Charles Poelmans spent twenty years building custom cars and restoring vintage Maseratis before turning his attention to motorcycles. His workshop, Reset Cycles, sits in the south of the Netherlands and combines his fabrication skills with a love of Italian engineering.
The donor bike is a 1979 Moto Guzzi V1000 G5, a big touring machine from Mandello del Lario. Charles stripped it to its core elements: frame, engine, wheels, and bodywork.
The guiding principle was simple. Remove anything unnecessary and hide everything that remains.
Hiding the Hardware
An internal throttle eliminated cables from the handlebar. The front brake master cylinder moved beneath the tank, and a Motogadget speedometer integrated into the headlight shell replaces the original cluster.
Handmade switchgear and levers keep the bars clean. Motogadget indicators tuck into the brake lever housings at the front and into the frame at the rear.
Threaded holes in the triple clamps were welded shut. Handlebar clamps secure from underneath to leave no visible bolts on the upper triple.
The engine came out for a full rebuild. Charles removed the mechanical tachometer drive and ignition mounting flange, fitting an oil temperature gauge in the opening.
Casings received a subtle grey coating, and Allen bolts were recessed further into the cases for a cleaner surface. Dell’Orto PHF carburetors feed the rebuilt V-twin.
The exhaust system is entirely handmade. Long, tapered silencers echo the shape of the intake velocity stacks above them.
Brake and gear levers follow the original design but sit behind the silencers to stay out of sight. The rear brake master cylinder and caliper were similarly repositioned.
Excel high-shouldered rims measure 2.15 x 18 front and 2.50 x 18 rear, wrapped in Bridgestone BT46 tires. The fork legs lost their unnecessary mounting points, with discreet brackets fabricated for the front mudguard.
Handmade Tank and Seat
Both the fuel tank and seat are handmade. The tank reuses the original fuel cap as a nod to the donor bike, and House of Kolor paint finishes the tank and mudguards.
The seat incorporates a rear light styled after units found on 1950s British cars and pre-unit Triumphs. All electronics are Motogadget, tucked beneath the tank and seat.
A lockable hatch under the seat opens to a small storage compartment for a lock or other essentials.
I appreciate a builder who commits to a single vision and follows through on every bolt. This V1000 rewards a second look, where another hidden detail surfaces each time.
Reset Cycles previously built a Moto Guzzi V100 Mandello Sport that drew attention for its factory-prototype appearance. Other builders have taken different paths with the brand, like the custom Moto Guzzi V50 II cafe racer by Andrei Kouznetsov.
This V1000 takes the opposite direction from the Mandello build, stripping away everything that could distract from the machine itself.
Source: BikeBound
