Tom Simpson is a busy man. As the only pair of hands at Foundry Motorcycle, he’s usually in the workshop six days a week, with the next two years of his diary blocked off. So when a project came in with a limited budget and an eight week lead time, he had to change tack.
The donor bike was a 1979 Moto Guzzi V1000 G5 that had been sourced, unseen, from a dealer in the UK, by a client in San Francisco. The bike was shipped directly to Foundry in West Sussex, with a short brief that immediately turned Tom onto the idea of doing a restomod, rather than a more extreme custom job.

?He wanted a short list of parts fitted, and everything black,? Tom tells us. ?Drilled discs, a new ignition switch and the removal of the original seat and mudguards. ‘Clean as possible restomod’ was my first and favorite idea?but having not built a black bike in 10 years, I needed to inject some color.? ?The restomod approach was very much a result of deadline and budget. It was actually quite refreshing, I haven?t turned a bike around this quickly in years and I?m really pleased with how effective the changes are.?

Despite the Guzzi’s neat appearance, the job wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. The client only had photos and a description to go on when he bought it, that apparently employed a lot of poetic license. ?It was previously the recipient of a very poorly executed restoration, and a comical (‘professional’) rewire,? says Tom.
?From the off the e...