The "Normale” and the first victories

So, in 1921, the Normale was born. This was the first model marketed, with 8 hp, a maximum speed of 80 km/h and consumption of 30 km per litre. The Normale was the first bike in the world to be fitted with a centre stand, a feature which would later be adopted by all other constructors.

At the beginning of the century, the sophisticated publicity campaigns of today did not exist and the only way to make the performance of a motorcycle known was to enter it in a race.

And indeed, it was its racing debut, another historic date, which eventually brought the Mandello del Lario company into the international limelight. The race was the tough Milan-Naples rally. Two Moto Guzzis took part and the final classification was not exactly thrilling as they ended up coming 20th and 22nd. But victory was just round the corner. Just 30 days later, on 25 September 1921, Moto Guzzi had its first win in the Targa Florio with Gino Finzi. This was the start of an extraordinary series of successes which continued without a break until 1957.
The packed list of Moto Guzzi wins, continuing until the company withdrew from racing, included a full 14 world championship titles and 11 tourist trophies.

The first victories helped spread the word and the demand increased. In 1921,17 “Normale” motorcycles were constructed at a price of 8500 lire. The hitherto manual production became industrial and a 300 sq m factory was built employing a workforce of 17.

From that moment on, growth was constant. In 1923, Moto Guzzi was known and admired everywhere and on 7 September 1924, Guido Mentasti triumphed with the C4V (an evolution of the original prototype), outstripping all the international adversaries. Moto Guzzi won the European championship.