I noticed that my speedo had stopped working a couple of days ago and assumed that the cable was at fault. However on closer inspection I noticed that the speedo drive at the wheel was no longer in contact with the wheel hub. Everything seemed to be very loose including the spindle bolt which was only finger tight. I’ve since had the spindle out but to my surprise a second spacer about 15mm wide dropped out from somewhere as well as the wider one from the nearside of the wheel. According to my workshop manual there isn’t such a spacer on the offside. The issue is complicated insofar as the wheels are not the original fitment. My bike is a 1979 V50 Electronic model. I bought the wheels I have on the bike from a Club member for their colour but only discovered that they were different being thicker at the centre by about 2cm so had to buy new discs. It is only now that I am wondering if the spindle - the original one - is not correct for my bike. Somehow I managed to put it all together some time ago and don’t recall any difficulties but now nothing seems to fit! As it is, the “extra” spacer stops the speedo drive from riding onto the spindle shoulder. I’ve put a couple of hundred miles on the bike since sorting out all my previous problems and so far pleased with my Guzzi ownership!
Some pictures might be helpful. Guzzi managed to do a real Guzzi with the V50 series wheels; depending on the model some discs have spacers behind them, some don’t and others (Monza comes to mind) have a narrower hub that requires spacers either side to centralise them in the forks. You might get a head start if the person you bought them from is able to supply you with a history.
After lots of headscratching I discovered that the spacer that fell out is part of the speedo drive - it lives inside it. I’ve also realised that the wheel is not centred with the present spacer in place since the front wheel is about 15mm wider at the hub!
I now need a different spindle with a 50mm shoulder and a 17mm wide spacer in place of the 24.44 one to go on the other nearside end. Hopefully Gutsibits will have these tomorrow!
Well I’m not hopeful that Gutsibits can supply what I thought I needed as they don’t exist!
I’ve learned today that the wheels I bought are from either a V50 3 or a V65. I see that the former has the brake calipers bolted onto the rear of the forks and
Eddie: can you measure the width of the hub please? I’m thinking that you have a ‘narrow hub’ wheel that requires a 25mm spacer on either side. I have a Monza in at the moment and they have a lot in common with the later V50-3s. Do the discs have spacers behind them? Pictures would also help.
Many thanks DaiG. A little background to this problem! The bike I bought had white wheels on it and I decided from the outset that they would have to be re-done in silver. I was planning to have them powder coated but I saw an ad on the Guzzi Club website for a pair of silver wheels at a reasonable price so bought them instead, It wasn’t until I came to swap the brake discs over that I discovered the front silver wheel was wider than the white one. I also found that the discs were below Brembo’s minimum thickness so I bought a new pair of drilled discs which went straight on without any problems. So far so good but last week on my first decent run on the bike my speedo packed up and eventually found that the cable was not turning as the drive had backed off the wheel hub. I then assumed that I had failed to appreciate the difference in hub width between the white and silver wheels and that this had created the issue I now faced. I came up with various possible solutions including buying another narrow wheel, turning the forks around as mentioned above but fortunately before doing anything drastic I installed the spindle again and to my surprise everything seemed to fit! The only gaff at the first attempt was to install a washer on the wrong side of the speedo drive which allowed it to slip onto the shoulder of the spindle which was how I found it when the speedo stopped working in the first place! I’ve now put it back correctly and all is back together - the brakes work, the wheel spins and I’ve saved myself a few hours of cursing and swearing! I can only assume that the casting of the silver wheel at least were the brake discs are mounted is more substantial than the white wheel. The hub centre for information measures 76mm.
Well, that is very, very good news! 
So too thought all was fixed but I now have another issue to solve! Once everything is back in place the final item is to tighten the 24mm nut on the end of the spindle. The manual says it should be torqued to 98 - 105 ft/lbs which is pretty damn tight but long before I get anywhere near that the wheel starts to lock up and eventually locks solid. The fork base bolts are tight and all the components along the spindle are in place so what could possibly be wrong?
I’ve always considered that torque figure to be way too high - it’s the same for the bevel drive on the big block engines. I usually use the ‘mechanic’s torque wrench’ i.e. by feel which usually tops out at about 45-50 ft/lbs.
I think, however, you’ve given me the clue to the problem.
- Slacken everything off (fork sliders included)
- Sit on the bike, grab the front brake and bounce the suspension hard a few times. This centres the wheel in the forks
- Tighten the wheel spindle nut. There will come a point when the spindle starts rotating because you can’t hold it any more
- Tighten the fork slider on the opposite side to the spindle nut
- Continue with the wheel nut. When you hit about 50 ft/lbs, quit
- Tighten the other slider.
At this point everything should be lined up. Bounce the bike against the brake again to make sure there’s no stiction in the forks. You can carry on torquing up but I truly don’t think it’s worth it. The big problem with that high figure is getting the nut(s) undone again.
Once again I am indebted to DaiG. I thought there must be a procedure for installing the front wheel - there certainly was for my old Boxer - but there is nothing in the so called workshop manual that I can find so I’m very pleased to report that I did exactly as instructed above and even with the spindle torque set at 50 ft/lbs the wheel still turns with just a hint of a rub from the brakes.
Thanks for taking the trouble to post this - the part that fell out was the inside of the speedo drive - an item similar but shorter than the one on the other side of the wheel. It took some time to discover where it came from and appears to be a push fit. I’ve put it back with the aid of a vice and it seems to be secure.
Item 8 is described in the parts list as a spacer but is more like a shim or a washer.
Good. The last step is to centre the brake calipers. Using the joining line where the two caliper halves bolt together, what you are trying to do is to line up the caliper centre as close to the centre of the thickness of the disc as possible. Bog-standard mild steel 10mm ID washers will do for spacers between the caliper and the fork leg, although my preference is for stainless steel ones. I have only once had the situation where the caliper centre is to the outside of the disc centre; in that case you just have to live with the offset. It was like that because the slider had been thickly powder-coated and as it was less than a mm out, I wasn’t worried.
You’ll always get a slight rub from the brakes because the braking system relies on disc runout to knock the pads clear of the disc. If it didn’t, you’d have hot discs and worn brake pads in very short order.
Once again DaiG many thanks for your note. I’ve had a look as you suggested but not done anything yet as I have created another problem which will affect the position of the discs. In short I was unsure which spacer/ washer was which and now that I have confirmation I know I’ve installed the 3mm spacer and the spindle nut washer the wrong places so need swapping over.
Also the speedo drive no longer works - the “teng” has broken. I see that Gutsibits sell just this part but can’t say I noticed how the speedo drive comes apart when it was off the bike. The V50 parts catalogue only shows this as a complete item. Can you advise me please!
Oof. It’s been a long time since I took one of those apart for greasing, but IIRC it just levers out. Give Gutsibits a call - they’re very helpful with information and if they’re selling just the drive tang then they definitely know how to dismantle the drive.