In remembrance of the Bal d’Or from 1971, when a Moto Guzzi 850 made a podium finish after 24 hours, came the Le Mans 850. This Mark 3 has all the good stuff, revised heads with bigger valves, air-charged suspension, full-featured dash, and still wears its early 1980’s emissions and noise regulation gear. Complete as…
If asked to picture a red, Italian vee twin sportbike, the majority of the world would come up with a single marque: Ducati. But in truth the Italians have been rather prolific with their sporty scoots across dozens of manufacturers, even though some brands may not be household names here in the United States. And…
Update 4.15.2018: Now listed on eBay for $18,500. Good luck to buyers and seller! -dc These days, Moto Guzzi is pigeonholed as the Piaggio Group’s resident bearer of the sporty retro banner, building the Italian equivalent of Triumph’s classic Thruxton, Speed Twin, and Bobber. Which is a damn shame, given Guzzi’s history of legitimately competitive…
Rare as an air-cooled Moto Guzzi Le Mans is these days, a square-head Mark III is not often among them. And you wouldn’t be faulted for expecting orangey-red or black, but this example was re-done in a very BMW-ish grey metallic. The overall condition, trim Mk.III fairings and black wheels mask the age of this…
The wide Guzzi V-twin is instantly recognizable, the big air-cooled heads only lately fuel-injected and in this case protected by tipover guards. The longitudinal crankshaft machine has a history going back to 1976, long and stable, if not a lightweight. This V11 has some miles but looks undamaged and well cared-for. 2002 Moto Guzzi LeMans…
The Moto Guzzi 850 LeMans II took the marque’s sportiest offering from the ’70s and updated its styling and technology for the new decade. What had been born in the mid-70s as the high-compression, big-carb version of Guzzi’s familiar v-twin standard was updated with air-assisted forks, linked brakes and Nikasil cylinder walls. The 850 LeMans…
Fans of modern machinery may not understand how Moto Guzzi, with their clunky driveshafts and pushrod v-twins, is allowed even a grudging membership to the sportbike club. Of course, a look back a bit further shows Guzzi was very successful in a variety of racing classes throughout the 40s and 50s. But they wanted to…
It’s a shame we’ll probably never see a modern Moto Guzzi sportbike, since they’ve been nominated official “heritage brand” for the Piaggio Group. Especially disappointing, since Guzzi was active and successful in a variety of racing classes up into the 1970s. Guzzi even had a modern superbike in the works intended to compete head-to-head with…