Many of our readers will find it very appropriate that I’ve referenced a Ray Bradbury short story about dinosaurs for the title of this post. In a world of GSX-Rs and ZX-7s the Moto Guzzi Le Mans IV was indeed a dinosaur, long past its days as a world-class sportbike by 1987. But by then, Guzzi wasn’t really trying to compete with bikes from Japan, catering to die-hard Guzzisti in the same way Laverda did with last week’s RGS. So not a cutting edge sportbike, but the longitudinal v-twin has plenty of muscle and the platform is generally very stable. Unfortunately, this example does appear to be fitted or, as some would say, afflicted with a 16″ front wheel and tire combo.
These were all the rage in the 1980s, and fitted to increase a bike’s handing and agility. Unfortunately, a bike’s needed to be set up specifically to deal with the increased turn-in and Guzzi just bascially replaced the stock 18″ with a 16″ on some of their bikes. The effects varied from “negligible” to “high-speed weave across several lanes of traffic.” If this one’s gone 31,000 miles, it’s probably fine, and you should be able to swap an 18″ from a later bike on if you don’t like the handling. That’s what Guzzi did, after all…
Set smack in the middle of that soft rubber [safety feature!] dash is an enormous, white-faced Veglia tachometer. Given the clatter and boom these things can emit, especially with what look to be Lafranconi mufflers fitted, I’m not sure that tach needs to be front-and-center like that, but it sure looks good.
And, as I always have to point out: the keys for these actually have a folding bit so that, once inserted, they just look like a round knob you then twist… Very cool, but hard to replace if you lose one say, driving back from the DC area with a Guzzi in the bed of your pickup truck and you stop for a quick bite and the key somehow falls out of your pocket…
Only key I’ve ever lost, and it wasn’t even my bike.
From the original eBay listing: 1987 Moto Guzzi Le Mans IV for Sale
3rd owner very show worthy with 30,181 miles all original with the exception of the performance exhaust. Still have the original all boxed up for safe keeping. Reason for selling is age and medical condition preventing the owner from being able to enjoy this beautiful Italian icon of the 80’s. Now its your turn to own a piece of motorcycling history.
Photographs aren’t the best, but this does look like it’s in nice shape, and with a Buy It Now price of just $5,500 you’re looking at a very cheap way into Guzzi ownership, considering what V7s and original Le Mans are going for these days. These are very charismatic motorcycles, ideal for weekend rides and light touring where the ride is more important than how fast you get there…
-tad
Ummm. No.
It’s an Italian 82 GPz!
Oh I forgot.. With half the power..
Wow, never really noticed that before.