“A Short History of my Moto Guzzi V7 Stone”

I’ll peel this away like an onion, working from the broadest categories to the more specific.

The outermost layer would be the beginning of Moto Guzzi. The story goes that there were two Italian pilots and their mechanic during World War 1 - Carlo Guzzi, Giovanni Ravelli, and Giorgio Parodi. Ironically, Ravelli died just days after the war had ended in an airplane crash, and was commemorated with the eagle that is a part of the Moto Guzzi logo. Guzzi engineered the first bikes, and Parodi, who came from some wealthy families, financed the venture. The first engine design was a horizontal single which was used in various forms and versions for the first 45 years of the company’s history. That brings us up to the 60’s.

In the 60’s, we peel away the next layer. In 1967, a new engine was designed in an attempt to win a competition for who would build police motorcycles for the Italian government. It was a v-twin, designed by Giulio Cesare Carcano, the familiar form that all Moto Guzzi engines currently have. When Moto Guzzi owners refer to the “big block” engine, this was the first model, the origin of that “bloodline” of engines. It was called the V7, though you shouldn’t confuse it with the current model called the V7.

The next layer came in the late 70’s. In 1979, Leo Tonti designed a smaller version of the Moto Guzzi v-twin, the v35, a 350cc engine. This was the beginning of the “small block” engine. Tonti also previously created a new frame, that in various forms, is used on all Moto Guzzi models since the early 70’s. The previous frame was called the “loop frame” - the new one, the “Tonti frame”. The v35 engine was bored out to become the v50 (500cc), the v65 (650cc), and the v75 (750cc).

The final layer was the v7 Classic from 2007. The Classic led to a few later versions (with both modern and “vintage” stylings) which all led to the current V7 II model, which comes in three version - stone, special, sport - and I own a stone.