Undeniably the best looking Custom bike in the Guzzista stable...

Not a bad looking girl eh? This photo is taken after a 2,500 mile ride from Scotland to Switzerland and back, which taken together with a seasons occasional riding, is the basis for this review.

With 18 years experience of V twins, most of which is on Guzzi's (I confess to a couple of years on a Ducati), and having previously owned a Cali III, I feel qualified to comment on this new addition to Guzzi's range.

Starting with looks - which were the single thing that sold the bike to me, it's undeniably a stunning looking custom machine. From any angle, it looks great:

• From the front, the new shaped fairing with Moto Guzzi discretely inscribed on the front with twin fog lights and polished stainless mudguard, it looks well proportioned and functional.
• From the side, your eyes are drawn to a blend of practicality - such as the twin pot brembo's, crash bars with colour matched infill deflectors, steering damper and sprung foot boards. While the looks of the faired in panniers, chrome blanking pieces and detailing hide most of the wirs and piping.
• From the rear, the retro style rear light, stainless mud guard and narrowed panniers suggest it's thinner than it actually is, which is pleasing to the eye.

This photo shows the standard instruments on the bike, the black face clocks match the color sceme of the bike perfectly. The adjustments for the front suspesion are easy to access, though being a real world biker, I've never played around with it. I have adjusted the rear suspension for the extra weight of a pillion and luggage for 2 weeks - but that's a story to be followed on GuzziGuy's profile page.

When riding the bike, the first thing that your aware of is how easy it is to ride with it's wide handlebars and low down torque. It accelerates easily, and the glorious thunder sound from the exhausts get's you noticed by car drivers - which is an in-built safety feature.

As you pick up speed, and head towards 70'ish, you notice that the fairing deflects the air pressure off your body and redirects the wind force slightly onto your outer arms and shoulders, and very slightly onto the top of your helmet. Mel (at Moto Ecosse) adjusted the fairing by paradoxically slanting it slightly further backwards, and this took out the head banging feeling. Well done Mel!


When you ride out into the country, the bike corners really well. There's a great sense of reassurance in the way it handles - it's important to get it settled before you turn in, but set up correcly you can really lean it over. On a bike this size, it turns in best with a bit of opposite lock - just a slight push on the bars, and it changes direction easily.

When it comes to stopping, or very occasionally adjusting your speed in a corner, the twin linked brakes allow you to take a bit of speed off, and still make it round the bend. If you really 'go for it', you can grind on the centre stand on a left hander - not managed that on a right hander yet...

So what about the panniers - they don't look functional, are difficult to remove, and only open at the top. Right enough, but they are well protected by the chrome pannier guards, and are lined, and lipped to prevent water ingress. They can be locked, and taken together with the optional back box, were sufficient for a two week trip.

Now to a few extra's I've added.


The most obvious additions are the tank bag - colour coded / coordinated, and the back box, again, colour coded and coordinated. The back box is semi rigid and big enough to take a helmet. It comes with an inner bag for easy removal of luggage, and also a waterproof cover which fits tightly, and keeps it watertight even in torrential downpours.

The tank bag comes with a see through map bag that clips on, and a waterproof cover. The tank bag is easily removed, and takes the usual touring stuff - all the valuables. It also converts to a back pack - should you take a few hours off the bike touring around.

Then there's the additional clocks. I saw these on John Preston's Tribal Accessories web site. John specialises in Triumph accessories, but willingly modified these to fit the California. The advantage of the temp guage is that it's interesting - you know it's cold from the ambient temperature, which can be a safety device. The clock speaks for itself.

Both are mounted in a polished stainless cylinder which screws into the instrument panel in place of the existing screws. Take care not to lose the washer below the instrument panel when taking the screws out, and add a spring washer on the inside of the cylinder to retain the fixing in place. Also, ask John for the Cali version, the Triumph one has a different fixing.

The standard clock face is white, but John supplies them in black to special order - which matches the standard clocks.

Apart from that' I've added an Autocom - works perfectly, and an Optimate to keep the battery fresh. Denise at BikeSorce in Glasgow helpfully fitted the microphone and earpieces to our helmets - she really knows bike accessories - thanks Denise, you're a star!

In summary, a great custom bike. Looks superb, practical, mile muncher, torquey, put's a smile on your face and makes you feel special and alive - I guess that's what it's all about! Happy to take questions and comments. Cheers... MagniMan

For more details on the trip, see Guzziguy's report: GO

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