The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

Renard GT – a Moto Guzzi Wrapped in Carbon Fiber

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Renard GT
Renard GT

This is nice. A carbon fiber monocoque chassis wrapped around a 4 valve Moto Guzzi engine and steered with a carbon fiber girder, the Renard GT hits a lot of the right buttons. Öhlins suspension front and back, controlling carbon fiber wheels, the all over black look nails it. Strong hints of Confederate Wraith for sure, but I think this looks better.

Renard GT
Renard GT

The Renard GT comes in at 419 pounds, the Moto Guzzi delivers 125 horsepower.

Renard Cycles is an old Estonian manufacturer destroyed by bombing in WWII.

In 2008, a group of Estonian entrepreneurs, designers and racing engineers joined forces to revive the Renard brand. In April of 2010, the first “modern” prototype was successfully unveiled at the Hanover Technology Fair – the Renard Grand Tourer — and will go into production next year.

I’m partial to Moto Guzzi twins and this is certainly a gorgeous way to mount one. Very nice.

Thanks for the tip, Doug!

Link: Renard Motorcycles

Renard GT
Renard GT
Renard GT
Renard GT

Comments

  1. Wow. Just wow. Does anyone sell a bike like this that doesn’t cost $$$? I love that forkless girder look!

  2. The exhaust pipes are cut off just right, so as to keep the feet warm. The rider could have a lamp on his helmet and directional lights on his shoulders, with a tail light on the small of his back. Cargo pants would substitute for saddle bags.
    I like it, would be a great ride. 419 pounds and 125 horsepower. Looks like the the rear wheel might be at an angle (would require straightening).

  3. This hits hard on my good spots. Moto Guzzi, Wraith, Art. Talk about art. This totally great ART.

  4. Is it just me, or does that kind of look like an elephant from the side. I like the concept of the bike itself. It’s hard to make a Guzzi motor look bad. I think if I was ordering one I’d prefer one with a traditional set of forks though.

  5. Looks great, but it looks a lot like one of the Confederate Motorcycles bikes. Not to say it’s a bad thing, quite the opposite, really.

  6. Great bike (hints of the old French Majestic bike with that monocoque chassis). All of that cf in person would be stunning to see & to ride with the Guzzi power band)

    A good set of Ohlins forks would be interesting to see. It would keep the wraith-influence at a minimum. The girder would look great w/ a 70’s-era rectangular chopper headlight located right below the shock in order to show off the alternative front-end. The side profile pics above don’t seem to include the headlight.

    This bike also means someone is making light weight wheels for a shaft-driven Guzzi.

  7. this marks the first time i’ve lusted after anything with a transverse V-twin. that thing is hot. love girder forks! dunno how i feel about the monocoque thing though.

  9. Gorgeous! What a beautiful bike. The seat looks a little bit tacked on, but aside from that, it’s quite attractive.

  10. I’d take the stocker Guzzi over this any day. Even better, a V11 Sport or Le Mans. Spot-on with the elephant comment and the seat looks like it shouldn’t be there – or maybe it isn’t.

    On the other hand, there’s no denying the level of work that is involved in pulling something like this off. My hat’s off.

    -todd

  12. OK its the Renard. Who’s got that scene from Waynes World running round their head when they say the name in their head?

    Wayne: “Cassandra. She’s a fox. In French she would be called “la renarde” and she would be hunted with only her cunning to protect her.”
    Garth : She’s a babe.
    Wayne : She’s a robo-babe. In Latin she would be called “babia majora”.
    Garth : If she were a president she would be Baberaham Lincoln.

    apart from that, all good.

  14. @Dr Robert Harms: “Re”better”…………….(than a Wraith)………….with all possible respect–are you nuts ?”

    Yep, I think it looks pretty nice, so does a Wraith, of course, but the Guzzi twin in the Renard has a certain appeal, but then, I own a Guzzi so I have a bit of a bias in that direction.

    Your opinion of the relative visual merits of each wouldn’t be at all affected by that Wraith you own, would it?

  15. It’s good to see a custom bike using an engine other than Milwaukee-based. Yeti B is right; you can’t mess up with a Guzzi engine. Girder front ends are always interesting — you can see everything working. Redesign it to eliminate the Confederate look and it’ll be good to go. Love the use of carbon fiber. Who says bike frames have to be made of tubing? Expensive, yes; cool, definitely. At 419 pounds and that transverse twin churning out 125 hp, this bike will have all the performance anyone could want. Even the seat looks OK; it should give plenty of support and if there’s gel padding it’ll be comfortable. The vibration in a Guzzi is mostly in a plane perpendicular to the frame so the shakes won’t affect the seat very much anyway. Do the pipes disappear into the monocoque and meet at a muffler or are they simply cut off? In the pictures it’s hard to tell. A great exercise all around.

  17. Interesting. I agree it looks like a Confederate- and I’m a fan, despite the engine’s roots- so this works for me. Takes away the only thing I don’t like about the Confederates, and replaces it with something a little more funky .

  18. That is hot.

    I wonder why so many use girder forks, when Hossack forks further separate the suspension and braking forces, and is a similar system to build.

    Now, if someone could put a modified V11 LeMans bullet half-fairing on a V12 8V Griso…

  19. Looks like they ripped off the website theme as well as the overall bike design theme. Although this appears almost ridable compared to a Wraith. Still has sort of a “Concept” look to it, Like the aluminum framed Victory with hardtail and wood seat. This looks much more finished.

    To me, it has to cost considerably more to fab and/or manufacture a girder front end out of aluminum and way more out of carbon that just buying a $6500.00 set of conventional Ohlins forks. But making it a girder front end is better because…..? Beacuse it looks so different?

    I want to say something positive, but it you want to make something wacky and different, don’t copy someone else and make it do something better. It’s like a cool airplane that can’t fly. What’s the point?

  20. It appears to me like the exhaust pipes tuck back into the bodywork and flow through the holes at the bottom.

  21. Granted they followed the theme of the wraith but they used a different engine and it’s drive shaft based. You add in the carbon fiber and it’s at a whole different level. I say hats off to them for improving on the design and look. I would buy…

  22. Nice, but, when I look at that bike I think, “when is the cease and desist order going to come from Confederate?”

  23. Hints of Conferate Wraith, Yes. Mostly in the girder front end, and seat area. Looking at both websites and bikes, I would have to say that the Renard GT looks better; the Guzzi engine is the icing on the cake though. I’m sooooo tired of the US Vtwin configuration, it is refreshing to see something else.

  24. I’m actually really excited about the designs Moto-Guzzi is coming out with and I think most of theirs are far better (for my tastes) than this. I think Guzzi could be the next big thing.

    At the same time, I’m not thrilled with what Confederate is doing. Maybe I’m showing my age, but I thought the Hell-Cat was the high-water mark for them and I wish they had refined that bike rather than going in other, wacky directions.

    Simpler just always works better for me, but people get paid to push the envelope and I guess without things like this, designs would stay stagnant.

  25. Looks like a K-Mart version of the Wraith/P120 Fighter.

    “the Hell-Cat was the high-water mark for them and I wish they had refined that bike rather than going in other, wacky directions”. Eh hem…. F131 Hellcat. The latest Hellcat. Couple different versions of it. 150 ft/lbs of Tq, c’mon!

  26. It is too bad they used a girder and that seat (to avoid references to the wraith). The Wraith was just an original adaptation of bikes built decades ago.

    Maybe a better approach would be to combine an Ohlins tele front-end with the original Ghezzi & Brian backbone-airbox-in-one frame, but made out of carbon fibre. Aluminum or steel plates (like Bimota has done) can be mated to that frame for the rest of the bits. The result would be much more affordable and close to the same weight reduction.

    People who ask why (when applying cf to a Guzzi drivetrain) probably haven’t experienced a sport Guzzi from the saddle.

  29. this bike screams Wraith wannabe… Have you seen the Wraith lately? Tons of improvement since the first prototype driven by Chris Roberts [RIP]. The Wraith is still the coolest girder on the planet.

  30. It looks like the first model of the bicycle. It was called the Boneshaker and it appeared back in the days of Charles Dickens.

  31. I wonder why the side views of the bike don’t show the headlight; the front end looks kind of weird without, but maybe that’s the effect they wanted.
    Not my kind of bike but definitely an eyecatcher.
    Several Guzzi’s have the header disappear under the bike into a collector box before continuing to the mufflers, nothing new there.
    Going 130 km/h or more on this naked thing should tire you out quickly but that’s not what it’s made for – like I said, not my kind of bike. It’s a show piece for people with lots of money, something to look at for peons like me.
    Keep ’em coming!!