Motodays 2013 – Here is the Moto Guzzi California 1400 Touring

Known by all, loved by many and literally venerated by kilometer grinders, over the course of her forty-year career Moto Guzzi California it patrolled the American freeways, escorted royalty and presidents and entered the garages of movie stars and rock stars, conquering a place of reference in the history of the motorcycle.

The California represents, more than any other model produced in Mandello del Lario, the values ​​and strength of the Moto Guzzi brand: style, comfort, reliability and performance. A success motivated by a rare quality: knowing how to reconcile the comfort and load capacity of a custom motorbike with the dynamism and performance of a powerful road one.

NEW IN EVERYTHING AND EVERYTHING
Designing the heir to the most famous Moto Guzzi in the world meant taking on a great technological and economic challenge, to replicate, as in 1971, the new reference in the category. An imposing, exclusive motorbike, capable of enhancing the elements of nobility of a symbolic brand of Made in Italy.

Starting from the stylistic intuition of an innovative but recognizable design consistent with the genealogy of the seven generations of California produced to date, the main Moto Guzzi distinctive signs have been redesigned with the most advanced technologies of the leading European motorcycle group, obtaining a series of results such as:

• The largest displacement V Twin ever produced in Europe, capable of delivering an overwhelming torque of 120 Nm at just 2750 rpm.
• The first custom in the world equipped with MGCT traction control and multi-map Ridecby Wire technology, with the possibility of selecting three different delivery curves: Turismo, Veloce and Pioggia.
• The first custom in the world equipped with a front light unit equipped with DRL LED daytime lighting, as happens on the most recently designed cars.
• An unprecedented double cradle frame, equipped with an elastic engine support system capable of completely eliminating the transfer of vibrations.
• A new shaft final transmission, at the top of the category for smooth and silent operation.

Even observing any other detail of the new one California 1400 Touring from the wheels to the instruments, from the components to the quality of the paintwork and assembly, the extent of the change is clear: this Moto Guzzi certainly represents a turning point in the history of the brand.

DESIGN: CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF A LEGEND
Surprising in the smallest details as in the components, the design of the new California Touring maintains virtual continuity with its ancestors despite having no elements in common.

The stylistic references are in the profile of the saddle, in the chrome handle and the side panels inspired by the T3 as well as a relationship between the dimensions of the tank and the engine in favor of the latter, just like in the style of the V7 and V850 ancestors.
Contributing above all to this impression is the ingenious tank, made of metal, with a 21-litre central body and two lateral sides, on which the Eagle logo is embedded, shaped on the powerful thermal units of the new 1400cc round head engine .

Squeezed inside the V formed by the twin-cylinder, the tank contributes to making the side view noticeably lower and more streamlined also due to the decided lengthening of the wheelbase now at 1685 mm compared to the 1560 mm of the latest California 90.
The impression is further accentuated by the horizontal progression of the highly polished silencers which end in correspondence with the rear mudguard, shaped on the impressive 200 tire and equipped with a spectacular dual LED light cluster which also integrates the direction indicators. The front view is no different, with a complex surface front headlight with polyellipsoidal headlight equipped with DRL LED daytime lighting, an absolutely exclusive device, which makes it immediately recognisable.

The particular polygonal shape of the headlight dominates the sumptuous front, enriched, according to California tradition, by the inevitable windshield and additional headlights. After more than thirty years from the T4, the light alloy wheels reappear on the California 1400, now with the original ribbed design. The powerful 200/60-16 rear section is striking, while the front has a more ordinary dimension of 130/70-18.

The 46 mm front fork is another reference to the glorious ancestors: completely sealed by the imposing black "telescopes", it replicates in style the units that equipped the first V7 and V850. The driving cockpit is a perfect testimony to the combination of design and technology that animates the new California. The instrumentation is striking in terms of stylistic refinement and visibility, enclosed in a circular dial measuring 150 mm in diameter with the analogue rev counter scale created along the external circumference and the full matrix multifunction display suspended in the centre.

Also new are the covered grips, the bull's-horn handlebar and the electric blocks where, on the right, it is possible, for the first time on a Moto Guzzi, to activate the cruise control. An accessory that integrates the sumptuous standard equipment of the California Touring which also boasts a fine two-tone saddle, the "Patrol" windshield, additional chrome headlights, 35-litre side cases, engine and suitcase guard kits, and an electronic anti-theft device.

However, this rich equipment does not preclude the possibility of further modifying the California Touring according to the owner's aesthetic taste and needs by drawing on the most complete accessories catalog ever produced by Moto Guzzi before.
High performance silencers, chromed and billet components, saddles of all types and materials.

Particularly refined is the color concept, developed on two evocative graphics: the Eldorado, white with dark ornamental fillets on the tank, inspired by the versions of the California Highway Patrol or Ambassador, which expresses the classic black with white fillets similar to the original versions, type V7 and 850 California.

The “elastic” engine
The history of Moto Guzzi is marked by ingenious and innovative technical solutions. From the "elastic frame" designed by the engineer. Giuseppe Guzzi at the end of the 20s, to the aerodynamic studies developed in the famous wind tunnel, from the 8-cylinder engine to the first transverse twin-cylinder with cardan transmission up to integral braking.

Today, with the new California 1400 Moto Guzzi develops a new idea applied to fixing the engine to the frame, introducing the concept of the "Elastic Engine". The innovation, introduced to obtain a new standard in terms of ride comfort, consists in fixing the engine to the frame through an exclusive system of elasto-kinematic supports composed of a front connecting rod, two lateral connecting rods and a series of rubber pads which they let the engine oscillate, filtering all the vibrations, preventing them from being transmitted to the motorbike and to its points of contact with the rider and passenger.

In addition to guaranteeing benchmark ride comfort, the chassis of the new California has its strong point in its dynamic performance, obtained by seeking maximum rigidity between an oversized steering head and large-section swingarm.

Characterized by a high-strength tubular structure, the California 1400 frame is a closed double cradle with typically custom dimensions: the steering angle is open at 32°, the trail is 155 mm while the wheelbase is that of a true cruiser of the free way: 1685 mm. Dimensions that ensure stability and precision in changes of direction and, thanks to the very low center of gravity and the centrality of the masses, also surprising maneuverability on a motorbike of this size.

Sitting just 740 mm from the ground, it is sufficient to reach a pedestrian speed to manoeuvre, with the ease of a scooter, the powerful twin-cylinder from Mandello, which responds to the slightest command of the throttle, leaving the vibrations generated by the engine in the sphere of memories of those who led the California of the past.

The more melancholic might feel nostalgic for it, but just leave the bike still on the stand at idle to see it oscillate under the powerful action of the two 104 mm pistons, generating vibrations that disappear when you touch the accelerator control. The motorbike maintains, or rather amplifies, its "pulsating soul" when stationary, transforming it into speed without tremors once in motion.

The news doesn't end here. The fork is also new, with 46 mm stanchions which, despite the coherence of its custom style and generous 120 mm travel, betrays its aptitude for high performance by the presence of feet for the radial attachment of the four-piston Brembo calipers .

A traditional solution was instead chosen for the rear suspension, where a pair of chromed rear shock absorbers with adjustable spring preload act while the choice of the wheels goes against the grain for the category. Distinguished by the original "millerighe" design, the wheels have a diameter of 18' at the front and 16' at the rear, the latter, thanks to the 6' section rim, houses a spectacular 200/60 tyre. -traffic lights”. After thirty years, the California 1400 abandons the famous integral braking, definitively overcome by the advantages offered by the latest generation ABS and by the power of a braking system never seen before in this range of motorcycles: Brembo radial calipers with four opposing pistons that act on a pair of 320 mm perforated floating discs at the front and a 282 mm rear disc worked by a Brembo floating caliper with two parallel pistons.