Good Italian Bike to start?

J

jimlaw

New Member
I've been considering building a Special in my spare time.

I have to own up to knowing nought about working on bikes! That's half the appeal.

I'm looking at the classic 60's style of cafe racer but want to stay clear of Triumphs etc. (looking Italian for that extra touch of class).

Any suggestions?

P.S. I'm being vague in the hope for lots of suggestions so please go crazy with your suggestions. Ta.
 
Moto Guzzi.

Probably the only Italian bike from the 60's that has any essence of reliability.
 
italian bikes can be strange to work on. I own two of them. Not to say they aren't well made, but italians at that time had different priorities in terms of building and mechanics, in comparison to say, the japanese. Italians would find a way to make something out of the parts they had laying around, regardless of whether they were designed for that purpose or not. The japanese were in a different situation, since they were basically starting from scratch. For instance, vespa scooter motors are an absurd design. Why are they like that? because they're leftover starter motors from prop-jets. The front suspension on vespas sucks, because it's an old landing gear from those same planes. They ran out of all these surplus parts in 1957, but couldn't be bothered to redesign any of it until the mid 70's, because they had better things to do like drink wine and be distracted by hot women. I love vespas for those reasons, but you have to have a full understanding that you're driving someone's afterthought.

That being said, I love my italian bikes, but i wouldn't recommend them to someone who admitted to knowing nothing about working on them. Buy an asian bike, it will be much cheaper than a guzzi, and learn the mechanics of it. Then, if you want, sell it and buy the pasta maker of your dreams.
 
I can help in the Guzzi Build. I'm even stupid enough to have a Moto Guzzi Tattoo to prove it.
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Sorry for the gore in the pic. That's not the worst of it. Tats tell part of the story.

Try finding something like a 500 from the mid 80s. A very good start for a 60 Cafe Racer as they hardly changed. Dirt cheap and easy to work on. My Monza, God Rest it's Soul, had almost 100k on the clock.
 
^^^^^LOL at this Guy.

Owned several Ducs. Not a glitch with any if them. Except the smile on my face while waiting at the end of a curvy road for the other riders.
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Oh and I've heard "Ducati. Making mechanics out of riders since 1926" more times than necessary.
 
Thanks for the replies. I'll let you all know what i end up doing.

I'm being a bit naive and aiming high but my best mate's a mechanic who owes me a ridiculous amount of good will and favours. I'm hoping he's going to give me a big hand with any restoration/adaptation. If I f*ck it up I'll have fun doing it.
 
Without being at least relatively experienced I would say stay away from 60's Italian bikes, particularly two strokes
The electrical systems were a joke at best (makes Lucas look good)
Some of the Guzzi's I've had came with Bosche electrical systems which are much more reliable (but expensive to replace)
I think 60's had Magnetti Marrelli though or some Spanish made stuff that was even less reliable (I had 70's Guzzi's)
Early BMW or CB72/77/450 would probably be better for a first time restoration/modification
 
The good thing about Guzzis is you can start with an 80's or 90's model and strip it back down to look 60's vintage. That way you get later model reliability with old skool looks.
 
I'm going to put in another vote for a guzzi. V50 is still reasonably priced, fairly simple to work on and can look really good. There is a good network of parts suppliers too.
The new V7 doesn't need a lot of work to look vintage.
Stay away from the models with 4 valve heads, they are definitely for the enthusiast mechanic.
There are some good small capacity singles about from other italian manufacturers but getting spares can be difficult
 
Thought I would hijack -- have the opportunity to pick up a Benelli 350 single (OK, Montgomery Wards) for a decent price and looks to be in good shape. Any feedback on these? I'm primarily a Japanese bike guy...
 
Laverda 500 or 750 twins make good cafe racers and pretty reliable as well

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Laverdas are great if you are an auto electrician (even the newer ones were plagued with charging issues).

And as for buying one - you'd need a 2nd mortgage to buy into an old 750 over here. Extremely collectable bikes.
 
Pod70 said:
I'm going to put in another vote for a guzzi. V50 is still reasonably priced, fairly simple to work on and can look really good. There is a good network of parts suppliers too.
The new V7 doesn't need a lot of work to look vintage.
Stay away from the models with 4 valve heads, they are definitely for the enthusiast mechanic.
There are some good small capacity singles about from other italian manufacturers but getting spares can be difficult
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What is reasonable? I have not seen any that didn't need work for under $4k
 
carnivorous chicken said:
Thought I would hijack -- have the opportunity to pick up a Benelli 350 single (OK, Montgomery Wards) for a decent price and looks to be in good shape. Any feedback on these? I'm primarily a Japanese bike guy...
Click to expand...

Bridgestone and Benelli are the 2 makes I grew up on. The stones were great bikes. Wished I'd kept them all.

As for the v35s and v50s, they are out there to be had for less than 2k.but you have to be ready to buy when they hit the market or they get snatched up very quickly.
 
Vespa said:
Bridgestone and Benelli are the 2 makes I grew up on. The stones were great bikes. Wished I'd kept them all.

As for the v35s and v50s, they are out there to be had for less than 2k.but you have to be ready to buy when they hit the market or they get snatched up very quickly.
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Cheers. This one is around $1400 (pre-haggle, although he says that's rock bottom). café seat and clubmans, says it has good compression (I will test) and was running but needs carb cleaned. It's a nice looking bike, and although I am trying to clear out my stash before I move, if it feels right I might pick it up...
 
Please post pics if you pick this up. I'd be anxious to see what I'm missing out on. Lol
 
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/mcd/3766943975.html

There's the link. Went and checked it out yesterday. $1400 seems not too bad (but I imagine some haggling would occur). I passed because I don't have the money to spend and I am moving. That being said, I think it would clean up nicely. Engine's got good compression, speedo seems to work (tested by hand), a good carb clean and petcock replacement, and a new battery and I bet it'd fire up. Seemed to not want to go into gear, however. The kid selling it seems nice, and he just wanted a cool bike to cruise to work and back. He wanted something that would be easy to maintain and reliable -- dunno why he got a non-running Benelli. Took it to some guy in ABQ who got it up and running, but didn't finish it. The café mods are OK.
 
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