Well this was a quite unexpectedly early blog to be making seeing as the wee Guzzi has only been at its temporary home for just over a week. But, how things move on when you know what you are doing. Of course the ‘you’ to whom I am referring is not me but said Electro-God brother-in-law!
Once my girl had settled into her temporary abode she was disembowelled of the rats nest of wires that had masqueraded as a wiring loom.
Now that mess is being replaced with precision, care and attention to detail…
The previous owner of the bike had continued with the quirky (flak jacket donned!) linked brake system Guzzi bestowed upon the V50 but had upgraded the master cylinder with a handlebar mounted one that on inspection is going to unbalance the brakes as it is so much more powerful than the original frame mounted cable operated gubbins. The Brembo bar mounted master cylinder is expensive especially as it required a new lever and clamp…probably around £170 ($260)…so rather than replace that we are going to de-link the brakes.
The original Moto Guzzi system has the brake lever operate one front brake caliper whilst the foot brake operates the other front brake caliper plus the rear caliper in order to evenly distribute braking and enhance stability under braking. On the rear brake master cylinder there is a banjo splitter one side of which sends brake fluid to the rear caliper via a short braided hose whilst the other sends brake fluid along some copper brake pipe which then connects to braided hose to one of the front calipers.
SPLITTER
So the plan is to remove all of the copper piping and place a blanking plug in the corresponding connection on the banjo splitter seen above. Given the angle of the screw in brake light switch it seems easier to blank off one side of the splitter than go for a single banjo that would present problems when attaching the side panel.
Up at the handlebar mounted master cylinder a double length banjo to allow two braided hoses from both front calipers will be inserted into the master cylinder separating the front brakes from the rear as in a conventional braking setup.
I am aware that it is likely that the rear brake will become quite hard as it is only actuating one caliper as opposed to two so I may choose to go to a smaller capacity rear master cylinder if I can find one that has 50mm mounting hole centres.
The ignition wiring circuit is complete now, although the routing and taping up of all the wires will still be needed. So whilst the lighting circuit is being worked on, below is a quick video showing how with some fuel the Little Goose would come to life!
could you not just swap the masters over? that way what was the back one would still be operating two calipers, and the one that was on the front, (but now on the rear) would still only be operating one. or is this like 'the offside rule'? Either way'd get advice from someone who knows what they're doing - the above is only 'a thought'
ReplyDeleteHI Des...I think it would be more costly doing it that way as the front is handlebar mounted and operated by the lever so wouldn't be suitable for the rear, necessitating a new master cylinder. The rear could probably be mounted under the tank where the old cable operated master cylinder for the front disc was originally situated. I would need different lengths of brake lines making up too. I like the analogy of the offside rule ;-)
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