THE CHASSIS
Right from the get-go the chassis impressed
me in Thailand. It is the effortless, intuitive turn-
in that gives so much confidence that grabs your
attention at the beginning. The V85TT just drops
in to turns beautifully, remaining very stable while
doing so. The suspension for this style of riding
and for gravel road work is pretty well sorted. It
has USD 41mm forks up front and a single right-
hand side mounted shock absorber with double
sided swingarm and driveshaft. I did a little
off-road work riding through a few short, sharp,
G-out style creek crossings and, yes, the shock
bottomed out a bit, but really it coped pretty
well for standard trim. At both ends preload and
rebound is adjustable. Overall the suspension
action is well controlled, but importantly very
comfortable riding too. This is a bike that will
cover big miles in a day and be kind to the rider
while doing so.
The brakes are strong and of high quality.
With a full fuel tank of almost 24 litres, the Guzzi
is a decent 229kg to stop. So, it’s important the
brakes work well. Twin, floating stainless steel
320mm discs and opposed four-piston Brembo
calipers control the front-end stopping in a very
successful way. Most importantly, the front
braking feel is spot on. The rear is good too.
A 260mm single disc and twin piston caliper do
the business. Although I often feel that ABS at
the rear messes up the pedal feel until you switch
it off. Fortunately, in off-road mode the rear ABS
can be disabled.
Other stand out features include a large TFT
display, full LED lights with DRL, cruise control,
handguards for weather protection and an
Aluminium sump guard. Also, a nicely proportioned
carrier is fitted standard at the rear.
ITALIAN FLAIR AND CHARACTER
I like the V85TT and would happily park one
in my shed. It’s very attractive, has loads of
personality, is beautifully functional and simply has
that difficult to define feel-good factor. It’s not
super-fast, yet it’s plenty fast enough – we’re not all
as talented as Chris Birch. It’s largely a simple design
that should go for ever with only basic maintenance.
And lastly, the V85TT is a bit different. There’s
traditional Italian flair and character just dripping
from it, which makes it even cooler in my book.
KIWI RIDER 47