Subject: V7 racer project report part one (long)
Author: Gavin
Date: Sep 19, 2004, 8:07 PM
Post ID: 1717557858
Had my first chance to have a good look at the bike I have bought to use as
the base for my classic racer.
It is a early V700, frame 2587 and engine 1223.
The engine was not locked which is GREAT as I expected it to have been, the
gears all select.
My first thought was S%$* they made the loop frames out of HUGE guage steel!
Second thought was crap this thing is heavey....
But today I started removing bits that the racer will not need, like
starter, gennie, centre stand...
To say they are heavey would be the understatement of understatements!
And with the crash bars and centre stand it really does start to look like a
good base for a track bike again.
The distance between the head stock and where the race seat will sit is VERY
long which explains the look of the 1969 Guzzi speed record bikes.
I think I will have to make my own tank and seat out of glass as nothing I
can think of would look right given the distances between things and the
width of the rear rails... 240mm.
Top triple clamp is a odd bird.... anyone got any ideas for another topclamp
that would go right on and look better and have mounts for handle bars?
I did think of putting an ali plate over it with a hole for the centre nut
and bolts going through to the holes underneath.
I have narrowed Laverda bars to go on.
I will chop the back off the frame like the factory did for the 1969 bikes
and make a brace under the seat.
And chop off all brackets that are not used.
Exhaust system has a heap of ways it could go....
Could make the curve sharper at the head and bring them along just below a
set of rear set pegs... two into two.
OR I could go down and under the engine along the middle and then have one
muffler coming out beside the rear wheel like a Buell... (ground clearance
at the front under full braking might be the issue here)
OR I could bring them back with a tighter curve at the head then down
between the geabox and lower frame rail into one muffler beside the rear
wheel again.
Anyone got any suggestions on those options??
V7 Sport front wheel is on it's way and I have the SS1 35B carbs here
already,,, a Guzzi Electronic tacho and replica Tomessili hand levers,
How much does the plate the battery normally sits on contribute to the frame
strenght??
Thinking I will remove it and make simpler lighter braces instead.
Any comments are welcome!
Regards
Gavin
New Zealand