1974 850T

[adman]

I'm looking at a 1975 850T that is for sale. Don't know much about this bike. The ignition system has been converted to electronic. It has about 23,000 miles. There is an occasional drip under the clutch housing. I assume that there is a rear main seal that needs replacing.

The current owner says the rear gear set had been replaced with a higher ratio (engine turns faster). He felt that this was not good for highway riding to stock gear set was put back in.

The first question is how hard is this seal to replace?
Next are most parts for this bike still available?

Any other other comments appreciated.

 

[SgtCrump]

Welcome to the Guzzi world!!

Try MG Cycle.... A full gasket set is only about 75 bucks, and the rear main seal is around $20......

between them, Moto International, and Harpers, I would guess you would find just about anything you need. Moto Guzzi Classics also has a huge amount of parts, like boneyard stuff.
Otherwise that should be a good ride. Those models, with disc brakes, and Tonti frames, are considered good platforms for making custom "sport bikes" . Some have been built into V7 replicas that are pretty nice looking. On the other hand, they make decent tourers with windshield and bags.
Consider looking at any photo albums you can find to see what others have done. Make sure you do before and after pics....there is a thread here for those.

 

[Morizzi]

What Crump wrote is correct. Many have been converted but there was never that many T's built in the first place before being replaced by the T3 so it is a collectible bike in its own right.

23,000 miles! I would guess its been around the clock at least once. Its been out there for 34 years.

There is nothing particularly difficult about working on one of those but if you aren't that mechanical it will cost you a bit to get to the rear main seal. The gearbox has to come off so the frame needs to be crabbed. It could of course be the input seal to the gearbox and I have heard of some leaking through the bearing but you won't know until you investigate.

850T's had chrome bores, I think. They had a nasty habit of flaking so you might want to get someone with a bore scope to have a look.

Now this is just my opinion. I love old Guzzis but I am prepared to pull them apart and work on them totally myself. This bike is 34 years old. Little things will probably go wrong but generally they will get you there and get you home. They are robust but the T has been robust for a long time already. If you want everyday transport and you aren't mechanically prone you may want to think again. If you want a machine that is collectible, a joy to own and able to be maintained at home then this bike would suit.

If it was me, I would keep the T as a T. So few left. I like riding something a bit less common.

Hope this helps but I probably didn't.:silly:

 

[guzzibob]

I have a '78 T3, which is the successor to the T, essentially the same bike but with triple integrated disc brakes, rather than the single disc front, twin leading shoe rear the T had. I had a T, traded it for a T3 cause the triple discs are way, way better. In fact, rear drum on the T is way too sensitive, too easy to lock. Solution is to either mal-adjust the rod at the brake lever, or slightly bend the brake rod. Front disc is pretty weak even by standards of the day, but can be easily double disced or improved in other ways.

My T3 was purchased new by me in '78, & is still used on a fairly regular basis, sometimes fairly long distance. Now has approx 150k miles & runs absolutely great for what it is. Biggest problem with purchasing a bike this old is that unless you know the owner, you never really know what has been done, or not done. Like, is the mileage 23k, or 123k, or 223 k? Really could be only 23k, amazing how many bikes have lots of years but very few miles, but hard to know for sure. Also, has it really been maintained well, or not? Oil leak is probably rear main seal. Cheap parts, but lots of labor to get to unless you do it yourself. Most Guzzisti would let it leak unless it was really bad until there was some other reason to get in there, then replace every seal in sight.

Compared to most other 30+ YO bikes, you will be amazed at availability of NOS or good used or new aftermarket parts for most anything on these bikes. I'll mention Moto Guzzi Classics, MG Cycle, Harper's, Moto International as good sources for parts & information.

The business about the chrome bore is important. Many chrome bore Guzzis of that age have already had the barrels replaced, but again, you never know without checking. If still chrome bore, if it hasn't started to flake yet, it will, so you should replace before it does & takes other engine compnents with it. There are the preferred by many Gilardoni Nigusil kits, apparantly becoming available again, or the usual bore & sleeve jobs.

These can be great bikes properly maintained. My T3 sure is.

 

[dsenn]

I have two T3s and these are great bikes. The first one I got had an oil leak under the trans. where it connects to the engine. First thing you want to do is determine if it is engine oil or gear oil, the smell of it will tell you what it is. Mine was a combination of trans. input shaft seal and the seal around the clutch shaft that goes thru the input shaft. Main seal was good. On my second one(which I just finished, photos on wild goose forum under I like T3s) the chrome bores had just started pitting so were replaced with gilardoni sets from MG cycle. Parts are readily available and they are easy to work on. enjoy it.