Written by Marlon Slack
There?s no argument that Italy?s Officine Rossopuro do the best-looking Moto Guzzi customs on the scene. The head of the shop, Filippo Barbacane, never takes the easy route with his builds. He mixes and matches engines and final drive components, he crafts bodywork from scratch and the end result is always a show-stopper. And finally he?s decided to show us his own personal ride ? a Moto Guzzi Stelvio two years in the making.

Well, I say it?s been two years in the making but Filippo has had the Stelvio in stock trim as a daily ride for a few years now. And he?s travelled all over Europe on the big adventure bike, amassing 100,000 trouble free kilometres. ?It?s an exceptional bike,? he says, ?But it had some things I wanted to change.?
After 100,000kms of touring you?ll be as curious as I am to figure out what could be wrong with the Stelvio. ?First of all is the weight,? he says. ?I think it?s the most important thing about a motorcycle. I don?t care about horsepower. I?d prefer a light bike over a powerful one.? The second change would take more work than just trimming parts. ?The newer 4 valve engine heats up and has a lot more mechanical noise and has many more parts that make it more complex and heavy.?

The solution" Swap the engine out for an older model. He mated a 2 valve engine to the standard Stelvio chassis to take advantage of, in his opinion, the best powerplant that Guzzi has offered. ?It?s the best engine of all time,? he decla...