Ion's terrific 850T3

Now, I know that purists like their bikes in shiny tip top condition and all that...they turn up at shows with their bikes on trailers and so on...BIKES ARE FOR RIDING FOR CHRISSAKES!!!

...I much prefer the lived-in look...take a look at this...

This bike is sooo cool...just the thing for blasting around London during the week and then the lanes at the week end!

I came across it on ebay. Ion has it up for sale to finance some house building. When I first saw the listing it had no picture and I was sure it would do well the moment some images were added. If you wanna see for yerself, click here: EBAY . Ion graceously agreed for us to add it to our site...go on, someone give it a good home!

"I’ve owned & worked on my own Moto Guzzi bikes for 20 years, my 1st bike was a T3 just like this one. Since then I’ve had several Le Mans Mk1s, a Guzzi 1100 sport & some very interesting specials but when I saw this remarkably original early T3 for sale I couldn’t resist! I bought this bike with the intention of keeping it for the rest of my days as it’s so rare to find any Guzzi let alone one that’s over 30 years old, in such original condition & in my opinion the T3 is one of the very best bikes Guzzi ever built. It has a beautiful relaxed engine tuned for low down power & is extremely unstressed so just goes & goes & goes for decades without ever needing anything other than regular servicing & no bike has ever been easier to service!

However the bike is surprisingly quick & has very good off the line acceleration & I love shocking people on modern bike when I come past them. I recently got a huge grin when I saw a chap tucked in & ‘going for it’ on his relatively new Ducati monster, but when I opened up those lovely Dellortos & roared past the Ducati on the outside of him on a long sweeping bend while leant right over, the bloke on the Duke had the shock I think the fright of his life. (I always approve of Ducrappy spanking tales! Joe)

Also because of the heavy flywheel one never needs to slip the clutch on this bike so when it comes to a standing start at the lights you always get the jump (literally) on modern bikes who have to feed in all their power carefully & slip the clutch so as not to flip their superbikes while on the T3 you just drop the clutch from a little over tick over & crack the classic chrome Tommaselli quick action throttle open & the bike just catapults off the line.

I get a real buzz from sitting bolt upright on this ancient looking bike with this extremely comfortable riding position & I still leave unsuspecting sports bike behind as I roar off the line & throw the T3 on it’s ear into the first bend thanks to it’s lovely wide bars & superb road holding which is due to the classic Tonti frame which is exactly the same as on the famous V7 sport and Le Mans Mk1!!!

On the other hand this bike with its amazingly reliable & flexible engine is happy to potter around town all day in a very sedate manner & never misses a beat.

But the T3 is best suited to relaxed long rides with fast sweeping bends like country B roads when you rarely need to change gear, just roll on & off the throttle & roll from one side of the perfectly set up chassis to the other & enjoy the view as you sit up straight & see so more than one can while tucked in to a sports bike racing crouch & enjoy the glorious operatic sound of the Italian V twin deep bass growl!

The only thing that lets down standard 1970s Guzzis is the switchgear so I have replaced the original horrible looking & horribly unreliable plastic lights/horn switch with a beautiful original classic ‘Miller’ switch in chrome and brass, very tidy and completely reliable which I think is from a VINCENT! Likewise the standard plastic start switch has been replaced with a heavy duty aircraft type start button mounted in the plate on the top yoke & is also completely reliable & very satisfying to use.

I use this bike daily in all weathers & all I have to do is turn on the two fuel taps, flick up the choke lever & press the big red button right in the middle of the VERY RARE original T3 handle bars & the bike roars in to life the second I press the button. A few seconds later flick off the choke lever and the bike ticks over perfectly & is ready to nip up to the shops or to roar off across Europe! The brakes are powerful yet sensitive, the gearbox is surprising nice for a Guzzi; also amazingly for a Guzzi there are no oil leaks from anywhere!
But maybe best of all, my girlfriend (who knows nothing about bikes except that they only have two wheels & a engine) likes this best of all of my bikes, not only to ride pillion on, because it’s the most comfortable, but also just to look at.

She can’t remember which one is which, Gilera, Guzzi, the names mean nothing to her but she always refers to the T3 as ‘THE SEXY BIKE’!!! "Are you collecting me on THE SEXY BIKE?" or "Are we going on THE SEXY BIKE?"

I think she likes all the chrome, stainless steel, polished alloy & black paint as much as the comfortable riding position & the deep vibrations! I also think that she thinks I’m a bit more like her Steve McQueen or James Dean on the T3 than I am on the Gilera dirtbike or the 1100 sport! I’m only keeping the Gilera because it’s not worth very much in terms of monetary value but is still a bike I can use as daily transport!

All in all I’m completely gutted to have to sell it but I’m rebuilding my house & it’s taking much longer & much more money than I expected so something has to go. I’m desperate or I’d never sell this excellent bike, but I can’t lose my house & that’s how serious the situation is!

Also plenty of spares will be included in the sale including the rare original indicators (the wiring is all in place for the indicators but I always remove indicators from my bikes as I think they are ugly & more trouble than they are worth when you leave them on mile after mile!), the original front crash bar, matching chrome mirrors, a workshop manual, & for an extra £100 the winner can have a perfect stainless exhaust system (stainless down pipes & ‘H’ piece crossover / balance pipe & light alloy header flanges).

I didn’t put them on the bike because I thought many potential buyers might prefer the original Guzzi pipes even though they have superficial rust.

The only minor things that let the lovely bike down slightly are that the seat cover is a bit tatty & ideally could do with being recovered, but it is the original seat & the important thing is that the steel base is completely sound & solid, it ONLY needs a new cover to make prefect.

Secondly there is some paint flaking off the frame, these frames as you probably know, are extremely heavy duty and built out of such heavy guage steel that you could use them as scaffolding so there is no need to worry about a bit of flaking off paint or even a bit of very superficial surface rust.

Just rub down the affected areas and paint with a bit of black gloss cellulose! lastly, as mentioned early the exhaust pipes are a little shabby looking but are solid and work perfectly.

I have changed the speedometer & the speedo that is now on the bike states 47,000 miles.

I changed the speedo because in my opinion the original T3 clocks spoil the look of the bike with its big black moulded plastic pod (similar in ugliness to the other item i replaced, as mentioned earlier i.e. the horrible standard switchgear).

The replacement clock suits the bike much better than the original, it is a much bigger 100mm diameter Veglia (the original is an 80mm Veglia) from an earlier Guzzi model, I think a V7. It has a lovely chrome bezel & the Guzzi logo on the dial & an alloy housing, I think this suits the overall look of the bike much better since nothing else on the T3 is plasticy, it has lovely stainless spoked Borrani alloy wheels, highly polished stainless mudguards, metal side panels, alloy alternator cover, chrome grab rail etc etc. but the speedo could easily & cheaply be replaced with the original type if the new owner prefers".

Thank you Ian, good luck with the auction...we'll keep a watch on progress and look forward to the forthcoming 1100 Sport!

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