Long-legged, and easy

In the midst of a long recession, fuel shortages and widespread 'stagflation' suffered by large and small business alike, motorcycling surged in the 1970s. Very plainly a survival of the fittest game, the world's bike manufacturers picked up the slack by producing ever larger, more exciting designs, all organised neatly by class.

Much to the enthusiast's delight, this hotbed of competition came to a boil in 1980 - and not just in the sports-bike niche. Cultivating a rich vein of customers with cloned metric cruisers, decked-out road-sofas and off-road specialty models, Japan's rapid, well-funded expansion dominated the decade with a symphony of mechanical wizardry. Driven by a tireless work ethic, Japanese products and new technology had become synonyms.

But not every motorcyclist booked passage on the techno-train. These traditionalists didn't appreciate life's complexities invading their motorcycling. They were also discouraged from buying the rapid-fire new releases which were outdated before the monthly payment plan had been completed. The combination of specialisation and planned obsolesce pushed many buyers to older brands. Moto Guzzi offered old-school reliability with Latin flair, despite (or perhaps because of) the adaptation of modular practice and continued development o f its push rod V-twin.

Forty years on, values of European machines are steadily rising with roadster and touring prices climbing a little less steeply than their sportster equivalents. Moving into the second decade ofT-bike production, it's important to note 'specialty' models like the 1000cc Spada and California II altered base specifications, and factory updates were simultaneously applied across the range.

850T4 1980-85. 844cc, 4751b, 121mph

Guzzi's T 4 is basically an 8S0 T3 with a Spada fairing, uprated to