Anyone familiar with Moto Guzzi in the 1980s and 90s is aware of Dr. John Wittner, a Philadelphia dentist who modified Guzzi VTwins into racebikes that won championships including the 1987 BOTT (Battle of The Twins). Before he started playing with Guzzis he modified and raced Harley Davidsons. He was also a fan of British singles, owning Gold Stars and Velocettes.
This project was his take on a modern American single cylinder sport bike. Starting with a set of stock XLH crankcases, he converted the crankshaft for single cylinder use, blanking off the rear cylinder area. Various mods brought the displacement to 600cc. The transmission is a close ratio box from a KR racer. Using a Lucas headlight and styling licks from the British motorcycle industry giving it a "Clubman" look. The bike worked well, apparently it was faster than either his Velocette and Gold Star while confusing passing Harley and British fans.
1 comment:
Impressive inlet pipe. Phil Irving's rule of thumb in "Tuning for Speed" is 90 in. carb intake to valve seat divided by RPM in thousands. So perhaps around 5-6000 top RPM for this long stroke engine ?
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