MotoGuzzi Le Mans MK II – AIRFORCE

AIR FORCE – The motorbike on which this project was born is one Moto Guzzi Le Mans MK II from 1982, found damaged and corroded by rust in the courtyard of a house in southern Italy, donated to the English working group to begin the project. Taken over by Death Machines of London, was restored to the surprise of the mechanics who found an engine still "working", but subsequently updated and improved with the necessary mechanical modifications, such as new gaskets, cylinder grinding and head replacement and a new carburettor Dell'Orto from 36mm.

The motorbike stopped on the bench led everyone to think with the spirit of the motorcyclist and aviator John Ravelli , thus starting to radically modify the medium with the pioneering spirit of those times. Transmission with modified swing arm of a Moto Guzzi California and front fork inclined from 3 to 30 degrees.

The chassis consists of suspensions and forks HAGON with 2 21" aluminum rims, the rear covered with a hand-welded cover and the front with exposed spokes enriched with a front braking system BREMBO with 4 pistons on steel discs made by DMOL and rear drum RCS they come complete with vintage custom Firestone tires.

All controls and accessories onAIR FORCE were made by hand, from the knobs, IN01 reverse clutch brake levers machined from solid aluminium, the redesigned speedometer and made of nickel silver and brass with radial lighting and dedicated controller, the headlight with xenon projector and LED rear lights completed by an ignition to 1/4 guitar JACK with proximity sensor.

The aesthetics of the fairings made of beaten and hand-welded aluminium, left simply brushed and smoothed, are reminiscent of a bomber from the First World War.
The fairing connects perfectly to the tank, creating a unique line accentuated by the mirror-polished central band, a shape that is echoed in the girth that covers and encloses the exhaust pipes. Craftsmanship complemented by the hand-stitched leather saddle with a dot pattern reminiscent of airflows.

A 112 day job that the “Italian Devil” he would have fully appreciated, finding in his motorbike, his passion and the lines of those planes with which he whizzed through the sky to defend his people during the First World War. The signature placed on the thermal unit states: In Memory of Giovanni Ravelli 14 January 1887 – 11 August 1919 (Motorcyclist, Aviator, and Co-Founder of MotoGuzzi)