Moto Guzzi is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer founded in 1921 by Carlo Guzzi and Giorgio Parodi. Even though the first bike of Moto Guzzi was designed in 1920, the company was officially founded one year later while their first model dubbed Normale entered production in 1922. The Normale model had a 500 cc engine and quickly captured the attention of the market, becoming the first major success of the company.
Besides the Normale bike, the company has released several other notable models including the GT tour (1928), the Condor (1938), the Dondolino (1940) and the Sport 15 (1931). However, the Falcone model which came in 1950 could be considered the second major success of the company. Falcone remained in production until 1976, receiving a few updates over the years.
In 1967, Moto Guzzi continued the research and development of new bikes, introducing the V7 which was later updated to V7 Special (1979). After a few years, the company created an even bigger engine of 844cc, being installed on the popular 850 Le Mans.
Even if things looked to go pretty well for the company and it continued to release new and more advanced models, Moto Guzzi started experiencing financial problems and was bought by Alejandro De Tomaso.
In 1992, the Daytona 1000 motorcycle, equipped with a 992cc engine, was considered to be one of the most advanced bikes ever released by the company. However, due to the some financial problems, Moto Guzzi wasn't able to improve the motorcycle and continue the development.
However, the things were changed a little bit after Aprilia paid no less than $65 million for the Italian company and continued the development of new motorcycles. For instance, the Moto Guzzi launched two advanced motorcycles in 2004 and 2005, namely the Breva 750 and the Breva 1100.