My 81 Lemans Vancouver BC

[John Todd]

Hi this is my first Moto Guzzi, although I rode and worked on the bikes back in the 70's and 80's. I have been riding for 50 years and owned quite a few different bikes, but my favourite type of bike seems to be twin cylinder roadsters. Not sure what I will do with this one, it has an 81 Lemans frame but the body work is certainly off earlier models. It runs really nice with no apparent mechanical issues, but as can be expected the wiring harness bears evidence of the slings and arrows of all sorts of misfortunes, so that will be job 1 when the road is covered with ice and snow.

 

[john zibell]

Welcome to the forum. Please edit your post to an introduction only and ask your question in the Tonti and Loop section.

 

[Mayakovski]

Welcome.

 

[GTM®]

Hi this is my first Moto Guzzi, although I rode and worked on the bikes back in the 70's and 80's. I have been riding for 50 years and owned quite a few different bikes, but my favourite type of bike seems to be twin cylinder roadsters. Not sure what I will do with this one, it has an 81 Lemans frame but the body work is certainly off earlier models.

Hi John, congrats and welcome to the GT Forum & Guzzi Famiglia! Guzzis are very addictive, be forewarned.
Tons of good info on this site to help you in the main and Tonti sections. Hope you'll add your info to our Registry below. Enjoy the site and the bike, sure you will!

BB TONTI REGISTRY and pic thread

All, like in the other sections and just for fun. A Registry of California 1100's listed below. Post all of your info in this thread, as formatted below, and I'll update the list as we go. Cal Vin: VIN#ZGUKDH0056M111184 - @Hane - City, State? - D.O.P. ? - Pic HERE VIN#ZGUKDU0047M111574 - Mike...

www.guzzitech.com

 

[Tonerjockey]

Hey looks good!

 

[Moto-Uno]

Welcome from another Le Mans (2) owner in Burnaby , B.C . One fine looking motorcycle . Peter

 

[John Todd]

Welcome from another Le Mans (2) owner in Burnaby , B.C . One fine looking motorcycle . Peter

thanks Peter, I would like to get together with the bikes just for fun, let me know if you're going for a ride. I live in Marpole, so 30 minutes from you. I usually ride around UBC, but could do SFU and the Barnet for a change.

 

[tobinh]

almost a year of ownership, I've kept it licenced and ridden every month at least once a week for 40 minutes...I have a good straightaway and some curves close to work so I go there at lunchtime and pretend I'm in BOTT for a minute. I managed a few 4 hour long rides over 300 kms too.

On the mechanical side I have addressed the issue of blue smoke shortly after cold starts by retorqueing the head bolts and replacing the o-rings. Or have I? After retorqueing I still had smoke for a few more weeks, then just as I decided to try again the smoking stopped.

I had to coast it home one day, luckily this happened across the street from an old tramway which has been repurposed as a cycle/pedestrian corridor, conveniently 4% grade downwards in a straight line. I rowed with my legs, it was busy with pedestrians. 2km, at the bottom, it bump started and I rejoined road traffic for 200 meters. The cause? the possibly original sparkplug wires were bleeding most of the voltage out onto the cylinder fins. I replaced with a big fat red cable from a GM HEI ignition. The NGK connectors on the bike permit wire changes.

It does refuse to say how fast we are going. I know why, the brass ferrule that holds the cable in place at the tranny has loosened up, and I'm planning to fix it one of these days, or tell it to the judge, whichever comes first.

One fine Sunday morning during the summer I had planned to ride out to the Stave dams with some fellow employees. For the first time ever it refused to start. Instead of riding that morning I did a major overhaul of the electrical harness under the seat and side panels, replacing the old glass fuses with modern ATO style, tightening loose spade connectors and applying dielectric grease. And of course, because of my previous remarks about not liking group rides because of other peoples mechanical failures, and failures to show up, I had to lose a little face too.

I would say that I ride it fairly hard, in terms of accelerating and gear shifting, and at no time do I feel that the engine hesitates or the drivetrain feels weak or fragile. It acts like a big dog, full of confidence and barking with authority. I am curious about the temperature in the final drive, because it is warm to the touch after 30 minutes.

I love this bike. It has the most personality of all the bikes I've owned in over 50 years. And I love that I don't have to deal with key fobs, OBDII connectors, ISO/SAE specifications, ECU and electronic gizmos, CANbusses, antilock brakes or stability control. Or chains and sprockets. Just crazy Italian old-school which is a language I can speak.

lovely when the weather clears up let's get all us bc lower mainland/van isle guzzi riders together for coffee or something.

 

[GTM®]

Ignored.
Guys, be aware of the section and requests, else I will continue to delete or move comments. It’s become my full time job here, since no one will read anything and those who think they can give me the virtual middle finger… they get banned permanently from even viewing this site.

The “rules” here are quite simple and easy, but it requires just a little reading. Per John and my post above, it should’ve been clear. Section heading below.
I don’t take it personally, but it has become tedious and time consuming to keep things organized here, and not a spastic time-wasting social media garbage platform. This site is expensive to run, and it’s all mostly out of my pocket. End.

 

[BrianR]

Lets definitely get together sometime in the spring summer. I live in Mission and we could meet in the Valley somewhere to scoot around the roads here