Most custom enthusiasts refine and tinker with their bikes. Sometimes it?s to keep them in line with changing tastes and styles. Sometimes it?s to improve performance. And other times, it?s to fix age-related issues or the ravages of time.
In the case of this sharp-looking Moto Guzzi, it was for all those reasons. It?s a 1979 LeMans III belonging to John Gauthier of the French moto site 4h10, and we first featured it six years ago.

It?s a very different bike now though, because John uses it as his daily rider around Paris?and the original incarnation simply wasn?t practical enough.
?The previous version had an ?endurance? tank,? says John. ?It was very long and made it quite hard to ride. So I decided to change everything. I?ve kept the work my friends originally did, and it?s now on shelves at my place.?
John had a huge road trip to the Italian lakes planned, so he decided to get his Guzzi into proper shape beforehand. Of course, it didn?t quite go to plan ?
After deciding to change the Rickman tank, John went all in: he took the engine out of the frame and dismantled the LeMans. The motor is a powerful 1000cc upgrade over the original 850cc, but it was looking shabby?so John replaced all the fasteners, took it back to bare metal and repainted it. It?s still black, but with much higher-quality paint this time.

After detabbing and restoring the frame, John set to work on the invisible parts that govern the reliability. ?I put in an electronic ignition with high...