Cycle Garden treats all Moto Guzzi sheet metal with the now seldom used and classic art form of metal finishing. From toolbox and side-covers to tank and fenders, if a piece of sheet metal needs to be repaired, we still use superior, tried and true lead fills instead of slapping in heavy amounts of "bondo". While we do, in rare instances, apply small amounts of plastic filler to erase the last tiny pinholes and imperfections, our primary tools are a body hammer, dolly, torch and file. We stretch, shrink, and finish our sheet metal smooth enough for paint, and durable enough for the long haul.

Because of our unique approach of opening up gas tanks during the re-chroming process, we can now repair dents from the inside with the use of a dolly. By bumping the low spot from behind we can bring dents back near the original contour of the tank. See Chrome section.

Solder (lead) is then applied with the torch over the repair surface and kept just warm enough to maintain a semi-solid (plastic-like) state. While the lead is soft, wooden paddles that are dipped in tallow (beef fat used to keep the lead from sticking) then the paddles are used to smooth the metal filler into its final shape. All that extra attention is well worth it: a lead repair will last ages longer than any bad bondo job.

At Cycle Garden we employ TIG or Heliarc welding in our body work. Most shops will use MIG welding, because it is far less time consuming. We find that TIG, or Tungsten Inert Gas welding, produces a more precise weld, often so seamless that it requires little to no finish work.

If your sheet metal is heavily damaged, we may need to assess whether it is salvageable. Although we can resurrect most any piece with a mixture of heat, hammer and dolly, some rust buckets are so far gone that it may not be cost effective to repair. Our primary goal is to retain the original integrity of any Guzzi sheet metal, so we make repair/replacements assessments on a piece-by-piece basis.

Cycle Garden keeps a large selection of used/stock sheet metal on hand should yours be beyond salvage. Call us for quotes.