Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128184
plished, but also the first step in the complete overhaul of the range of models offered by Italy's oldest extant bike manufacturer. There was an array of three new motorcycles on show, each very different from the other. Smallest in capacity but destined for immediate production was the STR750 Breva, an entry-level roadster based on the Nevada custom, but with its fuel-injected pushrod V-twin engine completely overhauled and refined. The Breva is also fitted with the firm's new six-speed gearbox, with its vastly superior action to the old five-speed cement-mixer. Production of the Breva will start early in 2003 - but it'll be longer before we see the other two showbikes in the shops. Both of these are powered by the eight-valve Daytona engine currently out of production while Guzzi/Aprilia completely re-engineer it - though their general acclaim at Intermot ensured both bikes will indeed make it to production. One of these was the latest product of designer Luciano Marabese, whose previous Centauro musclebike evidently gave rise to the aggressive-looking new Griso 'Technocustom' streetrod launched at Intermot as a Guzzi with attitude. The other was the much more aesthetically beautiful MGS/O 1 sportbike constructed on behalf of Moto Guzzi by neighboring marque specialists Ghezzi E, Brian on the basis of their acclaimed existing Supertwin model. Intermot 2002 gave the definite impression that, with Aprilia's help and as a potent counter to slumping scooter sales, the wings of the eagle on the Guzzi tank badge are starting to flap a bit harder. No, make that a lot harder. Proof of this came just a couple of weeks later, when 10,000 guzzisti drawn from all over the world packed the streets of Mandello for Guzzi's annual rally, this year marking the company's 81st year of existence. Before hopping onto a bike with his wife Tina as passenger to lead a lap of the historic old 'Italian TT' Circuito del Lario circuit close to Mandelio, Ivano Beggio escorted the pack of local dignitaries around the factory, along with rally participants. They were rewarded with a tour of the renovated factory, gleaming and bright as a prized vintage motorcycle fresh out of a two-year restoration, but with an engine rebuilt with modern components at its core, reflecting the substantial investment in new machinery which Beggio has made within the refurbished structure. But his emphasis on combining the old with the new is nowhere better emphasized than in the completely revamped factory museum, whose magnificent array of breathtakingly engineered jewels was formerly displayed pretty much as an afterthought, in serried ranks as if they just happened to have been stored like that, and privileged visitors were being admitted to glance them over. That's all changed now: under Aprilia's aegis, Brovazzo and his men have created a sparkling, modern display of ancient and not-so-ancient machinery, ranging from the Guzzino 75cc runabout which helped so significantly in putting postwar Italy back on the roads, through to the magnificent V8 500cc Grand Prix racer which, even today in the era of the V5 Honda RC211 V, remains the most exotic and sophisticated racing motorcycle ever built. What's more, as a vintage bike enthusiast with his own private collection including such jewels as a Brough Superior SS 100 and Vincent Vtwin, Mr.Beggio has even arranged to let you hear the Guzzi V8 running - for as you walk toward the bike on display in the museum all alone on a plinth with an engine beside it, you trip a sensor that triggers a recording of the engine being warmed up in the pits at Monza. It is literally awesome, and now that it's open to the public on a regular basis, the Guzzi factory museum is a must-visit milestone on any bike fan's next trip to Italy. And the one after that. The evident success along a long hard road that Moto Guzzi's ongoing trip down the comeback trail represents can be attributed entirely to the astute management of 53-year old Beggio, Italy's 15th top-earning businessman according to Panorama magazine, drawing an approximate $7.5 million salary in 2000, but a man whose business acumen and personal drive have combined with his deeprooted enthusiasm for motorcycles to position Aprilia as a genuine fifth force in world motorcycling. Aprilia is also the only European marque successfully to challenge the Japanese giants in Grand Prix racing, where the two World Riders crowns won cue this year by Marco Melandri and Arnaud Vincent have brought to 19 the number of World Championships won by Aprilia in the past two decades, alongside two World Trials titles from the company's earlier days as a dirtbike specialist. Beggio will be hoping for similar success, in the showrooms at least, with Moto Guzzi - and the chance to talk alone with him for an hour in the Mandello office he visits regularly, with Guzzi CEO Roberto Brovazzo at his side, while the streets outside echoed with the rolling thunder of thousands of shaft-drive V-twins, gave a powerful insight into his mission to reinvent history by restoring Guzzi to its previous pre-eminence. Q I e lvano. when did you acquire Mota Guzzi - and what were your objectives in doing so? n e _ S • DECEMBER 11.2002 23