Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

lion) for developing a new range of engines and models. "Restoring Moto Guzzi to its former glory is a duty as well as a commercial challenge, and I'm confident that we're on the right road and running to schedule," says Beggio - and with the historic lakeside Mandello del Lario factory gutted and re-equipped with modern production lines, a dedicated workforce bent on self-improvement via Japanese-style kai-zen programs, and a planned range of new models that kicked off in March with the 750 Breva entry-level roadster now in production, it's evident that Aprilia is weaving its ov.:n brand of magic over Moto Guzzi. This was evidenced by the array of three new models on display at Intermot, each very different from the others. Smallest in capacity was the Breva, with the other two showbikes powered by the eight-valve Daytona engine currently out of production while Guzzi/Aprilia completely reengineers it in liquid-cooled form. One of these was the latest product of noted progettista Luciano Marabese, whose Centauro 8V musclebike gave rise to the even more aggressivelooking G~iso "Tecnocustom" Guzziwith-attitude streetrod, the other the aesthetically beautiful MGS-O 1 sportbike constructed on behalf of Moto Guzzi by nearby marque specialists Ghezzi £, Brian, on the basis of their acclaimed existing Supertwin model. This glorious sportbike from the Guzzi equivalent of Buell was a guaranteed showstopper, as evidenced by the plastic fence Moto Guzzi management hastily had to build around it in order to afford showgoers a proper view of the bike without a line of fans - not by any means all of them guzzisti - clustered all around it, waiting to climb aboard. Intermot 2002 delivered proof 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 lot harder. The rapturous public acclaim for the MGS-Ol (as in Moto Guzzi Sport, model number one) convinced Guzzi CEO Roberto Brovazzo to fast-forward the bike into at least limited production, without waiting for the new liquid-cooled eight-valve V -twin engine that Guzzi has under development, not expected on line until 2005 at the earliest. The forthcoming change in AMA Superbike regulations provided the catalyst for this, whereby air-cooled twins will get a capacity break of 1300cc against 1000cc for everything else, obviously to allow America's Buell to compete effectively on home ground with its Firebolt XB9R - though the increasing popularity of Pro Twins racing in the Italian home market and key export countries like the USA and Japan also helped the decision. And the fact that World Superbike rules are likely to coalesce with the AMA regulatio.ns to form a single unified worldwide SBK format can't have hurt either. Plus, there was another reason. "I want to attract younger riders to our historic brand, in a way our present range does not do," says Brovazzoo "I want to show that Moto Guzzi can be exciting and youthful, as well as mature and historic. The new Breva has been very successful in Italy in attracting new riders, especially women, so now I want to add excitement for more experienced riders with the MGS-Ol." Brovazzo therefore enticed the bike's technical creator Giuseppe Ghezzi to come to work full time in the Guzzi factory, joining the youthful team of top-flight engineers he has assembled at Mandello in developing a 1225cc Corsa racing version of the MGS-Ol, which will go into limited production in February next year, with at least 50 examples built and shipped to the USA - the minimum number needed for homologation under AMA Superb ike rules. These will have nominal street equipment to meet those requirements, although former Laverda and Aprilia designer Alberto Cappella, who's responsible for the bike's delicate, flowing lines that provide so effective a contrast to the meaty, muscular-looking transverse V-twin motor, still hasn't figured out where to place the headlamps so as not to interfere with the wide duct in the fairing nose behind which the oil cooler is located expect a pair of ellipsoidal lights flanking the mesh covering the intake slot. Additional production of the 1225cc Corsa presently producing 122 bhp at the crank will follow to meet demand from other countries before the debut as a 2005 modelyear product of the volume-production MGS-Ol Serie, likely to be downsized slightly in capacity and delivering around 95 bhp. The chance to join a small group of journalists at the tight but grippy Adria test circuit near Venice to ride the prototype Corsa was the continuation of a personal pilgrimage that began in 1988, when I first rode the Dr. John's Guzzi 8V Bon racer, which American dentist John Wittner built around the prototype eight-valve engine supplied to him by the Italian company's then-owner, Alejandro de Tomaso, for his rider Doug Brauneck to defend the AMA Battle of the Twins title, which the pair had won for Moto Guzzi the previous season, thus breaking a six-year Ducati/ Harley stranglehold on the championship. The fact that the Dr. John's 8V finished third at Daytona in its first race without ever having turned a wheel until the second day of practice, and with a prototype road engine installed, may augur well for the MGS-Ol Corsa's likely race debut 16 years later next March on the same Florida speedway! One year on, in 1989, I rode the prototype Guzzi 8V Daytona streetbike and was impressed by how the qualities of the Dr. John's racer had been transferred to the customer model - even if the chronic lack of investment in the coming decade that eventually led to Guzzi's near-demise before it was rescued by Aprilia meant that the 1000cc Daytona motor was starved of development until now. Having raced for many years against Giuseppe Ghezzi's improbably fast and good-handling pushrod Guzzis in Italian Sound of Thunder and Bon races, I know how much he must have longed for the opportunity he's now been given to design an ultra-Guzzi racer and its spinoff road bike. For Dr. John, read Dottore Giuseppe! (See Technical sidebar.) Stepping aboard the prototype MGS-Ol Corsa in Adria's pit lane for the first of my two sessions on the bike, before dumping the clutch as the remote starter spun the back wheel and the mega-motor thundered into life with the unmistakable lilting rumble of Guzzi thun~ der issuing from the single very-CBR600RR silencer under the seat, I found an excellent \ ~ riding position with comfortable 820mm seat height and not too much weight on my wrists. The airbox shroud (fuel is housed in the frame) seemed quite wide at rest, but it's carefully shaped to let your elbows and knees tuck in, and it isn't an impediment. The riding stance is quite close-coupled but well thoughtout, with wide, flat-set handlebars for maximum leverage, so I was able to tuck behind the screen for an instant down Adria's short straights and with none of the nuisance of having my knees making friends with the sticking-out cylinders as I moved from side to side on the bike, as is the case with many Guzzi racers. That's surely due to Ghezzi's rational chassis design, conceived on the basis of his Italian Pro Twins title-winning Ghezzi £, Brian Supertwin model, with a boxsection steel-backbone frame incorporating for the first time ever on any Moto Guzzi a fully progressive rising rate rear-suspension linkage and with top-level Ohlins suspension, to boot. However, the Corsa's enhanced suspension compliance and improved ride quality compared to any previous Guzzi V-twin aren't the first things that impress you most when you notch bottom gear on the street-pattern gearshift - hey, no clunk when you do so! - and feed out the clutch, which is a little stiffer than previous 8V Guzzis but not remotely as knuckle-crunching as any Ducati. What's most noticeable is the fact that the engine feels much quieter than previous eight-valve Guzzis, with fewer rattles, no vibration worth mentioning, far less general mechanical clatter as you blip the throttle, and not a whole lot of sideways movement from torque reaction' at rest, either, even though the stock lengthways crank is retained, unlightened. The whole mechanical package feels much more refined, with better build quality. Definitely a step up from before. Same thing when you scoot through the gears down to the tight first turn - well, except the change from bottom to second, which is stilJ pretty slow. The six-speed gear-

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