Fritz has recently joined Squadra Guzzista's forum and we are delighted to be in his company!

When he started to show us pics of his gorgeous 850 T3 from 1976 we just had to get him to tell all about it and submit a feature.

Happily, Fritz agreed, downloaded this form, answered the questions and supplied the pics...easy as that!

If you want to feature your bike in the same way, just do what Fritz did, we'll be delighted to add your bike to this section! Squadra Guzzista is all about real Guzzis that real people ride...go for it! ...well...over to Fritz!

"I live in Seattle, Washington. I've lived here since 1998 after moving from the midwest portion of the United States. I've been riding bikes for a little less than eight years.

Well.... I have to admit to being a sportbike snob for most of my riding days and considered Guzzis overweight tractors that were better than Harleys only because they were so much better looking. Over the last couple of years, mostly due to a sport-touring.net member named Orson, and a couple of other Guzzi owners there, Moto Guzzis became more and more alluring. I'd been riding a 2004 Triumph Speed Triple SE and having way too much when I injured my back and had to sell the bike to help stay afloat while unemployed and to help offset the costs of back surgery. Not having a bike my options were wide open once I was back on my feet and I started looking for Guzzis. I found my T3 on craigslist and was lucky enough to be both the first person to respond to the ad and the first to go see the bike. I simply had to have it. I simply love the bike.

I did a season of novice racing my second summer of riding but for the most part my riding, due to time and financial constraints, is confined to commuting year 'round here in Seattle and day rides in the summer. I'm very much looking forward to doing some multiple day rides this coming summer and I think the T3 will be fantastic.

The basic rolling chassis of the bike is a Tonti-framed 1976 850 T3. I bought it in the summer of 2007 and found it on craigslist. It's my first Guzzi but certainly not my last. The bike is not stock. It has Bub cans, NGK plug wires, probably an aftermarket headlight bucket, a custom seat that looks like a Sargent but isn't, and factory upgraded forks. The paint is also custom and was done by the second to last owner. That owner also installed rear-sets. The only modifications I've made are to swap the original bell-tops of the Dell'Orto carbs for flat tops and to install a single-plate clutch to replace the utterly shot stock clutch. I'm lazily looking into some sort of cafe fairing for it as well, but funds are tight so it will be a while before anything happens on that front.

This bike really only has one purpose - to be ridden as often as possible. As I mentioned before I commute year 'round here in Seattle and the bike acts as my main form of transportation. I may put in on the track just for grins at some point, but I'm mainly looking forward to hitting the open road on it.

While the bike certainly doesn't have the power or agility or antisocial nature of my old Speed Triple, it handles incredibly well for a bike from its era. It certainly handles better than other bike I've ridden from the seventies and better than some from the eighties. When I put Pirelli Sport Demons on it it was shocking how eagerly it cornered.

Still, it is a 32 year old bike. For anyone used to modern clutch and throttle pull it might seem herculean to ride, but I'm used to it now. I test rode an FZ6 for a friend and realized how foreign modern bikes are to me now.




As for maintainance.... well, you do have to take the pan off to change the oil and there are a LOT of bolts. That's a bit of a pain, admittedly. Otherwise, since I had the clutch installed I had one minor adjustment that Micha at Moto International took care of and it's been completely hassle free since.

It's simply wonderful to ride. I haven't had this much fun riding at a moderate pace ever and the bike will actually scoot pretty well. It handles, as I mentioned above, incredibly well. The brakes are certainly vintage, but they're confidence inspiring enough to trail in on the front. It's slow-revving but the grunt is delicious. It has a big spread of torque down low, from 2k to 5k and also likes to be revved up to 6 or 7k.

It won't win any drag races but it moves quickly enough for me at this point. The gear box is a tad clunky, third gear is especially tricky and requires a very positive shift, but it does the trick and I have no complaints. It's not a Suzuki, after all.

The riding position, with the rear-sets, is actually almost identical to my Speed Triple and as such is perfect for me. I'm 5'11" with a long trunk and I like to have my feet a tad behind me and a little higher than normal. I'm pretty sure the bar is also aftermarket and it's fairly flat and low, but the reach is very comfortable.

Basically it's a slightly aggressive sit-up and beg position and it very comfortable for both corner carving and long distances.










Ahhh... the appeal. It's hard to describe. When I first saw the bike I just knew I had to have it. It looks the way a motorcycle should. It's simple, clean, the lines make sense. It's elemental. Black and green are also two of my favorite colors and the paint scheme is fantastic.

And the sound.... you know you're riding a motorcycle. The Bub cans give it a fantastic, deep rumble. It's been likened to a small-block V8. When riding it it's like a mechanical symphony.

The bike, to use the old cliche, has soul, more soul than any bike I've owned. More than the Speed Triple, more than the RC30 I owned for a brief time. The one way Guzzis are similar to Harleys is that you either get it, or you don't. It took me a while, but I got it.







So much so, in fact, that I'm constantly looking for others. I'd very much like to find an Eldorado or Ambassador for real touring. And, simply because I think it's the very best-looking of the V11 variants, a Tenni.

I test rode a 1200 Sport and I think we slightly different bar set-up one of those would be fantastic as well. I found Squadra Guzzista on cafepress.com looking for Guzzi swag."

Thank you Fritz for sharing your tremendous bike with us! If you would like to do the same for your bike, click here: GO, answer the questions and send them with some pics of your bike to info@guzzista.com. Like this page? Recommend us to your friends: GO

Fritz's stunning 1976 Moto Guzzi 850 T3