The Complete Book of Moto Guzzi | Rider’s Library
When Carlo Guzzi, Giovanni Ravelli and Giorgio Parodi teamed up to form the upstart motorcycle firm called Moto Guzzi in 1921, the motorcycle industry already had a wide field of contenders, some with a nearly 20-year head start, including the likes of Harley-Davidson, Triumph, Enfield and many more.
A great many of those firms are long gone, and, as Ian Falloon points out in his masterpiece on Moto Guzzi history, the company has endured to become the oldest European motorcycle manufacturer in continuous production.
Having written extensively on multiple motorcycle brands, including Moto Guzzi, Falloon’s latest book, The Complete Book of Moto Guzzi Every Model Since 1921, is perhaps the definitive work on the Eagle brand.
In Europe, Moto Guzzi’s impressive resume in competition is probably much more widely known than here in the States. Falloon sheds light on the company’s remarkable racing legacy.
By the time it ended its factory Grand Prix racing program in the 1950s, it had amassed 3,329 races, 14 World Championships, 6 Constructor’s Championships, 47 Italian championships and 11 Isle of Man TT victories.
Falloon highlights the company’s substantial technological achievements from day one of the operation. Perhaps the most impressive symbol of the company’s technological daring was the stunning 500cc liquid-cooled, DOHC V8 that debuted in 1955.
Despite disappointing results, having won only 3 GP events in three seasons of racing with many DNFs due mainly to reliability problems, the V8 was far ahead of its time.
As is the case for many companies with a history as long as Moto Guzzi, there were plenty of ups and downs. Falloon details those aspects of the company’s history, as well. The financial peaks and valleys as well as multiple changes of ownership on the sometimes rocky road to today’s Moto Guzzi is covered in depth.
Lavishly illustrated with dozens of historic period black and white images and color images of models from the very first—the 1921 Normale—to today’s state-of-the-art 2017 Moto Guzzi superbikes, backed up with fine technical details of each model, Falloon has created an authoritative resource on the brand.
Book Data:
- Title: The Complete Book of Moto Guzzi Every Model Since 1921
- Author: Ian Falloon
- Published: 2017 hardcover, 256 9.75” x 12” pages, dozens of color and black & white images.
- Publisher: Motorbooks, Quarto Publishing Group, 400 First Ave. North, Suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA
- ISBN: 978-0-7603-5221-2
- MSRP: U.S. $60; U.K. £45; $78 CAN