shoot were a breeze on the V85. So how does the mighty Stelvio compare? First off it looks more imposing, the‘ compact block’ engine looks all of its 1042cc compared to the V85’ s 853cc‘ small block’ unit. There’ s a bit more hardware of course, as this engine, the same as that first released in the Mandello, is watercooled as opposed to the V85’ s air / oil-cooled mill. You’ d also swear the Stelvio was way taller, but the tape measure says there’ s not a lot in it. You sit a bit more into it, but, as mentioned earlier, seat height for the Stelvio and TT are the same. Start it up and you get that lovely Guzzi rumble, but I think the TT has a nicer off-beat idle – maybe I just like the old-school mill over the very refined, new, larger unit. On the road however the hot-rod comes out! There’ s plenty of aural pleasure from the Stelvio and it’ s easy to immediately feel the extra 35hp this engine has over the V85. In‘ Sport’ mode the bike is a hooligan and, while it all seemed bigger and heavier at start-up, it’ s a very well-balanced ride through local twisty roads.
HANDLING Where I noticed a handling difference between the two bikes was when doing the gravel-shoot on the same road we’ d just used for the TT. The Stelvio didn’ t feel as supremely balanced doing the same gravel u-turns as on the TT. It felt a tad
more top-heavy. The bars are slightly narrower on the Stelvio, so maybe that also played a part. But whacking it into‘ Off-road’ and hustling along the gravel is just a blast, with some pop-banging on down-shifts and crazy wheel-spinning on exits. The Stelvio has an extra‘ Tour’ mode over the V85TT, which hints at the real niche of this bike.
HORSES FOR COURSES I greatly enjoyed both Adventure offerings from Moto Guzzi, my only gripes being a slightly hard-to-find neutral on the V85TT and a weird scrolling feel in the clutch lever when fully depressed – it all worked fine though so maybe a quirk with the bike? So, which one would I have in the garage? Tough call, they’ re both great, but also quite different motorcycles. Fit and finish is very good on both, albeit our test Stelvio had a slight wrinkle in one of the side graphics. The Stelvio looks fantastic, enhanced by the single-sided swingarm and livery this bike had. The TT Travel livery can’ t compete, but if you put a regular TT in‘ Rosso Fuji’ red / white livery next to the Stelvio you’ ll have a more even competition. It really comes down to horses for courses for me. If I was intending to adventure ride / tour around NZ and wanted to get a bit grubby from
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