#V7IiStone

Laaadeeeeez and Gennntlemennnn, standing before you are the three of the newest middleweight roadsters of the 2016 model year. All have family names steeped in motorcycling history, though only one can be said to use a truly historic design. The second is a ground-up remake with the classic lines of its family heritage, which is, in fact, almost visually identical but in a thoroughly modern package. The third, a sophomore model-year tweak to a new category of bikes begun just last year, seeking to indoctrinate a new generation of riders into its world-dominating marque. These three motorcycles share two other similarities: all are Twins – though all different – and all feature hipster-compatible fork gaiters.

What we have here are a bunch of Moto Guzzi spy photos and not much else. But we’re not going to let that stop us. Putting our collective MO thinking caps together, we can say a few things with certainty. The rest is an educated guess. (Or wishful thinking if we end up being completely wrong.) Clearly, these two motorcycles are based on the V7 platform that has given us the current V7 II Stone, V7 II Special, and V7 II Racer.

Today at Intermot, Moto Guzzi unveiled a revised V7 lineup with a host of new features. Despite its vintage heritage, the V7 II lineup will receive ABS and “Moto Guzzi Controllo Trazione,” better known as traction control. While the addition of ABS is no surprise considering all motorcycles sold in Europe are required to have the feature starting in 2015, traction control was slightly unsuspected. It makes sense, however, since much of the ABS hardware can perform double duty.