Rare Beast: 2004 Moto Guzzi V11 Coppa Italia for Sale

2004 Moto Guzzi V11 Coppa Italia
Miles: 2,419
Clean Title
Original Owner
Listing Price: $9,999
Listing Ends: June 12th, 2024

Moto Guzzi has a tradition of making quality sporting motorcycles, but a lack of funds has long limited their ability to develop competitive new models, and their current role in the Piaggio Group as the “retro/nostalgia” brand means we may never again see a Guzzi earning racing laurels… But for a brief time in the early 2000s Guzzi got serious about making a pretty decent sportbike. The V11 Sport was introduced in 1999 and represented a significant evolution of the company’s sports models. Gone was the classic “Tonti” frame, replaced by a modern spine frame that put the big, longitudinally-mounted and largely unchanged 1064cc, two-valve v-twin on full display, as is good and proper. A heavily modified transmission, now with six gears, drove the traditional Guzzi shaft drive, while modern suspension, adjustable at both ends, helped give the somewhat heavy beast excellent handling. At 482lbs dry and with 91hp on tap, it was no track day weapon, but it would rail along a country road with the best of them, while ladling out oodles of midrange torque and a booming exhaust note. Of course, Moto Guzzi milked the new platform for all it was worth, and the V11 Sport spawned a number of limited edition variants like today’s Moto Guzzi V11 Coppa Italia, with similar performance specifications to the original bike and uprated Öhlins front and rear suspension, along with the fully-faired “Le Mans” that was much more a sport-tourer than its namesake.

Original Owner. Low miles. Moto Guzzi Coppa Italia. Scratch on rear seat fairing.

The Moto Guzzi V11 Sport and its variants have long been some of the best-kept and most affordable secrets in motorcycling. They’re well built, relatively reliable, simple to work on, and have remained shockingly affordable, for all the Italian charisma they provide. They’re heavy, compared to bikes like the Ducati Monster, but the shaft drive and long legs suggest they’re really closer to a BMW flat twin in spirit than to their cousins in Bologna. Handling is generally excellent when experienced anywhere other than a racetrack and power is ample. The Coppa Italia model seen here was introduced after the Piaggio Group takeover, and build quality is generally considered better for these models. I think the paint scheme looks very classy, although I’m not a fan of the fairing design, and the Öhlins suspension should improve the already very capable handling. The price is pretty high for a V11, but the Coppa Italia was produced in very limited numbers: just 150 were built, making this a rare and exclusive beast.

-tad