[faster and faster] - Moto Guzzi MGX-21 ‘Flying Fortress’ is a California 1400-based

[Ninjette Newsbot]

The California 1400-based Moto Guzzi MGX-21 bagger doesn't really work for us. Not at all

Even though cruisers aren’t really our thing, we still quite like the Moto Guzzi California 1400, which somehow looks quite cool and stylish. Pity we can’t say the same of the new MGX-21, a California 1400-based bagger which someone at Moto Guzzi has dreamed up for reasons that are not entirely clear.

Miguel Galluzzi, who heads the Piaggio Advanced Design Center(PADC) in Pasadena, California, tries to explain. “How do we imagine crossing an entire continent on a Moto Guzzi? This is the first question we asked ourselves and the immediate response was, on board a California 1400. But we wanted to push beyond our thoughts and dreams, to take a leap into the future. We dared imagine a different way of travelling. Cooler, as the Americans would say. And we imagined that Moto Guzzi would design and build its own bagger.”

“Our thinking and inspiration turned to the masters and masterpieces of Italian design. I mean Bertone and his extraordinary Alfa Romeo BATs of the 1950s. When these crazy Italians interpreted the American taste for extreme shapes such as fins and translated the wildest dreams into metal. And we thought about infinite spaces, with straight roads heading to distant horizons, to speed records snatched on salt lakes, to travelling aimlessly and freely. And thus the MGX-21 Flying Fortress was born,” says Galluzzi.

Moto Guzzi say that this MGX-21 is close to the actual California 1400-based bagger that will hit MoGu showrooms next year. Notable bits include a 21-inch front wheel, very high levels of technology, including Guzzi’s MG-MP multimedia platform, ride-by-wire throttle, two-channel ABS, LED lights and extensive use of high-quality metal and carbonfibre parts. Which is alright, except we still much prefer the regular, non-bagger MoGu California 1400.



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