Basket Cases

[Guy53]

I think that you don't have to check the crankshaft seal !
Guy

[David Lahey]

It's been a long road getting this back together and ready to ride but I reckon it's finally there so I took some photos this morning to celebrate.
About 2 years ago I did some frame mods, tested them out at the Denman 2 day and was very happy with the frame mods so it was then time to repaint the frame.
Back then the motor ran reasonably but the ring seal was poor so I decided to do a complete engine rebuild with the intention of having it ready to last the rest of my riding life without needing internal attention. It was still on the original conrod from when the bike was new in 1976 so it got a nice new conrod fitted by George McKenzie and George also rebored the cylinder and supplied a lovely Wossner piston kit. George lightened the conrod to improve the crankshaft balance and I used a cylinder spacer from Rob Cochrane in NZ to correct for the slightly longer KX conrod, which is the only conrod kit available for the KT nowadays.
Chippy also had KT motor work done by George at around the same time and his motor also benefited from the crank balance work.
Down at the Denman 2 day in 1999 I also tested even lower gearing than what I had ridden it with previously, by fitting a TY rear wheel with a flat 55T sprocket. That was definitely better gearing so a bigger-than-before sprocket was sourced for the KT rear wheel and that is what is in the photos.
Another project intervened in late 1999 and I didn't get back to working on the until 2021.
The engine work made no difference to the awesome whine from the straight cut primary drive gears which is music to my ears.
I'm still deciding whether to polish the outer engine casings or leave them with their vapour blast look.

[Bosco15]

Great work, David.
A nicely sorted Katie.

[JC1]

Yeh, nice job Dave.
The KTs look much nicer IMHO with half the sidecover blacked out like you've done.

Did you steepen the rake too?

I'll be up at Calliope in the next month or two, hopefully. Might have to come and sample a ride on it to see what it's like with the relocated footpegs as I want to do that to mine too.


On another subject, I have had this project (below) in mind for some time. Found an Italjet frame in a small-town wreckers some time age. In my shed it was sitting next to RL and TS engines. Well the engine made its way into the frame and it's a good fit. (Though it's a TS engine in the pic, the RL engine is all-but the same.) The sprocket even lines up well with the swingarm pivot. Italzuki 250TRL??

Italjet Suz 250 2.JPG (3.19 MiB) Viewed 1302 times

[Bully fanatic]

That is probably a very good move John. The standard Italjet engines are bl##*y heavy. Nice power but they weigh a ton.

[JC1]

Trouble is Graham, any fabrication skills I once had are fast vanishing. I'd be embarrassed to say how long it took me to make some simple mods like lowering the footpegs, fabricating a chainguard and remounting the seat on this Guzzi Stornello that I borrowed from a fellow HMCCQ member for the Classic Trial at Easter.

IMG_0383.JPG (2.8 MiB) Viewed 1244 times

IMG_0387.JPG (3.1 MiB) Viewed 1244 times

[David Lahey]

Yeh, nice job Dave.
The KTs look much nicer IMHO with half the sidecover blacked out like you've done.

Did you steepen the rake too?

I'll be up at Calliope in the next month or two, hopefully. Might have to come and sample a ride on it to see what it's like with the relocated footpegs as I want to do that to mine too.


On another subject, I have had this project (below) in mind for some time. Found an Italjet frame in a small-town wreckers some time age. In my shed it was sitting next to RL and TS engines. Well the engine made its way into the frame and it's a good fit. (Though it's a TS engine in the pic, the RL engine is all-but the same.) The sprocket even lines up well with the swingarm pivot. Italzuki 250TRL??

Italjet Suz 250 2.JPG

JC1 your Italzuki reminds me of a similar project in my shed. I'm amazed that motor fits in the space lengthwise, because a motor is also a fairly tight fit in a Bultaco frame and I would have thought that the Ducati/Italjet motor would have been shorter than a Bultaco motor.
As for the it would be great if you can go for a test ride while you are up here. I'll try not to wreck it in the interim.
That KT frame was from a trade with Greg Harding and I modded it as an experiment. It worked so well I decided to stop right there and enjoy riding it. There is a slight lengthening of the top frame tube and the "hinge" point I used is near the bottom front engine mount. The idea was to make more room for the rider by moving the steering stem 25mm forwards which in combination with the location of the hinge has made the rake slightly steeper. The steering effort at very low speed and stopped is now noticeably lighter. I was able to do a back to back comparison with Greg's to prove to myself I wasn't imagining it. While the effort is less, it still has the feeling of the steering sometimes pulling towards the inside of very tight turns, just as it did before the frame mod.
The new footpeg position makes for easier slow speed and static balance, but I find that my boots sometimes touch things that they didn't touch before.
Because the pegs are lower, the old high-rise custom George McKenzie bars were replaced with 6 Renthals to get my ideal stance back.
One interesting thing that came out of the frame modding is that the exhaust header is now further rearwards relative to the front tyre, which allows the use of triple clamps or fork sliders that provide more trail, without the front guard touching the exhaust header on full fork compression.

[Greg Harding]

Hi Everyone,

John, that Moto Guzzi is a beautiful bike, the Italians certainly build things with passion. The previous owner of my testa rossa would have never sold it to me if it was a Moto Guzzi as he had a similar period Moto Guzzi road bike as his everyday ride, luckily for me it was only a !

Does it have TL 125 wheels and forks or is that where copied the design along with the Kickstart knuckle?

On another subject, I have had this project (below) in mind for some time. Found an Italjet frame in a small-town wreckers some time age. In my shed it was sitting next to RL and TS engines. Well the engine made its way into the frame and it's a good fit. (Though it's a TS engine in the pic, the RL engine is all-but the same.) The sprocket even lines up well with the swingarm pivot. Italzuki 250TRL??

Very interesting, the motor definitely fits in the frame but the exhaust port looks a little close to the downtube and there is not much room for the exhaust below the tank ? That must be as labeled a TS 250 A motor with the exhaust port on the other side.....

1620433331069.jpg (99.03 KiB) Viewed 1214 times

Here is a comparison photo.....

1620433188810.jpg (120.69 KiB) Viewed 1214 times

Would you be interested in a GENUINE RL 250 frame? As David says, I am always interested in trading / swapping parts.

[David Lahey]

Hi Everyone,

John, that Moto Guzzi is a beautiful bike, the Italians certainly build things with passion. The previous owner of my testa rossa would have never sold it to me if it was a Moto Guzzi as he had a similar period Moto Guzzi road bike as his everyday ride, luckily for me it was only a !

Does it have :Honda: TL 125 wheels and forks or is that where :Honda: copied the design along with the Kickstart knuckle?

I remember seeing that same Stornello for sale at a friend's lot at a local (Gladstone) Swap Meet about 15 years ago and being initially quite keen to buy it for Classic trials comps but back then, those forks and wheels would have created a huge fuss so I gave it a miss.
It's amazing to think that such a beautifully designed and manufactured motor came out in 1961, but it did.

[Jools]

That Stornello is a beaut.
The Italians made so many small 4-strokes back in the day, Guzzi, Gilera, MV etc, it's surprising we don't see more of these adapted for trials use.