Le Mans - Starting point

Okay, I bought this Le Mans mkIV a few months back, and it's in need of a makeover. Mechanically it's spot on, so I'm not planning to do anything mechanically other than service it and maybe change the pipes; suspension seems very good, even by modern standards, so that'll be left alone. But the bodywork's a bit mingin' and I don't like the look of it anyway. It's ripe for a cafe racer look.

Please feel free to offer advice, ideas, take the piss, whatever...

I think guzzi's make great café racers, ebay the body work, clip-ons and reverse mega cones, single seat ... your there... well nearly , but you get the drift:) 

I agree with Russ, the basic shape is already there, just make it individual  

Thought I'd update this a little. Had a go at spraying, but the end result isn't really good enough, I'm gonna have to concede defeat and hand the tank over to a pro. At least I tried.


Glassfibre was fun! Made a seat unit and sidepanels; as it turned out the sidepanels were crap, I'll buy some ready made ones, but the seat unit is usable, not the usual cafe racer shape but I quite like it.


Got a new front end look too...

Like that a lot. Only 'slightly' envious!  

always liked guzzis.

got a mate who swears by them, his current ride having over 200,000 miles on it, i kid you not.

should look good once all the doctor who bodywork is binned.

yeh coming along great, are you keeping the original clocks or getting some retro ones ?

The old clocks are massive! And they lie; when I picked the bike up originally the speedo reckoned I was doing 160mph down the M1...impressive if it were true. Sadly, a budget of precisely £0 means that classic clocks are out, but I picked up a cheap digital speedo from ebay that'll look fine to my eyes.

Massive old clocks...


New clocks (ignore the brackets, they're only temporary)


And this is where I'm up to so far. Chassis cleaned up well considering the age of the bike, wheels, forks and yokes are all resprayed, and I'm currently (still) fiddling around with the seat unit to make it fit better, but it's getting there slowly.


The big stumbling block for me is the electrics. The loom had already been altered when the twin-headlamp fairing was fitted, and it's leaving me scratching my head, mostly cos I've now only got a tiny space in the headlamp shell to hide a mass of wiring. I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and pay someone to sort it.  

looking good and nearly ready for the summer (if it comes ...) like you say wheres all them wires gonna go   

looks great big thumbs up from me.

Liking that a lot!

With regard to the wiring, I know it's taking a big risk, but with my CB750 I shortened the wires, took a lot of time and patience, not to mention burnt fingers (must learn to solder properly) but in the end I could fit the headlight into the shell without the aid of a tug-o-war team! If you take it slowly, label everything and do it one by one or one connector at a time you will get there.

The issue isn't with shortening the wires, I'm happy to do that, it's with identifying them! The loom has been altered to suit the old Sprint fairing, and half the wires passed through the dashboard assembly - which I've removed. In fact most of the loom seemed to go to the dash, so now I've got to identify each and every wire, then make up connectors and test everything before I can then shorten the loom and cut out all the wires I don't need, of which there are a lot. None of this comes naturally to me...And of course being Italian, none of the wires match the wiring diagram that came with the bike originally  

On the plus side I've got the seat pad to sit closer to the tank, making it look a lot neater, and made some simple footrest hangers for the front pegs so that I can bin the bulky standard items. By the time I bin the centrestand I reckon she'll have lost in the region of 30kg - that should perk her up a bit!

i have the task of re-wiring my guzzi v50 . im going from scratch. the engine is the starting point i simplified it with a rectifier and electronic ignition . there after wiring up stater buttons and headlamp with relays . a four way fuse box is all ill need . i havent got indicatiors but there not to bad to rig up . one bit at a time is the key and a friend to bounce ideas off is always a help . loving the build btw

The thing that's troubling me is that I wanted everything to be reversible - so I can put it back to standard spec if I so choose - but it's becoming increasingly obvious I won't be able to do that. So now it's time to bite the bullet and start cutting, just got to pluck up the courage. I've spent my entire biking career putting sugar bikes back to standard, this is the first time I've modified one. It's a lot harder this way round...

Love V50's by the way, I had a beautiful mk2 years ago, but it died in a garage flood  

I see we have a swear filter...

fig wrote:

I see we have a swear filter...

You didn't use the other 'S' word did you? Mind you, nothing wrong with the odd 'spice!' when things go wrong.  

If it's any help I attach a vastly modified and simplistic wiring diagram, it's for a Jap 4 cylinder, but don't suppose it would be much different on an Italian 2 cylinder:

Took the footrest hangers off with a view to cutting them down, but I noticed the mounting points formed a straight line to where I wanted the footrests to be anyway (I want them slightly lower than standard as I've taken about 3" out of the seat height). So had a rummage around and found some scrap aluminium. 5 minutes later...



The footpegs came from a cheap chinese set of rearsets I bought for my old Multistrada, they then got moved to my Sprint ST, and noe they're heading for the Guzzi. Now that's value for money!

I put the mounting holes slightly off centre so I can swap the brackets over to raise/lower the pegs. Should work a treat.

Neat, I love it when people turn unused/unwanted gear into something worthwhile and a nice looking job too!

Things should move on quickly now. I've finally sussed out the wiring!  

that was quick , easier than you thought ? also isnt it mandatiory to dance on youtube videos on here   

Basically I just hid everything under the tank. Not really the job I wanted to do, but it'll suffice. If it weren't for work I'd have it on the road next weekend, but I'm gonna be in France half the week, and I'll be working Saturday, so it'll have to wait til the weekend after.

Definitely getting there...

yeh looking tidy carpet in the garage too.... mine floods every time it rains (concrete sectional) so more a case of getting the plastic sheeting out to lay on    

Well, she out in the sun and running fine!



Still a long way from being finished; the seat and sidepanels need to be remade cos they're a bit sh1t, and I've got to find a decent engine cleaner, cos there's no way I'm stripping the bike down just to clean it. Main thing is it's rideable for the summer.

Nothing has been cut away or modified, it can be put back to standard at any time. And it's only cost me about £300 so far. I'm chuffed to bits to be honest 

think it looks great , im from the school that who cares if its not perfect . it runs and looks cool . if it was immaculate in every way you'd never take it out . great job bud and for £300 ied say that was a result .