V85TT how good is it for long hauls ???

[Micksan]

I got this bike about 6 months ago. to tall for the previous owner. To me it is a great bike so far. { Last 3000 mi) .
How does it do on the long hauls? I was thinking about a California 1400 but they are not making them anymore. Come spring time I want to be ready for the Memorial Run at Red River N.M.

 

[scottmastrocinque]

There are lots of guys here with lots of miles on their V85 and I suspect they will chime in.

I will tell you last year I went riding with two dear friends, Bill Hagan and AJ Howard, who rode V85TTs and I was on my BMW K1600GT. We rode backroads from Bill’s home in VA to KY and back over several days. AJ actually started initially and ended in his city, Baltimore, MD! That’s some mileage there! ~1,000+ on the back roads 1-way.

Let me tell you, those V85TTs held their own and gave me and my 160hp, purpose-built Teutonic Mach-schnell Wundermaschinen, a run for my money! I was totally impressed.

(Please don’t tell Bill & AJ that I said that.)

I don’t know that a V85TT would be my personal very first Moto Guzzi choice for a high speed freeway super-slab mile eater but I cannot speak to that as we were back roads only, at least 95% of the time thanks to Bill’s seriously great navigation skills.

I can tell you how agile and flickable they sure appeared to be as I was as chasing them through the twisties!

My suspicion is that most V85TT owners are like Bill & AJ and ride them all over the place without a care or thought.

Like I said, they are impressive machines with impeccable back-road-twisties performance and handling. They are nothing to put your nose up at. With all three cases and a tank-bag, they are very competent pack-mules as well.

Bravo Moto Guzzi!

 

[umtys]

As a long hauler until the age 59 and with an experience of 6 K kilometers in 20 days ( istanbul-gibraltar-istanbul) on a DL 650 l would say you can do it on any bike with a good reliability. There are people on rtw tour with their mopeds. Experts here recon the reliability of these transvers V twins, l myself believe them and planning a shorter trip to Greece on my V7 850.

 

[Grabcon]

The long haul, hmmm. Kind of open ended, but here is my first encounter after my purchase on 8/1/2023. To put this in context, I had major back surgery on Valentine's Day 2023, L3, L4, & L5 now have screws and rods along with bone grafts. I picked up the V85TT in Denver and started riding in early afternoon back to SE Arizona, I don't like interstates so I came back thru the mountains of Colorado , New Mexico and then Arizona. That afternoon I did about 200 miles, The next day I did 560 and stopped because our car broke down and had to wait for a tow to get it back too SE Arizona. Third day about 125 mile. I was aiming on getting home in two days but had to wait for the car and the wife. Since then I have clocked 6000 plus miles.

This coming June the wife and I are planning a 6000 mile trip from home to the BMW and the MGNOC rallies in Oregon with a loop up into Canada. We ride two bikes and we keep our days to about 300 per day, sometime 400. This is a leisurely ride seeing the sites and enjoying 35 days on the road on motorcycles. This will be a mix of motels and camping, about 50/50. So we will be packing gear for two.

So to answer your question I think it is a very capable long haul MC. I also do some dirt roads down here in AZ. It is capable in that regard as well. I am 71 so I don't go to crazy on the dirt but it does add excitement to life.

PS: I have no issues with my back riding the bike, But the BUTT needed some relief so some extra padding was needed there.

 

[Vagrant]

I've got 40,000+ on two v85's. It's a great all all-around bike. The only long distance fault is the same as any lightweight bike with BIG bags. Semis kick it at 80 and the mileage will suffer, but the MPGS on it are still very good.

 

[Bisbonian]

It is fine for me. I picked mine up in Austin, TX in January 2020 and rode it home to Tucson. I've ridden it from Tucson to Chicago and back, and then down into Mexico.
Since I've moved closer to family I don't have as many big mile trips on my horizon, but it's my only bike so if I did then I would take it.