Written by Marlon Slack
Every year the Italians put on one of greatest motorcycle shows in the world. Dubbed the MBE, or Motor Bike Expo, the four-day event tackles every aspect of the motorcycle spectrum you can imagine. There?s enduro nuts, sports bike fans and cruiser riders all rubbing shoulders on the huge showroom floor. But the thing that really caught our eye was the incredible array of custom rides on display. And none were better than this – the award-winning Moto Guzzi Le Mans MkII racer dubbed the ?MILF? – a bike we?d love to swing a leg over.

It?s all the result of one motivated madman, Paolo Danese, a 51-year-old motorcycle nut who lives in Verona in Northern Italy. While an obsessive for all things two-wheeled he has a particular soft spot for Moto Guzzis. And while he does incredible work it?s all a side project for him.?So many people ask me where I have my workshop or my store,? he says, ?but that doesn?t exist. I just have a garage and that?s it?.
And from that tight little space he?s managed to turn out this beautiful endurance-racer inspired Moto Guzzi, which was collected in bits over a number of years. ?The bike started life as a frame from a 1978 Le Mans MKII I purchased from a friend ten years ago,? Paolo explains. ?But the engine, also from a Le Mans, I purchased online?. But his plans for the engine would have to wait until he?d finished with the Tonti frame.

?I wanted to lighten it and make it more rigid,? Paolo says. The first st...