Street Cred without the “wannabe”.
Moto Guzzi has more “cruiser street cred” than most people give it credit for. They’ve been around continuously since 1921; longer than anyone but Harley Davidson. But for Harley Davidson, Guzzi’s been building cruisers longer than anyone els — their first cruiser in the incarnation you see above coming out in 1967 with the V700.
Guzzi has always liked building “big” bikes, but we must adjust scale. Italy, which was Guzzi’s biggest market for most of it’s life, had production street bikes with less than 100cc for decades — a bike above 300cc was considered “big”. Guzzi was at the top of the heap early on, with production 500cc bikes that were reliable and sporting. The 500cc Falcone of the 50s is an excellent example of this, a bike with incredible reliability, to the point where an American Guzzi Club member is an original owner of two, both ridden on close to a daily basis for more than 50 years!
The current “cruiser” platform is built around the laterally-mounted V-twin motor (originally 700cc, now 1100), running through an in-line, automobile-type transmission straight through to a drive shaft and bevel-drive final. After more than 40 years, it’s a highly refined system. The motor could best be described as a “two cylinder small-block, American V-8”. This really isn’t a stretch. The cam is in the vee, there is a conventional sump, it has a hemi-head with pushrods and rockers. It also makes gobs and gobs of torque, is insanely easy to work on, and is dead-nuts reliable. Continue reading “Moto Guzzi California Vintage Review – Day 1 – Can’t get off the bike!”