Introducing the Moto Guzzi California 1400 Touring and Custom Models

Reader Contribution by Press Release
Published on November 13, 2012
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With the California 1400 project Moto Guzzi redefines the concept of the luxury bike, polarising it into two opposite personalities in style, but combined in the expression of reference technologies and performance. The emblem of a culture and capability of building unique bikes since 1921, the California 1400 Touring and Custom models are assembled by hand in the Mandello del Lario plant and, with their innovation and style, they represent the turning point in Moto Guzzi history, one of the oldest and most respected brands in motorcycle history.

The Moto Guzzi California 1400 Touring, one of two new models.

From the USA to the rest of the world.

On the streets for more than forty years, the Moto Guzzi California is the most famous Italian bike in the world. Its career began in 1970 when, after a series of stringent tests, the Moto Guzzi V7 Police won the selection to enter the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) fleet. For the first time, a foreign bike had won a contract in America to supply the police, beating out, in addition to the American manufacturers, the best English competition. News of these stars & stripes uniformed Moto Guzzi bikes generated great interest in Europe as well, strengthening the excellent reputation that the V7 achieved with the 700 and Special versions. From the photographs of LAPD and Highway Patrol officers, however, it is clear that this Moto Guzzi V7 is decidedly different from the ones sold in
dealerships: oversized saddle, bullhorn handlebars, platform footrests and an overabundance of chroming. These are elements that gave the V7 a popular Americanised style and stimulated a demand so strong that it convinced Moto Guzzi to begin factory production in 1971 with the name California. Since then seven generations and four engine capacities (750, 850, 1000, 1100) have alternated in more than one hundred thousand units manufactured: a success.

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