Last month’s Wheels & Waves festival in Biarritz was a barometer of custom motorcycle taste in Europe. I was struck by the amount of attention attracted by older Moto Guzzis, especially those with a raw cafe racer look. This bike wasn’t at the festival, but it’s a perfect example of classic Guzzi style. Called “Scoro”, it’s owned by Berlin-based photographer Sven Wedemeyer.
Sven started making changes as soon as he bought this Le Mans Mark III. “My love for cafe racers is huge, so I decided to rebuild it,” he says. “For me, it’s about sound, feeling and style.”
He stripped the Guzzi back to its component parts and installed shortened BMW K100 forks and the brakes from his own Ducati 900SS. After using the Guzzi as his daily ride, he decided to take it a step further and transform it into the full-on cafe racer we see here.
“My vision of the bike was flat and sleek: the filler cap had to be the highest point,” says Sven. “The name Scoro came to my mind: an amalgam of Scura (meaning ‘dark’) and ‘oro’ (‘gold’).”
Sven ripped the Guzzi apart a second time and had the frame shortened, cleaned and powder coated. The engine and drive train were overhauled by Urban Motor, and after Sven put everything back together again, he fitted a minimal electrical system with equally minimal Motogadget instrumentation.
Other upgrades include Öhlins rear shocks, open Dell’Orto carbs and an original Lafranconi Competizione exhaust system. There’s also a Ducati steering damper, a custom front fender, and bespoke bars and grips.
“I really love this bike and it offers everything I need. You feel very fast on it … more than 120 kph on the speedo and you feel like lightning. The sound, especially in a tunnel, has a quality that no other engine can cope with.”
