Moto Guzzi in Cuba

[Chapulin]

The other day I stumbled over a post on this board, asking about Moto Guzzi in Cuba.
Hoping that someone here might still be interested in the topic, here is a little input from my side:
Yes, the Cuban Police have used Nevadas for many years and last time I was there, some were still operational in Havana.
But the place to go for the 401 Guzzi V7 that came to Cuba in 1968 is Santiago de Cuba, the second biggest city in the east of the island. Here they were used by the police. In 1993, when I first travelled to Cuba, as a "free Tourist", meaning, that I didn´t come on a guided tour, but was free to move as I wanted, I quickly learned that anything in Cuba was for rent for a few dollars. If you wanted to go somewhere, you just stopped any car with a yellow license plate – blue or red meant they were government cars, and talked to the driver. The same worked for motorcycles (and women – please forget I just said that). I had borrowed a Suzuki Katana and an MZ for short rides, so when I saw a Guzzi V7 in a yard, I sent a friend to enquire. He came back pale and in a hurry and said "it belongs to a police-man!" and we rushed away. That is how I found out about the police owning Guzzis.
Sometime in the 1970s Fidel went to visit "la gran piedra" a big rock outside Santiago. Walking uphill on the narrow path, he noticed that his escorts on Moto Guzzis were quietly chugging along with him. In Havana the police Harleys had been exchanged for noisy, smelly two-strokers from eastern countries, that would have made much less pleasant walking companions.
"How come these motorcycles are in such good condition?" Fidel asked the chief Roberto Valdez Valdez. "Because the officers are their own mechanics!" he answered.
Fidel was royally pleased, and as an incentive he decreed that policemen should be allowed, to purchase these bikes for a modest 250 pesos. 45 bikes were sold this way, in 2015 there were 12 left in Santiago, 7 of which I knew.
In 2015 I was looking for a motorcycle in Cuba. I found that classic bikes were cheaper than newer MZ or Jawa, because it was difficult to get parts. In Havana I was offered Harley, BSA, Junak (from Poland), Norton and Triumph. In Santiago I met "Fritura" a guy who has all the contacts, and we went to see the red Guzzi shown, that used to belong to "El Diplomato" a police officer who was so polite and spoke so quickly, that people never figured out how he was scamming them, until he was gone. I was even shown the place in the road where he killed himself with the bike, drunk of course. The starting-price for the red Guzzi was 7000 dollars, but would of course come down. The engine was rebuild with pistons from a Russian Lada car. Lada are the standard pistons for Ural and Guzzi. Big Harleys usually get pistons from the old 1750 Alfa Romeo police cars – if you can find them.
We went to see another Guzzi with a side-car hidden under a tarp. The asking price was 2800, but the owner had just fled to the US with his girl-friend and his wife was really pissed off, so Fritura reckoned the situation might be a bit difficult.
In 2015 Cuba had an active classic bike scene, the president of LAMA (Latin American Motorcycle Association) in Santiago drove a Guzzi.
The fascinating part of motorcycling in Cuba is how they keep their bikes going. For every part that breaks, they find a way to fix it. I have seen aluminium parts cast from melted soft-drink cans. The picture shows a primary chain-case for a Triumph cast from assorted aluminium parts, including a broken gearbox-housing. The sealing surface was rectified by passing it over sandpaper fixed to a big bed-room-mirror, placed on the floor. It was finished with a polishing-wheel placed on the motor from a Russian washing-machine. The owner is no mechanic, but a theater director.
To make









 a long story short, I ended up buying a Ural instead and in 2017 the Cuban Gestapo raided our house and took everything away. But that is a long story.

[AJ Huff]

Wow! Cool stuff!

-AJ

[Tkelly]

A friend of mine and his buddy me Che Guervas son who was running a new Harley rental business in Havana,LaPonderosa in 2017.

[RinkRat II]

  I've watched a couple of documentaries on the car culture in Cuba and the resourcefulness and ingenuity of the people there is amazing. Mostly 50's American cars still on the road with who knows what parts made to work.  Thanks for the story!

  Paul B 

[Dr. Enzo Toma]

One of my favorite things related to that is the book "Con Nuestros Propios Esfuerzos" which the Cuban military issued to the public in the 1990s to provide DIY instructions on how to make and repair their own machinery (and other things) in response to scarcity.

https://archive.org/details/ConNuestrosPropiosEsfuerzos/mode/2up

[Tom]

The other day I stumbled over a post on this board, asking about Moto Guzzi in Cuba.
 
Hoping that someone here might still be interested in the topic, here is a little input from my side:
Yes, the Cuban Police have used Nevadas for many years and last time I was there, some were still operational in Havana.
 
But the place to go for the 401 Guzzi V7 that came to Cuba in 1968 is Santiago de Cuba, the second biggest city in the east of the island. Here they were used by the police. In 1993, when I first travelled to Cuba, as a "free Tourist", meaning, that I didn´t come on a guided tour, but was free to move as I wanted, I quickly learned that anything in Cuba was for rent for a few dollars. If you wanted to go somewhere, you just stopped any car with a yellow license plate – blue or red meant they were government cars, and talked to the driver. The same worked for motorcycles (and women – please forget I just said that). I had borrowed a Suzuki Katana and an MZ for short rides, so when I saw a Guzzi V7 in a yard, I sent a friend to enquire. He came back pale and in a hurry and said "it belongs to a police-man!" and we rushed away. That is how I found out about the police owning Guzzis.
 
Sometime in the 1970s Fidel went to visit "la gran piedra" a big rock outside Santiago. Walking uphill on the narrow path, he noticed that his escorts on Moto Guzzis were quietly chugging along with him. In Havana the police Harleys had been exchanged for noisy, smelly two-strokers from eastern countries, that would have made much less pleasant walking companions.

"How come these motorcycles are in such good condition?" Fidel asked the chief Roberto Valdez Valdez. "Because the officers are their own mechanics!" he answered.
Fidel was royally pleased, and as an incentive he decreed that policemen should be allowed, to purchase these bikes for a modest 250 pesos. 45 bikes were sold this way, in 2015 there were 12 left in Santiago, 7 of which I knew.

In 2015 I was looking for a motorcycle in Cuba. I found that classic bikes were cheaper than newer MZ or Jawa, because it was difficult to get parts. In Havana I was offered Harley, BSA, Junak (from Poland), Norton and Triumph. In Santiago I met "Fritura" a guy who has all the contacts, and we went to see the red Guzzi shown, that used to belong to "El Diplomato" a police officer who was so polite and spoke so quickly, that people never figured out how he was scamming them, until he was gone. I was even shown the place in the road where he killed himself with the bike, drunk of course. The starting-price for the red Guzzi was 7000 dollars, but would of course come down. The engine was rebuild with pistons from a Russian Lada car. Lada are the standard pistons for Ural and Guzzi. Big Harleys usually get pistons from the old 1750 Alfa Romeo police cars – if you can find them.

We went to see another Guzzi with a side-car hidden under a tarp. The asking price was 2800, but the owner had just fled to the US with his girl-friend and his wife was really pissed off, so Fritura reckoned the situation might be a bit difficult.

In 2015 Cuba had an active classic bike scene, the president of LAMA (Latin American Motorcycle Association) in Santiago drove a Guzzi.

The fascinating part of motorcycling in Cuba is how they keep their bikes going. For every part that breaks, they find a way to fix it. I have seen aluminium parts cast from melted soft-drink cans. The picture shows a primary chain-case for a Triumph cast from assorted aluminium parts, including a broken gearbox-housing. The sealing surface was rectified by passing it over sandpaper fixed to a big bed-room-mirror, placed on the floor. It was finished with a polishing-wheel placed on the motor from a Russian washing-machine. The owner is no mechanic, but a theater director.

To make









 a long story short, I ended up buying a Ural instead and in 2017 the Cuban Gestapo raided our house and took everything away. But that is a long story.

I did a minor editing for easier reading.

[guzzisteve]

I don't get it, I had no problem reading this post

[Tom]

Here's quote that sums it up for me and not denigrating the post. 

"students no longer craft coherent paragraphs but instead use lengthy sentences with varied meanings. This trend is evident in universities, where most students rely solely on computers for all tasks, abandoning pens and paper entirely.

[guzzisteve]

So, even though I could read it it was gibberish?

[Tom]

   I did NOT say you.  The original post was for easier reading.

[Chapulin]

  I did NOT say you.  The original post was for easier reading.

I appreciate the corrections and the quote about lengthy sentences. To me writing is a process of getting my thoughts written down, then to edit the text countless times, until I find it readable. I always wonder how I used to work, before cut-and-paste. My mind must have been clearer back then.
The above was a post that I wrote on impulse, so I apologize for not cleaning it up as much as I should have. I wrote an article about motorcycles in Cuba for a German classical bike magazine, but the editor removed the part about Guzzis. The same thing happened to a book I wrote in Spanish. I appreciate finally being able to tell what little I know. Now I feel like going back to Santiago, looking up all the remaining Guzzis and writing down all their stories.

[guzzisteve]

I don't have an issue reading cause I'm no good at grammar or punctuation and spelling. Takes me forever to type anything.
 

[Moparnut72]

I will admit I had kind of a hard job getting through your post. Some of the problem was all the activity going on in the background on my end. But don't feel bad. I subscribe to a popular motorcycle magazine. One of the writers is so bad with run-on sentences, paraentetical expressions and changing subject matter mid-sentence that I refuse to read anything he writes. I read yours so that is a plus for you.
kk

[Tkelly]

I would love to hear the Cuban gestapo story,you really had some adventures in Cuba.

[bigbikerrick]

The Cuban cookbook for "tough times" is pretty amazing. I enjoyed reading through all the recipes. Many of the Cuban recipes my family has cooked my whole life, were featured, but with vegetables substituting meat ( beef or pork) in almost all dishes.  For example if you have no ground beef for "picadillo", you can make it using chick peas (garbanzos) instead. They also make "meatballs" out of rice,and seasonings.  Like keeping their old cars and bikes on the road....where there is a will, there is a way!
Rick D.

[tazio]

I don't have an issue reading cause I'm no good at grammar or punctuation and spelling. Takes me forever to type anything.

Then you're screwed here Steve !
 

[Tom]

Still like the post.