This Turbocharged 1969 Moto Guzzi Dustbin Racer Is Motorcycle Art

Craig Rodsmith has been building motorcycles for almost 40 years, but this 1969 Moto Guzzi Eldorado is his favorite. Rodsmith had always wanted to build a dustbin racer that mirrored the old Moto Guzzi V8 racebike. The metal work was a challenge for him, as the fairing was handcrafted out of four separate pieces. It's not perfect, but that's what Rodsmith likes about it.

“I like bikes like this, that aren’t perfect. It has a little bit of soul,” Rodsmith says. “This looks like it was made by a human being, rather than a machine.”

Rodsmith's goal for his custom Moto Guzzi was to be shown at the Handbuilt Motorcycle Show in Texas, but his plan was almost completely derailed by a workshop mishap.

“My shop’s very small, so right after I finished it, I actually knocked it over and bent all the fairings. This was the Monday before the Handbuilt show, so I worked until 11:30 p.m. Wednesday night, loaded it at midnight, and then we drove straight to the show.”

Rodsmith’s custom Moto Guzzi is named “Margerie,” and there’s a very important and personal reason for that.

“One of my best friends, Dave, started to push me to make videos during the build process because I’m a bit of a character, but I’ve never put myself out there in front of the public like that,” he says. “Originally I built this bike for the Mama Tried show, but unfortunately a couple of days before that show, Dave’s mother Margerie passed away. We were trying to come up with a name for this bike at the time, and we just went, ‘That’s what it’s going to be, Margerie.’”