Guzzi V85TT

[Guzziless Steve]

I took a V85TT for a spin on Saturday from our new Northern Ireland Guzzi dealer, McCrumm's in Portadown, and was very impressed.

Stepping off my Stelvio the V85 felt familiar straight away, but noticably less top heavy and a bit smaller (lower seat than Stelvio), but still nice and roomy. Very comfortable riding position and seat felt good. The steering is a little slow, but can be turned well with a shove on the wide bars, and the suspension was very good at soaking up the bumps - wonder if it would have lighter steering with cast wheels rather than the heavy spoked ones fitted for the look. Handling felt very good and the bike was very easy to ride with great throttle response (compared to the snatchy fueling on a lot of more recent fuel injected Guzzis).

The V85 does not have the kick of the 1200 but it is certainly not slow, and scoots up to illegal speeds pretty quickly - certainly didn't feel lacking in power, although that might be different if you want to do much two up riding. The engine is nice and smooth, but has the Guzzi feel to it.

Still not sure about these new colour flat screen displays, but speedo easy to read. No tacho that I could see, but has bands of yellow (and red) lights along the top of the dash that light up as you get closer to the red line. Didn't play with the rider modes or cruise control, but switch gear is nice and seems of a high quality.

I love the look of the thing with the red frame and white and yellow paint work. Fit and finish seem very good. Brakes are excellent, look to be the same Brembos as on the Stelvio. Think this bike could really liven up Moto Guzzi sales, although it has quite a bit of competition at £11,000.

[Richard]

Looks lovely, though I'm not at all keen on the fancy display or the price.

I wonder how the instrument screen fares in bright sun or to long term exposure to UV.

[Dave#22]

Hi Steve, a lot of the Guzzi Enduro folk have followed the V85TT development with interest   http://guzzienduro.org/  there are a few road tests on the site and I must admit, I'd like to try one myself as a comparison against my old Quota.
I suppose when tested against other bikes in a multi bike test, it will come last, but they will be missing the point that Guzzi owners are different.
The only downside of new bikes for me, is long term reliability of electronics...a few friends with GS's have had issues which can only be rectified by computer, fine when it's in warranty, but 10-20 yrs down the line???
Dave.
ps. Pat & I have just toured NZ South Island on the Quota and it ran perfectly...it's presently on it's return to the UK in a container.

[Guzziless Steve]

Hi Steve, a lot of the Guzzi Enduro folk have followed the V85TT development with interest   http://guzzienduro.org/  there are a few road tests on the site and I must admit, I'd like to try one myself as a comparison against my old Quota.

Hi Dave, sounds like a great trip.  I think it is wrong to classify the V85 as an enduro, despite its styling - not much suspension travel and no rising rate linkage at back (on the plus side means no quick wear suspension linkage bearings), limited ground clearance.  Much more road biased in my view.  Damn good road bike though.  The electrics are Aprilia derived so probably no less reliable than Guzzi stuff.  Not sure I am planning 10-20 years down the line these days!

[Dave#22]

I meet up with the Aprilia Caponord group every year and those bikes suffer some real electronic issues....instrument cluster failure, coils, ecu problems, tail light printed circuit and some are off the road for weeks trying to get issues sorted.
Keep it simple I say.
Dave.

[Dave#22]

That reminds me of last years meeting in North Wales...a lad from Cumbria came out with us on a Ducati Multistrada. Part way round he stopped complaining that his bike kept cutting out and decided that it was the sidestand switch causing the problem, so he decided to cut the wires and connect them without the switch...simple repair.
He traced the cable, cut it, connected the wires, started the bike and it ran like a pig, unable to rev..when he retraced the cable, he'd cut the temp sensor by mistake and it seems that you can't just reconnect and solder with the Canbus system, the wires have to be silver soldered as lead/tin has too much resistance.
Once reconnected (twisted together), the bike ran, but only up to 1/8th throttle otherwise it went into limp mode. The following morning the bike struggled to start and nearly flattened the battery, then he limped back home to Cumbria.

[CrazyFrog]

Yep, give me one of my Jawa's any day. I never did much like those tatty old Ducati things anyway. 

[Dave#22]

Hi Steve, Pat & I did a ride around Snowdonia today and on the return went to A&D in Denbigh to see if they had the new V85TT in stock and as we entered the carpark, there was one parked up and it belongs to DTC, the previous owner of your Stelvio, up from Cardiff...small world eh?
He seems pleased with it, the only complaint is that the seat's not as comfy as the Stelvio....Dave & Kat were touring Wales, putting some miles on it, so that it can have it's first service next week.
Dave.

[Guzziless Steve]

Doesn't surprise me that he has bought one.  Should be right up his street.