QUICKSPIN I 2023 Moto Guzzi V100 Mandello S
P94
Dubbed the "short block,"
with its cylinder heads rotated
90° so now, blissfully, the intake
manifold sits in the center of the
V rather than near the rider's
knees, the new engine is 103mm
shorter front to back than in the
old air-cooled form. This has
allowed Moto Guzzi's engineers
to create a motorcycle unlike
anything they've done for the
past, oh, 100 years or so.
Producing a claimed 115 horse-
power at 8700 rpm and 77 lb-ft
of torque at 6750 rpm, the V100
Mandello isn't going to pull any
arms out of sockets from sheer
acceleration, but the perfor-
mance it does have is perfectly
adapted to its required task.
Sport touring has tilted sig-
nificantly more towards sport in
recent years, with machines like
BMW's S 1000 XR and even sis-
ter company Aprilia's base-model
V4 Tuono pushing the game
further out of reach from what the
class was intended to be.
The V100 Mandello is here to
change that. Its 115 horsepower
is all one needs in a machine
that will play perfectly happily in
either the sport or touring seg-
ment, especially so as it's the
first production motorcycle to be
fitted with adaptable aerodynam-
ics (more on that later).
Graced with four riding modes
of Turismo (Tour), Pioggia (Rain),
Strada (Street), and Sport
(Sport…), and with traction and
engine control maps to suit
via a new six-axis Marelli 11MP
IMU, there's plenty of torque for
low rpm hairpin exits while still
providing the required go to pass
the thousands of cars ambling
along our coast road in northern
Italy.
At $17,490, the V100 Mandello
S is getting up there in terms of
outlay, but you get a very different
motorcycle from the norm, which
is a good thing, indeed.
