Cycle News

MOTO GUZZI V9 ROAMER & BOBBER FIRST RIDE P92 to hear that, but not anymore. Indeed, the whole engine seems refined and well made—though its pushrod format stamps it as a thing of the past in design terms, its execution is thoroughly modern, and Moto Guzzi's R&D engineers at the Aprilia factory at Noale deserve great credit for creating it for production at Guzzi's Mandello plant. The light clutch made fighting rush hour traffic in Lecco easy and untiring—this will be a great commuter bike—and the shift action of the six-speed gearbox is much improved over previ- ous small-block Guzzi models, though you must still always use the clutch even for upwards shifts. There's no tacho fitted to either model, just an analog speedo with a digital panel offset to the left to leave room for you to clamp your smartphone to the handlebar on the right, should you opt for the aftermarket MG- MP multimedia platform. So I can't tell you how low down the V9 motor pulls, but it has a very flat torque curve from 2500 to 6500 rpm, though not a huge amount of grunt, so you still need to use the gearbox to row it uphill, for example. Yet pickup from a closed throttle is flawless, without the Ducati Scrambler's jerky second-gear pickup. It's worth noting that the digital box in the solitary instrument is illumi- nated so brightly that at night—or in a dark 1.5-mile tunnel carved through a mountain beside the lake—it's hard to make out the small, closely packed numbers on the speedo surrounding it. (Honestly, officer.) That panel shows an odometer, partial and daily trips (with automatic reset eight hours after shutting down the engine), trip time, clock, instant and average fuel consumption, ambient temp, average speed, gear indicator— hooray! It's needed on a bike of this torque—and a shift indicator that's adjustable by the rider. But it's still too brightly lit. the knees of an average height 5'10" rider nestle just behind the cylinder heads peeping out either side of the tank, probably because the engine has been rotated slightly forward to make space, or else because of the longish wheelbase making room for the frame to be stretched. Whatever the case, it's a well thought out riding stance with adequate footrest clearance when cranked over in normal use, and what looks like a "SINCE THE ROLLING DIAMETER OF THE TWO MODELS' FRONT WHEELS IS ESSENTIALLY IDENTICAL WITH THE TIRES FITTED, THERE'S NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM ON TURN-IN, THOUGH THE BOBBER DOES HAVE HEAVIER STEERING." The V9 machines are very easy and forgiving to ride, which will suit inexperienced riders on their way up the capacity ladder, as well as shorter riders, includ- ing women. They'll also welcome the fact that the Roamer's low 31-inch seat height (.2 inches lower still on the Bobber) al- lows people of most statures to put both feet on the ground at rest, thanks also to the way the seat narrows as it reaches the 3.4-gallon fuel tank. Though the longitudinally ridged sides to the tank look like the crease might dig into your knees, that doesn't in fact happen, because the footrest position means rather plank-like seat in fact also proved quite comfortable on our morning ride round the lake, and up into the hills surrounding it. D U A L P E R S O N A L I T I E S That, however, is where the two bikes proved very different, dy- namically, as we climbed away from the lake through a series of tight hairpin turns followed by a slightly faster succession of third-gear curves. Since the roll- ing diameter of the two models' front wheels is essentially identi- cal with the tires fitted, there's no difference between them on turn-in, though the Bobber does have heavier steering. But

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