Anyone who has Email addresses know that the internet is full of scammers. It’s easy to be fooled if you’re not alert — but luckily this particular story has a happy ending. It starts with a scam and ends with a beautiful Moto Guzzi street watchers from one of the UK’s best custom builders.
Before the owner of this Guzzi authorized it, he was rummaging through eBay for a new whip and came across a Moto Guzzi V65 that Tom Simpson owned. Casting motorcycles built. But something went wrong, so he contacted Tom to verify that the ad was legit. It’s not.
The phone call wasn’t wasted at all, and the guys connected. Tom said: “I let him know that I have some ingredients to make a very similar bike waiting in my sponsor’s bike parts locker. “A few calls later and the build was signed.”
Tom used the older Foundry version from the scam ad as a model, but took this bike in a newer direction. He used another sponsor to start: a 1994 Moto Guzzi 750 XPA. If you didn’t know, it was a modified version of Moto Guzzi’s NTX 750 adventure bike, used. by the Italian police.
Working in his workshop in West Sussex, Tom ripped the bike down to its wheelchair frame and removed “all traces of Italian wiring”. He also took the wheels down, then painted the center axles in Midnight Blue, before transferring them to Wheel in Motion. They’re back with 18” Morad rims and wrapped in dual sport Heidenau K60 tires.
The frame was disassembled before Tom built a set of custom mounts to move the bike’s vital electronics under the crate. At the back, he’s built a raised subframe, with Frenched LED taillights and new shock mounts.
Then it’s time to dive into the parts bin. Tom said: “It’s rare that I don’t have a set of Tracker bars from Biltwell Inc. on the shelf, and not long ago I bought a Kawasaki KH250 gas tank for exactly this purpose.”
The new front end was put together from a combination of leftover Guzzi parts. “It allowed me to run a combination of the Brembo 320mm disc and caliper, and was slightly shorter than the original Marzocchi setup.” The new YSS shocks have a return mission.
Next, Tom built an aluminum electrical box to put under the custom saddle. It has a Magnetti Marelli Lithium battery, an Electronik Sasche digital ignition module and a Motogadget mo.unit blue controller and mo.lock keyless ignition. It also doubles as a support for two-in-one air intakes of his own design.
Up front, the spokes have been cleaned and modified for a tiny Motogadget speedo. Tom installed the Biltwell bar with a Honda CBR600RR controller, a Motone button, and a Kellerman end turn signal light.
A lot of thought also goes into the exhaust system. “Although the tubes I made for the previous V65 were a hit, I needed to do something to make sure the bikes remained personal,” he explains. The answer is a stainless steel two-in-one system, with the silencer below the gearbox exiting through a slotted aluminum cap.
“I have also equipped a lambda boss for more effective tuning. This setup also sounds great – not a chunky Guzzi, like you’d expect when you see a V8 supercar racing down the road. I pride myself on trying to create exhausts that sound great rather than just humming.”
Tom’s background is blacksmithing, so Foundry builds tend to have at least one sand-cast aluminum part. However, he was trying something new this time around, using a 3D-printed die to mold the new front engine cover. Turns out to be great — so Tom is likely to have these for sale soon.
The seat was also created using a new technique — Tom used a two-part pourable foam sheet that he says is very comfortable, but also tedious to work with. Trim Deluxe has taken care of the seat covers.
Tom finished the Guzzi with adjustable rear attachments and removable latches, then ripped everything up for the final preparation. The engine housing, transmission and drive shaft were blasted and painted Cerakote in Burnt Bronze, before Moto Euro helped rebuild them with new knick-knacks.
S Jago Designs treated the Midnight Blue paint job, while Tom spent some time making the aluminum pieces shiny. “I think, for treatment reasons, I will polish myself this time,” he said. “Never repeat. It can be very gratifying but it’s too messy for me.”
As usual, Tom’s has created something compact and unfussy, while still adding some really artistic strokes. And it is said to run as well as it looks.
“Guzzi is a pleasure to ride,” he asserts. “With its experimental drivetrain, it is definitely a bike for urban environments and windy roads rather than highways, but with a well-classified 750 cc engine and a weight of just shy of 148 kg [326 lbs] wet, it is very likely to bring a real smile. “
What might end up as a cautionary tale about an empty bank account and an empty garage turns out instead to be a fairy tale about custom motorcycles. And if you want a piece of that happiness for yourself, there’s good news: Tom is currently collecting mini-block Guzzis to build a few more customs in this style.
Casting motorcycles | Facebook | Instagram | Photo of Gary Margerum
