Franken Guzzi - hence Frankuzzi - a Desert Guzzi is born

Are you saying you could make a similar bike from a 500? Is the frame/engine basically the same? Great thread and I have a lead on a 500....

Cheers,

Adrian

I believe so but i am not sure 100%. heck all the beemers r frame are more or less the same. Take some pics and we compare

The 500 frame will work.They have the shortest swinging arm but as DesertPistons has shown that's the weak point so if you are serious it has to go. They also use cup and cone steering head bearings that are very expensive but I also assume that the forks will go too so that's another problem sorted !

Really glad to see that work on your baja replica has resumed DP !!!!The "survivor" is the one in Northern France isn't it ?
Love the swinging arm job you've done...we just need lots more pictures !

here you go. Right.....so start with a cheap donor bike

Most of the Bajas are in France. I know 5 of them being in Italy, mine in the US, 3 in Australia, the rest presumably in France
Actually the one I posted is/was for sale around Monza Brianza, Italy.

More pics will follow

Pari passu........


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Note the support for the shock.....serious stuff here

love the laced borrani wheel with that lip.....no need to offset perfectly centered in the swing arm....yeah!


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Love this build!

Cool Guzzi!!

Keep it up mister pistons, this is cool stuff

Here's one for sale this side of the pond.........

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif.../page/2/postcode/bs58sh/radius/1500?logcode=p

Yup
Just would be a little worried about engine reliability
Given small blocks rep...

Enjoying the build! One thing I'd do though is add some support for the swingarm pivot to the frame. Relying on the "ears" of the relatively lightweight alloy rear transmission casting to handle the stress of that larger/heavier swingarm, rear drive and wheel bouncing around off-road, could be a recipe for dramatic failure.

Really? the bad rep is the 4 valve lario engine. the v50 e v65 are solid, at least in my experience I never had a problem if the bike is well maintained. There is a lot of abuse out there and maybe this is the result. The stock v65tt bike has few issues and as I mentioned the stock final drive is prone to failures over certain mileage. Another issue is the electrical circuit when it gets old but the v65 tt with its small block.... beside shity brakes, wimpy forks, bad exhaust...is one of the best guzzi engines ever. BTW the bmw g/s has many moles too....

Thank you. Good technical observation
You are right but this is not how the the bike's swing arm is pivoted. Bajas raced the dakar with this configuration, never a failure one the swing arm or the transmission casting: ie- We used threaded pivots with welded spacers inserts on the support holes. (I believe this is your suggestion). The bike has not not the v65TT usual set up. It is similar to r beemers' set up now.

Lets talk about exhaust. I was able to get a piece of history. The exhaust of the proto 750 4valves. Nothing special about it... just 2 bended tubes but knowing that this came from the guzzi reparto corse makes me
Unfortunately not a trace of the racing mufflers so I opted for 2 old style enduro mufflers (german origin) and i got them welded at the end of the exhaust

A reminder pic of the proto

We built a removable small back frame to hold the back tank in place. I wanted something small and gracious and I always liked the HPN tank.

You may notice that the back exhaust is hold in place through a bracket and 2 springs. Nothing new, a solution adopted by Guzzi with the Baja bike. The springs allow and dampen the vibrations. The back of the muffler is removable by removing the 2 springs. It can be packed accordingly so it be may be quiet or loud. I left it loud.

The back fender is an acerbis Baja. Note also the back shock mount. It is very different from the stock tt. It is braced and the shock is well supported by both sides.

Last i like the large handle that protrudes from the tank. I can hold the bike there and pull it if i need.

next the picture of the special desert air box. Back splash fender made out of kevlar. Believe it or not i did it myself.

I could have improved the general electrics but i had a budget in mind. It will be the next project on this bike. the engine has an electronic ignition though...

That's cool!

Lovely work and very well documented.I'd love to do the same kind of mods to my NTX, cash being the limiting factor!!