Gregory Bender

Cush drive upgrade, 850 T rear wheel upgrade

Moto Guzzi V700, V7 Special, Ambassador, 850 GT, 850 GT California, Eldorado, and 850 California Police models

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A popular upgrade to V7 / V700, Ambassador, and Eldorado models is to replace the rear wheel and drum brake with one from an 850 T. There are several benefits to doing so:

If you don't have an 850 T rear wheel (and they are getting scarce), you can still get the increased braking power by adapting a 2-leading shoe front brake plate.

Basic installation

Installation is straight forward. Just replace the stock rear wheel, brake plate, and axle with the rear wheel, brake plate, and axle from an 850 T. I'm not even sure you need to swap axles, but I did and forgot to visually compare the axles. I do recommend the following activities prior to install:

Added spring to help return the rear brake to the non-applied position after braking. I did not find this necessary on my 850 T rear brake.
Added spring to help return the rear brake to the non-applied position after braking. I did not find this necessary on my 850 T rear brake.

Photo courtesy of Ron Komoroski.

Replacing the brake stay arm

I've never liked that the cush drive does not sit parallel with the the rear swing arm. It always looks a bit off to me. So, I decided to fabricate my own brake stay rod to correct this annoyance.

Cush drive position with the stock brake stay rod.
Cush drive position with the stock brake stay rod.

Photo courtesy of Gregory Bender.

Cush drive position with the longer brake stay rod.
Cush drive position with the longer brake stay rod.

Photo courtesy of Gregory Bender.

Longer brake stay rod mounted to rear brake plate.
Longer brake stay rod mounted to rear brake plate.

Photo courtesy of Gregory Bender.

Just enough clearance for the front pivot arm.
Just enough clearance for the front pivot arm.

Photo courtesy of Gregory Bender.