So after some dusting and cleaning, the old lady showed herselve and I have to say, most of the stuff is in a very original state, with patina and all. Unfortunately that also comes with some downsides. there is some rust and dents. And when it was stored 7 years ago (for the second time) with the idea to look after it “next months”, in hindsight, i should have been done more carefully…

We inspected the motor oil left in de engine and the petrol still in the tank and carburators; Yep, all is gummed up and needs extensive cleaninng. The good thing about cleaning is that it hardly cost any money, just elbow grease 🙂

When I say we, I mean my father-in-law en me. He has a Motorcycle museum in Best, The Netherlands. It is dedicated to English motorcycles, and mainly Norton.
The Guzzi is also stored there, together with other orphan motorcycles like an old Second World War BSA.

Every first Saturday of the month, the museum is open and I happend to be there on the first Saturday of February. A couple of visitors were looking arround and 1 of them used to be a Guzzi collector. So as soon as he saw one of the side panels on the workbench, he started talking about his Guzzi’s! It is so cool to accidentally meet people that accidentally have a lot of knowledge that otherwise whould have taken ages to get for me. The best tip he gave was a Dutch Moto Guzzi parts supplier that can deliver everything Stein Dinse has and more: Jan Robers Motoren from Boekelo! It is still funny to see that the most experienced people not necessarily have the best websites on the interwebs!

When I got home, I imidiatly started searching the sites and pretty soon I had my basket full of goodies need to breath some life back into the old lady.

Next time more….

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On my site I want to keep you up to date about a new project I’ve started some weeks ago.

On the 8th of june 1983, we got a new addition to our family: a Moto Guzzi V7 Special.
Just like our dog (Isar) the motor bike became a true part of our family and in my memory it was always there. (in reality I was already 13 when it came into my life, but he, that’s how brains handle memories…)

I don’t remember much events first hand from the 1980’s, but 1 think I do remember very good. I must have been 15 or so and my dad took me on a camping trip to the Ardenne on the motorcycle! It was awsome for several reasons, but in my mind mostly because it was with the motor bike.

After that I don’t remember much, later on (end of the 90’s) the bike was put away because of electrical issues and it just stood in a corner of the garage.

Fast forward to 2016. my father moved to another place. All of a sudden, there was the motorcycle again, peeking out of the garage into the world. At that time, I was not thinking about it too much. All I did was find a storage place for the bike. Funny enough, my father in lay has a Nortor motorcycle museum 😉
If it would have been a Japanees bike, there would have been no way he would let it into his house. But because the Itallian Moto Guzzi V7 line is regarded as one of the greats and the duch army used to have Guzzi and my father in lay himself had Moto Guzzi’s to drive arround, the Motorbike was given a warm welcome in the storage / garage of the house.

Somewere between then en now, my father lost his driver license due to his age and it slowly dripped into my mind that the iconic motorbike should be / whould be mine.
Funny detail; I don’t have a motrocycle driving lincense…
I do have a technical mind and also technical hands to actually do stuff, but I never restored a motorbike.

My goal is to preserve as much as possible and to restore as gentle as possible.
I don’t strive for originality, I do strive to get the bike my father drove, back on the road.
First step is to get it running again.
Second step is to get it safe to drive on the road
Third step is to do cosmetic improvements / updates.

So the current state of affairs (February 2024):
–  I already passed 2 motorcycle driver lincense tests (bike manouvering exame and the theoretical exame). End of february I hope to take my motorcycle driving exame, to finaly have the license.
– The motorcycle itself has been “recovered” out of storage and it look in pretty good shape (for an untoutched 1972 bike)
– The first new parts have been ordered. (battery, o-rings / seals / belts and air filter.

In the coming weeks I will try to pass step 1; get it running and see where I can go from there.

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