Dondolino Debut - Classic Moto Guzzi Racing in USA

Written By admind Thursday, March 10, 2011 Add Comment Edit

A joyful Dave Roper fills in John Cronshaw on the details of his "new" 1946 Moto Guzzi Dondolino. The bike would make its classic racing debut in the capable hands of Mr. Roper the next day at the opening round of the AHRMA classic racing series. In the second day of racing, Dave grabbed the holeshot and led for several laps before being overtaken by Alex McLean on the McKeever Champagne Racing SRS Norton Special, a bike with hundreds of classic racing victories.

Don't let the age fool you, these bikes had many 'state of the art' features.

Check out those magnesium hubs front and rear. These bikes also run a girder front fork as good telescopic forks suspension did not rival the performance of the proven girder design yet.

This Guzzi may actually pre-date WWII and was likely a Condor model built to Dondolino specs. Lovely details typical of the Italian bikes of that era like the exposed flywheel.

Seeing and hearing a Dondolino Guzzi racing here in the USA is a rare event.

It was a sensory delight for Italian bike lovers.

Another interesting feature is the parallelogram rear suspension similar to the Gilera Saturno design.

Heel and Toe right side shifter and tach drive above it and a Magnetti Marelli magneto.

Interesting fuel tank design and of course, the obligatory exposed hairpin valve springs on the front of the single cylinder engine. This is a push rod engine running thru a muffler which still rivals a Norton Manx for loudness.