6: Not much light on an old Guzzi.

Another thing I found out was that it wasnt possible to see much after dark. I am willing to bet that my Nimbus with its 6 volts had a better light than my Guzzi. So one day when I felt up to it, I decided to take a closer look. The parabola looked a bit worn. The silver lining that once was there, didnt look very silvery any more. And in front of the bulb there was a odd piece of metal. It turned out that there was an old fashioned light bulb – not a halogen one. And the piece of metal I had wondered about was placed there to prevent blinding people driving towards you. Not that there was much chance of that considering the lousy light – but that was the general idea.

A Guzzi like mine has the same kind of parabola like one of the later Fiat 127 models, so I bought a new one at Krogslund Autoparts. First I tried the local Fiat dealer but he looked strangely at me. Was perhaps able to get one within the next 2 or 3 weeks. Forget it – I find another place.

The parabola is fixed with 3 plastic gadgets. Two lacked on my old one – but a couple of plastic strips kept it in place. Not exactly the smartest….

When the new parabola arrived it turned out to be one for an old fashioned bulb – not the halogen one. Even though the box promised otherwise.

Luckily you can get bulbs with a socked like the old ones while the light itself is halogen. Until I figure out something else, thats the way Ive solved it. And its at least 5 times better than the old one.

When it comes to all the electric parts on old Italian bikes – and at least on Guzzis – you cant say much else than it is no good.

An example: The ignition coils need 12 volts. From the battery there is a wire to the ignition switch leading on to the kill-switch and from there on to the ignition coils. Strangely enough this particular connection has no fuse. On my bike I measured 10.5 volts directly on the ignition coil. This is far from ideal. So for the time being I have passed a wire from the fuse box to the coils. Furthermore there is not much power for the front lights so it is no wonder that they dont shine brightly. The ignition lock was already in the late 70ties of a dubious nature and it hasnt improved over the years.

A winter project must be to change this. I need some relays and some much thicker wires here and there. Another thing that I have to look into some day is the switch boxes. The person, who designed them at the beginning of time, ought to have been shot. I aim to find some from a scrapped Japanese bike and change them to fit mine.