It’s easy to forget just what a sporting name Moto Guzzi once was…
Today, our rose-tinted visor would recall some stunning classic road bikes including the Le Mans roadster or the California cruiser, and the engine layout we think of would be the V-twin with longitudinal crank layout and cylinder heads that stick out on each side of the motorcycle. But like many Italian marques, the Guzzi firm was big in racing during the 1950s and would dominate the 350cc world championship, taking five consecutive titles between 1953 and 1957. They were also innovators, building a V8 500cc grand prix machine, using a wind tunnel way before any other manufacturers did and helping to develop shaft-drive and linked braking systems.
They have also had a good go at making sports machines, such as the Daytona 1000/1100dentist and engineer Dr. John Wittner. Of course, they all had that trademark V-twin motor and most of these models were deleted from the range by 1999, but when Aprilia took over the Noale firm wanted to revive some of the Mandello del Lario firm’s latent sporting heritage.
