A Little Moto Guzzi Bicilindrica History

By Alan Cathcart
Published on August 5, 2013
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A crowd gathers around Omobono Tenni (in the Moto Guzzi sweater) after winning the 1934 Italian GP at Rome.
A crowd gathers around Omobono Tenni (in the Moto Guzzi sweater) after winning the 1934 Italian GP at Rome.
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Stanley Woods (left) with teammate Raffaelle Alberti at the 1935 Isle of Man TT.
Stanley Woods (left) with teammate Raffaelle Alberti at the 1935 Isle of Man TT.

In the early 1930s, Moto Guzzi badly needed a new design to
replace its team’s elderly 500cc 4-valve singles. Guzzi’s 250cc single was
dominating the 250 GP class, and it had a compact unit-construction engine with
a horizontal cylinder, leaving lots of room in the middle of the frame. Carlo
Guzzi hit on the idea of filling this space with a second cylinder to produce a
light, compact but unconventional engine. The ensuing engine had the cylinders

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