Every year, the EICMA rewards its “most beautiful bike” of the Milanese event, and every year, the winner is unsurprisingly an Italian machine. If you attribute this to the fact that the Italian manufacturers are superior in their motorcycle designs, or if perhaps there is a tendency to the home team in the EICMA crowd, we let you decide for yourself. However, more often than not, we come across the choice of the EICMA, because the choice rarely deviates from a few Italian brands while neglecting a more worthy recipient.
That’s good and all, and this year’s choice, the MV Agusta Superveloce Ago, is a very nice bike – without a doubt. But 2021 is one of those years when we once again distinguish ourselves from the voting masses of the EICMA, because we would have chosen the Moto Guzzi V100 Mandello instead. I admit that the Mandello is more “beautiful” than “beautiful” in its appearance, but the liquid-cooled Guzzi Marks not only an important Moment for the brand, but also an important Moment for the motorcycle industry.
There will be a time when we will look at the Moto Guzzi V100 Mandello and consider its active aerodynamic system to be rather rudimentary in design. It is a simple system that only moves two flaps to distract the wind around the driver as the speed increases. However, in the future, we can imagine a variety of wings and flaps that act and react during the trip. Air brakes, anyone?
And from there, the sky is the limit. Historians of two-wheelers will mention that these advances began here, with an Italian brand steeped in history and perhaps better known as a traditional brand. However, this idea is also changing. The Mandello is a series of “firsts” for the Moto Guzzi. First liquid-cooled engine, first cornering ABS, first Quickshifter, first IMU…
In my story when announcing the model, I said that a more concise way of thinking about the Moto Guzzi V100 Mandello is simply to call it the first modern motorcycle from Guzzi. That’s really what these superlatives mean. I hope this is a trend that Moto Guzzi continues, and all signs suggest that the water-cooled V100-V-Twin will end in a few more models. But the fact that his debut takes place for the first time on a sports touring motorcycle is also remarkable. A Segment largely replaced by large-displacement ADV bikes, sports tourists are starting to make a comeback.
It turns out that not everyone will spend their days going around the world, but there is always a desire for a more practical, comfortable and powerful sports bike that is not intended for the race track. The Moto Guzzi V100 Mandello is perhaps the purest embodiment of this idea on the market-a real Gentleman’s sports bike. It is a machine for someone who does not want the visual harshness that currently seems to dominate Japanese and European design.