This old Moto Guzzi 850 T3 was sitting in a junkyard in Trenton, NJ for ten years when Hal Wiley saw it as a good opportunity to build himself a nice café racer. The bike had suffered a small crash in the past and the elements also helped at basically turning it into a piece of crap, but not one that couldn’t be radically transformed with a lot of work and a fair investment.

The Guzzi was entirely stripped down only for the new owner to find that the engine, which had previously powered the bike for 55,000 miles, was top notch on the inside, so it only required a new timing chain, gaskets and seals and it was bolted back to its original shape. Well, not entirely as the original 30mm Dell’Orto carbs had been at some point in time replaced by 36mm Le Mans items. Also, the V-twin now breaths out through a set of EMGO shorty mufflers.

After sandblasting and painting the Tonti frame and bead blasting most of the aluminum parts, reconstruction could begin. But the actual parts that turn the bike into a café one – gas tank and fiberglass cafe seat – had to be ordered from eBay. Also, Hal choose to mount Lester rims with Avon Venom tires for an enhanced retro look. Finally, gloss black was the color of choice.

Like most similar projects, this is still a work in progress. Hal plans to upgrade the engine to 1000 cc and bring in a lighter flywheel so that it will even rev faster. Just what the doctor ordered!



via Bikeefix