1979 Moto Guzzi V50 II Cafe

[alexmac]

Damn that looks great!

Superb craftsmanship!

[Dale]

Thanks alexmac, its "ok" - good enough as its going to be painted. :-)

The calipers, as with every other component on this machine is well past its sel by date. The old Italian guy who rode this this little bike from home to work and back every day for close on 20 + years and who clocked up 80 000km ( 50 000 miles ) made good use of the bike! :-) Everything is worn. After he died, it stood for about 5 years outside. So the elements, time and use put its toll on this old gal.

It gives me a good feeling to be putting it back on the road again, and with maintenance, it should be running more than another 35 years before it needs a rebuild like this one... I hope.


Calipers

These earlier F05 Brembos came with chrome pistons. They were susceptible to rust. Knowing this I ordered the better anodised versions some time back. What I forgotten about was seals, so I ordered 3 sets the other day. Been a delay from the supplier, but I should have them next week or so.




Cracked them open, and as you can see, they are in pretty rough shape!






Now, normally you get some air in there and push out the pistons that way. Not this time, they were too rusted in. So with a little heat and some gentle persuasion, making sure not to damage the cylinders, they came out easy enough. Cleaned up and are ready for some paint.



New Brembo anodised pistons ready for fitment.





And this is what Im waiting on:

The kits come with nice new bolts as well which saves me having to clean up the old ones. :-)






Once Ive got everything Ill post up the finished job.

[v-pilot]

Thanks Dale...for the go ahead   I put some pics of when I got her to start

[v-pilot]

Hey Dale, U think the fender will be a tight fit?  Wait till you have to fit the front wheel in without marring the forks with the rotors while fumbling with the spacers and speedo drive...pain in the balls!

[v-pilot]

PS, I flipped the legs to get the calipers on the proper side...the back

[Dale]

Hey Dale, U think the fender will be a tight fit?  Wait till you have to fit the front wheel in without marring the forks with the rotors while fumbling with the spacers and speedo drive...pain in the balls!

Yup I fitted that stuff some time back, and its optimal in terms of space usage, to say the least.  Super compact.


Filler Cap

This Moto Guzzi was designed just close enough to the 80's to have fallen victim to the big plastic blocky stuff that started featuring on the motorcycles of the period.






So I got this Stainless steel LeMans replica filler cap.






This meant some modification to the tank.








It needs a little tidying up, but its all functional, and sealing properly.
Took about 4 hours to do.


Edit > And the cap also needed to be modified slightly...

[v-pilot]

WOW, U go man!!  That's gonna look great!

[Papa Smurf]

Hi Dale,

Love your work.

I've been lurking for too long - registered this morning - http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=40103.msg438087#msg438087.

Last weekend I collected a V50 in sad cosmetic condition - paid more for the trip than the bike. Found out we live within visiting distance so if you don't mind, I'll make contact.

Regards,
Papa Smurf in Germiston, Sunny South Africa

[Dale]

Thanks guys! (Papasmurf, I replied on your new member thread...)


The tank, side covers (yup, I'm going with them for now), and the front fender are ready for paint. Hopefully going in next week. That's the plan.

Still don't know what color I'm going with though.... its narrowed down to Black or Red at this point.

Red feels like the obvious choice, always has, but thing is, ALL my bikes are red, and a change would be cool. But not sure if that's a good enough reason.

So here it is in plain red and plain black...
The plain paint scheme feels nice and classical to me.




And potentially a simple stripe down the middle... It definitely lightens up the tone, but not sure I want that...





Instead of black, here's a more dark blue grey close to black - maybe a bit more interesting...

Just for fun, here's yellow:



Edit > And green:




I'm probably still going to be going red?/black?/red?/black? when I drop the stuff off at the painter...

[JustinLonghorn]

I am in the same boat when it comes to paint, sir.

Hmmmm.... I vote red, and I don't even like red. Ha.

[Tetter]

My choice would be Red, but leave the covers in black.
Maybe even put the number 79 on the covers, like on the numberplate

[alexmac]

My vote would be for the red with the white stripe. The world has enough bikes painted black.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[v-pilot]

Hey Dale, Tough dilemma!  My 2 Le Mans are red/white and the Duc is of course red.  So was the same for me.  Yes I prefer Italian bikes in red and British sports cars in green but...I went with a change...a V50 Scura (dark in Italian)  Matte black with the red accents as seen in my wheel pics...motor pics coming next week.

[Hoosier Daddy]

I thought I settled this for you already with the Italian flag... 
 

[v-pilot]

I'm in with Hoosier Daddy...dare to be different.  The bike is a radical departure...paint it to match!