The emotion of two wheels

My name is Matteo Caproli and I am thirty years old. I have always been passionate about two wheels. I was in my early twenties when I bought my first motorcycle: a Guzzi V7 Stone. The desire to get to grips with it immediately arose, because I was convinced that the original aesthetic line had a lot of unexpressed potential in the proportion of the lines, while the original items, in my opinion, made the bike rather awkward. I thought I could develop this potential by streamlining the line and using the first accessories, obviously not produced by me, to customize the bike. The market offer, however, was limited and what I found did not satisfy me in terms of quality, aesthetics and functionality. So I started modifying the pieces at my disposal to remove the defects and to simplify the assembly phase. The more I worked on the bike, the more enthusiastic I got, so I transformed my home garage into a laboratory in which to build the first special bikes for my friends.

There was a boy…

The problem was that this wasn’t my job, so I couldn’t devote all my time to motorbikes. I studied at the technical institute for surveyors but, after school, given the economic crisis that was affecting Italy (and not only) between the end of the ’00s and the beginning of the ’10s, I jumped at the first opportunity that happened to me and so I found myself in the factory. I considered the role of the employee unfulfilling and unsatisfying. As a result I thought it would be necessary to find a way out by resuming my studies; for this reason I enrolled in engineering, even if it was not easy to study and work at the same time. Luckily, after graduation, my efforts paid off, as I had the opportunity to enter the engineering office of a company where I followed programs for the management of machinery and building elements. I was fine, but I felt the same sensations as when I was at the factory. In the meantime I was realizing that I had the technical bases of design and a wealth of skills to spend trying to combine passion and profession. Therefore I matured the decision to use the tools that I had refined over the years to embark on a new and stimulating adventure.

A passion that contains a dream

I started designing the first components thinking of getting out of my garage to create something that could be replicated in series, without industrialising the product and therefore remaining faithful to the artisanal concept of limited edition, essential for a market of enthusiasts in search of originality. Given the experience with my first bike, a Guzzi, and given that at the time the offer was lacking, compared to the demand, of items for the newborn V7 III, I guessed I could invest my know-how in developing of pieces for this new model. Everything happened at the most suitable moment and I was able to respond to a market need. Furthermore, during that period I was getting passionate about 3D printing, a technology that allows you to realize an idea immediately and the maximum to obtain satisfactory results. However, this aspect raised questions regarding the non-technical materials to be used, given that there was the problem of obtaining perfect aesthetic finishes. If then the situation was managed by subcontractors, there was the risk of going out of business. This is where I started the process of refining the product for commercialization.

Reverso: an idea of ​​modern style

Reverso is, according to Treccani, “a Latinism sometimes used in learned language with the meaning of “turned upside down, facing in the opposite direction””. This is the rebellious soul of Reverso in the context of the Italian traditionalist panorama. My idea was to present a new perspective, combining a sophisticated and modern design, which could have distinguished the product, with the possibilities of 3D printing, which would have allowed me to create pieces that cannot be replicated with classic production methods. Going in the opposite direction means, in this context, going in the opposite direction to the Italian style in the world of customization. This does not exclude an exhaustive knowledge of our tradition. When I quit my job, in fact, I was self-criticizing a lot and wondering what I could have done and what would have been better to avoid. So I asked for information on the Marche region, in order to find an innovative idea for this industrial fabric. Like a bee, I perched from flower to flower to understand and to choose clearly, but always with an eye to quality and with a precise corporate vision: to enter, with my modern line, the modern-classic segment, characterized by classic motorcycles revisited in a modern key, as in the case of the models relaunched by Guzzi. Basically, I’m always looking for a clean, essential and minimal design. Following the teachings of Ferruccio Lamborghini, when he launched his challenge to Enzo Ferrari, every time I think of something I start from a question I ask myself, to understand if I like what I’m creating.

Customer trust

It was starting from the Moto Guzzi V7 III that I began to create new accessories, while the creation of the site and the rest of the company organization and planning took place starting in March 2022. Fortunately, customers immediately contacted me given confidence, putting himself in the shoes of a boy who was chasing a dream. For this I thank them.