impressive Soltz. It's a 72 Moto Guzzi 850, full dress, still has the 8 track. it's gonna stay. Been think'n about fire'n it up for a while now.
MG 850 Eldorado? Man,I wanted one of those really bad in '74 or so.
I bought a '72 Kawasaki Mach III H1B 500 cc disk brake model in early 1973. I rode it for almost a year before the Z1's came out.
We were leaving on a seven-month cruise to the Mediterranean, and I took the Mach III back to the dealer for an upgrade. I told the service manager, a pro motocross racer, that I didn't want to get beat stoplight to stoplight, to do what needed done. He installed a tuned exhaust, reed valves, shaved the heads, bigger carbs, did a few other tricks, including a new crank. As there was no cam, the crank was the only way to get more power. He found a guy in Connecticut who was making cranks for flat-track racing the two-stroke 500's, and put one in my engine. He balanced everything,shoved a 750 Mach IV clutch assembly in the hole he took mine out of. It fit, barely. But the pull was so stiff I pulled a muscle in my right forearm the first day I rode it.
When we got back, I settled up with the dealership for the amount beyond the substantial down payment I'd made, went out to see how it ran. I asked Ray, the pro MXer, what he thought. He said he wouldn't ride it. It was too nuts. Nobody else had ridden it either. As I left the parking lot, everyone working there was in the window, watching. No pressure.
I pointed the bike toward the Beach (I was halfway between VA Beach and Norfolk, VA) and pulled on the throttle. There was a short lag, as usual with a two stroke, then all heck broke loose when it hit the powerband. It went from around four grand to over 10,000 rpm's in what seemed like an eyeblink. The front wheel went skyward, and I was afraid to let up so I shifted, and shifted again. The front wheel came down somewhere in third year, and I flew through a very yellow light and another block or so before my brain kicked in. I took the thing out to a back road on the airbase and learned how to ride it.
I got thrown off the back a few times trying to learn how to launch it. I finally put a step-up seat and a short sissy bar on it to help keep me on it. Drag bars, metalflake paint, the biggest tires I could get under it on both ends. I am guilty of passing cars on the tollway between the Beach and Norfolk on the back wheel at over eighty mph. I went through toll booths in the middle of the night on the back wheel, scaring the daylights out of the attendants. I raced everyone I could find, and never lost stoplight to stoplight. I loved that bike, but woke up one day and knew it was time to get off it before I died on it. I traded it in at the same dealership for a year-old Honda 750 demo unit.
This was on a Thursday. I took it to a friends, painted it black with metalflake flames, installed a different seat, a short sissybar, highway pegs,
pullback drag bars, and a custom rear fender and taillight. When I went in for my 500 mile checkup on Tuesday, the bike had over 600 miles on it The tech asked me if it was a different bike.
As I was waiting, the sales manager asked me if I'd talk to a kid who wanted to buy my 500 Mach III. He wanted me to talk him out of it. The kid was 19, had never been on anything bigger or faster than a 250 dirt bike. I talked real hard to him,but could see the gleam in his eye. It was a lost cause. He'd seen me being a total fool on the bike, and wanted it, period. They sold it to him, and he got ready to leave. Once again, everyone was watching. He left the driveway okay, but pulled on the throttle too hard when he hit the street. When the powerband kicked in, the front wheel went up and the bike went across the street and hit the far curb, throwing the bike and rider into the front of a car parts store. He was okay, and insisted on pushing the bike back across the street himself.He left it there to be repaired, vowing to learn to ride it. I took my Honda 750 and left Virginia three days later for Key West. I never heard any more about the 500 or the new owner. I hope he tamed the beast and never got beat stoplight to stoplight.
