2021 Guzzi V7 Special

[the Ferret]

I think the new MG Mandello 100 is a gorgeous motorcycle, but knowing my history with test rides in the past, it is highly unlikely that one would end up in my garage. The NT 1100 has about the same specs, for hp and trq, comes with bags and heated grips the Guzzi doesnt have, and it will be a ton cheaper, and it will be a Honda, so not as quirky. Not as good looking though.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

The Moto Guzzi V7 is pretty well everything you said Charlie.

One does not acquire one solely on [lack of] performance. Maintainability and nostalgia (arguably "the soul") is the draw. The looks are pretty nice too.

 

[rboe]

Guzzi's, especially that preetty blue V7 Special, look very nice and are seductive. So was my Griso (Tenni green). But ownership was a different matter. Mechanically I had problems with my Griso (had it converted to roller tappets before problems showed up) - even more problems with my XR650L - pretty much zip with my CB1100's.

Kinda leaning towards another Honda vs a Moto Guzzi. Or a Royal Enfield.
And I have yet to hear the NT1100 is coming to the US.

 

[the Ferret]

Have faith Rboe it will come

 

[Ollie]

I liked my 2016 Stone with cast tubeless wheels, single wall chrome headers, and traditional tachometer / speedometer. Were I buying a new V7 now it'd be a Special, only with cast tubeless wheels in place of the spokes which I'd have done at purchase. No way in this day and age will I tolerate inner tube tires on a street motorcycle anymore. The work that was required to remove the rear wheel on my 2016 V7 Stone (with cast wheels when changing tires) on a lift inside my shop was bad enough. No way I could do that on the side of the road to change inner tubes after a puncture.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

I liked my 2016 Stone with cast tubeless wheels, single wall chrome headers, and traditional tachometer / speedometer. Were I buying a new V7 now it'd be a Special, only with cast tubeless wheels in place of the spokes which I'd have done at purchase. No way in this day and age will I tolerate inner tube tires on a street motorcycle anymore. The work that was required to remove the rear wheel on my 2016 V7 Stone (with cast wheels when changing tires) on a lift inside my shop was bad enough. No way I could do that on the side of the road to change inner tubes after a puncture.

This is constant chatter on the Africa Twin Forum where it almost seems to be a rite of passage. Yeah, no thanks. Besides, Honda has gone with tubeless spoke rims starting in 2020 for the AT.

I think the V7 might look okay with tubeless spoke rims, but the price will be raised.

 

[Charlie Bravo_imp]

Good to know, thanks
Was it 850cc, year?

Yes, it was an 850. My older Honda Nighthawk 750, with more hp and torque but slightly lighter, could've run circles around the Guzzi.

 

[Ollie]

I liked my 2016 Stone with cast tubeless wheels, single wall chrome headers, and traditional tachometer / speedometer. Were I buying a new V7 now it'd be a Special, only with cast tubeless wheels in place of the spokes which I'd have done at purchase. No way in this day and age will I tolerate inner tube tires on a street motorcycle anymore. The work that was required to remove the rear wheel on my 2016 V7 Stone (with cast wheels when changing tires) on a lift inside my shop was bad enough. No way I could do that on the side of the road to change inner tubes after a puncture.

This is constant chatter on the Africa Twin Forum where it almost seems to be a rite of passage. Yeah, no thanks. Besides, Honda has gone with tubeless spoke rims starting in 2020 for the AT.

I think the V7 might look okay with tubeless spoke rims, but the price will be raised.

Here in the US tubeless wheels for whatever reason are only on 2020+ Africa Twin Sport, not the regular AT like I have. Can you imagine, in this day and age, Honda putting blow-out prone inner tube wheels on their cars?

IMO the V7 looks great with cast wheels. A friend bought a new V7 Special, last year of the 750, and liked most everything on the bike except the spoke, inner tube wheels. When he took it in for it's 600 mile service he asked if there was any way he could trade up to cast wheels? He really lucked out because they agreed to swap to new cast wheels for just the cost of changing the tires over because they just happened to be in the process of changing one of their new V7's (with cast wheels) to some kind of hipster look and wanted to fit it with knobby tires with spoke wheels.

 

[James2621_imp]

“IMO the V7 looks great with cast wheels.”

I was seriously considering a new V7 Special after a 26 year or so hiatus from riding when they were dealing on the leftover 17-18’s. The tubed spoked wheels were the dealbreaker. There was a leftover Milano but I couldn’t get past that grey color. Was patient and found a 2013 CB on Craigslist 5 minutes from were I live with only 900 miles.

 

[peterbaron]

A little progress as to a test ride:
"Can you confirm if you have a full M license and your own motorcycle insurance policy? These are conditions from our underwriter to be able to set up a potential test ride alongside one of our staff members as an escort".

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

A little progress as to a test ride:
"Can you confirm if you have a full M license and your own motorcycle insurance policy? These are conditions from our underwriter to be able to set up a potential test ride alongside one of our staff members as an escort".

Cripes.

I guess the days are gone when, ...

" ... hey PB, heads up, ... catch. Good. Those keys fit that green V7 over there, ... yeah the second last one. Enjoy! See you back here within an hour? ... "

 

[Ollie]

“IMO the V7 looks great with cast wheels.”

I was seriously considering a new V7 Special after a 26 year or so hiatus from riding when they were dealing on the leftover 17-18’s. The tubed spoked wheels were the dealbreaker. There was a leftover Milano but I couldn’t get past that grey color. Was patient and found a 2013 CB on Craigslist 5 minutes from were I live with only 900 miles.

Ahh the days back when V7's and CB1100's were cheap. I took advantage of that when I bought the used 2016 V7II with 500 miles. Unfortunately I missed the cheap CB1100's though.

 

[James2621_imp]

“IMO the V7 looks great with cast wheels.”

I was seriously considering a new V7 Special after a 26 year or so hiatus from riding when they were dealing on the leftover 17-18’s. The tubed spoked wheels were the dealbreaker. There was a leftover Milano but I couldn’t get past that grey color. Was patient and found a 2013 CB on Craigslist 5 minutes from were I live with only 900 miles.

Ahh the days back when V7's and CB1100's were cheap. I took advantage of that when I bought the used 2016 V7II with 500 miles. Unfortunately I missed the cheap CB1100's though.

Same here. Big Power sports St Charles had 4 or 5 14’s on their site awhile back when I started looking around to see what was out there. I want to say they were asking around $7,000 for them. I liked them just too much black. I think it would have looked better with the ‘13 engine.
Honda’s neo cafe look is close but no cigar. Would love to see the CB-F concept body work on the CB 650.

 

[Ollie]

“IMO the V7 looks great with cast wheels.”

I was seriously considering a new V7 Special after a 26 year or so hiatus from riding when they were dealing on the leftover 17-18’s. The tubed spoked wheels were the dealbreaker. There was a leftover Milano but I couldn’t get past that grey color. Was patient and found a 2013 CB on Craigslist 5 minutes from were I live with only 900 miles.

Ahh the days back when V7's and CB1100's were cheap. I took advantage of that when I bought the used 2016 V7II with 500 miles. Unfortunately I missed the cheap CB1100's though.

Same here. Big Power sports St Charles had 4 or 5 14’s on their site awhile back when I started looking around to see what was out there. I want to say they were asking around $7,000 for them. I liked them just too much black. I think it would have looked better with the ‘13 engine.
Honda’s neo cafe look is close but no cigar. Would love to see the CB-F concept body work on the CB 650.

Mine's a 14 all black, and I agree. But for $7,000 that you could have the tank and side covers painted whatever color you like and still be in for well under $8K.
Actually as I've been looking at mine a lot lately I'm warming up to the gloss black paint and engine with chrome fenders. At least it's not flat black like my Africa Twin! The one thing I didn't care for on my V7 was the flat gray/tan painted tank.

 

[rboe]

Dirt bikes, dual sports and adventure bikes that see dirt - riders seem to prefer tubes so they can air down without fear of loosing the bead like you would with a a tubeless tire.

So it seems to me you're complaining about a feature - not a bug. And there is a fix, convert to tubeless (notice I didn't say it was a cheap fix....).

 

[the Ferret]

Honestly, I had tubes in my 2003 Triumph Bonneville. I put 40,000 miles on it and never had a problem. I believe my brother also has them on his 2016 Bonneville and he has ridden his on our out of state Men's Fall Trips for the last 6 years and it has never been an issue, but I can see where it possibly could. I'd rather have tubeless but I could live with tubes. I live with a chain (2 actually) when I'd rather have a shaft.

 

[Ollie]

Dirt bikes, dual sports and adventure bikes that see dirt - riders seem to prefer tubes so they can air down without fear of loosing the bead like you would with a a tubeless tire.

So it seems to me you're complaining about a feature - not a bug. And there is a fix, convert to tubeless (notice I didn't say it was a cheap fix....).

If one considers an inner tube to be that much of a feature on their V7 street bike (or GS) they can always use one inside their tubeless tires. Not many feel this way though and unfortunately it doesn't work the other way around.

Honestly, I had tubes in my 2003 Triumph Bonneville. I put 40,000 miles on it and never had a problem. I believe my brother also has them on his 2016 Bonneville and he has ridden his on our out of state Men's Fall Trips for the last 6 years and it has never been an issue, but I can see where it possibly could. I'd rather have tubeless but I could live with tubes. I live with a chain (2 actually) when I'd rather have a shaft.

And I hope you never do, but if/when you do it will be much more involved to get going again. Also consider the implication of a blow-out while riding 70 mph in 5-6 lanes of wall to wall beltway traffic.

Here's my last three flats, two of them were unfortunately on tube tired bikes, a KLR down in Dolly Sods and my 2016 Africa twin where I could not have been more fortunate. On the Africa Twin I was just pulling out from gassing up when I noticed the front scoot around and thought I must have run over spilled oil or coolant. When it continued for a few more feet I knew it was a deflated front tire and pulled off. I had no luggage on the bike on this day ride so no tools or spare inner tube. BUT two business down the road was the Honda dealer and they were still open for another hour, so I pushed the bike there. The service manager said everyone was tied up and all the lifts were occupied but if my bike had a center stand (it did) he'd fix it for me himself.
When he got it done I asked to see the nail or whatever punctured the tube. He said there was no puncture and showed me where the tube had just worn through from roughness against the inner tire. The bike had just over 3,000 miles and I never ran low PSI, they were the original tires that came on it with at least 1/2 tread remaining. He said he's seen this a few times where tube type tires that are supposed to be polished inside were not (or not very well) and left rough, which slowly abrades the tube. He said it's usually on street and larger dual sport / adventure bikes that are capable of higher speed because the manufacturers often spec thin tubes for them as not to generate as much extra heat. He said the heavy duty tube he used should be ok for the rest of the life of that tire.

The tubeless flat occurred on the rear of my 2020 KTM Duke. I noticed the rear tire was flat when the bike was in my garage. It almost had to have picked up the screw on the last time I had it out which was in November but leaked down so slowly it wasn't even noticed until over a month later.

 

[rboe]

I've had more flats with tubeless tires than tubed. My Griso had two, the last one a very nasty L shaped puncture that could not be repaired with ropes. The '14 CB had a high speed puncture and flat. I was able to limp to the rest stop to have my wife pick me (bad on me, I didn't have my tire repair kit with me - miss-packed).

I have had a couple flats that were very slow leaks and easily dealt with so I understand the preference to tubeless - but have had enough experiences where tubeless was not an advantage over tubed.

Naturally ones own experience will influence their choices - and luckily we do have choices. For those without experience, we can post our own so they have something to work with.

 

[Ollie]

I've had more flats with tubeless tires than tubed. My Griso had two, the last one a very nasty L shaped puncture that could not be repaired with ropes. The '14 CB had a high speed puncture and flat. I was able to limp to the rest stop to have my wife pick me (bad on me, I didn't have my tire repair kit with me - miss-packed).

I have had a couple flats that were very slow leaks and easily dealt with so I understand the preference to tubeless - but have had enough experiences where tubeless was not an advantage over tubed.

Naturally ones own experience will influence their choices - and luckily we do have choices. For those without experience, we can post our own so they have something to work with.

I've only had one tubeless tire ever deflate fast in 45 years of riding and that was from running over an L shape piece of steel that cut through the tire. I've had many slow leaks in tubeless tires from screws and nails, many of which were so slow it took weeks to leak down. I always made it home because tubeless punctures are simple to plug.
On my bikes with inner tubes EVERY flat I had was sudden and most ended my ride since I don't pack spare tubes and wheel removal wrenches unless on a trip.

Let's put it this way: every puncture in a tube tire is an immediate flat which requires what most of us can't fix on the side of the road.....the bike suspended (or layed on its side) for wheel removal, tire off, tube out to be patched or replaced, then all put back together.
The vast majority of punctures in tubeless are slow leaks, maybe just add air once on the way home, or a few weeks later when you notice it. Even on a trip the tire doesn't need removed and can be plugged while the bike's on its side stand and puffed back up in 30 minutes or less, with only a plug kit and CO2 bottles or mini compressor.

 

[rboe]

My very first flat was with a tubed tire (it was supposed to be tubeless, but it was a borrowed bike and he had tossed in a tube for some reason). Took several hours for it to go flat enough for me to really notice.

But I agree that tubeless tires typically fail slowly and tubed tires seem to go flat quickly. Alas; just not all the time.