Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128005
en en en ~ ..; u; :::J g> <{ 18 have time to try before the deluge arrived, but a couple of weaves after hitting a bump as I was cranked hard over around a high-speed turn made me want to. Th e re vised s tee ri ng ge o m e try, including 92mm o f tra il , ha s reall y sha rpened up th e s tee ring of the VI I, . which isn' t nearl y as pond erous as other Gu zzis in the Mandello catalogue. Still, it's not yet in the leagu e of a su perbike, The standard s te e ri ng damper that' s located behind the low er tripl e clamp is nothing more th an a marketing tool ·com p letely unnecessary in p ractice. I had it backed right off for most of m y ride, wi thout any su rprises, and tightening it up just a couple of clicks afte r my second big weave definitely heavied up the steering und u ly. That'll be the firs t thi ng to co me off the bike, if you bu y one, especially after you' ve dia led in the fork settings. That's because the Vll is very stable around long, fast turns such as those that abound on the Sondrio superstrada, and when riding the bike yo u feel there are no surp rises in store if you press on a little harder. It's reassuring. It stops okay as well, though the big 320mm cast stainless Brembo discs and their four-pot calipers don't have quite as m uch initial bite as ma ny will prefer. They wo rk well enough a t s top p ing a bik e we ighing 481 pounds dry - if you squ eeze a little harder. No linked braking by the w a y - n ot on th is G uzz i model. Pavement grip from the Cor sa-com pound Pirelli Dr a gon s w as excelle nt, allowing improbable an gles of lean that gave no ground clearance problems on the right, but showed that the Ca lifornia-d erived custom sidesta nd scr apes too easily on the left side. Still - at least it works without committin g suicide and snapping closed like on any Ducati, and it also at last has a Tri umph-style ignition cu tout as well. Firing up the en gine fro m rest on the VI I requires a touch of manual choke from cold (str an ge that this Marelli EFI doesn't have an auto-co ld start, as o n other versions), but it soo n settles down to the distinctive ro ck ' n roll idl e of a transverse V-twin wi th its len gthways crank . Too bad th e La fr ancon i oval exhaus t ca n s are so quiet, but ge t it revving and the re's a little.more V-twin music up h igh , though by then you're ho ldi ng on tight and have other things on your mi nd . The VII does pull very cl eanly almost off idle wi th very little use of the clutch, and it's happy to run as low as 2000 rpm in fourth gear at 30 to 40 mph in a line of traffi c. Then when you spo t a gap i t a ccelerat es cleanly , if r ather lumpily, towards the 2800 rpm mark, where everything smoo thes out. But at 3500 rpm a vib ration sta rts and that's easily the most disappointing aspect of riding the Vll Sport. You can only feel it through the handlebars - no t th rou g h the sea t o r foo tpegs - and it does smooth out a little above 7000 rpm. It ha s a claimed peak power of 91 hp produced at 7800 rpm, a 9000 rpm revlimiter and an extra kick of power over the last 2000 revs, though in pra ctice not m an y ow ners wi ll wa n t to run a pushrod -engin ed bi g twin s treetbi ke that h igh . But th e vibration is a t it s worst around the 5000 rpm ma rk, which in sixth gear means yo u' re travelling at ab out 75 mph, accord ing to th e very pretty an d legibl e white-faced Vegli a spe ed o (w it h the. matchin g ta che , a modern versi on of the com pany's legendary classic products). Unfortunately, that mea ns the vibra tions are at their hig hest when you're at your most common cruis ing speed. The y seem to come about becau se the front subfra me, which carri es the forks and th us the clip-ens, is bolted d irectly to the fron t of the engine, thus tra ns mitting its vib ra tio n to yo ur hands. It only d oes it under load , so you wo n't notice it while just cru ising alo ng on pa rt-throttle. Gu zzi is aware of the fault, and says th ey're working on a ru bber-d a m p ed ha ndl eba r d esi gn for the production mo de l. Let's hope this does the job, beca use right now this is a major negative in riding a bike that has a really muscular feel at low and mid range rpm, thanks to the revi sed fuel injection mapping and other improvements to the engi ne . There's a dose o f extra power around 4800 rpm, which delivers an extra rush of revs, but rea lly this is su ch a flexible friend of a four-stroke big twin that you can honk it into al most any gea r a nd leave it the re until you have to thunder to a halt. One thing you really notice is that the en gine isn't as clattery and noisy as its predecessors. It so unds a lot more, we ll, m od ern, re fi n ed even - not a' wo rd y ou' d n ormally u se abou t a push rod Moto Gu zzi engine. But this one is. The only thin g you need to watch out for on the engi ne with the VI I is the tendency to sit up in a tum when you get hard on the gas for the entry while still cranked over arou nd a left hander. This can eve n develop into understeer if you close and open the throttle again very ab ru p tly . A sid e effect of the instan t pickup from the fue l-injected engine, this is either beca use of the sha ft drive (though the Dr. John-inspired parallelogram rear linkage shou ld erase that), or, more likely, the lengthways crank making its presence felt. Thou gh the steel flywh eel has apparently had so me weight trimmed from it (co mp ared to the 1100 Sport), I'd still like to see an alloy flywh eel fitted to the bike as sta nd a rd . As well as red u ci ng this gyroscopic effect, it wo uld also give • the engine a n even zestier pic ku p and still more of a sporting allure. I' ve ridden pushrod Guzzi racers with this fitted , so I know it wo rks. Maybe this is an item for the proposed VII aftermarket catalog GU7 is working on , featuring .zi tuning parts and hardware, as well as clothing and lifestyle purchases . A cynic would say that the VII Sport is the bike that Moto Guzzi should have been building 10 ye ars ag o, and ha ve thought about replacing wi th so me thing more modern around about now . Well, it' s true that th e VA-1O eng ine project provides th e seeds o f th e new b ike' s demise in a few yea rs' time - but this is a company busy makin g up for lost time . ln any case, that view ignores the ongoing demand from sportbike cus to me rs for yesterday once more, but in a modem context. So just as Ducati rules the superbike roost with the 996 d esmoquattro, but continues to sa tis fy this traditionalist market with the d esmodue fam ily headed by the 900SS, so is there a place in the future lin eup of an equall y illustri ou s marque such as Mot o Gu zzi , and for a bike like th e Vll Sport, a lo ngside th e modern packag e th at th e VA-1O w ill surely represent. But I ca n' t help but d isa gree w it h Moto Gu zzi management's decision to pitch the Vll Sport against the naked roadster mafia like the Duca ti Monster M900, T riumph Speed T riple a nd Harley-Davidson Spo rtster, es pecia lly with the class performa nce stakes about to be raised by the arrival of the Suzuki TLlOOOS-engined Ca g iva Raptor. Instead, the VI I is a modern cafe racer . Ju st because it lacks a h alf fairin g doesn't mean it' s not fit to be compared to bikes like the 9005S, BMW R1100s, the new Triumph Sprint RS or even the VTRIooo, especia lly with the enhanced performance and im p ro ved rideability delivered by the uprated engine pa ckage and its six-speed gea rbox . The Moto Guzzi VI I Spor t d id n 't . miss its se ll-by date befo re it was even launched . Ins tea d, it's a cleverl y co ncocted b lend o f o ld a nd ne w, w h ich need s only detail im proveme nts to be a la ndmark model fo r t he b o rn-a ga in company . Better late than never. eM Moto Guzzi V11 Sport Specifications Enei- . . .4·stroke. air-cooled . two-valve Configunotion 90-degree V-twi n Capacity , .. lO64 cc stroke ' 92 x80mm C_p lon ratio 9.5:1 Horsepa_r 9 1 hp @7800 rpm c.wbuo fuel-injected Igtoillon CDI Clutch twin-disc dry . hydraulic Transml ion 6-spe'ed Final drive shaft-drive. ratio 11:32 Chassis steel-rectangular box frame ..... and 0 25 degrees. 92mm Fuel c p city 5.72 gallons F..- ......nsion . . .40mm Marzocchi Bore" ._p upside-down fork Rear .nsion White Pow er Front........ . . .320mm Brembo double disc with 4 pistons Rear......... . ... 282 mm Brembo single Front wheel Rear wheel Wh••lb... . Length W"odth Seat IIeight Weight (dry) disc with 2 pistons 3.50 x 17 Brembo .4 .50 x 17 Brembo 58.8 inches 64.4 inches 3 1.4 Inches 32 inches .48 1 pounds