You don’t have to be Einstein to observe that certain motorcycle makes and models are clear favourites, with endless examples of such customised from mild to wild. And you can easily see why offerings from the likes of Triumph and BMW are so ubiquitous. But this also means many people are skipping straight past some pretty damn good bikes, and one model I’ve always felt deserved more love in the custom world, is the Moto Guzzi V7. Well, for bike mad Tomasz, already owning a V85 meant he knew a Guzzi was a good thing. So, to transform a factory fresh V7 into a scintilating scrambler, he turned his bike over to UniKat Motorworks, and the results speak for themselves.
Based in Wroclaw, Poland, Unikat Motorworks has been around since 2013, and not only are they a full service workshop, but they have more than 200 full blown custom builds to their name. They’ve worked on just about every bike you can think of, but the guys tell us in recent years “Bonnevilles, Scramblers, and Bobbers from Triumph” have become their bread and butter. And it was one such bike that inspired this very build. “Tomasz reached out to us after being inspired by our Triumph Scrambler 900 build, which has been getting a lot of attention online. That project became the foundation for the overall vibe of this bike”
But the guys are no stranger to the Guzzi product either, having worked their magic on both old and new examples of the Italian brand, and it turns out Tomasz was already a fan too. “He already had a V85 in his garage and was in love with the transverse V-twin, so it didn’t take much convincing to switch gears from Triumph to the V7.” The basis for the build is a 2022 Moto Guzzi V7 Stone, and with the Stone being the more minimalist, entry level example of the V7, and also the cheapest to buy, it makes a hell of a lot of sense as a donor for any custom build. And immediately the guys could see what they wanted to change. “We started by modifying the rear section of the frame to better balance the proportions between the tank and seat.”
The big rear fender is ditched, and this allows for the slightly upswept hooped tail that has been welded into place to sit free of the seat like on an old school British scrambler. Part of achieving this look obviously meant the factory seat wouldn’t work as it was. “One thing I’ve always liked about the V7 is how the tank and seat flow together. I wanted to preserve that, so we cut off the front part of the original seat and welded in our custom rear section. The result is a pretty chunky saddle that still matches the classic Moto Guzzi tank lines really well.” And that newly upholstered seat captures the best of British too, generously padded and stitched in a tuck and roll style.
To continue the scrambler transformation, the stock low-slung front fender is no more and in its place goes a handcrafted high mount piece. The blade style unit provides just the right amount of protection, and wisely the lower brace has been retained. At the rear, things are kept minimal, with a short hand rolled fender joined by a custom crafted number plate holder. “When it came to paint, we discussed a ton of options but agreed on one thing: it had to be simple and minimal. We landed on classic hot rod-style stripes, with Audi’s Vegas Yellow as the base and Ferrari’s Grigio Silverstone for contrast. The bright yellow adds just enough pop without going over the top.”
Now that the guys had the looks spot on, it was time to get the Guzzi gravel road ready, and nothing does that better than a full suite of suspension upgrades designed by the brilliant team at Bitubo. The front forks look factory on the outside, but inside they’re filled with a fully adjustable cartirdge kit that totally transforms the way the bike performs. The rear end is raised by 20mm with an oversized set of Bitubo fully adjustable remote res shocks, fitted with progressive springs.
The reason for the rear end lift is the change of wheel size, the front end is now 19-inches, so as to improve the Guzzi’s abilities off road and in the sandy stuff. And if you’re going to increase the wheel size, why not go all the way and fit a set of stunning Kineo lightweight spoked wheels, wrapped up in super aggressive Michelin Anakee Wild tyres. To add a bark to match the bite of that rubber, the guys then turned their attention to the engine, and decided the exhaust would get the major change. The full stainless system is all hanbuilt, and runs around the front of the engine in a 2 into 1 configuration, before letting that V-Twin rumble blast out of a reverse cone muffler.
The owner wanted to retain some standard features, and one of those was the big factory headlight with its day time running light in the shape of the Moto Guzzi logo. So the guys made a new set of mounts to tuck it harder up against the forks. The rest of the front end is finished out with a set of braced scrambler bars, which feature bar end indicators and Evotech levers. Mo.View mirrors help to keep things legal, and a Highsider 3 in 1 taillight assembly completes the build. Understandably, everyone involved is thrilled with the completed V7. “I’m really happy that more and more people trust us enough to let us run a little wild with our ideas, and I think the final result speaks for itself.”
