More than ten years customising the Moto Guzzi V7 — the other signature of BAAK workshop
In 2012, BAAK opened its doors in Lyon without planning any Italian specialty. More than ten years later, the Moto Guzzi V7 has become one of the most recurring silhouettes in our order book — and many Italian riders now find us through that door.
Some collaborations never announce themselves. Ours with the Moto Guzzi V7 is one of those. When BAAK opened its doors in Lyon in 2012, nobody at the workshop had written “Moto Guzzi specialist” on a business plan. And yet, more than ten years later, it’s one of the most recurring silhouettes in our order book — to the point where Italian riders now find us through that door, even though we sit a thousand kilometres from Mandello del Lario.
It wasn’t an accident. It’s the result of a sustained encounter between two demands: a historic manufacturer who knows how to draw motorcycles with pure lines, and a French leather workshop that refuses lukewarm solutions.
Why the V7 won over the workshop
The Moto Guzzi V7 is an accommodating canvas. Its classical line, its long tank, its uncluttered sides leave plenty of room for a craftsperson who wants to intervene without distorting. That’s exactly what we look for when we work on a motorcycle: being able to leave our mark without overstating it.
Today’s V7 850 — like the V7 I, II and III that came before — shares that generosity. A leather seat immediately finds its balance. A reshaped rear fender completes the gesture without overloading it. The leather tanned in Lyon, which patinas season after season, enters into dialogue with the original metal. The result doesn’t shout. It holds.
The pieces that define the BAAK V7
When a customer writes to equip their V7, no radical transformation. A family of pieces, refined project after project — built to work together.
At the front, our Classique Medium front fender picks up the original line, tightening it just enough to give character without tipping into scrambler territory. At the rear, the Classique rear fender for V7 I, II and III — also available as a complete front and rear kit — rounds out the silhouette in the spirit of the historical V7s.
For the seat, our Classique seat for V7 850 features our house leathers, tanned and cut in Lyon. For the details that make a motorcycle feel finished, the leather tank strap and the starter cover echo the visual language of our seats. And for V7 850s built for travel, the side covers or side covers with integrated leather bag round out the kit.
What ten years have taught us
Working on an Italian motorcycle when you’re a French workshop means listening first. We’ve learned to respect what Moto Guzzi does best: clean lines, readable volumes, elegance that needs no effects. Our role is never to erase the original motorcycle. It’s to extend its gesture.
We’ve also learned to build for the long haul. Every V7 piece is produced to order, in the Rillieux-la-Pape workshop. No stock. Cut, sewn, patinated for each customer specifically. It’s slower — count thirty working days for production — but it’s what allows us to guarantee our leather pieces for two years, and to talk French craftsmanship to an Italian customer with nothing left to embellish.
Equipping your Moto Guzzi V7? All our signature pieces for V7, V7 850 and V9 are gathered in our Italian selection — designed specifically for Italian riders, with bank transfer payment and shipping to Italy within 5-7 working days after production.