First spy shot of Guzzi’s new water-cooled engine

This hastily-snatched picture is the first to show one of the most radical steps forward Moto Guzzi has ever taken. It’s the firm’s first water-cooled production bike engine.

The picture was taken inside the Moto Guzzi factory in Italy. Obviously still in its design stages, the motor retains the famous 90 degree V-twin format that is Guzzi’s trademark, but it no longer relies on cooling fins to keep the heat down. Like Harley, Guzzi has moved towards a jacket of water to dissipate heat.

Despite a long tradition of producing radical engines, Guzzi has only once used a water-cooled engine and that was in the revolutionary V8 race bike of 1955.

The push towards water-cooling is likely to have come from ever-tightening emission laws.

Although the exact capacity of the engine pictured is not known, according to sources inside the factory it is one of two capacities: 1200cc or 1400cc.

Guzzi owner Aprilia wants two new bikes; a sports bike and a new cruiser. It is expected that the sports bike will have the 1200cc capacity while the larger, heavier, cruiser will use a 1400cc motor.

These bikes are expected to be first shown at the end of next year and go into full production the year after.

What seems certain is that Guzzi will not abandon its air-cooled bikes. The new bikes will run in parallel, probably as cheaper options, before the water-cooled motor is phased in through out the range over a long period of time.