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You can’t talk about motorcycle aerodynamics without mentioning Moto Guzzi’s wind tunnel. Contrary to popular belief Guzzi weren’t the first motorcycle factory to have a wind tunnel, but given that Aermacchi’s was built when they we still making aeroplanes we’ll let it pass. Moto Guzzi started work on the tunnel in 1950, and were using it by 1952. From then on development of the factory racers focused on aerodynamics, streamlining initially an enlarged rear mudguard, but soon

Can’t afford a Seventies Superbike like the previously featured MV 750S? Or even a nice Ducati bevel twin? The how about the Moto Guzzi T3, snapped here in front of the famous factory gates at Mandello del Lario. Bonhams sold one very like this at Stafford a few years back in lovely condition for under £7000. Yes they’re a bit plump (but not as plump as you might think) and yes the gear change is a bit slow but – and it’s a big but – they handle beautifully can be fixe

It’s easy to be seduced by the Mike Hailwood Replica’s looks, and just as easy to be cynical. Just two years after its launch, sales of the original 900SS were in serious decline. Its old Brit-bike café racer looks harked back to the sixties, and next to the eye-candy sparkle of the Jota and Le Mans it was in need of a make-over. One day in June 1977 decided what happened next. After his magnificence at the TT, the market was desperate for a replica of Mike’s bike: tha

The bike that should never have been built – the Moto Guzzi Le Mans. When Alejandro de Tomaso bought Moto Guzzi he arrived at the factory declaring “no more stupid twins”. He had seen the rise of the Japanese and intended to take them on – head on. 125 and 250cc two-strokes, with a range of four-stroke fours, were to be topped with the Sei (Six). All the four-strokes were built at the Moto Guzzi factory on Lake Como, and the strokers at the Benelli factory in Pesaro. B

Most UK chaps of a certain age will recognise this image, from the August 1976 issue of Bike magazine. It was the opening page of their first test of the Moto Guzzi Le Mans, headed “Falling in love again “ - and didn’t we just fall in love. Taken by Bob Carlos Clarke, the great man retouched the negative by hand to produce this ethereal image. It’s the finest example of his unique attempts to photograph motorcycles as art, rather than the “look at me” riding shots that