Hi All,
I met a few of the members at the recent Stanford Hall event and promptly joined the club. I recently purchased my first Moto Guzzi after selling a 916SPS Ducati. I’m English but moved to France about 6 years ago. Here’s the bike…
James
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Welcome James to the forum and bonjour!
Nice bike, good to see you have retained the original left hand switch gear, the right hand one has been replaced (sorry rivet counting over) original switches are like hens teeth!
Have fun Chris
Welcome.
Nice bike 
Welcome James
That’s a stunning bike.
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Welcome James
The Lemans looks mint
Welcome James. Beautiful bike!
Dear All,
Many thanks for all the welcomes!! The bike has already totally won me over… There are a few electrical gremlins that I need to fix - indicators not working, no horn, misfiring a higher revs (fixed by cleaning the points) and some dodgy connections. The carbs also need some sorting as there are a few o-rings missing but in general it’s in lovely condition… and much more fun to ride than the Ducati which was too much for the road!
I can supply a colour wiring diagram for your bike see here which might help your understanding of the coloured spaghetti!
Best wishes Chris
It sounds like an issue with the left hand switch gear or it’s plug into the loom.
Best wishes Chris
Thanks Chris, I’ll order the diagram - been struggling with the Haynes version!!
I did some basic checks with a tester and the switch gear seems to be working. And there is no physical horn… I’m currently on holiday so will be back on the job at the end of August and make the necessary purchases.
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The Haynes diagrams are like the old puzzles, “Which balloon is Peter holding?” apart from being hard to trace wires in black and white all of the colour codes are in Italian. You can download a free copy of Carl Allison’s diagram,click here but there are two warnings, firstly, it prints at A2 to be legible, and secondly, some of the colours are wrong, probably lost in translation Bi = white, B = blue easily confused.
Enjoy your holiday! PS your braai area looks great!
Best wishes Chris
Those old Guzzis have lousy earthing schemes, so it might be that. Check the earth from the rear indicators to the battery. They have a single ( 12v ) wire and earth through the indicator stalks. The steel sub-frame they mount to hinges off the main frame with rubber bushes. Normally it relies on the washers wearing through the paint to make a connection. If your machine is as carefully assembled as it looks, that won’t work. If the rear indicators won’t work, then none will. On our branch machines that we work on, we tend to string earth cables the length of the 'bike to connect up the various earthing points, which we try to consolidate into just a few. Oh, and shakeproof star washers everywhere to cut through the paint.
So that rear indicator thing, we put a big black wire going across the hinge to the sub-frame.
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Many thanks for the advice!! I’ll get back to the bike in a couple of weeks so will give it a thorough going over then. I need to get it through an MOT before it can be registered in my name due to the odd French rules!!
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I agree with Andy, on my bike I have earth points on the frame and gearbox near the battery and these are all wired together. It is not standard but makes it work!
Best wishes Chris
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ditto…
And another thought has occurred to me. The indicator shells are black plastic and the bulb holder fastened inside it. But the earth is made by a metal sleeve which passes through the shell with a narrow flange on the outside. This HAS to make continuity with the steel of the indicator stalk. Any fresh paint might cause problems here, too.
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Ooooo lovely bike. BTW welcome to the club
So, back from holidays and spent the day making sure the earths were all good. And still no indicators. Absolutely nothing. I’m thinking the switchgear might be the culprit - the buttons seem very loose. It also looks terribly complicated to disassemble! Has someone done this? Is there a recommended aftermarket part? Thanks for any advice!!!
Hello James, hope you had a great trip. I have sent you a PM.
The switches come apart quite easily once you remove the handlebar grip, the main problem though is that the wires pass through the handlebar, so getting the switch of might be a fiddle, getting it back on again will be a nightmare!.
I have run my switch wires externally in shrink wrap tube which means there is no faffing around getting the wires through the handlebar. To get it off you will have to get all the pins out of the plug that fits into the headlamp, I use a small brass tube that poshes back the ears on the pins. You can then get the wires out of the handlebar, but if you want them back tie a piece of string to the wire at a draw string for when you want to pull them back through.
It is very fiddly! The original switches you have on the left side are delicate and the light switch part very clunky and awkward. I know that many people replace with modern switches. If you go down that route, sell your original switches, they will pay for the new ones easily as they are very rare!
Best wishes Chris
