‘One G&T too many and I have a Guzzi’

I’ve done it again. Bought a bike on the spur of the moment, having ingested a stiff G&T followed by a hefty slug of Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo, a gorgeous Italian rosé delivered by the case from the Wine Society, and consumed with some smoked haddock plus spinach from my wife’s allotment. Enough of food: the bike… Last year, I sneered at some trader who was trying to unload a Moto Guzzi V50 for four grand. And I like, no, I love Guzzis. When I bought my Le Mans Mk II, I thought it would appreciate. It hasn’t and V50s haven’t either. I bought one, well, my wife urged me to buy it in another wine-related incident a few years ago, for two grand and when we sold it a couple of years later we got what we (I) had paid for it. OK, so that’s not so bad. But look, the modern small block Guzzi’s, all of them, are direct descendants of the original V50. You can even drop a V75 engine into a V50 frame (throttle cables are a tight fit because of the longer cylinders, but it works). Like the modern Guzzis, the V50 is small (even smaller, really), dinky, handles superbly, brakes brilliantly (on Guzzi’s linked brake system) and, er, isn’t fast. The Mark I had did about a ton; the MkII a few mph more.

But this was the first modern Guzzi and, primitive controls, instruments, slide carburettors and dodgy finish besides, it still is. It’s an incredibly robust engine. And I bought mine from a dealer. Me, buying a used bike from a dealer? I know. But I’ve bought a bike before from Will, otherwise know as freddythefatfrog (his eBay handle) before, and he knows his onions.