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V85TT Ride Review

GTM®

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GT di Razza Pura
Joined
Jul 1, 2009
Messages
15,059
Location
Malibu
So it pathetically took me buying one to finally ride one... that said, this is my initial thought: Surprisingly adequate. Now before you take that as a knock or dig, it is not. The motor is shockingly quick revving for a small block. Gobs of midrange power, all where you’ll use it most. Impressive intake/air-box sound, and zero exhaust note (too bad). The bike feels quite compact compared to my Stelvio, and the chassis is neutral and mindless (both a compliment), but the wheel/tire combo leaves you turning the bars to finish the corners... opposite of counter-steering, but typical with these bigger rims and dual sport tires.
I beat on it pretty hard it in the canyons here, and even did a little fire-roading... very sporting as most ADV bikes are, but a dirt bike it is not. We will see what power is hidden in the next few weeks when I get to work on Monday on the intake and exhaust. Suspension is overly firm (damping), which is opposite of most Guzzis. I will post on the suspension thread I started on it.
I don't see this bike as a Stelvio replacement, but for those looking for a smaller/lighter ADV bike, it's well worth a look/ride. Ending with... I think they have a winner on their hands, and again, don’t take that lightly. Thinking of buying one? Do it.

6AFC392B F5BF 4B9F BCB2 F2FA33F63421
p.s. I’ll be posting a review on the Just1 helmet - which I'm a dealer for. It’s the same one Guzzi is selling.
 
So it pathetically took me buying one to finally ride one... that said, this is my initial thought: Surprisingly adequate. Now before you take that as a knock or dig, it is not. The motor is shockingly quick revving for a small block. Gobs of midrange power, all where you’ll use it most. Impressive intake/air-box sound, and zero exhaust note (too bad). The bike feels quite compact compared to my Stelvio, and the chassis is neutral and mindless (both a compliment), but the wheel/tire combo leaves you turning the bars to finish the corners... opposite of counter-steering, but typical with these bigger rims and dual sport tires.
I beat on pretty hard it in the hills here, and did a little fire-roading... very sporting as most ADV bikes are, but a dirt bike it is not. We will see what power is hidden in the next few weeks when I get to work on Monday on the intake and exhaust. Suspension is overly firm (damping), which is opposite of most Guzzis. I will post on the suspension thread I started on it.
Ending with... I think they have a winner on their hands, and again, don’t take that lightly. Thinking of buying one? Do it. If you want an extended test ride, mine is entering into rental service after I get a few more miles on it. Book at RideMalibu.com - I’ll update this post as we go and I get hard data on my findings. Ride on.

View attachment 17524
p.s. I’ll be posting a review on the Just1 helmet - available on the Store tab above. It’s the same one Guzzi is selling.

That's great to hear. That makes it so hard to hold off from pulling the trigger for a bit. Did you try out the ride modes?

Hope you can do another review after you get more miles and mods on it.
 
Now at 2500 km I will do a small report about how I feel about the bike.

Bike is broken in by the book, and used to “full potential” (heh) for 1000 km. As I came from a V9 Bobber I suspected that a lot would change in how the engine feels as it broke in. That was correctly assumed, it feels lots better now then when I picked it up from the dealer, it wasn’t bad then but there where a clear vibration band at about 4000 rpm, this zone are slowly fading out to be much more pleasant and today I happily cruise there, BUT there is vibrations there and beyond (now oddly kind of good ones). The Bobber have never felt nicer then when I traded it in for the V85 though (at 20000 km), it just felt smoother and smoother with the miles so I’m confident this will go the same way.

Power comes in “Guzzi-Horses”, feels stronger then on paper, definitely enough, I stand by what I earlier felt, they could have aimed for 70-75 hp and I would have been happy. Delivery is just awesome, just as I like it, smoothly progressive and decently bursty from 3000 rpm and beyond, below that just smooth and friendly for city riding and light off-road.

Comfort is also top class, dare I say.. great seat.. rock solid chassie at any speed, perfect ergos for me (178 cm), wonderful suspension, that was a little surprise to me, especially the fork. Super light clutch with maybe a tad too narrow friction zone, I’m adopting to it though and will get used. Easy modulated breaks with good breaking force.

It isn’t flickable through sharp twisties at higher speeds but steer precise and confident through them if you just respect the weight and geometry of the bike.

Wind protection is fine if you use a good helmet and ear-plugs at least, no buffeting with stock shield but wind on the helmet, it’s decent I would say.

Dash is very nice and nothing to complain about there. Controls.. well, there is better ones out there, it works but the blinker button feels mushy and I fail to reset now and then. CC button also feels a bit cheap but works after adjusting to it for a while.By some reason I occasionally mistake the CC and blinker button, activating the CC when about to leave highway, blinking and slowing down.. is not that fun..doh.

Traction control works excellent and isn’t much noticed and the driving modes are good, I would like a sport mode too though, with a more direct low rpm response. All modes are mellow at low rpm.

Quality over all is very good, nice materials and details, no surprise to me. No leaks and nothing comes loose ofc.

The only “problems” that I have with my particular bike is a slight front end bounce at 60-75 km/h, will definitely iron that out with dealer.
There is also condense inside one blinker glass, will try to get that sorted too.

All together,

It’s an absolute dream bike at gravel roads, a plenty nice bike in sweeping twisties, a great commuter, very nice balanced for slow city driving and probably ( as I haven’t done some really long stretches yet) a very competent touring bike due to great range, stability and smoothness.

And it has that feeling of another kind of riding sensation then other new bikes I’ve owned and tested.. something good.. something.. never mind, probably something to do with pushrods, air cooling and 2 valves per cylinder..

I’m happy to report back later when I’ve done like 20000 km or something.

Greetings,
Daniel
 
Hello All,

I am quickly coming up on my first service interval and I have to say I am just delighted with the V85! Even in the break in period the bike has been a blast to ride. I am so happy with the comfort level on this motorcycle! It is very easy to just ride for hours, which is exactly what I wanted. I am very excited to get the break in service out of the way so that I can feel how the engine responds to keeping it in the 4k-6k range. Even riding gently there is no lugging or lack of power. One aspect of this model that I really like is the overall size of the bike. All the other 800's in this category are longer, taller and mostly wider than the V85. Major cudos to MG for making a comfortable, long miles bike that is not physically massive!

It may not be the bike for everyone, but its great for me!

David
 
Has anyone tried running their V85 in 'Off Road Mode'? I've run mine like this for over 2500mls now. I don't know if Guzzi mixed up the mapping, but it certainly feels more responsive in this mode especially when coming off those tight 2nd and 3rd gear bends on the gnarly back roads. Yes I know, you lose the rear ABS but I can live with that.
 
Now at 2500 km I will do a small report about how I feel about the bike.

Bike is broken in by the book, and used to “full potential” (heh) for 1000 km. As I came from a V9 Bobber I suspected that a lot would change in how the engine feels as it broke in. That was correctly assumed, it feels lots better now then when I picked it up from the dealer, it wasn’t bad then but there where a clear vibration band at about 4000 rpm, this zone are slowly fading out to be much more pleasant and today I happily cruise there, BUT there is vibrations there and beyond (now oddly kind of good ones). The Bobber have never felt nicer then when I traded it in for the V85 though (at 20000 km), it just felt smoother and smoother with the miles so I’m confident this will go the same way.

Power comes in “Guzzi-Horses”, feels stronger then on paper, definitely enough, I stand by what I earlier felt, they could have aimed for 70-75 hp and I would have been happy. Delivery is just awesome, just as I like it, smoothly progressive and decently bursty from 3000 rpm and beyond, below that just smooth and friendly for city riding and light off-road.

Comfort is also top class, dare I say.. great seat.. rock solid chassie at any speed, perfect ergos for me (178 cm), wonderful suspension, that was a little surprise to me, especially the fork. Super light clutch with maybe a tad too narrow friction zone, I’m adopting to it though and will get used. Easy modulated breaks with good breaking force.

It isn’t flickable through sharp twisties at higher speeds but steer precise and confident through them if you just respect the weight and geometry of the bike.

Wind protection is fine if you use a good helmet and ear-plugs at least, no buffeting with stock shield but wind on the helmet, it’s decent I would say.

Dash is very nice and nothing to complain about there. Controls.. well, there is better ones out there, it works but the blinker button feels mushy and I fail to reset now and then. CC button also feels a bit cheap but works after adjusting to it for a while.By some reason I occasionally mistake the CC and blinker button, activating the CC when about to leave highway, blinking and slowing down.. is not that fun..doh.

Traction control works excellent and isn’t much noticed and the driving modes are good, I would like a sport mode too though, with a more direct low rpm response. All modes are mellow at low rpm.

Quality over all is very good, nice materials and details, no surprise to me. No leaks and nothing comes loose ofc.

The only “problems” that I have with my particular bike is a slight front end bounce at 60-75 km/h, will definitely iron that out with dealer.
There is also condense inside one blinker glass, will try to get that sorted too.

All together,

It’s an absolute dream bike at gravel roads, a plenty nice bike in sweeping twisties, a great commuter, very nice balanced for slow city driving and probably ( as I haven’t done some really long stretches yet) a very competent touring bike due to great range, stability and smoothness.

And it has that feeling of another kind of riding sensation then other new bikes I’ve owned and tested.. something good.. something.. never mind, probably something to do with pushrods, air cooling and 2 valves per cylinder..

I’m happy to report back later when I’ve done like 20000 km or something.

Greetings,
Daniel
How do you feel about not knowing what gear you are in when shifting and then not knowing untill you let the clutch out? Bothers me a lot!
 
How do you feel about not knowing what gear you are in when shifting and then not knowing untill you let the clutch out? Bothers me a lot!

I have never really understood this concern.

Maybe you mean only WRT off-pavement or off-road riding. I don't do much of the former, and almost none (intentionally, anyway :think:) of the latter, so maybe there is something about that sort of riding that makes it hard to know from, e.g., engine speed, memory, tach, sound, feel, and more, the gear one is in. Maybe, too, when one is used to having that info -- I only have that on my V7 III -- one just leans on that more.

I confess to having chirped a tire now and then -- which can be especially exciting with a pillion aboard :giggle: -- but I (think that I) usually know what gear I am in or, at least, know that I should go up or down as needed.

I am not suggesting that an instrument display that shows the current gear is frivolous, but its absence sure is no dealbreaker for me

Best,

Bill
 
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I confess to having chirped a tire now and then -- which can be especially exciting with a pillion aboard :giggle: -- but I (think that I) usually know what gear I am in or, at least, know that I should go up or down as needed.

This is only the second bike I've every had with the gear indicator. I've made do without for better than 30 years but now that I have that bit of information I find that I have to pay attention to it. I really wish it wasn't there as it's just one more thing on the dash that I really don't need to be told.
 
Has anyone tried running their V85 in 'Off Road Mode'? I've run mine like this for over 2500mls now. I don't know if Guzzi mixed up the mapping, but it certainly feels more responsive in this mode especially when coming off those tight 2nd and 3rd gear bends on the gnarly back roads. Yes I know, you lose the rear ABS but I can live with that.

I know this is old, but nobody else replied.
I went out for a good ride Monday, a 20 mile portion of which was much rougher "unmaintained" dirt road than I had anticipated. At least 10 miles was full of washboards. In Road mode I kept losing power as the traction control kicked in on every washboard bump and I could not maintain any momentum. I pulled over and put the bike in Offroad mode and it really made everything better.
I've never tried Rain mode, but this was the first time I'd switched and actually made a big difference.
 
How do you feel about not knowing what gear you are in when shifting and then not knowing untill you let the clutch out? Bothers me a lot!
I have noticed this somewhat -- but not all of the time -- and yes, it is a little bothersome but I do not feel like it is a major factor. The main place / time that it becomes a bit of an annoyance is when downshifting to a full stop: from second -- with the clutch pulled-in -- I am not always certain if I have gotten into neutral or if it is all the way down into first gear......not certain, that is, until I let out a little bit of clutch.

I am finding, however, with a bit of time and practice, that I am adjusting to this, and it becomes less and less of a factor as I gain familiarity with the bike.

This is a new bike for me -- first Guzzi ever -- and it is the first time I have ever really "fallen" for a motorcycle quite this way. For me, at least, the bike has a certain charm that I just adore, and the overall versatility of the machine is a perfect fit for my needs.
 
It has a neutral indicator. Which works, unlike the one on my old [name deleted to protect to reputation of an otherwise fine company]. That's the indicator I feel that I need at stops. When I'm running, I can usually tell if I'm in the gear I want, and don't care too much about the number.

On a different note, thanks, Bisbonia, for that tip about Off-Road mode for washboarded roads! I'll be keeping that in mind.
 
I feel like I just want to say what a great bike this is. I took a trip in June that covered parts of TX, NM, CO, UT, WY, MT and ID. I met a buddy I hadn't seen in 35 years who rode his BMW from Maryland and met me in Moab. From there we rode to Great Falls, MT for the MOA national rally. Everywhere I went I got stopped by people who wanted to look at and talk about the V85. After all I'm at the BMW national rally! I had 0 mechanical issues in 4,879 miles! I replaced my rear Michelin Anakee Adventure in Great Falls at 10,526 miles and there was at least another 1k left in it! If you are on the fence, get off, these are great bikes.
 
Okay, I have a v7 iii and really like the idea of the 850, but was disappointed to see it has the smaller throttle body etc so not the beans that the 850 TT has.

I have this sneaking suspicion that the moment I trade in they will announce an 850 v7/le-man’s/roadster style bike with the full power unit. I’m pretty sure the guzzi marketing people are thinking along these lines…

Just a thought…

Ive rode both and the v85 might have a pinch more power but is not much more than the v7 850 I own. In the video I show a comparison acceleration in 2nd gear against my wife on her vulcan 650 s in second gear as well, just a 20 to 55 pull basically. They are pretty similar in terms of acceleration. The v85 is smoother and revs out just a bit better, but nothing dramatic. About the 3 minute 30 second mark of the video. My wife weighs over 100 lbs lighter than me so bike is slower with me on it and she got a narrower shoulders less wind resistance and weight. Either way it gives you idea of the difference in acceleration of the v7 850 and the v85 tt.

 
Done 1500 km (mainly two up) on the V85TT travel now. Apart from the 3 flat tyres in a week (the first 2 flats were caused from a bit or wire protruding into the tube, yes!! Guzzi has installed tubed tyres in a 21st century bike- how dumb is that!! so I’ve ordered tubeless rims which, along with some other bits from Italy seem to be on the Good Ship NEVER NEVER and the wire wasn’t detected at the first repair, and a poorly installed tube on the 3rd repair resulted in the stem tearing away from the tube) the bike has been pretty good all in all.

Another issue was the clutch adjusting out to the point I couldn’t get neutral at all and 1st and 2nd gear were difficult to engage which I first thought meant that the box was rooted but clutch adjustment seems to have solved that.

But to your question s-flow and other’s subsequent comments re: gear selection indicator. My other 5 Guzzis don’t have gear selection indicators and it doesn’t seem to bother me but I think an indicator is a really good idea. Especially on the V85TT with the stock exhaust being so quiet and the engine so smooth. Am I in 5th or 6th? And I use the cruise control a lot (especially in slow zones) to try to hang on to my few remaining licence demerit points and in that mode knowing which gear you’re in before selecting cruise control is handy especially since the motor has a giant flat spot down low in the rev range BUT a gear selection indicator that doesn’t show what gear you’re in until the lever is fully disengaged is a feature that constantly annoys the crap out of me. It’s so stupid! It’s as stupid as people voting for Trump. As in: it’s really really stupid. At first it seemed just odd, quirky, not helpful and a bit amusing but after a while it became really annoying. Same with the gear selector indicator.

How many times have I pulled away in 2nd on this bike!!!??? I guess it’s back to counting gears.

Interestingly, and I still find this difficult to believe, the first two tanks I refueled saw a disappointing 15km/l consumption. The 3rd tank I got 22km/l and I reckon the thing feels like it is going better too. On tarmac that’s over 450 km before needing fuel with that 23 litre tank. We like that.

Mind you, I found the fuel light comes on with way too much fuel left in the tank (about 7 litres) and have since observed that when the last bar of the indicator goes out it actually has 2.5 litres left which on tarmac means about 50 km.

What else? The lights are adequate, kind of. The dash too bright at night, the heated hand grips are barely warm enough in my temperate climate. Too bad for you really cold weather inhabitants. There’s more heat coming off the engine on to the legs than any other bike I have. The bars are too wide and it’s too tall for me to confidently split traffic, which is not in it’s design brief, I know. (love the Breva 750 for that) and the mirrors are rubbish. I can never seem to adjust them to show the next lane and behind me. Fortunately I do have a habit of always actually looking into the blind spot before changing lanes but despite these gripes it’s still an awesome bike. I love it’s look, it’s riding position, it’s handling, it’s suspension, robustness and it’s brakes. The motor seems to be coming on with a bit of loosening up now and it’s got a nice surge.
 
How many times have I pulled away in 2nd on this bike!!!??? I guess it’s back to counting gears.

I know the low-end torque on the E5 bikes was improved over that of the earlier E4s, but I find myself starting out from 2nd quite frequently when out and about here in the city. I can't say how well this works on the E4, but the E5 doesn't complain at all. Its pretty smooth pulling from a stop in 2nd, so I don't worry about it so much.

But I do agree that having such a quiet motor and exhaust makes me rely on the rev counter more than I'd like. I'm used to finding my shift points by-ear, and its really difficult on the V85TT once you are up to speed. Eventually, a new exhaust will fix that "problem" for me.

__Jason
 
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