California sounds like a nice idea 🤔.

I am not aiming for 100% originality. So that gives me free rein to be a bit creative in whether I paint the engine and forks black or silver, for example. I would like to reuse or repair rather than renew, although not where the economics of doing that are ridiculous. Similarly, to the Crusader, the bike is probably never going to be worth more than about £3000 maximum and I have spent just under £1000 on the purchase - however, I don't think I'll need to spend anything like what I did on the Crusader, as a lot has already been done or doesn't need doing this time. e.g. I probably spent £500 on the Crusader's wheels and tyres, but the alloys have already been powder coated and have new tyres. My rough target is to spend betwen £1500 - £2000 including purchase.

While I was still kind of evaluating and planning everything, it was obvious that it would be very helpful if I could find a decent second hand frame to use to reinstate the back end. No sooner said than done, I found one on EBay that was only £40, but "collection only" about 150 miles away. I suddenly realised that my son would be passing that way and could pick it up on the way home from a festival in a few days time - love it when a plan comes together! So we now have the necessary bits to start reinstating things.

Thinking through what I would need to do to get those bits attached to my frame, I reckoned I'd be paying £50 for the welding. I've done a bit of gas welding and arc welding in the past, but never had access to a mig welder, which would be quite a lot more suitable for this type of thing. I decided I'd put the £50 towards buying myself a welder and that would be a much more effective way to do things for the future. 

When I started researching that, I found that there are loads of small hobby migs for sale that are not working due to wire feed issues. A bit of googling later showed that there are some pretty straightforward and cheap fixes for most wire feed issues, so I thought I'd take a punt on one of these "broken" ones, as a mini project.

I got this for £20 locally. Watch this space....

So what have I bought?

With everything spread out on the lawn the next morning, I could properly evaluate what I had bought. 

Well, first of all - the cafe racer conversion. The frame rails had been cut off just behind the rear suspension mounts - highlighted yellow below. The frame should extend here for another 6-8" to pick up the rear mudguard and seat mounting. 

The other main alterations had been that the original seat and rear light had been removed and the original rear mudguard cut down and a custom light/number plate mounting added, together with the quite nasty "cafe racer" seat. Loosely assembled it looked something like this:

But then turning to the positives, as I ferreted through the boxes and bags of bits and pieces, there was lots of good news:

• The frame has been powder coated and it looks like a decent job, albeit I'm not sure about the colour. But it should form a good solid base to rub down and spray black.
• The wheels have been powder coated and, again, look good. They have also been fitted with a new set of Avon tyres, which look to have done maybe 2-300 miles at most.
• There is a new set of YSS rear shock absorbers.
• There is a new pair of Dellorto carburettors and these are the bigger 28mm carbs, as fitted to the following, slightly higher powered, Monza model.
• The exhaust downpipes look to be in good condition and just need painting. There is a pair of generic aftermarket megaphone exhausts, in almost new condition. These might be a bit loud but I think they have removable baffles, which should be able to be wrapped in quilt to quiten it down if necessary.
• There is a good quality electronic ignition kit which should address one of the known weak points of the Mk II engine.
• There is a mysterious black box of digital tricks called a "moto-gadget". Upon further investigation, this appears to be a very cool thing which takes over the function of fuses and relays in the electrical system and can also be programmed to provide modern things such as using the indicators as marker lights; brake light as a pulsed light; and an integral alarm system. The Guzzi electrical system is a known weak point and although the wiring loom looks like a proper rat's nest at present, this should allow for relatively simple rewiring.
• A new starter motor has been fitted.
• Two new fuel taps.
• The linked front/rear braking system has been decoupled (this could be seen as good or bad depending on your viewpoint) and new braided brake lines installed.
• There was a new set of Renthal handlebars and various new items such as headlight, speedometer with integral warning lights, clutch lever, front brake lever and master cylinder etc

I couldn't find much that was obviously missing - indicators, handlebar controls (but I may have been looking to replace them anyway - see comment above about Guzzi electrical system being a known weak point.) plus the rear mudguard, light and seat as mentioned above.

I felt pretty good after that assessment - it looks like the most challenging thing will be to reinstate the back end of the frame. Unfortunately, even though there was a spare frame with the bike, the previous owner had done quite a lot of modifying of that, including adding a seat loop to the rear and removing quite a few of the brackets, so it's not very much use to me.

The next project

 Now that I have finished the 1961 Royal Enfield Crusader restoration and got some decent "confidence miles" built up under her tyres (380 at the time I'm writing this, including our recent Isle of Man adventure), thoughts turned to what the next restoration project should be. I have a loose agreement with Gail that I can have 2 bikes on the road at any one time and one "in the shed" 😆

I do like riding bikes, particularly where an adventure is involved, rather than just an aimless local run out, but I really love that very different aspect of the hobby, which is bringing a sad relic back to life!

Many bikes have passed through the Shearer Home for Lost Causes over the years, mostly Japanese, but also British and (a long time ago) French. The Crusader restoration was my first "old" British bike and there have been aspects of that that I have really liked: the simplicity of the old design; the sturdiness with which everything was built and, now that it's running, the noise; sweet handling and the feeling that I'll be able to fix (or temporarily bodge!) most things at the roadside if anything goes wrong (touch wood!).

But there are also aspects that have been less appealing. The seeming mish mash of imperial fixings; the relatively poor performance from brakes and suspension etc. The jury is out on whether I'll get used to the gear change and rear brakes being on the "wrong" side from what I'm used to.

Having said all of that, I was really drawn to the idea of one of the smaller British twins as a next project - 350 / 500 Triumph, BSA or Royal Enfields for example. Most of that draw is from the sound of the 360 degree twin exhaust note - very evocative of a certain era. When I started looking around though, even quite rough examples of those were commanding prices of £2-3,000. That's just too much for what I am prepared to spend on a hobby.

I have always been quite attracted to the idea of a Moto Guzzi, but probably considered them to be a bit too "exotic" (aka expensive) for my means through most of my riding career. But I was taken by the idea of the small block Guzzis after watching a YouTube video comparing the V50 with the, similar format but quite radically different, Honda CX500. One of the things I did notice was that the exhaust note on the Guzzi was really distinctive in a similar but different way to the old British bikes.

A little more research showed that the prices for both project bikes and also spares was considerably cheaper than the British bikes; there is a thriving user group and plenty of specialist suppliers.

Shortly afterwards, I came across a bike on Facebook Marketplace, not an hour away from me. This was a 1981 V50 mark II, that the "previous, previous" owner had done a pretty rough "hipster cafe racer" conversion on. Incidentally, this modern cafe racer thing is nothing like what I remember as cafe racers! 

Cafe Racer

Not a Cafe Racer

Anyway, I digress! The guy selling it had bought it to further modify, so that it would fit in the back of his motorhome! After checking that it ran well (allegedly - we'll find out!), he'd stripped it down. Then he got a spare frame, which he'd butchered a bit before losing interest and buying a small trail bike to go in the motorhome instead.

The "previous, previous" owner had actually spent quite a lot of money on the bike and had some decent stuff done, which I reckoned actually totalled up to more than the asking price. I went to see it and after checking everything over, in particular that the engine was free and all the gears engaged, agreed a 25% reduction on the price and came home with it in the boot of the car!