Moto Guzzi doesn’t make too much noise these days, but they do have some gems in their collection. One of these is the Moto Guzzi V85 TT. Sure, it’s not the most exhilarating adventure bike on the market?but it has oodles of character, and charming looks that set it apart.
Filippo Barbacane of the Italian workshop Officine Rossopuro is a fan, citing the V85 TT’s no frills design as its biggest drawcard. ?It’s a motorcycle dedicated to touring, but without the pursuit of extreme technology and the growing need for horsepower that enthusiasts seem to have,? he says. ?I am increasingly convinced that the most important characteristics of a versatile bike are lightness, drivability and simplicity.?

But as much as Filippo loves the stock V85 TT, he’s been itching to customize one for a long time. So by the time a client handed him a fresh donor to build a lightweight, go-anywhere scrambler with, he already had a head full of ideas. Luckily that was the full extent of the brief, leaving Filippo free to execute his vision. ?The first thing I did was to completely strip it of all its parts,? he explains, ?discovering a frame that is really light, small, and almost made-to-order for building the sort of bike I had in mind.?

Despite the V85 TT’s throwback appeal, it is still a modern motorcycle. So Filippo’s first major challenge was navigating its complex wiring, so that he could perform seemingly simple tasks?like swapping out the lig...