Hi new member in North West. Bought a Guzzi Airone on 7 March this year - wanted one for ages. Part of the documentation coming with the bike has a MG club machine date certificate to confirm its a 1954 model. It currently starts well but doesn’t pull well at larger throttle openings. As my time is currently limited (as is my mechanical ability) I will take my time to get it right and will scan the forum for advice and information. Cheers
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Welcome and good luck with getting her fettled.
Cheers Philabeg51. Just doing initial reading around and finding out what I don’t know.
Now that’s an interesting bike to get started with! Welcome and good luck with it.
Greg’s website ‘This old tractor’ has copies of manuals and parts list. I have had similar issues with a 1954 Airone Sport and have worked through a whole list of things. If you have decent compression I suggest you start with checking the ignition timing (use a strobe or ‘fag’ paper in the magneto points) and the valve timing. The manuals give details on how to do this (you can measure the distance btdc on the crankcase in both cases). Mine now runs up to aroud 65 mph but I can’t find the last 5-6 mph. It’s still great to ride tough.
Good luck
Phil
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Hi and welcome. I have a 1953 Airone. Is yours a sport or Turismo model? Apparently there is quite a difference in performance. The sport has a toe rear brake and a Turismo has a heel rear brake is the obvious difference.
Mine was running rough when I bought it last year and went through the basics.
Start the bike with the cover off the mag and see if the points are arcing badly (mine were and a new condensor sorted that.
Check the timing, check the tappet clearance, strip and clean the carb.
This is mine
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Hi DaiG - thank you. I had a LeMans 3 in the early 90s. Got rid of it in the when it started blowing coils and I couldn’t get it fixed at the time.
Hi Philmac. Thanks for the information. I discovered that the throttle wasn’t shutting so thought I would lubricate the cables. Found that the grease in the mechanism was solid. Also discovered that the carb top cable adjusters weren’t solid in the carb top threads. Simple job I thought! Couldn’t re tap them myself so went for helicoil at local engineers. They couldn’t helicoil as the metal (Mazak?Yamak) acronym was flaking with age so a new carb top has been made. Will check your recommendations, No progress will be made til I have dry lined the garage though
Hi Don-Spada. Thanks for your reply.Mine is a sport - I had figured that the rear brake lever type was one of the obvious factors. Cheers for the information about timing and tappets. I am looking to get some stuff from Valenti moto including the missing spring from the throttle housing, new oil pipe for the rocker arms and a tappet spanner to maximise my spend while staying under the import duty limit. Your bike looks great - thanks for posting the picture. Seat for pillion would seem to be a vast improvement!
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Thanks for all replies and information. Only picked up on these when they came through on my email so I clearly need to do more work on how the forum works. Will post some pictures of the Airone as I work through it.
Eurocarb have stock of carb tops and retaining rings for the SS Carb in the UK. I have sourced all my other parts from Guzzi Retro in Italy. If you email with part numbers they will give you prices and shipping (usually deliver within 3-5 days). No problem with VAT/customs charges if you keep the consignment value below £130.
Phil
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From what I have read elsewhere, Valentini service seems to have gone down hill since Covid times and Guzzi Retro seems to be the more reliable source of parts from Italy nowadays.
When you say throttle housing, I assume yours has a twistgrip that pulls the cable within the handlebars, mine has a Superpractic throttle that has no spring, just a chain that pulls the cable. I think it is a later modifiction by a previous owner.
Have you got a parts book, manuals etc? I do have some documents including an English translation of the manual. I think it is for a slightly earlier model, but is quite useful. Here is a link to the manual…
Airone manual
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Cheers for the info on Eurocarb and customs charges
Thanks for the manual link.
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Welcome to the forum Martmac, Don-Spada is a good source of information on Airones and other small singles.
Good luck with the fettling!
Best wishes Chris