The folks at Millepercento, a specialty shop in Italy, belong to a little squad of die-hards from Lombardy who’d be willing to go bankrupt to see a Moto Guzzi sportbike smoke a Ducati 1199 Panigale. It all dates back to a particular Sunday in 1972, when a Ducati 750SS won the Imola 200 and there wasn’t a Moto Guzzi 750 Sport in sight.
And Millepercento’s latest model, the Scighera 1200, certainly reflects that passion. The Scighera is a particularly eye-catching motorcycle, a lean and naked sportbike that enhances the clean design and symmetry of the mighty Moto Guzzi 1200 8-valver. Starting from the engine and a frame inspired by that of the Alba 1200, craftsmen from Millepercento and Rossopuro created their bike the old-fashioned way, with just an idea in the back of their minds and no drawings.
Slowly, the Scighera took shape via a painstaking process that involved meticulous handwork and multiple failures and successes. Sometimes this meant going over the same section two, three, four times, until the look was right. No corners were cut anywhere, and quality and efficiency were absolutes. Similarly, the components are all top quality, as is the execution of every single detail and the paint, which comes in only one color: black. Classic wire wheels are by Borrani, a great name from the past, the brakes are from Brembo Racing, and the Öhlins suspension features an inverted 48mm fork set at 24 degrees of rake and 3.9 inches of trail.
Extensive use of carbon fiber and aluminum cut weight to 419 pounds, way lighter than any production Moto Guzzi. The engine in the Scighera, a stock 1151cc Moto Guzzi V-twin, is the same powerplant used in the Griso 1200. As such, this eight-valver produces a claimed 105 hp at 7,600 rpm, plus 91.8 pound-feet of torque at 4,900 rpm.
The Millepercento Scighera, based on a steel trellis frame, has a long wheelbase of 58.9 in, which is necessary for proper weight distribution given the substantial longitudinal size of the Moto Guzzi engine-transmission unit. A standard Moto Guzzi single-sided swingarm and CARC shaft drive are logical choices, but the stock shock has been replaced by one from Öhlins.
Simply put, if you love Moto Guzzi’s eight-valve Vee-twin, the Millepercento Scighera is the ultimate choice, about as cool as it gets. Scighera, by the way, is the local term for our light morning fog.
THE BACKGROUND
Millepercento has an interesting story. Giuseppe Ghezzi, the most competent and advanced Moto Guzzi specialist, worked there from 2008 to 2011. Ghezzi’s first creation around the Moto Guzzi twins was the Supertwin, which bore the Ghezzi-Brian name. He was then hired by Moto Guzzi to develop the all-out sportbike, the MGS01. Then Ghezzi joined Millepercento, where he developed the Big Bore, a 1450cc development of the two-valve, air-cooled Moto Guzzi V-twin that used lots of American components derived from the 7.0-liter V-8 of the C6 Corvette Z06. That “Moto Guzzi” V-twin was making close to 200 hp—reason enough to call the shop Millepercento (which means “1,000 percent” in Italian).
Ghezzi, of note, designed for Millepercento the Alba 1200, which is also powered by Moto Guzzi’s current 1151cc eight-valve V-twin. After that project, he quit Millepercento, but the firm continued to develop the Alba 1200 chassis, which evolved into the Scighera 1200 designed and crafted by specialists at the Rossopuro shop.
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