INTRODUCTION
A half-handlebar legend.
We first have to take a forty-year step backwards if we want to understand how the mythical Moto Guzzi V7 Sport, which inspired today’s V7 Cafè Classic, has evolved. In 1969 the Mandello del Lario mechanics increased the cubic capacity of their transverse 90° V engine from 703 to 757cc which greatly increased the level of maximum performances without in any way diminishing the notorious reputation of reliability and sturdiness that was behind the success of the V7 in the market and with the police forces of half the world. Fully aware of the power of this engine, Moto Guzzi decided to publish the results, building a faired prototype of the V7 Special with the new 757cc engine which, in June and October of that same year on the high speed ring of the Monza track, set numerous records among them the 100 km, at an average speed of 218,426 km/h and the 1,000 km at an average of 205,932 km/h.
No one at that time had ever dreamt of such results from a bike created from an openly declared touring bike which was the V7 Special, so much so that the effects of such an accomplishment gave Moto Guzzi the incentive to create a sports model that was greatly appreciated by a new public compared to that acquired with the previous V7s. The task was given to Lino Tonti, one of the most brilliant Italian designers who, using the generous forms of the 750cc engine, built a highly streamline CrMo tubular frame. Low, long and hunched over the suspensions, the V7 Sport made its first appearance in the market with a rather unusual chromatic combination, obtained with the “Legnano” green used for the upper structures contrasting with the red frame of the first 150 specimens assembled in the Moto Guzzi testing department using a CrMo tubular frame as well as some changes to distribution and ignition details with respect to the next versions which had a black coloured frame.
Boasting an excellent dynamic performance, the V7 Sport impressed the public and critics alike for being the first mass produced bike in the world able to exceed the maximum speed of 200 km/h and this fact was worthy of a report in 1972 by a renowned Italian motorbike magazine. Symbol of the “Italian style” sports bike, all substance and no frills, the V7 Sport magically reappears today in the distinct lines of the new V7 Cafè Classic. The similarities with its renowned ancestor blend together in the excellence of its dynamic performance and in the class of the stylistic features common to both, like the “Legnano” green of the upper structures, the rich chromings, the slanted half-handlebars, the instrument cockpit and other details that are unmistakably Moto Guzzi.