Description
Moto Guzzi Le Mans Mk 1
Beautiful original condition
Fully serviced
Supplied with a box of ... well not sure really but it will all go with the bike
One of the most prized and valuable Moto Guzzi motorcycles is the Mk1 LeMans. Following generations were great bikes but looked ... well.. lets just say they got it right first time.
This example we acquired recently and its clearly been very well maintained with some neat discreet upgrades but very much a usable classic
They have a charm and charisma unlike any other motorcycle on the planet and look quite remarkable, turning heads everywhere they pull up. The exhaust note is raucous and naughty, provoking unnecessary throttle blipping at any opportunity, leaving grins on schoolboys’ faces in their wake. Quirky motorcycles very rarely deliver great desirability in the classic market,
A contemporary review :
The Guzzi Le Mans 850 is one of the two best looking bikes in the world, I reckon. The other is the Ducati 750 SS. The Guzzi is undeniably masculine. Its appearance stops crowds, makes other motorcyclists bleat a short word of praise and it makes people who know and care nothing about motorcycles stop and engage in conversation. It is sublimely beautiful and yet, for all this, it is a fake.
The engine, so they say, was born for a snowmobile or small military personnel carrier or some other nondescript purpose. It is a heavy, rugged, almost unburstable engine. There isn’t a single stroke of imaginative genius to please the purist or excite the dreamer. The cylinders are spaced 90 degrees apart and pushrods open the valves. Huge 36 mm Dell’Ortos feed the conventional cylinder heads and the exhaust pipes sweep gracefully down to the lower frame rail where they gently rise into the massive, efficient, black painted mufflers. It has conventional points ignition and a brilliant, precise headlight. It also has the biggest battery since Mack trucks gave up crank starters.
The battery needs to be big because there’s no kick starter and the engine can be irritable when it’s hot. A smaller battery would expire, and so would rider confidence. Bump starting an 850 could prove a problem. In city traffic it doesn’t bear thinking about.
A horn nestles above the generator in the Vee looking as though it’s made for a 1925 Indian or some such oldie. Bolted to a leftside casting hangs a car-size starter motor, complete with a magnetic clutch engagement on top. Connected by a tiny, but adjustable, rod the gear lever operates a flimsy control emerging from the rear of the gearbox. But it feels very strong. Appearances can be deceiving.
A light lever pulls the car-type dry-plate clutch apart with a smoothness rarely experienced on a motorcycle. It allows the pulsating twin, with its off-beat low-rev feeling, to feed power to the shaft drive without snatching or spinning.
On the right-hand side, the foot-brake lever is connected to another adjustable thin rod which disappears behind a plastic cover. Removing the cover reveals a master cylinder with a single high-pressure line crossing the frame to the left shock-absorber diagonal member. Here a proportioning valve distributes the fluid to the front left disc and the rear disc. The front right disc is operated only by the handlebar lever.
However odd this system may seem on paper its true worth can only be appreciated after time in the saddle. It’s possible to use the brake pedal hard in the wet on dubious surfaces without the back wheel taking its own line or the front falling away. Normally the balance is 70 percent to the rear and 30 percent to the front. Apart from a slight steering reaction at low speed, the system works so well it makes a mockery of conventional arrangements. Like all non-cosmetic disc brake systems, the Guzzi uses cast iron discs which rust.
Who gives a twopenny damn! They work. Wet and dry.
Pedal and lever pressure is high by Japanese standards, but this increases the pressure difference between gentle stopping and eyeballs-out panic stops. The amount of braking control is very reassuring.
First gear will run to almost 80 km/ h before the tacho needle leaves the yellow and starts into the red. Second runs to more than 110 km/ h and third to almost 150. In fourth the red line comes into view at about 190 km/ h and fifth is anyone’s guess.
The gearbox shows the non-motorcycle background on the Guzzi powerplant and refuses to flat change without the clutch unless gear-crunching is ignored. The gearbox hates changing below 4000 rpm and the second to third shift is often lumpy. At first, this appeared to be a peculiarity of the test bike, but other Guzzi owners have confirmed the same behaviour. However, treated well, with patience and precision, the gearbox is a delight.
