Moto Guzzi has been building motorcycles since 1921, making it the longest established European motorcycle manufacturer in continuous production. The factory in Mandello del Lario, Italy, was the birthplace of several industry firsts—including the first wind tunnel for motorcycles, and an eight-cylinder engine.
Since 2004, Moto Guzzi has been owned by Piaggio, Europe’s biggest motorcycle manufacturer. Although production is not huge compared to the Japanese and American makers, the company is now on a stable footing and has a passionate fan base—attracted by the air-cooled 90° V-twin engines. The transverse cylinder heads projecting on either side of the bike are an easily identifiable feature.
Moto Guzzi is extremely popular with custom motorcycle builders, who tend to focus on the iconic Le Mans series of bikes built from 1976 onwards, and the V7. More recently, the ‘new’ V7 and V9 models have been a sales success, and have featured prominently in Moto Guzzi’s own ‘factory custom’ sponsored builds.
There’s no denying the performance advantage of liquid cooling, but if you’re of the opinion that air-cooled machines are obsolete, we say not so fast. The fact is that there are loads of air-cooled motorcycles you can still buy for 2024 in most every discipline of riding, offering significant upsides in MSRP, mechanical simplicity and…
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Paul Führmann’s mission in life is to build custom motorcycles that “seamlessly blend artistry and engineering.” That’s not only a noble goal, but it’s also a great way to describe the machines that he chooses to work on. Paul specializes in classic Moto Guzzis—especially the mythical Tonti frame Moto Guzzis of the 1970s. This Moto…
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Despite their growing rarity and cost, the allure of owning, wrenching and riding a vintage machine is strong. Older bikes have a certain je ne sais quoi—the vibration, the thunderous sound, the smell of warm oil and fuel. A vintage Moto Guzzi Le Mans, for example, can be downright intoxicating. Martin ‘Sewy’ Fischer knows the…
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The motorcycle racing influence is clear in this week’s Speed Read. We start off with a Moto Guzzi sidecar hack built to set a land speed record, then profile the new Norton V4CR limited edition café racer. A vintage Triumph Trackmaster flat tracker follows, before we conclude with an endurance racing-inspired Yamaha XSR900.
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I’m not much of a golfer, so the beauty of the Quail Lodge and Golf Club is largely lost on me. But…
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Czech hypercar manufacturer, Praga, unveiled their $92,000 limited edition ZS 800 this week. We take a closer look at it, along with…
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The Roman philosopher Seneca said that “luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” If that’s true, then the story of this…
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Anyone with an email address knows that the internet is rife with scammers. It’s easy to get hoodwinked if you’re not vigilant—but…
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There’s no denying that I’m a huge fan of Axel Budde and his custom motorcycle outfit, Kaffeemaschine. Axel flew onto my radar…
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Commissioned builds are the lifeblood of any successful custom motorcycle businesses, but so is a strong portfolio. So it’s not unusual for…
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Moto Guzzi doesn’t make too much noise these days, but they do have some gems in their collection. One of these is…
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Axel Budde believes that motorcycle travel should be done in style. He’s the founder of the Moto Guzzi specialist shop, Kaffeemaschine, who…
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