1973 Moto Guzzi V7 Sport
By Richard Backus
A few summers ago, Frank Skweres
handed Rick Manning a short note. Written on it were the name of a
motorcycle collector and a list of bikes he was selling. One of
those was what Italian motorcycle lovers might call the “Guzzeta
Stone” of Moto Guzzis — a 1973 Moto Guzzi V7 Sport.
“As I looked down and read the first line, I was overcome,” Rick
remembers. “Abba habba mama, does that really say a V7 Sport?” It
did, and it was.
Built in limited quantities from 1972-1974, the V7 Sport was a
ground breaking motorcycle, a factory café and one of the most
famous Guzzis ever made. And now Rick had one.
Going Guzzi
Rick Manning first entered our orbit a few years back, when he
contacted us about a Yamaha RD400 Daytona he’d acquired. Not knowing
much about the little 2-strokers, he was hoping we might give him
some feedback on its condition and value. Rick sent some pics, and
at some point confessed he was really more interested in Moto
Guzzis. He and a few other enthusiasts were building what they hoped
would be a show-worthy machine, he told us; would we be interested
in seeing it when it’s done? Absolutely.
With an unassuming and friendly demeanor that gives away his
Midwestern roots, Rick is slow to brag about his own achievements
and quick to praise the work of others. Talking to him, it becomes
abundantly clear that when he involves himself in something, he
involves himself completely. Telling me about the Guzzi build, he
spoke more about his approach to the bike than the actual work he
was doing, words like “passion” and “soul” marking his thoughts on
the process.
Rick would be the first to point out that he’s not solely
responsible for this lovely V7 Sport, the second of two Guzzi
projects launched by Combined Design, a sort of vintage
motorcycle/car/creative services think-tank run by Rick and Tina
Wagner and co-conspirators James McKenna and Tony Keisman. The bike
is known internally as “Cherry O,” short for “Cherry O Baby.”
Cherry O came on the heels of the group’s first major build, “Li’l
Red.” Based on a 1976 Moto Guzzi T-3 platform with styling inspired
by the V7 Sport, Li’l Red was in many ways an exercise at
pinpointing and refining Rick and crew’s approach to rebuilds. Where
Li’l Red was sort of a “what could a contemporary V7 Sport look
like” statement, with scores of special touches including a custom
Epco stainless steel exhaust system, stainless steel battery box,
custom side covers, custom taillight assembly and Hella bar-end turn
signals attached to custom-fabricated mounts, Cherry O is more
subdued. Well, maybe just a little.
Then again, as one of only 3,500 or so production V7 Sports made,
the group knew they had a very rare machine on their hands,
dictating a more conservative approach. “To us, the V7 Sport
represents a period Italian hot rod, and Cherry O is our
interpretation,” Rick says.
Custom touches include the spectacular House of Kolor candy apple
red paint laid down by Craig Ellis at Paintworks, in-house custom
graphics and CRG bar-end mirrors. The exhaust is period correct, as
is the dual-disc front end, a factory kit installed by the original
owner after Guzzi made it available in 1974. The bike left the
factory wearing a 2-sided, twin-leading-shoe drum.
Rick entered Cherry O in the Motorcycle Classics Bike Show East at
the Barber Vintage Festival last year, where it walked away with the
People’s Choice award. In a field of stunning machines, it stood
head and shoulders above the rest. To finish the experience, Rick
and Tony took Li’l Red and Cherry O for a full day’s tour, letting
the big twins stretch their vocal chords and echo their beat against
the mountains of northern Georgia.
“As we turned on to the Richard
B. Russell Scenic Highway,” Rick recalls, “I looked out over the
bars to the clear roadway ahead, and remembered when I had asked
Rick at MG Cycle to describe the V7’s ride. He simply said, ‘It’s
God’s motorcycle.’”
With the Moto Guzzi builds behind them, Rick and crew are working
toward offering their ideas as finished pieces to other Moto Guzzi
and BMW airhead fans, with a line of aftermarket café parts. And
they’re crafting yet another Guzzi — and a BMW — to further develop
their ideas. If Lil' Red and Cherry O are any indication, you can be
sure they’ll be good ones.
-- Motorcycle Classics
Article by Richard Backus,
reprinted by permisson of Motorcycle Classics
Photos by Combined Design Studio and Tony Ray Keisman
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