Red Devil: Moto Guzzi V7 Café Racer

The Bike Guzzi Should’ve Built: Shaun Boulter’s Le Mans-Style V7…  

In the last two decades, there’s been a huge upswell of interest in retro-style bikes that bring classic styling from the 60s and 70s to the showroom floor. Nearly every manufacturer has a “modern classic” or “neo-retro” model in the lineup, but it’s good to remember that some brands have been producing these machines all along — Moto Guzzi is a case in point.

The Mandello factory has stuck to its guns, continuing to rely on the mystique and character of its air-cooled transverse V-twins to attract enthusiasts who appreciate the aesthetic, mechanical, and sensory experience of their machines more than raw horsepower or lap times. The V7 Classic (2008-2012) was the company’s 744cc roadster modeled after the V7 of the 1960s. Though it had fuel injection, it was still powered by an air-cooled V-twin with pushrod-actuated valves.

“The Moto Guzzi V7 Classic is stylish, useful, charismatic and simply a nice motorcycle to ride and own and, for the money, that’s accomplishment enough. We’d have one instead of a Triumph Bonneville like a shot. Welcome back Moto Guzzi, finally your ‘old fashioned bikes’ make sense…
 –MCN

The V7 Classic you see here comes from our new friend Shaun Boulter (@v7customclassic), and it has quite the story behind it, which Shaun fully details below. Here’s a bike born in Italy, bought in a dusty store in Malaysia, clad in a rare Stucchi fairing found in Australia, painted in Lincolnshire (no decals!), featured in the Bike Shed’s London show this year, and headed back to Mandello del Lario this week for Guzzi’s annual open house.

Nicknamed the “Red Devil,” it is, at heart, Shaun’s rendition of a modern Le Mans. 

“I always loved and hankered after a Mk1 Le Mans and still to this day can’t figure out why Guzzi have never made a new Le Mans. So I thought I will do it for them, and as I have been told and heard said of the bike, it is the bike Guzzi should have built…”

That’s the beauty of customization — we can pick up where the factory leaves off, creating the bikes we wish the manufacturers would. Of course, we wouldn’t call them “specials” if they could be bought from the showroom floor, and they wouldn’t have so much of our blood, sweat, and stories tied up in them.

Below, Shaun shares the full story of how the Red Devil came to be. We’re wishing him a safe ride from the UK to Mandello for Moto Guzzi’s annual open house this week!

Guzzi V7 Café Racer: Builder Interview

• Please tell us a bit about yourself, your history with motorcycles, and your workshop.

I started with bikes from about the age of 12 when a friend had a Yamaha XT that we used to ride on the military training areas in Northern Germany where our parents were based. I believe that it was those days of riding on dirt, gravel, and mud, and running from the Military Police that elevated my riding capabilities and made me the rider I am today, as I believe if you can ride off road you can certainly ride on road.

My first bike was a red, white, and blue Honda CBR600. When I took it for a test ride, it conked out or so I thought — after waiting for an hour for the garage mech to arrive, I realised that it had only run out of fuel, and if I had switched the tap to reserve I would have been OK. I upgraded a year later to a CBR900 Fireblade and scared the life out of myself with every tight bend that I went around, but loved the thrill of it and that I could lift the front wheel in every gear.

I then decided to try something different and bought a Ducati 888, fantastic looking and riding bike, but I lived in central London and the bike had the worst turning circle ever and a clutch that made veins bulge when you pulled on it, so I rode out of London with it every possible moment.

I then moved to Qatar and bought a Triumph Tiger, which was great to own there, as all the time I was there (four years) I never passed another bike. The MOT test place was confused that the bike didn’t have reverse and a front mudguard, which was always entertaining.

I then moved to Asia for a change of life, and while living in Thailand bought a Triumph Thruxton and also restored a 1960’s Vespa, so that I could play Rocker one day and Mod the next. Riding in Thailand was great, and actually drivers there are more aware of bikes than any European country I have ridden in. Next I moved to Singapore and sold the scooter and bike and bought a Ducati Monster S4RS, which was a wonderful beast of a bike with a 998cc engine. With it being a naked bike, when you opened it up you had to hang on for life. But slow speed limits, strict restrictions on customization (stopped for having Termi Pipes fitted and fined 600 Singapore Dollars), I decided to move to Malaysia where when it comes to bike customization anything goes — and if it doesn’t, a small bribe makes it possible. So I sold the Monster in Singapore as it was too expensive to export to Malaysia and went out looking for a Triumph showroom to buy a Bonnevile and stumbled on the Ducati showroom and walked out with another Monster, this time a 798.

This time I fitted Termi’s again and no issues with the police, plus I fully customized the bike to have all carbon panels, guards, tank, etc. But the retro bug in me itched again and I again wanted a Bonneville. As I was about to start looking, however, a new Guzzi dealership opened across the road from my office in a copy of the setup of the Bike Shed, with a ride-in garage, restaurant, barber, tattoo shop, Harley shop, chop shop, etc. etc. It is called Gasket Alley (if ever in Kuala Lumpur go look it up).

The Guzzi dealership let me take a new V7 home for the weekend and I was as you say smitten… SO, while in the shop talking to the salesman, another guy in the shop gestured me over and said he knew the previous franchise owner for Guzzi and he had a shop full of bikes that had sat for over five years just gathering dust. He said he thought he could get the guy to let us in and he did just that. Upon opening the door there were at least 30 bikes: a mix of Moto Guzzi and Harleys all sitting on perished rubber and covered in dust. The hot humid heat had killed anything rubber. He had one V7 sat in the corner, and I said that’s the one I want and made him a crazy, and I mean CRAZY cheap offer, which at first was knocked back. So I then said OK thanks I will go buy a new one with a warranty and walked away and that was that…so I thought.

About 10 mins later my phone rang with the guy saying OK cash now and you can push it out. Never have I moved so fast as I did then to the ATM and then to the shop. I was now the proud owner of a brand new old stock, perished-rubber Moto Guzzi V7 Classic.

Next job: transform it onto a scrambler / flat tracker with big knobbly tires, but first I had to go to Melbourne for a work trip. Bored at the weekend in Melbourne, I spotted a sign for an auto jumble on the Sunday and we all love an auto jumble. Walking around I spotted a fairing, painted matte black broken in two places with a rusted frame, but I recognized the shape of it and knew immediately it was a Stucchi fairing made to fit the Mk1 V7. The seller had no clue what it came off and asked for AUD50, which I declined and offered AUD30… SOLD.

These things are like rocking horse poop to find and cost an arm and a leg, so I grabbed it quick and left as quickly as possible with a very large grin. So the plans for a scrambler / flat tracker got thrown out of the window and I hatched a café racer plan instead. My work offered me a promotion, which meant a move back to UK and also a 60ft container, so of course I packed the bike in the container and here we are today in the UK. But after moving back to the UK, the ethanol in the UK fuel is higher than in Malaysia, which caused the original plastic tank to warp and bubble, so a steel tank was procured, and then I thought now is the time to change the paint job if any.

• What’s the make, model, and year of the donor bike?

Moto Guzzi V7 Classic 2012.

• Why was this bike built? 

To suit my own hunger for something eye catching, yet fun to ride and also in the theme of a CAFÉ RACER — and also to allow me to at least feel like I have a Le Mans 😊

• What was the design concept and what influenced the build?

I always loved and hankered after a Mk1 Le Mans and still to this day can’t figure out why Guzzi have never made a new Le Mans. So I thought I will do it for them, and as I have been told and heard said of the bike, it is the bike Guzzi should have built…as well as a few others, but I am sure they would have sold if they had.

• What custom work was done to the bike?

Stucchi fairing with reinforced side arms and extended black powder-coated frame, Hagon front and rear shocks, custom-made sump extender to allow an extra liter of oil, chromed alternator cover, custom-made alloy front and rear mudguards, retro front and rear indicators, custom alcantara and leather single seat, custom seat cowl, V7 racer rear sets and side panels, custom leather tank strap and side panel pouch, Tomaselli clip-on bars, Mistral silencers and big-bore down pipes, chrome rims and spokes, V50 (1970’s bike) heads and exhaust flanges to add to the retro look, custom polished alloy injector covers (again to hide the injectors adding to the retro look), Oberon bar-end mirrors, custom rubber and alloy grips, and of course the custom paint job, which I have to be honest is what makes this bike pop and stand out.

Next up is to rebuild the engine to take it from 750cc to 820cc, and looking how to make it a twin front disc bike. So scouting for the right forks as we speak, and also to upgrade the switch gear and do away with the ignition key. Also we are custom building a support for the fairing that fits on a sealed bearing allowing it to mount to the top yolk central bolt, but to swivel with the front end. We are retro fitting this as we speak.

• Does the bike have a nickname?

It didn’t have until the Bike Shed Show, where it needed one, so I came up with the “Red Devil.”

• Any idea of horsepower, weight, and/or performance numbers?

The numbers are pretty tame actually. The bike originally had 49 hp; after a remap and V Twin boost, which tricks the engine to think its cooler than it is, I am up to low to mid 50’s hp. The fairing is claimed by Stucchi to add 10KMH to top speed… Hmmm not sure on that, but I know I am looking at 110mph with my chin on the tank and a slight tail wind.

• Can you tell us what it’s like to ride this bike?

I equate it to driving a mini (the original mini, not the new ones) where you feel like you are doing 100mph, and when you look at the speedo you are doing 40mph. It holds its own in the bends as it’s so light and easy to flick around, and it’s just a general smile-maker — it makes me feel good every time I get on it and off it.

• Was there anything done during this build that you are particularly proud of?

The custom-made Monza cap, the hand-rolled alloy front and rear mudguards, and the paint job, and that comes with the next question.

• Is there anyone you’d like to thank?

Tim Hoare owner of Paint Shack near Lincoln, who is a custom painter of bikes. We worked together to come up with the design we have today to make it a Le Mans tribute but also a little different; we also designed a matching Bell Bullet custom helmet to go with the bike.

Tim is a fellow Guzzi owner with a lovely Griso, which is of course custom-painted, but with him being a fellow Guzzista, he knows the passion that comes with Italian bikes and Guzzi owners, and he hit the nail bang on the head with shade of red and the custom pinstripes and hand, yes, hand-painted logos (no decals used in this job). Also Tim added my race number 65 for me, which only slightly gives away my age.

Also one additional thank you is a big shout out to Russ Vaughan (@bomber_county_guzzisti) who has helped me a lot with work on this bike including a replacement gearbox installation and now a fairing support stay, plus many other help me moments such as extra elbow grease and polishing for the Bike Shed Show. Russ is also my riding companion for our trip to Mandello.

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Facebook: V7 Custom Classic
Instagram: @v7customclassic

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