Le Mans 850
Back to the Italians. In 1976, the first bike mag I ever bought, at the tender age of 15, had a centre spread of the Mark 1 Le Mans. I'll call it the Lemon. I couldn't get over how great it looked, despite that damn great engine with its pots sticking out to the side. Italian styling was clearly brilliant.
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When you are just about to buy your Fizzy, things like 120 mph 850 V twins with shaft drive, linked brakes, and buckets full of style are the stuff of daydreams. As you drone along, flat out at 45mph, on the same bike everyone else is riding, you imagine you are really on a Lemon, charging out of corners and enjoying that legendary Italian handling. That is until you are overtaken by the kid up the road on his Suzuki AP50, which would do a shattering 50 mph! Dreaming was fun though. |
There were a couple of Lemons round here, both Mark 2's, and we were used to the sound of V-twins before they were so popular. The Mark 2 had a full fairing, instead of the Mark 1's little flyscreen, and looked even better. One of the local ones had a loud two into one pipe, and the noise as the owner blasted it through the town was amazing.
The Lemon was another entertaining proddy racer, although it hadn't got as much puff as the Ducati 900, and didn't steer very quickly. Interesting to see how Guzzi have developed it into the Daytona, great to watch in the BEARS race series.
I almost didn't have to wait for the lottery this time. Someone told me about a Mark 1 for sale locally at about two grand. Tempting, but it was rumoured to be a bit sulky, and I think it might have been a money pit. So instead I'll wait for a Mark 2 in blue, or in black and gold.
