The Italian way

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Purchasing classics there

So recently, a shopping classic has been added. Most errands are done with the Ural sidecar. But for faster errands, you obviously need something rappers. With my long-standing preference for old big Guzzi's (they are simple and reliable, and drive fine) it seemed sensible to stick with Guzzi. The misconception was that a small, 650 cc Guzzi from 1986 or thereabouts would really just be a large Guzzi in miniature. That is not true.

The big old Guzzis actually have their roots in the service bicycle corner

The original V-twins were created as police and escort motorcycles. They therefore had to be practical and reliable. Those concepts do not fit well in the Italian national character, but if you have to, you have to. As a result, the Italians must have actually felt very inhibited. The only thing they could add to the meanwhile legendary V-twins at Guzzi as True Italian? That was 'wiring and electrics in the Italian way'.

Some research made it clear that Moto Guzzi's between 350-750 cc are offered fairly generously, but cost very little. I get that with the Florida and Nevada models. These are proof that Italians don't just make beautiful things. But the rest of the range is sometimes a bit small for adult Dutch people (V35, V50), but they are really nice motorcycles. So I bought a V65C.

And now I understand why those mid-range Guzzis are not expensive despite clear advantages

With these machines, the designers of the engines were not bothered by the fact that things had to be thoughtful and service-friendly because they were government commercial vehicles. With the generation of Guzzis where the rear fork is cleverly mounted in the gearbox and where the coupled braking system does its beneficial work it is different. (And that's been thought about. The front brake brakes on a front disc and the rear brake, the other brake disc is manually operated. The front discs are larger than those in the rear wheel, and the front brake shoes have a softer compound, that kind of detail.)

Guaranteed to fall over

For example, my new addition tended to topple over because the jiffy was pretty much in line with the wheels and every chance of collapsing grabbed. That issue was resolved thanks to a clever purchase from another jiffy and the help of friend and Guzzi Guru Jan K, from D.

Also interesting to read: A Guzzi jiffy and other Italians

For the construction of the air filter, an engineer at BMW or Honda would have been summarily executed. There even seem to be air filter exchange competitions. I heard about a twenty-minute record. It took three hours for me. And I'm not even really clumsy. The air support of the suspension is symbolic. Mass connections beg for attention. The accessibility of dingests are at the level of an engine from 2018. Endearing.

From 8, to 6 to 5,5

The latest discovery was that the brilliant Italians had gone completely crazy in the gasoline journey. The petrol taps are 'right angled', there is not enough space for modern petrol-resistant hoses. That is why there are some pre-programmed kinks in the pipe. Always handy: Two Ø8 mm hoses go from the taps to an vulcanized cross. From that cross two Ø6 mm hoses go to the carburettors where there is a Ø5,5 mm connection. The cross underneath had already been clipped and improvised several times. I made an alternative myself.

Gasoline was leaking

I only noticed that last missed half millimeter when the petrol started to drip steadily on the ground. Fortunately, an old-fashioned piece of blue transparent plastic Ø5 mm hose fitted over the Ø6 mm connection after heating up with the paint burner. I left out the ingenious cross construction. I think that only messed up the gasoline. Now let's see if there is enough petrol in the carburettors under load. Luckily I do have the metal connectors on the Dell'Orto's. They were also made of white and black plastic. The white ones could not withstand UV. They broke off spontaneously. The black ones couldn't stand gasoline I believe.

All in all, I'm going to like my V65C more and more, and Italians are becoming stranger.

Also interesting to read:

So that should have been 6- instead of 8 mm thick pipes

All well, all right, from around 6 to around 5,5 mm. And beautiful blue.

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4 comments

  1. As long as that is blue but not PVC. I had used that with the Spartamet. And that ensured that after half a year (winter) the content of the tank was on the shed floor. Spontaneously snapped. A pity, because I could have driven about 60 km with it. And if that happens to your GuzMoto, gallons more will hit the streets, and you better throw your cigar far away.

    • Smart! I still had the tube and it colored nicely. Soon ff to GeKra to get a meter of official plestik hose. Because this afternoon I'm skipping school. After all, I now have a year of preparation time for the CitroExpo

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