Magni America
Magni America
Maximum Moto Guzzi
ARE YOU A MOTO GUZZI OWNER tired of running into other Guzzis everywhere you go?
Or maybe you’re a Magni Guzzi owner who’s just had it with all the other Magnis in the parking lot when you pop down to the store for some provisions?
Yeah, right. Even regular Guzzis aren’t very common, and the handcrafted Magni versions are rarer than good Italian beer.
This bike, the Magni America, takes that rarity a step further. Based on the Australia model we tested a year and a half ago (CW, January, 2000), the America was conceived in the States (hence its name) and also gets its final finishing here.
The basic deal is this: Buy an unpainted Australia for about $22,500 (the price has dropped due to lire-dollar fluctuation), then cough up another $6000 or so for the “kit” and custom paint to your design spec. U.S. Magni importer Christopher Garville (Commerce Overseas Corporation, 1201 E. Warner Ave., Santa Ana, CA 92705; 714/4441200) puts you in touch with the people who can do the paint and engine work (figure an additional $2000 for mechanical labor). So you’re looking at about $30,500 when it’s all done.
That's a lot of lire, but the mods make a large difference in the character and performance of the bike. The engine work bumps displacement from the eight-valve Daytona motor's standard 992 to 1225cc using 100mm Cosworth pistons with Carrillo rods in a 78mm stroke, all working on a race-balanced crankshaft. New cylinders are fitted to accept the bigger slugs,
which necessitates splitting and machining the cases. To feed the breathing needs of the larger lungs, toss in hot cams, new cam followers and a fresh, re-mapped EPROM chip to de1iv~
absolutely tasty to boot.
On the dyno, the hotted-up motor’s 102 horsepower and 80 foot-pounds of torque stomp the standard 992cc engine’s peak numbers of 98 hp and 61 ft.-lbs. The true beauty is that the bigger bore mill cranks out 20 more footpounds about 2000 rpm sooner! It’s an abundantly beautiful torque curve, with at least 70 ft.-lbs. available from 30008000 rpm. These numbers are more than comparable to the last Ducati 996 we had on the dyno, a bike that thumped in with 104 hp and 65 ft.-lbs., only the Magni makes more of its power sooner. It doesn’t rev quite as quickly as the Ducati, but overall, aside from the occasional righteously loud airbox backfire, this is quite the bitchin’ engine.
Shame about the gearbox, then. Traditional Guzzi five-speed clunkfest, I’m afraid. Long throws and very high effort with plenty of neutrals scattered around. We understand that the newand-improved Guzzi six-speeder bolts right up to the Daytona engine. Worth looking into should you decide to pop for an America.
As for the chassis, it’s traditional long-and-low Magni, with a nice, fully adjustable inverted Paioli fork at the front and a WP shock at the rear, working through the shaft-drive-effect-eliminating “Parallelogrammo” suspension. Ride is pretty harsh, although it manages somehow to smack you around without really upsetting cornering attitude. Steering effort is quite high, stuff-you’d have arm-pump before you exited the first chicane. Arcing through big sweepers is where it’s at with the America. The full-race Brembo brake system delivered with the kit is fabulous, a single-finger squeeze yielding great feel and a lot of stop.
Being a bike that is essentially fatto a mawo-which, contrary to how it sounds is not a “fat a man,” but rather “hand-made”-there are certain quirks that suggest the flawed humanity that builds this machine. Things like the brake master cylinder hitting the gauge cluster at full steering lock, or the toolong kickstand that’s nearly impossible to put down while sitting in the saddle. Things you don’t expect for this kind of budget outlay. And given that if you built an America, you’d pick a different paint scheme, the less said about our testbike’s dubious graphics the better.
And yet, this magnum Magni and its beefed-up motor still make you want to sing. Think of it as the esoteric’s esoteric, a custom custom. You’ll know if you need it, and the rest just won't matter.
Mark Hoyer
