2001 Moto Guzzi California Stone Metal
Moto Guzzi Stone for sale
SELLER SAYS: 2001 Cali. Stone Metal Black. Wilber’s rear shocks, heavy duty front springs, comfort screen, comfort gel seat insert, highway pegs, back-rest, saddle bag frames. Registered to February 2026. Tyres 500km since new, same with SSB high-crank battery. DRL added, plus USB port. Custom indicators and tail light. After-market exhaust. Serviced at Thunderbike Motorcycles every year, since 2002. This machine requires a new custodian, for the next 20 years. Basic saddlebags plus cover and other accessories will be available. Thanks for looking. Contact Chris on 0403 764 961 (Perth 6009, Western Australia)
EDITOR TERLICK SAYS: You might find this hard to believe, but Moto Guzzi no longer makes a California. The much-loved Cali has been an integral part – the word “bedrock” springs to mind, actually – since 1971 after the cheeky little Italian company had a big crack at convincing the Los Angeles Police Department to dump their monopolistic relationship with apple-pie Harley-Davidsons and find room for a pasta-and-sauce Guzzi. And they pulled it off. The LAPD rather liked the bike that Moto Guzzi had built especially for them, and rewarded the audacity by bringing a whole bunch of them into the garage. It was a marketing triumph for Guzzi, and kicked open the door to the American market. While the police bikes were not available to the public, Moto Guzzi quickly created a civilian bike based heavily on the LAPD machines. That was the first California, released in 1971. The California evolved into many different shapes over the years, although not many different sizes — it was always a big V-twin, and I think always with Guzzi’s wonderful Tonti-designed frame and linked brakes. Harley-Davidson owners will probably say otherwise, but a whole lot of people will tell you the California out-Harleyed Harley by making a big town-and-highway bike that looked the goods, sounded the goods, but stopped and handled better than anything that had ever come out of Milwaukee. Those attributes stayed with the California for 50 years and can easily be used to describe this Stone of Chris’, despite it being a bit more cruiser and a bit less tourer compared with the early models. The sensible upgrades add further value to the bike, and the long history with Thunderbikes adds confidence. Nice. (By the way, Moto Guzzi has recently renewed its copyright on the ‘California’ name in the USA, and has apparently stated a genuine intention “to use it again”.)
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