Isn't it cool? Yeah, we thought so too! So cool in fact we asked Moe of www.cyclegarden.com to tell the story. Moe started timkering with engines when he was 11 and acquired his first Guzzi at the age of 23...hell, he tells it better than I do...

"When I was 23 I found a Moto Guzzi T3 that I bought from a Long Beach Fireman who bought it from his city’s auction. I admired the Moto Guzzi’s, because the Funeral Escort Cop’s were using them at that time and they really liked them and I thought I’ll get one too.

I had fun on that T3! I had it for about a year and was approached by a guy who said he had an old Ambassador for sale that was leaning up against his house. I went over to look at it and bought it for $150, this was 1988. I had to shim up the rod bearing journals as the crank was pretty worn, and I needed some good used cylinders, I found a Guy who had parts in Hesperia Ca. his name was B.J. or John Schwartz, He gave me some tips on getting it running. I figured I’d run it until it blew up, I ran it for about 10K miles until I sold both bikes to a broker in New Zealand. at that time in my life the world was a safer place without me on the road.

I started to calm down a bit when I turned 25 (1990). I found another Guzzi that I bought in Perris CA. for $200. That was the First Moechine (so named by Billy Dittie). About this time I met up with another friend of mine who had 2 non running Police Guzzis, I got them running for him, he sold one and used the money to buy more junk Guzzis, I fixed them up and we split the profits, I then started working for Mark Etheridge at Guzzi Classics in the Spring of 1990, I worked there for 1.5 years and had my own small shop that I lived in, I started collecting junk Guzzis that I’d find in the local Recycler ad magazine and within a short time I had over 10 bikes in my shop! I was living in the shop in downtown Long Beach during the LA riots, the shop was in the middle of the Long Beach war zone, that was something to witness, and shortly after this time Mark and I started butting heads as I’m sure I was a challenge to deal with, and I was soon gone from Guzzi Classics.

I was on my own and then bought more junk Guzzis, then bought and sold them, fixed them up, and started doing repairs and service work, I got a bigger shop in Signal Hill, CA. in late 1992.
I met up with a Guzzi Broker from Holland, Arie Van Rosmalen, who invited me over to stay with him and his wife in Lemmer, Holland for a few months, I closed the shop in Signal Hill with some help from a landlord who didn’t appreciate the Bohemian Motorcycle Lifestyle. (they didn’t like me living in my shop!) I threw everything I owned into a 40” container and put it in storage while I travassed through Europe.
I worked on Guzzis at Arie’s shop in Lemmer, and traveled with him to Mandello several times bringing Guzzis from Italy to Holland and selling them in the Nederlands. I had shipped a T3FB over to Holland ahead of my arrival in the Nederlands, and fixed that bike up there and then sold it for a much greater price than I could ever get for it here.

With the proceeds from that sale I was able to buy a large amount of N.O.S. Guzzi parts from the shops in Mandello and also from private dealers. I went to Imola Swapmeet and saw what was available there. I also picked up a Guzzi Ercole 3 wheeler in Trento near Lago de Garda. I shipped it all back and came home.

I then began looking for a shop behind the Orange Curtain, I was sick of LA county and all the BS I had to put up with living there. I found a Shop on Metzeler Ave. in Huntington Beach, I was 2 miles away from the Beach, Surf City! Even tough I never surfed, It sounded good on paper.

I out grew that shop and another whiney landlord who didn’t like oil slicks in his parking lot or a greasy white trash guy living in one of his units, I got in a verbal altercation with him (recognize a pattern here?) and I was soon gone from Metzeler.


During my residence at Metzeler Ave. I had met my gorgeous wife Joyce who came into buy a Guzzi from me. She knew how to ride a bike well, to my surprise, she grew up with 4 brothers and they all rode dirt bikes on the weekends. My days of living at the shop were soon to be over. Women don’t appreciate living in a dirty greasy shop.

Upon leaving Metzeler and I found a larger place a few blocks away at 7732 Talbert Ave. I’ve been there since November of 1995. Marriage must somehow stabilize you.

Working on the old Guzzi’s has been an interesting bussines, meeting interesting people from all walks of life, There are a lot of artist and unique thinkers that own Moto Guzzi’s, its never boring. Over the last decade our Goal at Cycle Garden is to repair maintain and restore early V7 Moto Guzzi’s to the best of our ability. We remanufacture the parts that we can, and sometimes making them better than the original OEM parts. It becomes a daily challenge as these bikes are creeping up on being 40 years old. Some sheet metal parts and some mechanical parts are getting very hard to find.

The big problem is that we can’t just remake parts because the volume of sales would not make it worth the price of tooling up. So we have to try and save the parts that are already out there. That makes the job difficult at times. Matt Duenner has been with me for 8 years and is one of the best Early V7 mechanics on the planet. Matt is great with customer service also, he’s much more patient than I am. Matt will get you all fixed up! Ryan O’Neil has been with us for about a year and is quickly learning the V7’s inside and out. And as time goes on we are remaking more obsolete parts and learning better and better ways to keep your old Goose running".

Squadra Guzzista would like to thank Moe for submitting his story. Any visit to Hungtington Beach cannot be complete without a visit to Cycle Garden! Who knows? the Guzzi Girls may even be there...thought that'd get your attention! Good luck Moe...you are truly unique and a Guzzi genius! If you would like your story featured, send us a pic of your bike and story to info@guzzista.com.



Squadra Guzzista Merchandise

We have a brand new range of Moto Guzzi inspired merchandise. A complete range of gift ideas, clothing for men, women, and children. To view the range, please click here: GO

Item illustrated:

"Guzzista" t-shirt in black.