S is for Sport

Let's introduce us to our project bikes.

Guzzi #1 is a 1975 750S. Now I know beauty is subjective - the Angelina fans out there are demonstrable proof of that - but I believe that this bike has the most beautiful tank God ever put on a motorcycle. The flared panels, providing a natural fall to the alloy heads and rocker covers are a rare example of a tank and engine in real symmetry and sympatico. The tank to me looks like the flaring of a great white shark's body around the pectoral fins - a streamlined combination of power and aesthetic beauty. This theme is continued with the long Silentium mufflers with their sharks-gill fluting. The 750S is a motorcycle of rare beauty to behold.

The 750S has been stored in a shed for the last 15 years, and has been the home for a number of families of mice, going by the vacant battery compartment. The alloy was filthy, the mufflers were rusted, the fuel lines were rigid and cracked, the brake lines were, well, broken, and the master cylinder was seized. The front calipers were siezed and somewhere along the way three of the four bleed nipples had been snapped off.

Now, the plan is not to restore this bike to concours condition. Such a restoration would take too long and delay the rationale for fixing the bike up - to get it back on the road. In South Australia a motorcycle over 30 years old can be registered under the 'Classic registration' category, and ridden for up to 90 days per year on a log book, with a cheaper registration of $120pa rather than a full registration of over $500pa.

Note the Laverda in the background of the second shot, but more of that later.