Gregory Bender

Disc brake front fender - brace reinforcement

Moto Guzzi V700, V7 Special, Ambassador, 850 GT, 850 GT California, Eldorado, and 850 California Police models

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I extracted this information from Steve Odell on the old Yahoo! Loopframe_Guzzi news group (which has now moved to Groups.io). In Steve's own words:

I designed a weld on tab for a disk brake fender that when properly welded in place makes the brace thicker and wider in that area. My machinist made a couple of them for me cheap. Tigged them in place, repainted the fender and 5,000 miles later they are still fine. Not even a crack in the paint. The specs are below if anyone is interested.

Photo courtesy of Steve Odell.

Not the best pics as I did not remove the wheel and it is all dirty from a 1,400 mile ride that ended Sunday. But I think they show it.

As you can see with tig the welds are real smooth and with a little touch of dremel it doesn't look like it was welded. Also, you will see I have neoprene backed stainless washers and rubber washers sandwiching the brace. I do that on all sheet metal. No sheet metal ever touches other metal directly. That fender is also highly modified in other areas (the rear fender is too). It was a near perfect 74 fender to start with and I added welded straps inside on the areas where the front and rear struts bolt on and rewelded the center brace to the fender. The front fender lip for example, where the two oval strut mounting holes always rot out, is probably 316 inch thick now. Then all voids were filled with a Ciba-Geigy epoxy that flows real well. It's looks like and sets up like JB Weld but more liquid initially. Dries hard as steel and holds paint real well. Then Steve Hill shot it on the inside with Rocker Shutz and painted and pinstriped it. He remarked at that time on all the mods. Said he had never seen that before but thought it was well done.

And for those that are wondering; the button head stainless bolts with stainless washers and nylocks are reversed because the nylocks I prefer to use are just deep enough to touch the rotor on the lower bolt when installed in the usual way.

I know this is all kind of excessive and I do have probably USD $500.00 just into one fender but I like things to last.

Brace reinforcement for the disc brake front fender originally fit to some Moto Guzzi Eldorado models.
Brace reinforcement for the disc brake front fender originally fit to some Moto Guzzi Eldorado models.

Photo courtesy of Steve Odell.

Brace reinforcement for the disc brake front fender originally fit to some Moto Guzzi Eldorado models.
Brace reinforcement for the disc brake front fender originally fit to some Moto Guzzi Eldorado models.

Photo courtesy of Steve Odell.

Brace reinforcement for the disc brake front fender originally fit to some Moto Guzzi Eldorado models.
Brace reinforcement for the disc brake front fender originally fit to some Moto Guzzi Eldorado models.

Photo courtesy of Steve Odell.

Brace reinforcement for the disc brake front fender originally fit to some Moto Guzzi Eldorado models.
Brace reinforcement for the disc brake front fender originally fit to some Moto Guzzi Eldorado models.

Photo courtesy of Steve Odell.

Brace reinforcement for the disc brake front fender originally fit to some Moto Guzzi Eldorado models.
Brace reinforcement for the disc brake front fender originally fit to some Moto Guzzi Eldorado models.

Photo courtesy of Steve Odell.

Brace reinforcement for the disc brake front fender originally fit to some Moto Guzzi Eldorado models.
Brace reinforcement for the disc brake front fender originally fit to some Moto Guzzi Eldorado models.

Photo courtesy of Steve Odell.

Brace reinforcement for the disc brake front fender originally fit to some Moto Guzzi Eldorado models.
Brace reinforcement for the disc brake front fender originally fit to some Moto Guzzi Eldorado models.

Photo courtesy of Steve Odell.