Just a few shots of the Guzzi at the recent Motorcycle Live at the NEC where it was one of the Twelve finalists of the Carole Nash BGBT competition.
An old mate,  Gary,  transported the bike to and from the show, for me and deserves credit for delivering the bike safely. If you ever need Suzuki spares or a great mechanic, or just a bike moving, Gary is here (gary@ghurd.orangehome.co.uk)
The standard of the other bikes was breathtaking and I felt quite humble to be in the 12 finalists for this year and have 5 mins of fame ;)

The bike was never built to win awards or be shown, it was built to ride and enjoy, which I will now do................a lot   !

Cafe Le Mans 2011

BGBT NEC 2011

Matt Machine Video

This is a great video from Matt ,
hope I've copied this right, it looks awesome, I want to move there and build bikes !

http://vimeo.com/30586946

First vid of the bike up and running

Guzzi Cafe Racer build: HT Moto Cafe Racer

Guzzi Cafe Racer build: HT Moto Cafe Racerhttp://www.htmoto.de/index.php?p=startpage&l=en

Final 12, Bike featured at NEC show 2011

Cant quite believe this but the bike has made the final of the Carole Nash Competition 2011 and they have asked that the bike is displayed with the other 11 finalists at the NEC bike show this November.
here is a link to the Carole Nash site http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.264562623564090.63035.113533372000350

Thanks to all the people that helped me to get the bike together and to supply the quality of parts that makes the bike what it is.
See you at the NEC show in November !
 

MCN feature bike

Tomorrows edition of Motorcycle News has at last arrived and I can post up some of the studio pics they took a couple of weeks ago.
Its the first time anything of mine has featured anywhere in  a publication and really nice compliment for the bike that they wanted to see it.

Motor Cycle News

Well a nice surprise happened this week.
A few weeks ago I had entered the bike in the Carol Nash bike competition "Britains got biking talent" and have been shortlisted to the final 50 bikes.
Later in the same week I was contacted by Motorcycle News and they wanted me to take the bike up the their hed office for a photo shoot.
So they picked me and the bike up on Thursday and spent the afternoon watching the bike lit up in a real studio. The lights and setting really make it look amazing, but I havent seen the finished results yet.

So after speaking to the editor about the bike, it appeared that about 8 bikes have been chosen by them to feature in the paper over the next two weeks, so look out for the pics in MCN in the next 2 weeks.

If your into the bike and would like to vote  :)
then this is the link to the competition site.

http://www.britainsgotbikingtalent.co.uk/bgbt_voting.php

With sound !!

Just back from a local run, Latest pics out in the sunshine !

new vid of the finished bike running and legal !

Finished

After a very long journey, the bike is now complete, running and ready to ride , at last !!
Heres a few pics from yesterday of the completed bike, unfortunately it was a crap day and raining at the time so will post some better shots when i get the bike out in the open over the next few weeks.

So far I have just test ridden the bike in a car park, all seems well and will be going to get a MOT test next week so I can legally try it on the road for some shakedown runs and fine tuning to get everything set up.
The exhaust sounds great (will try and upload a video so you can hear it !)

Last week Ihad the bike running for the first time.
An old mate came over to help (thanks Jez)
We were old Guzzi buddies from years ago when I had a Mk1 Lemans and Jez owned a Mk3 Le Mans, that we both went to the Isle of Man together on, great days from 27 years ago.
so it was quite a fitting end to the project that he was helping me get the Guzzi started for the first time.
Apart from having to swap the coil leads over, it pretty much started first time and sounded great.

I have tried through the Blog to thank all the people that helped provide parts and services for the bike with links to their companies.
But one last mention is to probably my oldest mate Haydn from HWR Automotive, 45 Luton Road Chalton. Bedfordshire LU4 9UJ. Phone number: 01525 877 769 ....Mobile- 07740862727
Hayden sprayed all the bodywork , but was also great in modifying little brackets to help fit things together

more latest pics

Latest update, nearly there !!

The wiring has all been completed (thanks Phil in Baldock !) beautiful neat job, many thanks.
Lights working, ignition sparking !! 

 Final assembly can at last begin and started with bleeding the brakes to get the stoppers working, all seems OK with the new separate system, have to see how it behaves on the road.
 fitted the new Maxton rear shocks.

I have tried wherever possible to source materials and suppliers from the UK and Maxton make an excellent quality shock. They also uprate fork internals too (maybe next year).

The new dash was more of a problem than it looks, but I think it works well now. I wanted to retain as many Le mans features as possible and the Mk3 tacho looks great.
The whole bike is really coming together now , just the carbs and throttle connections to sort and its ready for its first start !!

Latest updates 2011

New gearbox mounting plate and battery tray made to match the new genesis battery, (thanks to Richard Bailey at B&B engineering , Hitchin) Just had to modify it slightly to clear the speedo drive cable. Also you can see the Venhill braided brake pipes now all the brakes have been plumbed in (just need bleeding).

 

This pic shows the new Genesis Battery in place (just needs tie strap) and the modified gear-change lever that now clears the frame when changing gears ! and slightly lengthened gearbox linkage to suit. Fingers crossed it all works on the open road ok ???

The fidley bits !!!! taken ages to get the dash configured to fit well and work ! It uses a 3mm Ali plate as the main mounting bolted to the top yoke. You can also see the Venhill front brake pipes joining the new Brembo master cyl.

More electric bits, mounting of the coils (Dyna , thanks Andrew !) and a new voltage rectifier and regulator unit. Also the breather pipes joined up to feed the new under seat breather box.

Top view of the dash as it is so far (thinking of changing the idiot lights as shown) a Mk3 Tacho (thanks John) and a le mans speedo, both having been refurbished dials. also the Original Mk2 le mans yokes have been stripped of their handelbar mounts and re painted (top yoke nut in stainless is coming shortly.

New paint at last

 An old friend (Haydn at HWR) painted the bodywork for me in straight Black.