In recent years we’ve seen a huge upswing in motorcycle manufacturers offering up ‘limited edition’ bikes with truly astronomical price tags. There is no doubt many of them look cool, but the reality is they are a money-making exercise that simply sees a base model get a host of overpriced bolt-ons. But there is clearly a market, they sell them like hotcakes, and so to offer the motorcycle purist a truly high-end, hand-built, limited-run machine, Germany’s Kaffeemaschine has stepped into the fray. Axel Budde has proven himself to be a Moto Guzzi builder extraordinaire, and now he’s offering just ten motorcycles in his incredible Aerodinamica series, and the first two builds prove you can buy perfection.
Axel has long since refined the art of building first-class Moto Guzzi customs, as one remarkable machine after another rolls out of his Wilhelmsburg based workshop. The assembly room looks more like an industrial kitchen, you could literally eat off the floor, such is Axel’s dedication to doing absolutely everything flawlessly. So it comes as no surprise that his limited edition series of bikes is not in fact a lesser version of anything he has built before, done to a budget, to move a few units. No, the Aerodinamica series is the culmination of honing your craft for years on end, and then pouring all that talent into just ten rare gems for a select few to own.
The donor bikes for machines one and two are not identical, with the orange and silver bike a Le Mans 3 and the blue flaked bike an 850 T3. This is a deliberate choice, as people will always have their favourites and some may even wish to offer up their current ride as the donor. And given that the bare bones of most Guzzi’s from the period are the same, by the time Axel adds more than 500 in-house, handcrafted parts, the end result is simply out of this world. It all starts by taking the bike back to that beautiful Tonti frame, which is not just given a new lick of paint, but multiple days of manipulation until Axel is satisfied.
Now with a flawless foundation, the bike can be turned into a roller and turning things around starts with huge square blocks of aircraft-grade billet aluminium. This is because the entire front end is made in-house, from the beefy triple trees that ensure precise handling, to the fork legs and clip-ons, every piece is a work of art. And it doesn’t stop there, the switch blocks and throttle assembly are manufactured in exactly the same way, as are the beautiful top caps in the traditional way up 40mm suspension, with completely custom built internals designed to suit the new weight of the motorcycle.
At the rear of the bike, modern adjustable shocks are given an overhaul for the right visual appearance and the torsion arm is a custom piece too. This helps to support the braking system, which retains a period look but is all completely rebuilt using the latest Brembo parts to ensure that braking is spot on.
Then to get things rolling, lightweight Italian alloy rims are laced up with stainless steel spokes to the modified Guzzi hubs, and wrapped in Avon rubber. The rearsets complete the controls and offer the rider an unrivalled connection to their machine and if you’ve noticed the hardware, then yes, he’s nuts! Each and every bolt head is hand-finished on the lathe!
Now you get to the two big ticket items, those that deliver the bike’s incredible form and function. And with Guzzi not being known for their lightweight bikes, Axel solves the problem by making the bodywork entirely from carbon fibre. Having first spent hundreds of hours in CAD, the gorgeous lines that make up the monocoque body, ’70s racer front fairing and fender, are hand laminated in moulds produced on a 5-axis CNC, before going into the autoclave to finish. Along with the cover for the beautifully shaped seat, the owner then gets to decide on the colour scheme, and from mild to wild, the only limit is your imagination.
No matter the hue, the finish is simply incredible, with the paint jobs alone worth many thousands of dollars and from the frame to the graphics and grips, everything is colour coordinated. And to ensure that the drivetrain doesn’t let the team down, the engine and gearbox are finished with glass bead blasting to come up factory fresh. But, it’s what’s on the inside that counts, and Axel has spent years developing the perfect engine package. Each motor is pumped out to 1000cc, with a fully built and balanced bottom end, which also features a Kaffeemaschine camshaft. The cylinder heads are brand new, machined to exacting specs and offering huge amounts of airflow.
To make the most of the new long block, a set of big Dell’Orto carbs pour in the fuel and wear a pair of individual pod filters. On the other side of the engine is the full stainless steel exhaust, which finished in heat coat or polished, looks as good as it sounds and helps the engine on the way to producing 87bhp and a truckload of torque. The lighting can be traditional or LED, depending on the owner’s request, but a dry weight of just 177kg adds up to some seriously impressive performance.
You can even option a glovebox to go under the seat and each individually numbered motorcycle comes with an owner’s kit, full TUV approval and a valuation certificate. You can’t put a price on perfection, but if you’d like to own the ultimate German-built Italian, an Aerodinamica by Kaffeemaschine is available now to a select few for €67,500.
[ Kaffeemaschine ]