Steve's pride(s) and joy(s)

The old saying goes that you can never have just the one Guzzi. That seems to be a theme that many Squadra Guzzista members seem to subscribe to as one heck of a lot of you guys have more than one Mandello artwork in your collections of fine motorcycle art.

That ole saying however says nothing about owning more than one iconic legendary motorcycle, but it is exactly what Steve from Arkansas has in his garage. He not only owns a Le Mans MkI but sitting next to it in the garage is also a V7 Sport, a rare one too, in gleaming black! Not only that, but he also own one of what to me is the most important Moto Guzzi of them all bar none, the California.

Steve needs no introduction to many of you, he and his wife Leila are the Arkansas State reps for the MGNOC, which is one of the largest established Guzzi organisations about. In fact, Steve was the 24th person to join Squadra Guzzista, and we are darned delighted he's here!

Steve's Classic Guzzis

My name is Steve Walker...I live in NW Arkansas. I have ridden bikes since I was 14 years old...Back then a motorcycle license was 2 dollars...no tests or anything...Just pay an extra 2 dollars. I owned mostly japaneze bikes.

In 81 or 82 I bought a 1972 Triumph Bonneville. I really liked it, but was constantly working on something to keep it going. A friend of mine kept telling me to get rid of the Triumph and buy myself a Guzzi. So in 1983 I bought my first Guzzi and joined the Moto Guzzi National Owners Club.

It was a 73 El Dorado. I loved that bike. It was fantastic to ride...Now I had a bike that I could ride all day and not have to tinker with. I have owned several guzzi's since then and bought my first new one in 1986. It was a 1984 white California II. I had it till around 1992, then sold it. My wife was not happy with me for doing that. I bought an early SP 1000. She didn't like it much for two up riding, so I sold it and bought a new 95 California 1100 carb model. We still ride today...

The two other guzzi's I have are a couple that I have always wanted. In 1989 I bought a 1974 V7 Sport. It was in terrible shape when I got it. If you can imagine, the guy that had it before me tried to make a touring bike out of it. It had a big Pacifico fairing, a king/queen seat and huge DB saddle bags...It had some form of black krinkle paint too...Very ugly to say the least. The left hand cyclinder was froze solid from setting in a shed for six years on the side stand.

Gas had gotten into the cyclinder and froze it up. So I search for all the parts to put it back to as original as I could. I am happy with the way it turned out. This bike only had 11,000 miles on it when I got it...

'77 Lemans Mk1....Another I always said I would own and now do...I knew the guy that owned this bike. In 2000 we were at the Virginia National Guzzi rally. He offered me the bike to buy. At that time, I did not have the money. I told him I would contact him later on, but not to hold it for me if someone else wanted it.

He told me he was not advertizing it, but would sell it if someone came up with the money. Well I ran into him again about a year later at another rally and he told me it sold. I was sad to hear it. I told my wife I should of just went and borrowed the money to get it when I had the chance. I missed my chance in 2000.

Six years later I get a call from my friend that owned the Le Mans on a Saturday morning. He said the guy that bought it from him lived in Wisconsin and is retiring and has decided to sell the bike. He wanted to know if I might still be interested...I could not believe it, it felt more like some kind of dream you might have. In December of 2006, my wife and I made the 1500 mile round trip in our pick up to bring her home.

It would be interesting to know how many V7 Sports or Lemans Mk1's were still on the road today. But probably something none of us will ever know. Many thanks to Squadra Guzzista for a great site...

Steve

1995 California 1100 carb model

1977 850 Le Mans Mk1

1974 750 V7 Sport

Steve and Leila Walker
MGNOC USA
Arkansas State Reps

Further Reading

More featured Guzzis /