How To Replace a Moto Guzzi V7 Battery

The Moto Guzzi V7 is a motorcycle that’s both elegant, and easy to work on. Accessing the battery on a Moto Guzzi V7 is a breeze, but it will require two tools, and you might not have one of them. Here’s how to replace the battery on a Moto Guzzi V7.

The first V7 came out in the late 1960s, and there’s a certain beauty to it’s simplicity that has remained with the bike for half a century. Fun fact: The engine designed for the V7 in 1971 is still the basis of Moto Guzzi’s 750cc, 1,100cc and 1,200cc motors.  But let’s get right into it and talk about the battery.

V7 owners will need to access the battery on their Moto Guzzi either for maintenance, or for replacement. Let’s talk about both.

Click the little unmute button in the bottom left corner to unmute the video.

Accessing your battery for maintenance

If you need to access the battery on your Moto Guzzi V7 for maintenance, odds are your battery has gone flat, meaning it’s dead, and your bike isn’t currently starting. If you’re lucky, all you’ll need to do is access your battery and recharge it. But how will you know if the battery is still good?

I wrote an article and published a video, showing you step-by-step two ways to test if your motorcycle battery is still good, or if it needs replacement. The reason I suggest checking out that content is that batteries can be recharged using a trickle charger made for motorcycle batteries (not for cars), and they might even be able to start your bike back up again, but that doesn’t mean that they are actually healthy enough to not die out on you and leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere, or cut out on you while you’re on the highway.

At the same time, often enough, all a battery needs is a long full recharge, and if you’re lucky that means you can save yourself some hard earned cash. That’s why you should always recharge, and then test your motorcycle battery. Hopefully you don’t have to replace your battery, but if not, here’s how to prepare a brand new motorcycle before installing it.

If you’re extra lucky, you might have small enough fingers or tools to only have to take a side cover off (more on that in just a minute) in order to access the battery.

Accessing your battery for replacement

The first thing you should do is test your motorcycle battery to make sure it needs to be replaced. Next, you’ll want to properly prepare and charge a new motorcycle battery. Now you might be wondering, “How do I replace the battery on my Moto Guzzi V7?”

In that case, not only will you need to take a side cover off, you’ll need a Torx-27 (T-27, sometimes called Star head 27). It’s annoying if you don’t have them, but luckily they’re cheap and Amazon can deliver them to you tomorrow. Also, they’re worth the investment, as more and more motorcycles (especially German and Italian bikes) are using these.

By the way, if you’re looking for a replacement battery for the V7 Stone, Cafe Racer, etc. all V7s takes this one.

How to Replace the Battery on a Moto Guzzi V7

When I was trying to figure out where the battery is on a Moto Guzzi V7, I started looking for videos. The only one I could find was 9 minutes long. That’s way too long to spend watching a video to figure out where the battery is, which is why I created the one above. I wanted to show people the V7’s battery location and how to access it in less than a minute.

However, I know a lot of you have told me that you don’t want the text-based content to go away, so here are some step by step instructions for those who don’t care for video:

Step 1) Remove the right side cover

• Three bolts hold the right side cover in place
• Remove them by using a 4 mm hex key (aka allen key) or 4 mm bit
• Keep them somewhere safe as these are special bolts designed to fit the openings of the V7 and you’ll need to get a replacement from a dealer

Step 2) Remove the bracket holding the battery in place (optional)

• Only necessary if you need to replace the battery, or don’t have the right tools to work on the positive terminal of the battery
• Two bolts hold a bracket which secures the battery in place
• Remove them by using a T-27 torx key or bit T-27 bit
• Try not to lose these either

Pro tip: If you’re going to have bolts out of your bike for more than just a couple hours, you should consider putting them in clear ziplock sandwich bags. You can see what’s inside, and even use a permanent marker to write important information on the bag like what part of which bike the parts are from.

COMMENTS: What do you think about the V7? Was getting to your battery easy? Let me know!