Raven Motorcycles - Moto Guzzi

Moto artist Jeff Gundlach has designed many magazine covers for publications like Cycle Magazine and Cycle News over the years, but he recently finished designing and building his biggest project yet - the first Raven Motorcycle. To say it's been a long time in the making is an understatement. "About 15 years ago I thought of the possibility of designing a bike using the Moto Guzzi engine and the Norton transmission" says Jeff. "Sketches were made and it went to the back burner". Fast forward to 2 years ago and Jeff decided he had the skills and tools to proceed with the design he scribbled all those years ago.  "I wanted to build something unique, powerful, light, functional, and a classic look. Choppers, bobbers and sportbikes are very cool but, I did not want to build from an existing engine/trans/frame package." This is how Jeff describes how the Raven came to life.

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Moto Guzzi Le Mans 3 - Kaffeemaschine

Imagine you are a really fast cyclist. So fast that you won a silver medal in the 2008 Olympics. One day you realize your feet can't peddle any faster but you still want more speed. Lots more. So you do what every self respecting speed junkie does and you purchase a motorcycle. You decide on a Buell xb12s which you love but unfortunately ends up getting stolen. So you go looking on the interweb for a new motorcycle. And then you see it. A bike that stops you in your tracks and you just know the search is over. This is what happened to Swedish Olympian cyclist Gustav Larsson. After seeing a few pics on a website of a stunning Guzzi cafe racer built by German perfectionist Axel Budde, he knew he had found the guy to build his new bike. "I saw Axels race bike and I decided I wanted something similar!" says Gustav. "I had some different ideas from the beginning. But it turned more and more into a 60's style cafe racer." After a few conversations with Axel from the Guzzi specialist shop Kaffeemaschine (Coffee Machine - isn't German cool?), he knew what the basic brief was. "Red frame, raw alloy tank, black Lafranconi's - although it started with golden cast wheels" says Axel. So he got to work...

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Review: 2011 Moto Guzzi V7 Racer

Most countries have their associated stereotypes. Apparently Australia is full of lunatic blonde animal hunters, the U.S. is populated solely by gun-toting Christians and the UK is full of pasty people who constantly complain about the weather and finish every sentence with the word “Guv’nor”. Of course, for the most part that is all baloney. Turns out that McCartney and Wonder were right – people are the same wherever you go. But there’s one particular cliché I have found to be true. Italians do dress well - very well indeed.

Enter stage left the Moto Guzzi V7 Racer – a very dapper version of the already pretty damn suave V7 Café. If the standard model is meant to conjure long-forgotten images of the “good ol’ days” with it’s upswept pipes and obvious design cues from the original 70’s V7, the Racer looks about as subtle as the moon hitting your eye like a big pizza pie. But is it "amore", or is it just a one-ride stand?

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1973 Moto Guzzi GT 850

The words "Gran Turismo" never seemed more apt. Click for a larger image

For those of you who missed out on signing up for the 2011 Pipeburn Meat Burn & Burn (it's this weekend, guys!) or for the rest of you overseas types, we've been sending out regular updates on the day to all those who put up their hands. In the last one we mentioned that we'd be riding on dirt for a small part of the day. Cue about 27 frantic questions from some of the attendees sweating bullets about riding their bikes off-road. I duly diffused the panic (hello Mike if you're reading) and went on my merry way, which on this particular day involved shooting the beautiful Guzzi you see before you. Imagine then the internal chuckles that I enjoyed when I asked the owner of this 250kg (550 lbs) beauty, the super cool and most friendly David Ottesen, how she handled. "Beautifully. I even take her off-road; she's great fun to ride on the dirt." Damn straight, brother.

Can you introduce yourself?

Dave Ottesen. I am an Aircraft Mechanic (I detect a trend here - Andrew), I work on Helicopter gas turbine engines. I live in the Wollindilly Shire about 90ks south of Sydney, great country roads and really suited to the Guzzi.

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Interview: Matt Machine

At the recent Deus V-Twin Festival I had the pleasure of chewing the fat with renowned Australian bike builder Matt Machine. Not only is he a friggin talented bike builder who has built some of the most outstanding bikes in the Southern Hemisphere, but he is also an established architect. Is there anything he can't build? I wanted to find out more about this humble recluse and luckily he was up for answering a couple of questions:

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background? 

I'm an architect that has always wanted to be a carpenter, or a builder, or a boiler maker, or something else other than that so I could use my hands and make things. I live in the bush in south New South Wales with my wife and our dog and our cows and our landscape and our weather.

Does living on a farm help your creative process?

It almost is my creative process...you cant help but be inspired by the need to be real with whatever you do, to be direct with your decisions, and committed...thats living in the bush.

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Moto Guzzi Big Mono Naked SD Concept

Our Imaginary Garage sessions on Pipeburn are all very good and well but if we ever wanted to ramp things up just a little and start doing some 3D modeling, I'd be much more than happy seeing a bike like this roll out of the other end. These stunning renderings are by Italian industrial designer Paolo De Giusti, who has drawn inspiration from an older generation of single cylinder Moto Guzzis from the 50s that have been all-but-forgotten since the company's success with it's twin cylinder V90.

And if that's not unique enough, he's also gone and made it a 903cc turbo-diesel engine with a hydraulic transmission for the estimated 150 horsies and 133 ft/lbs of torques (!) to slosh through. Bolt a 30 lt (8 gallon) tank and you'll have a bike that would ride all night, which is exactly what Paolo intended. "Ideally this bike, with a range of 550 miles, is designed to run for hours in the now-defunct Milan-Taranto open road endurance race."

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Moto Guzzi 1000SP

If you remember what the original 1000SP looked like then you'll appreciate the hours of work that have gone into transforming this Guzzi into a work of art. Built by Italian Filippo Barbacane from Officine Rossopuro who spent 4 months creating this bike he calls the TTre. Filippo and Officine Rossopuro have become synonymous with creating some of the best looking Moto Guzzi's in the world.

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"Madame Guzzi" Boardtracker

It doesn't matter what angle you look at it - this is one beautiful bike

What were you doing with your life in your late teens? If you were anything like me you were flunking out of university, getting right-royally wasted, living at home and you more than likely hadn't even considered riding a motorbike. At least, not legally. Cough. So what if I were to tell you that the creator of the amazing Moto Guzzi you see above is only a mere 20 years old and that this is in fact the third custom bike he's built? Well, it's with gritted teeth and a slightly awkward, jealous smile that I'd like to introduce you to Adam Nestor, creator of this Ferrari blue wonder called "Madame Guzzi".

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Pipeburn Lost and Found

Check out the Guzzi above. Amazing, huh? We found it last week while doing our usual rounds of the web. We've done just about everything we can to find out a little more about it, but short of photocopying flyers and sticking them to local telegraph poles we've pretty much exhausted all possibilities. Sadly, we're faced with such hot bike tragedies every week here at Pipeburn; really sweet machines that we'd post on the blog in a second if it weren't for the fact that we just can't track down any further info or images on them. So they go into our lost and found folder, never to see the light of day. Until now. If anyone out there knows ANYTHING about these bikes, please feel free to email us and get these rides out of the lost and found and into a post on Pipeburn*.

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