Guzzi Rig construction underway.......... at last.

After lengthy and EXPENSIVE house restoration work, never buy a house older than your grandparents, I am happy to have got the ball rolling with the guzzi this week. I have posted some of these early pics before in discussions, but, I shall begin with the starting components.
I have built a few outfits, some I have been proud of, but some not. I have owned bikes of all shapes and sizes, however, I have discovered I am a 'Guzzi man', so, a Guzzi rig is the future for my family and I.
Here we have a 94/95 cally 1100i, I picked this up locally with 21k on the clock for sensible money.


And bought this a few months back, a hedingham XL with towbar and as it was originally fitted to a 95 cally, it has all the brackets and clamps to suit.

bit of a squeeze



A chap who has returned his cally outfit to a solo due to his arms not having adequate strength, what nonsense, but hios loss I suppose, paid a third of what they cost new

Not enough upper body strength? Didn't he realize that by driving the rig, he would BUILD upper body strength? Oh well

Nice looking kit - good luck with the build.

So, after a couple of hours with the disc cutter removing the mounting hardware :huh my garage floor now looks like this.


Another squeeze and the tub is in the ford estate, off to the paint shop.



Dropped it all of this evening at the paint shop, a good friend who has done all my painting, and hopefully he can match it all up. I cant find the paint codes so hes going from his chip books. Fingers crossed he can match it all up to this scheme, hes asked that I leave the arrangement to him, nerve racking but lets see what he comes up with. I also dropped a fuel can as I hope to mount it between the bike and tub on a lockable frame. Heres what hes got to match up.


I have pulled the front out this evening ready for the Leading links to go in, will update when Ive got it all in. Heres what I left with the painter.

I was offered a car type rear wheel for the bike with a brand new 135 15 michelin on, while I would prefer to get a smaller 15inch rim laced up onto my hub, it would be a better option financially. I could also sell the stock wheel on to recoup some of the £150 the guy wants. The problem is I heard from this chap some time back and now I cannot get hold of him.


I REALLY dont want to be fitting this AFTER I have finished, and then trying to re-align everything as its screwed up the geometry.

TM,
Did you ever have any thoughts of putting a chair on the Quota? I ask as I have a Ural sidecar to attach to either my Quota or the LM4, still tossing up which way to go.
Would like to see some pic's of the mounts when you get that far.

The frame on the quota is totally different, square section. My quota has gone now, replaced with an fjr1300, wow what a tool that is! :eek1

Id put the ural chair on the Quota, not sure it would suit the lm, whereas the 'adventure' styling of the quota would set it all off and that outfit would DEFINATELY fetch more, whereas a sidecar on a lemans would, more likely, make it worth less.

Do you need two leading link set ups for the vw or are you going to convert it to one front wheel

Silly Billy, only one set required, just gotta chop her in half first.

Should be nice, always liked those chairs. I had my rear spoked wheel on my Cali relaced with a 15 inch car rim by Central Wheel Services in the Midlands. Think it cost me around 250 quid, but a good job. Heard lots of problems with broken spokes when not done well. I found putting the smaller back wheel on gives a big improvement on the gearing with the Cali,

Very nice bug

Thank you.

Update, grabbed a couple of hours in the workshop this afternoon. The forks were VERY BLOODY TIGHT in the yolks/ triple trees, so much so that I had to devise a way of trying to open the yolks a little. I put a flat piece in the slot then screwed a bolt into the THREADED half of the yolk up against the flat openeing the yolk diameter as I tightened it up. STILL I had to beat the shit out of the forks to get them out. Measured them and they were at 40mm dead on, the leading links were at 40.3mm, Shit, how do I get those in? Removed the paint from the tops, back to 40.08mm and wound my yolk opening bolts in untill I felt they were ABOUT to strip the threads, much use of my trusty 4lb hammet to re-insert them in place of the teles and all is well, just so long as I never need to get them out that is. What does one do? Get the trees 'bored' out? Heres my attempt at making the yolks/trees biggerererer!

And only three hours later, shes all together.

You can see how the front end compares to the stock front end on my wifes cally.
Now on stop, other than preparing the wiring and brake pipe replacement until the paintwork, wheel, front square tyre comes back.

Man, that's looking good. Can't wait to see the finished results.

Don't you want the swing arm bolted in the other hole for trail reduction or are you planing to ride it solo while waiting on the chair to get back?

So, by moving the swing arm forward I get more leverage and make the steering lighter right?

Been doing this ages and the geometry still confuses me. :huh

Anyone using a metzeler K block on the front? Triple duty avon only available in 19 inch, guzzi has 18inch front.

Might be a bit tall to fit under the mudguard as they have a very a tall profile and are also a bit narrow compared to the standard tyre, but not tried one on my Cali so can't speak from experience. I currently have an Avon Roadrider 110/80 18 on the front of mine and it grips well and seems to be lasting OK. With rergard to the mounting of the swing arm, try and imagine a ling going through the steering head and project it to where it hits the ground. Now think where the contact patch is in relation to that point. The distance the contact patch is behind that point is your trail so moving the wheel forwards reduces the trail, making the steering lighter.

I'll second this.

Thanks for posting this thread; As it happens, I like Hedingham cars and Guzzis.


I've a '79 1000SP with a Hannigan car; wanted a Hedingham SS, but it was just a bit too expensive for me. Here's mine, for your amusement:





Please do keep posting as things progress~

Bill, that looks great.

heres a question ref brakes. I am split between running a seperate master cylinder for the sidecar brake or to piggy back it from the rear bike brake and de-link the front brake. What would your input be? Assuming many have de-linked the front, how does the master cylinder cope with two calipers? For those who dont know, the brakes on the california are front left and rear calipers are powered by the rear pedal with the front right being powered by the front lever.

I did get the car wheel, it arrived yesterday. I am on stop, the car wheel for the chair is at the painters with the bodywork, I cannot start setting up without knowing what height the chassis will be at.

Oh, incidentally, the car rear has a 135/15 tyre, the outside diameter is appox 10% smaller in diameter, 595mm in place of 645mm. That should equate to a useful drop in gearing, but, the main reason for my doing this is cheap car tyres.

You know, I have left the brakes linked, and do not have the sidecar brake installed at all.

I have had no issues with braking; in fact I rather like the 'stomp and stop' of the linked system.

That said, I admit that I do not drive the old Goose very hard; I tend to take things pretty easy, and just enjoy the ride. I think I might also be getting a little slower as my hair gets grayer.

EDIT: I had a thought this morning: rare, but it does happen. You should post your questions regarding the braking system on the Sidecar.com forum; there are a couple of very knowledgeable Guzzi rig owners over there who may be better able to help than I.

Find them here:

http://www.sidecar.com/mbbs22/forums/forum-view.asp?fid=1



Appreciate the compliment on my rig; here's one more photo for you; I have posted it before, so forgive me if you've seen it. It is a couple of years old, but it's my favorite pic of the Guzzi, and she has not changed any...even if I have a little:

Bought a avon sm11 for the front. Waiting for the painter and the PC is down at home so will update once some movement happens. If anyone with a cally with unit forks is on here, could I ask for you to measure the FRONT brake line for me please?

Always had a soft spot for the Cali, but was never brave enough to own one here in Aus. The build is coming up great. It should look fantastic when completed, but I'm surprised that they don't steer ok without the leading link. I'd have thought the geometry would have been pretty close to ok in stock trim. Following this with interest. Cheers, Mick.