The Moto Guzzi V1000 Convert was a motorcycle made by Moto Guzzi at Mandello del Lario, Italy. The designers at Moto Guzzi were aiming the V1000 Convert at the US police motorcycle market and were the first to produce a big capacity automatic motorcycle with shaft drive.
Moto Guzzi increased the pushrod-operated V-twin's bore and stroke to give a displacement of 949 cc (57.9 cu in), and replaced manual gearbox with a torque converter built by Sachs, and two-speed gearbox.
The "Convert" name referred to the torque converter which fed engine power to a conventional clutch. The clutch had to be used to shift between two speeds but the torque converter enabled the bike to stop in either gear and accelerate smoothly without using the clutch.
Famous quotes containing the word convert:
“With our splendid harbour, our beautifully situated city, our vast territories, all our varied and inexhaustible natural wealth, if we don’t convert our colony into a great and prosperous nation, it will be a miracle of error for which we shall have to answer as for a gigantic sin.”
—Henry Parkes (1815–1896)