The question of “will I like the new Moto Guzzi V7 classic?” boils down to how big your imagination is. Having just returned from the two-day launch around beautiful Lake Como (the home of Moto Guzzi), mine has clearly run away with itself. It was impossible not to be drawn into the romance of such a bike, in such a location.
The V7 shares the majority of its component parts with the Moto Guzzi Breva, only the exhausts, front wheel and rear sub frame are specific to this bike. Bizarrely the clocks have been lifted from a Ducati Monster, but prettied up with Guzzi faces and some chrome. That doesn’t mean the V7 doesn’t feel individual though because it really does. It was as comfortable as it was character-full, buzzing from the factory in Mandello to Bellagio around the lake for a coffee and a smoke I couldn’t think of any other bike I would rather be on.
The problem that Moto Guzzi may have with this bike is the fact that you will be riding it to work, probably in the rain, five days a week in England, which feels everyone of the 1,200km away from the factory the bike was built in. If you let the V7 be the catalyst for your Italian biking fantasy you will love it as much as I did.
Moto Guzzi UK will be bringing around a hundred of these bikes over, and they will be in dealers by the end of June, White is the only colour available at present, with black planned for the future. Price is set at approx £5,600 without any of the planned accessories, which in typical Italian fashion will follow the bike five months after it is ready.
Click the link for a short video of the bike, and read the full launch report in the next issue of TWO magazine.
