The rebuild: Autumn 2001 – a year later

It took a year to rebuild the bike, and I could’ve bought a new top-of-the-range Guzzi with the money I spent! However, the revamped Le Mans does look cool: very low and lean, and very shiny – and the thick paint, stainless steel, and ceramic coating should keep it that way for years.

I’m very pleased with the improved handling: everything gels together – the custom-built Maxton suspension, the smaller, wider wheels, the low-profile radial tyres. The bike has retained Guzzi’s legendary stability but can now handle bends with panache. I rode my friend’s Ducati Monster 900 for comparison, and my bike feels much more stable than the Duke, even around bends; however, my Le Mans, not surprisingly with its length and old-fashioned steering angles, has steers slower through curves – it will keep up with the Monster around bends with perfect smoothness (no wobbles, shaking, etc.), but I do have to force it into corners much more so than when on the Monster.

The engine is very responsive, and can embarrass quite a few modern bikes with its acceleration; the low and mid-range power, in particular, is noticeably improved. I can now keep up with my friend’s Duke, which I couldn’t do before the rebuild.

The four-pot Brembos are more powerful and progressive than the old two-pot calipers. Surprisingly, the difference isn’t as great as I expected, which proves how much better Brembos must’ve been than Japanese brakes in the 1970s!

There are a few things that need sorting out now I’ve ridden the bike for a few hundred miles: the handlebars are uncomfortably low and too far forward; the carburation is not quite right (I’ll put the bike on a dyno once it’s run in); one of the front discs seems to be warped; and the clutch drags when the engine gets hot.

Figure 1. Moto Guzzi’s emblem, which has been used since the company’s inception in 1920. The eagle derives from the badge of the Italian air force, and was chosen to honour Giovanni Ravelli, one of the founders of the marque, who was killed in a flying accident.