Lvpvs Alpha: Son of a Wolf
With its space age and charming design, Lvpvs Alpha was born thanks to the synergy between the Italian companies Walter Tosto SpA, an italian company operating in the industrial components field for Oil & Gas plants and Officine Rossopuro, Italian manufacturer in the craft sector with high competences in the restyling and customization of motorcycles: a perfect combination of creativity, design and technology.
Everything started one year ago, when Luca Tosto, Managing Director of Walter Tosto, went in Russia for a trip. During a conversation with his Russian friend and collaborator Mihail Daev, they laid the foundation for an extraordinary project, based on their common passion for bikes.
Back to Italy, he was looking for a person who could help him to put into effect such an ambitious project, in order to test the abilities of his company for manufacturing a product completely unusual with respect to its core business and, at the same time, it must explain and talk about the activity and the competences of his company. On the other side, there was me, already having in my mind the idea to produce something completely different from my ordinary creations. Our meeting revealed prodigious for the manufacturing of this special built on a Moto Guzzi California 1400, the first in the world on this base, revisited according an ” industrial key”.
The name Lvpvs Alpha was inspired on the wolf, a very appreciated animal which is present both in the Abruzzo region (Italy) and in Russia; the term “Alpha” indicates the dominant specimen of a pack. And it was with a predominant wolf temper that we wanted to forge our bike.
The use of a moto Guzzi is a habit for me; moreover, with the known dynamic qualities of the new California 1400, the idea to use it as the base was in and of itself a great challenge; we didn’t want to create the usual showbike, but a motorcycle to ride fast.
The particular idea was to use uncommon innovative materials and a design which would recall the typical industrial manufacturing on some parts, by keeping, at the same time, an artisan flavor. High quality and resistant materials, such as Chromium-Vanadium, Titanium or Ergal (Aluminum 7075) have been used. The Incoloy 800y material which is used for manufacturing reactors, has been used for the caliper brakes, thanks to its resistance to high temperatures, pressure and corrosion.
Ninety per cent of the motorcycle is handcrafted, with most of its components manufactured in house by Walter Tosto. Only part of the chassis and the V twin engine of the Guzzi California 1400 are an exception.
The Girder type front fork, completely designed and manufactured in Ergal, was the first part from which the entire design of the bike was originated. It make use of an adjustable mono shock absorber Ohlins, which we purposefully modified.
Usually I never make an initial plan, but I make my creativity run wild without limits or boundaries; this allows me to act in total freedom, by having the possibility to create, change and modify until I find the right shapes and the better design. If you look with attention the bike, you can notice many junction points among the several parts: make everything be in harmony at this is the hardest part to consider. Of corse everything was then re-designed in 3D by Walter Tosto’s team in order to have an high level technical and functional result, which would give us the possibility to perform structural calculations and mechanical tests already at virtual level.
The rear fork, also completely made in Ergal, two parts with exposed cardan, has a suspension system which works in extension and not in compression like the original ones. A tubes subframe made in 2 ¼ Chromium Molybdenum Vanadium connects the oscillating part to the Bitubo adjustable twin shock absorbers.
This solution made room in the rear side between fork and chassis. This one, made in Aluminum 7075, now hosts the titanium fuel tank with exposed cap which appears from the tail fairing.
While in the place of the original tank is now placed all the voluminous electric system, protected by a carbon cover which hosts the original equipment, by leaving the front part of the motorcycle extremely clean. The chassis model was created in the best possible traditional way, by starting from a block of material manually operated from which I obtained the shapes which better adapted to the motocycler and to the mechanical parts. A perfect combination of high technical level and wise handwork.
The wheel rim are another strong point of the Lvpvs Alpha; also machined from a single solid peace, they have a particular design counterposes the radial breaking system with disks of 415 mm and the 6 pistons caliper brakes in Incoloy 800.
The exhaust system is my design but realized by Mass Moto, with which I am realizing all discharges of my bikes recent.
There are a lot handcrafted parts and it is not simple to describe them all. The oil radiator in aluminum inserted in a tip made with CNC, the aluminum platforms that replace the large adjustable footrests tourist California 1400, the cover of the valves specially designed to give a new engine had to fit perfectly into the design of the tank to appear as of aerodynamic. Even the leather upholstery of the seat is specially made by Italian artisans with custom graphics. Finally, the lighthouse, which special origin is not revealed, has been reworked, reversed, modified and accepted by a complex aluminum structure that integrates seamlessly into the fork acting almost as aerodynamic fairing.
For everything else, we like to leave the viewer curious to discover all the myriad of small and large special parts, specially made for this bike. The same manufacturer Guzzi, fascinated by our project, gave us some particular pieces like the cover oil plugs and brake levers clutch.
Lvpvs Alpha was almost certainly the most complex bike I have ever made. This was only possible thanks to the large resources provided by Walter Tosto and the trust gave by Luca Tosto. I do not exclude, however, that this is just the first step of the evolution of an even larger project, or the stimulus to create other ideas that are already sprouting in our heads.