M-G Stelvio TT Touring

[MotorToad]

'That poor bike' isn't even a Moto Guzzi -- it's a Laverda (different company)

Gah, I dunno what I was thinking, I searched for an old bike I could remember seeing once and when I found that shaft-drive disaster I posted without even looking at it. I think the main component of that stupid error was stored in the back of my brain is "who could be dense enough to race a longitudinal engine with shaft drive?" and M-G is on the short list of answers. Complete failure of my association circuits. I was thinking Guzzi had a rather creative but ultimately failed bike in the '70s but now I think I might have even been thinking about a shaft-drive MV Agusta... :-\ Life is hard when you're stupid.

Maybe it was:

But that's not as dramatic a failure as what I was thinking I was remembering.

As far as I know, though, the MG-01 never raced.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

"who could be dense enough to race a longitudinal engine with shaft drive?"

This man could be and did -- Schorsch Meier (Winner 1939 IOM TT):

Photo taken 50 years later.

 

[beemerdons]

"who could be dense enough to race a longitudinal engine with shaft drive?"

This man could be and did -- Schorsch Meier (Winner 1939 IOM TT):

Photo taken 50 years later.

charismaticmegafauna: Danke for picture of Herr Meier! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Jakob_Henne Und Reg Pridmore!

 

[wfooshee]

Holy crap, speaking of racing Moto-Guzzis, look what I found this morning. I had no clue this ever existed!

MotoGuzziV8

 

[whoomba]

Very macho looking, but look at that boulder of a motor! Very heavy and underpowered.

 

[MotorToad]

Holy crap, speaking of racing Moto-Guzzis, look what I found this morning. I had no clue this ever existed!
MotoGuzziV8

I could swear I've mentioned that bike to you before. Hrm.
If you guys ever want to understand just how mind-numbingly horrible motorcycle aerodynamics are, remember this sentence from that page:

Whist still under development it was clocked at an incredible 178mph at the Belgian GP in 1957. Producing 75 bhp at a then remarkable 12,500rpm the machine only weighed 135kg.

So right around stock power for an SV650 and its top speed is almost as fast as a Hayabusa.