The Monza was a genuine one lady owner bike and needed only a pair of fork seals and the scrapping of the original Paoli shocks in favour of Marzocchis. Other departures from stock are Lucas Rita ignition, Krauser panniers and a full Sprint fairing, and recently a pair of stainless steel silencers, which were cheaper than original silencers and only £10 more than patterns.
It seems incredibly economical to run, though I’m pretty gentle with it, using mainly A roads and fast B roads, cruising at 70mph and cornering fast: the poorly damped shaft encourages early braking although shutting the throttle or opening up in mid corners doesn’t upset the handling.
The first rear tyre, a Pirelli Gordon, lasted 10000 miles and the original front Michelin M38 was quickly thrown away after a few wet rides showed that I’d be safer with an MZ Pneumant cast off. Now it’s Pirelli Mandrake front and new type Roadrunner on the back, Phantoms being too expensive for my taste. Brake pad life varies depending on road conditions, as cast iron discs are harsh on pads in winter. On average, a set of Ferodo pads will last 10000 front and 12000 rear. I hated the Moto Guzzi linked brake system at first, but I’ve never locked a wheel and it’s brilliant in the dry, safe and easy in the wet.
In common with most Guzzis, the bike’s light on fuel, normal riding gives 60+mpg and uses only a little oil between 1500 mile changes. Spark plugs are changed every 6000 miles together with the air filter - a job which is a half day nightmare, take out the battery, remove the tank and one carb, fight with the filter housing, drink several cups of tea to soothe frayed nerves. The oil filter is relatively simple to replace, living under a finned cover beneath the sump.
Out on the open road it’s certainly not fast, but on A roads at least, there’s enough acceleration to pass most things. The two valves per cylinder are old fashioned and restrictive but I’m willing to live with a 100mph top speed and the leisurely 70mph at 5000rpm. Handling is similarly dated, hard springing with barely adequate damping, but the Monza handles well on any reasonable surface, brilliantly on good ones, and is only thrown out by a combination of high speed and a series of bumps - with that it’s wise to back-off or get bounced off.
I hate motorways, and the Monza agrees, so I head for the A roads the moment I’m clear of the cities. The riding position, with clip-ons and fairly conservatively placed rear-sets, is heavy on the arms in town but perfect for long runs. Coming back from holiday in Germany this Autumn, I covered 570 miles on the last day and arrived back in London with nothing worse than a sore bum and clutch arm (the clutch is a little heavy...)
The only mechanical failures have been the aforementioned seals and shocks, rusted silencers (the originals were made of remarkably thin metal), and a jumped pushrod - I hadn’t used the bike for a few weeks, it gave a nasty clunk when turned over on the starter. Investigation showed that a pushrod was loose in the engine. Some Guzzi dealers did admit that the exhaust valves do sometimes stick, which combined with a loose tappet must have caused the rod to jump out. As it wasn’t bent I put it all back together, end of problem.
The only on the road breakdown occurred when the engine kill switch malfunctioned, but that was easily fixed (after an hour spent finding the fault) by taping the two wires together and rebuilding the switch at home. Moto Guzzi’s Lego switchgear has always been criticised, but it’s efficient in use and is very durable, especially in view of the fact that it can be dismantled easily to fix faults. The rest of the electrics have been trouble free and it’s still on its original 1982 battery.
Parked - but not using the appalling side stand - it attracts a fair amount of attention, from motorcyclists because it’s a rare sight and looks like a Le Mans to the uninitiated, and from others because it’s so pretty. The Monza/Le Mans styling, though now. so obviously dated, remains to my eye at least, a classic shape. Sadly, I see fewer Lemons and V50s around London than ever, but hopefully this one will still be on the road past 60000 miles. Now the burning question is whether I'll be able to afford a 650 Lario to replace it when the time comes.
Tim Francis