Kawi2strokes.com Forum

Never ridden one and i know little of these bikes. Ive only ever owned old two strokes mostly dirt bikes and some road bikes. I am old too So i dont even know why i like Guzzis. I think i like the look of the engine!
1985 lemans 1000. 2 owners 40,000k Anyone here owned one? Are they a goood bike? reliable, handling? I just want too ride it, Not work on it. Im 6ft4 tall, would it suit?
Mind you my h1 is too small, but i dont care

A good friend had a LeMans of that vintage, and I rode it a few times. It is a lot different to any Kawasaki triple In my view the gearbox ratios were "wrong" - not linear like a H1/H2. And Italian electrics of that era can be, err, problematic!! But that is just my view, owners seem to like them!

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"One day, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching." : anon.

Agree with Rodh2 nice tractable engine, very good frame but the gearbox is the same than on a soviet union farm tractor and the electricity is
And don't remember if the Le Mans 1000cc 1985 had 16 wheels cause if it's don't buy it, good tyres are difficult to find and the frame doesn' really like them

Think about what you said....You don't want to work on it so you're out there looking at 25 yr old bikes.

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Busy doing more riding than wrenching.......

Ive ridden a couple of them and JP's "Russian Tractor" transmission comparison is SPOT ON.

C.....L.....U.....N......K......Y

The engine is cool though. Torquey suckers and fun to ride.......sorta.

Would be cool to have just as that "oddball" every other wednesday bike, but not my cuppa.

The only Guzzy I've ridden had a 2-speed transmission with a torque converter. It was a sort of semi-automatic that in theory, you shifted only when going between in-town and highway riding. I wasn't crazy about that at the time, but after hearing about the clunky manual one, I don't know which would be better. Probably the clunky manual one.

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If it surges, that's normal, upshift.

there are very few bikes i really despise. CX500, cm400 (or any cm) and any guzzi. i dont know why, i freakin hate them. just saying.
nothing about them technically, they are just the rosie o donnells of motorcycles, they appeal to me in no what whatsoever.

that being said, those who have em love em.

Oh crap, now I need to café one.

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If it surges, that's normal, upshift.

I have had one, California touring model with windshield + bags, excellent long haul bike. Gears clunky, yes but be patient its not a racer. Only problem i faced was the lack of space for legs; cylinders are on the way. I am 187 cm and that was the reason i went to Harley.

Look at my files at home yesterday evening and the 1985 model year 1000cc Le Mans has a 16 rear wheel and the tester said about this 16 rear wheel "this makes the bike unstable and with bad handling", a shame as those with18 rear wheel are very stable even at high speed
BTW one 850cc Le Mans (french Moto Guzzi bike coming directly from Mandelo factory) won one race on french production race 1000cc class on 1978 against H2s (at Le Mans track!!) which still won the championship but the bike was illegal as it had 1000 cc barrels and non standart exhaust look like standart and all the bikes after on the first 10 were H2s, we said nothing as we ran with av-gas petrol which was also illegal