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The Café Racer version


belfastguzzi

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This looks reasonable in black.

003_V7_Classic_30cm.jpg

 

 

The V7 Classic & Cafe are nice bikes. I rode one while in Italy, buit they are way under powered. I wish they would pull out the old avation 750 / Ippogriffo motor and use it in the small block bike. At least get the power to meet that of the Triumph Thruxton, which I think is around 70+

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I believe the new V7s have a fair bit less poke than the Thruxton but are lighter.

 

You can get 75bhp out of a Thruxton with a big bore kit- I would buy one over the V7 if I was in the market for that sort of bike. I rode a Breva 750 once (same motor) and it was as flat as a pancake.

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I believe the new V7s have a fair bit less poke than the Thruxton but are lighter.

 

You can get 75bhp out of a Thruxton with a big bore kit- I would buy one over the V7 if I was in the market for that sort of bike. I rode a Breva 750 once (same motor) and it was as flat as a pancake.

 

 

This is why the V7C should've been based on the Bellagio chassis. Light is nice, but underpowered never is.

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  • 11 months later...

I like the looks of the bike from the front end back to the swingarm pivot.The rear wheel seems to extend too far out.

Otherwise it looks long and low.Something Guzzis look good at.

2005_0325Image0003.JPG

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Time flies: can you believe this is from a year ago?

Some bikes don't fly though. They are quite unreasonably slow, for a modern day machine.

It really is quite, quite unreasonable.

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Time flies: can you believe this is from a year ago?

Some bikes don't fly though. They are quite unreasonably slow, for a modern day machine.

It really is quite, quite unreasonable.

 

And yet its Guzzi's best selling model, The Bellagio is a nice bike but I'm not sure I could ever accuse it of been light.

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I believe the new V7s have a fair bit less poke than the Thruxton but are lighter.

 

You can get 75bhp out of a Thruxton with a big bore kit- I would buy one over the V7 if I was in the market for that sort of bike. I rode a Breva 750 once (same motor) and it was as flat as a pancake.

 

The Thruxton is what MG should have in their cross-hairs. Give the V7 enough punch and a line of accessories to further focus it as a cafe racer and they would have a winner.

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The Thruxton is what MG should have in their cross-hairs. Give the V7 enough punch and a line of accessories to further focus it as a cafe racer and they would have a winner.

 

You know, if Guzzi is going to refuse to put the 4v heads on the small blocks, then they should plan on supercharging the poor beast. They've already jumped the huge hurdle of EFI, so slapping a blower on there should be a straight up engineering task that would enable them to stay competitive w/ more modern designs.

 

And blowers don't have the problems that turbos do for motorcycles [as everyone found to their dismay back in the 80s during the "moto-turbo boom."]

 

It's funny that Guzzi has never gone there before*: after all, the only reason that manufacturers gave up on forced induction was the changes the FIM made to GP rules after 1939, and Guzzi gave up GP racing in 1957? 58?; anyway, a long time ago. No reason not to use the obvious solution on street bikes when they have no plans to race them, right? ;)

 

 

 

* - This doesn't include their works GP 3cyl that they never got to race because of the outbreak of WWII; I'm talking production machines here! :nerd:

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No reason not to use the obvious solution on street bikes when they have no plans to race them, right? ;)

Pedal assist?

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  • 1 month later...

There is absolutely nothing cafe racer about the v7 classic. It's a standard pure and simple,

if you look twice you'd think it was a 70's honda cb750. Standard Standard Standard.

The norton commando is a cafe, the new thruxton is cafe, this is a standard.

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I own a Thruxton, and also had the opportunity to take a V7 on a 4 hour test ride.

 

I wasn't expecting much, but once I got out of town and into the twisties, the V7 surprised me. It was a hoot to jam on the brakes, hit the apex and then pin the throttle to the stop :D The V7 felt more planted than the skittish Thruxton. Maybe it's the wider handlebars on the V7 that make it feel more controlable.

 

All in all though, I'd have to agree, the V7 could use a few more ponies :)

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From a Bellagio, in Spain...

 

Why didn't Guzzi make more of the Bellagio? It had consistent good press, looked good, went well. They could've been on to something for once. That's first time I've seen Bellagio frame - it looks like a shrunken Tonti! Tonti frame is a much finer looking thing than that on Griso + Breva & lends the bike much better lines - style is a product of it's function, not a look imposed by a stylist's whim. Ducati stuck with a tubular trellis & it hasn't done them any harm. Guzzi are always throwing the baby out with the bathwater. They always turn away from their history, & when they do look back they usually come up with something that misses the point (V7 Classic/Cafe). Shame the Carc unit looks so heavy. Respect to the constructor of this, but if you dress a modern bike in classic bodywork that's what it'll look like - it doesn't turn into something new - a bunch of parts, even if it is pretty. Jobs like Guzzirider did on a modern Cali work cos there's a unity to it, design follows function & you end up with something timeless - a classic... (...he just needs to mill off those square fins :o ... :P )...

 

KB :sun:

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