DREAM PILGRIMAGE
Every year, for one weekend in September, Moto Guzzi throw open their doors to visitors and fans of the Italian marque. We couldn’t resist joining the pilgrimage to Mandello del Lario, Italy…
Moto Guzzi enthusiast H Wilson heads to Italy for their Open House…
MAGNUM (NOT P.I.)
Guzzi branded two-strokes were produced in significant numbers during the 1970s. This is a Magnum mini-bike with a 49cc engine and fivespeed gearbox. Just the thing for nipping down to the café in Mandello. Wheels have ten inch rims and the fuel tank is contained in the frame’s tubular spine. They were made between 1976’79. At this time the company was owned by automotive baron Allessandro De Tomaso who also controlled the Benelli brand. Many models were produced in Benelli and Guzzi versions.
GET YOUR PARTS OUT
Local shops and cafés go Guzzi themed for the weekend, with bikes and ephemera on show in shop windows, cafés and bars. Nice to see the town’s underwear shop flaunting some parts from a Galletto scooter alongside their regular items. Galletto means cockrell in Italian.
THE FAMOUS WIND TUNNEL
First used in 1954, Guzzi’s wind tunnel was powered by a 310hp electric motor that had its own hydro electric power station. It was originally built to give Guzzi’s racers a competitive advantage, but the last bike to benefit was the 1991 SP1000 tourer.
PRODUCTION LINES
There are two tracks in the bike assembly shop. One is currently dealing with the demand for the V85 TT, while the other produces the 1400cc bikes, and the V9 and V7 models. Design and development is mainly done at the Aprilia plant at Noale.
FROM FAR AND WIDE
Josh Riggin and Stephanie Lowe came from Indiana and had also visited Rome and Mount Vesuvius on their 16 day trip. What bikes have they got at home? ‘I’ve got a V7 III,’ announces Steph, proudly. ‘And I’ve got a Bonneville,’ mumbles Josh.
FACTORY TOURS
The Open Days weekend offered tours of bike and engine assembly areas. All Guzzis are built here, to justify the ‘Made at Mandello del Lario’ tag.
FORRIN’ VISITORS
Among the 30,000 weekend visitors to the town there were plenty from the UK, including Guzzi club members Bernard O’rourke and Mike Short who’d ridden down. Visitors also came from Australia, South Africa and other far flung places.
V85 TTS READY FOR DISPATCH The factory can currently make 120 bikes a day, though they’re already working an hour of overtime to satisfy demand for the V85 TT, which currently accounts for 70-80% of production. Demand is twice what was expected.
ENGINE ASSEMBLY
Key engine components are cast and machined at Piaggio’s main factories at Pontedera, Tuscany, but are assembled at Mandello. Cylinders come from Gilardoni, who are also based at Mandello.
OIL PUMP INSTALLATION
Engine assembly happens on a stop/ start line with 17 separate stations, and it’s pleasingly hands-on. Plastic mallet assists oil pump installation. They can make 80 V7 engines a day.
MUSEUM
The amazing Moto Guzzi museum is housed in one of the old factory buildings. Guzzi were a hugely innovative company and have made some extraordinary bikes and commercial vehicles. The museum contains everything from the amazing 500cc V8 engine to a military half-track vehicle. Time well spent.
THAT’S THE WAY TO DO IT
The production lines are slick, but humans are still involved and there are some local families who’ve got fifth generation workers at the factory. Sometimes it’s useful to have a reminder about the sequence things need to be done on different engines.
THEM OLD ENGINES
From its inception in 1921 Moto Guzzi used a distinctive engine layout with a single horizontal cylinder and an exposed flywheel. There are loads of these old models in the factory museum, but there were also lots to be seen on the streets of the town too. The company’s first shaftdrive V-twins were introduced in 1967, the same year that the older, exposed flywheel, singles were discontinued.
TESTING TESTING
When engines are finished every single unit is thoroughly checked for leaks. This is done by pressurising them with compressed air, after which they are tested at speed. Moto Guzzi use an electric test bed to turn their finished engines at speeds varying from 1200 to 6800rpm. This is done so that key factors such as oil pressure and torque can be checked. Engine’s aren’t started. It’s all very thorough as you would expect in 2019.
‘Guzzi’s race bikes were extraordinary, and included one of the most audacious GP machines – a 500cc V8 that revved to 12,000rpm…’
PAY HOMAGE AT THE SHRINE Guzzi road bikes were mainly four-stroke singles from 1921 until the seventies, and shaft drive V-twins from then till now. But their race bikes were extraordinary, and included one of the most audacious GP machines – a 500cc V8 that revved to 12,000rpm and could reach 170mph. Development started in 1955 and continued while Guzzi won the 350cc World Championship with their singles (winning every year from ’53-’57). 1958 should have been the year of the 500, but the company pulled out of racing.
THIS IS WHAT STARTED IT
You can get close to the bikes in the Guzzi museum, but understandably this one is in a glass case. It’s the first machine they built. The 500cc single was hand built somewhere very close to where it now sits, by people whose relatives still live close by.
CAMPING BY THE LAKESIDE
The Guzzi factory is in the centre of the town of Mandello del Lario, on the shores of beautiful Lake Como, just south of the Swiss border. It’s like Triumph making bikes in The Lake District. Open Day weekend visitors camp in the town’s lake side park.
IN THE MARKET SQUARE
The official museum is amazing, but so are the bikes being ridden through town by their owners, and the displays of privately owned bikes. The town’s main square housed this impressive collection of endurance racers, Dakar machines and specials, some of which had been fitted with overhead camshaft heads and water-cooling.