Von Dutch, famous for his pinstriping skills and the “Flying Eyeball” logo, lent his hand to an incredible number of custom builds and this 1959 Moto Guzzi Falcone is a prime example. Richard H. Cormany bought the Guzzi in 1961 and after a little riding decided to begin customizing it. After a 5000 hour process the bike you see here emerged. Cormany enlisted the aid of Von Dutch for the black paint with gold pinstripes and for creating molds for the headlight nacelle and front fender. Von Dutch also machine turned the flywheel. The frame was cadmium plated.
All of the custom bodywork plays well with the Moto Guzzi mechanics, the finned cylinder and turned flywheel set off the black paint. It’s a gorgeous example of period customizing that won the 1971 Cycle World show for best street custom.
It’s currently for sale and there are lots of large close up shots on the listing. There’s a Moto Guzzi collection somewhere that would really benefit from an addition like this. Pretty cool.
Auction has ended.
More photos below:
c-petteri says
Only in Dutchland. Horrible.
Stats says
“does this bodywork make my butt look fat?”
Seriously, that bodywork is pretty atrocious IMO. The rear looks like its off an 80s sportbike, while the front fender looks like its from… something with square wheels. I’d rather have a stock Falcone.
If it’s what floats your boat then fine; it’s just not for me.
Paulinator says
square wheels – I’m still chuckling! And to think, only 5000 hours invested. I bet his wife would’ve rather he spend more time drinking. Interesting rear suspension…kinda British.
Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" says
This bike will probably bring in several comments about the style being not to the taste of the commenter. For that matter, it’s not really to my taste either, certainly not to my taste today, but that’s not the point. The work is very nicely done and it’s an example of customs done during the 60s, an example of Von Dutch customizing and can be appreciated as such. It was done 40 some years ago, most styles from that era are passé today, if you’re my age, you may even save a few clothes from those years just so you can wonder what you were thinking.
Some designs are timeless, others, like this one, less so, this one is very period. Take that into consideration when looking at this bike.
Larry says
Not everything Von Dutch touched was gold, inspite of the sellers hopes of capitalizing on the association. Sometimes fugly is just fugly regardless of who does it. Look at the ugly-Ness bikes
Jim says
What I find most interesting is the rear suspension
rohorn says
How valuable would this be if Kenneth Howard had nothing to do with it?
lostinoz says
Please lets not be so shallow about the style… avoid it totally, lets look at “what makes a show winner a show winner”
custom machining on the flywheel, an amazing eye for detail on polish vs chrome vs raw vs paint… it just WORKS.
futuristic sportbike tail section… ok so he got it wrong, but really now, i see shades of a hurricane blended with an FZR and a KZ900
looking at an original example, there isnt a thing left untouched, and the rear “suspension” or hard tail modification is WILD! i still cant wrap my head around it if it IS actually soft.
rohorn says
Looks like it has stock rear suspension to me:
http://www.motorcycleclassics.com/uploadedImages/articles/issues/2009-07-01/MG-Falcone-1.jpg
lostinoz says
woah, thanks for getting on it rohorn.
im not a guzi person at all, and the pictures ive found were all of a “typical” twin shock setup.
i NEED to learn more about that setup, i like it a lot.
Paulinator says
and so it was Moto Guzzi that invented the belt-tensioner.
aaron says
I think it’s kinda cool. but 5000 hrs? either that’s a misprint, a number grabbed out of the air, or this bike has been through about 10 separate high quality builds. that’s at least a quarter million miles of riding time!
Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" says
5000 hours may be a number he grabbed out of the air, but when I think about how I sometimes work in the garage, … do a little work, do a little thinking, sip on a brew, do a little more work, … it adds up, and sometimes the work done is less than the stress relieved, but eventually it gets finished. I’d hate to count all of those hours.
aaron says
for sure, I was recently thinking about my long term project bike and how many hours of design, planning, and research I’ve put into it… plus time scouring e-bay for affordable (cheap) lightweight wheels in the appropriate sizes…figuring out which factory components I can use to avoid fabricating special bits, etc. I’ve done 3 design revisions so far, and much of the work mentioned above goes down the drain when you decide to change a few parameters.
I decided that if I wanted to, I could honestly claim 1000 hours of work plus whatever I actually rack up building the bike. Then I remembered something I once read about the mclaren road car having a hundred something man-hours invested in the construction of each million dollar car… over twice that of the next most labor-intense “handmade” car. I know the difference between prototype and production models is probably a factor of 10, but unless I built something truly special I’d feel like a tool quoting big numbers…
Swagger says
Wow…..just……wow.
Not pretty at all, but I guess it was…umm….timely?
I’m glad the 60’s are over…
Malove says
To be honest this bike if we were at the 60s would have the same ”wow” effect as like the Subaru powered bike (the first it poped up just an example) it was just extreme stuff for that era for sure. Yeah its not in the lines of today’s ”wow” bikes. Try to think how awful a today’s Wow bike will look in a decade or so.
Besides…. its a Von Dutch piece. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the people who first saw this bike didn’t like it but faked a ”wow” only because of the man who made it.
Dr Robert Harms says
Looks like East German MZ (front) meets Norton Navigator (rear)
todd says
nailed it.
Niel says
Here in India we see a lot of cheap-ass roadside mechanic mods, the types that are tasteless and resemble bad, real bad workmanship…This bike looks like one of those!
Niel says
Paul, are your eyes getting tired of seeing only good work. :))
akumabito says
I think the front half of the bike looks great in a 1960’s retro sort of way. Sadly the back ruins it – as mentioned earlier, it looks like it was taken from a 1980’s motorcycle..
mule says
Context? What did cars look like in 1960-61? Especially concept cars? Like spaceships…the future! This bike fit right in. Pretty bizarre looking, but the tail section looks a lot like a GSXR production bike built 26-28 years later.
This is the only bike I’ve ever heard of with a cad-plated frame. 5000 hrs? Hmmmmmm? One man-year at 40 hrs a weeks is 2080 hrs. Can’t imagine that there’s two and a half years of 8 hour days in this thing, even with Von Dutch involved.
Boxerfanatic says
Which technically, is pretty much the same principle as a rotary spring, if I understand correctly. I wonder if it also has damping properties built in, as well. I suppose a sprung seat makes that less necessary.
Also maybe the first upside-down forks…
It is an interesting bike, mechanically, but wow the custom bodywork doesn’t do it a service.
todd says
those are friction dampers. The springs are slung beneath the engine, a’la Buell.
-todd
Dr Robert Harms says
Any bets on how many bids it gets ? Hint –guess low. BTW the MV headlight clone is particually unatractive
Byrd says
I don’t think anything you could do to the original bike, wouldn’t still be hideous.
B50 Jim says
Yep, it sure looks 1971. I remember some truly awful custom cars at the time as well, but, hey, fiberglass was cheap and they were smokin’ some righteous bud in those days. The rear suspension is interesting — love the friction shocks; totally 1930s. Honda did male-slider forks on some step-throughs in the 60s — very little is new under the sun. That meat-slicer flywheel always intrigued me — how many engines today have wildly spinning parts right out in the open, next to the rider’s leg?
woody eckes says
There was a write up on this vehicle back in the early 70s when the owner built it. Quite ahead of its time…..look at Yamaha Visions and Honda Pacific Coasts boys….
I had the opportunity to ride a Moto Guzzi single like this over in Germany back in 1972 while in the service. Some Germans I knew were riding to Luxemborg GP motocross race; said I could go with. Took me out for little scoot around the country side to see if I could keep up on the road with them…..Couldn’t. Got to ride on the back of a Suzuki 750 there and back. The flywheel effect on the MotoGuzzi was quite pronounced and the power output didn’t lend itself to any speed; especially with me at the controls. Think they let me ride it just to show me slow I was. Already knew that….Woody Eckes
jake says
fugly
Jamie says
Other than the front fender I like the looks.
Carl La Fong says
I call BS on this bike and any connection to Von Dutch. It just doesn’t represent his style.
The statement about his making the molds for the headlight, etc. seems to indicate they are fiberglass. Von Dutch was a metalsmith and openly expressed a complete disdain for glass in an article in a bike magazine years ago
sandro says
il vecchio falcone, secondo me dopo l’astore (lasciamo stare la coppia pan-knuckle che ci sta di mezzo il mar, di più, l’oceano e erano altri mondi), è la più bella moto dell’intero pacco. Ora non è perchè von dutch è von dutch che questa ciofeca possa annoverarsi tra le customizzazioni decenti della nostra povera vita terrena: perchè, quando una cazzata è una cazzata, cazzo, è una cazzata e basta…