Cafe-Racer Comeback

Cafe - Racer Comeback

Magni gets its motors

HERE’S A CONCEPT FOR you: A motorcycle requires a motor. This is a lesson legendary MV Agusta race tuner Arturo Magni and his son Giovanni have learned in the most difficult and painful of ways.

The Magnis, you see, have for the past 19 years busied themselves building and selling some rather nice motorcycles, using their own chassis. The Magnis’ Magnis have been universally well received, to the point that the enthusiastic pair easily can sell many more machines than they can produce-which brings us to the issue at hand.

Magnis, though once pro-

pelled by MV Agusta, Honda and BMW motors, have for the last 11 years relied on Moto Guzzi V-Twin power. That’s trouble, because lately Moto Guzzi’s failed fiscal health precluded the Mandello del Lario-based factory from shipping engines to the Magnis. Hey, Guzzi couldn’t build its own motorcycles; it was even less capable of sending components elsewhere. So, no motors, no Magni motorcycles.

But now it’s morning in Mandello, thanks to Finprogetti finance. And when Guzzi gets well, so does Magni.

First fruit of this renewed health is the Magni Sfida-ironically, the name

means “challenge” in Italian, appropriate because that’s surely what the Magnis have faced.

The bike finally is possible because Guzzi’s new management recently shipped 20 carbureted Sport 1100 V-Twins to Magni, and promised that more engines, all of them fuel injected, are on the way. As with any bit of specialist tackle, they won't be cheap: The with-tax Italian price for the carbureted version is the equivalent of about $ 17,000. A lot of loot, for sure, but in the strange and obscure world of Italian designer motorcycles, neither unsurprising nor too far out of line.

What you get for your money is the familiar Guzzi V-Twin lump hung in a chrome-moly spine frame, and tilted slightly to the right to move the drive shaft the hell out of the way of the fat, 17-inch rear tire the Magnis specified for the bike. What seems strange at first is the odd mix of ultra modern suspension-the fork is an inverted 40mm Ceriani and the shock is a single cantilevered WP-mixed with ’70s cafe-racer style. It’s what works with Magni’s eager cadre of customers, though, and it works on the road, too.

Because of short seat-topeg spacing and long seat-tobar reach, hanging off around comers isn't an option. Better to go with the flow, using your body weight to move

this delightful motorcycle into, and out of, cornering attitudes. The ability to do that is aided by a very low center of gravity, and very crisp steering. Good stuff.

Never mind that the mirrors aren’t much use, thanks to the vibes that accompany the Guzzi motor’s prodigious torque; and never mind the sidestand, which is difficult to find and even more difficult to use.

Also, never mind that this is an incongruous, improbable package. With its 1970s

styling and 1990s performance, it’s nothing less than a modern throwback to all our motorcycling yesterdays. What matters is that for a select number of upscale owners, it will be just what the doctor ordered.

Alan Cathcart