Guzzi V85 TT Experience

Mondo

Mondo

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Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Messages
1,037
Location
St. Charles, IL
Bike
‘18 Can Am F3 T
I am interested in the V85 TT for a few reasons. Light weight, shaft, excellent electronics package which includes up/down quickshifter for my fused wrist, excellent price, etc. My question is, has anyone here owned one and what can you tell me about it. Thanks, I appreciate any knowledge folks may have.

Greg
 
Mondo said:
I am interested in the V85 TT for a few reasons. Light weight, shaft, excellent electronics package which includes up/down quickshifter for my fused wrist, excellent price, etc. My question is, has anyone here owned one and what can you tell me about it. Thanks, I appreciate any knowledge folks may have.

Greg
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You might sign up to another forum - wildguzzi.com - that is a good source of MG knowledge.
 
Mellow said:
I always find this guy has some good useful comments on his bike reviews.
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I find I watch some of Zack's videos simply due to his knowledge, riding skills, and entertaining presentation.
Even when he tests bikes I know I'll have no interest in.
But the delivery and video quality is such that I appreciate the production value, and he's doing it all himself, so as a videophile and wannabe digital content producer (like i have time for that), that's how I justify what some will otherwise consider a waste of time.
 
Mondo, a good friend of mine loves his Guzzi V85 TT. Back roads or the super slabs he very happy with it. No reliability problems so far after a couple years of ownership.
 
I have 2 buddies with V85 TT's and another considering getting one. Both of the owners seem to like them very much.
 
I came close to buying one, I ended up with an Africa Twin DCT mainly due to the poor dealer support in the US. If you are going to buy a Guzzi you may want to wait a bit as MG is going to announce an adventure version of the V100 fairly soon.
 
Mondo
I just got home after picking my new used 2020 V85TT A up from the Denver area. The bike I bought is modified, see pic for upgrades. No quick shift. My ride home was 870 miles. Man this is a fabulous bike. I had back surgery on Valentine’s Day so almost 6 months and my back did fine. I wish I would have looked at these sometime ago. Not sure why you need a quick shift but other than 1st to 2nd and back to 1st clutchless shifting is not an issue up or down. I will do a detailed write up later but I give this bike 2 thumbs up.
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Al st1100 said:
It's interesting but I have read good and bad, take it with a grain of salt. page one is good page two is bad. Sound like the newer ones are better
https://www.guzzitech.com/forums/threads/v85tt-reliability.22256/page-2 I do like the look.
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I agree with the grain of salt and I have only had it for a few days so first impression. But your comment applies to just about everything on the internet. I look on this forum and see all of the good, bad and ugly issues since the first ST’s in 1991 to present and we all still love these ST’s don’t we?:D
 
Al st1100 said:
It's interesting but I have read good and bad, take it with a grain of salt. page one is good page two is bad. Sound like the newer ones are better
https://www.guzzitech.com/forums/threads/v85tt-reliability.22256/page-2 I do like the look.
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Hey, Al. I have read extensively about the bike and there are things to watch for, but there are fixes, etc., just as there were for the 1100 and 1300. You are also correct that the newer years are showing improvement in both problems and upgrades, something mother Honda never did with either bike. The continued upgrades and improvements Yamaha has done with the FJR and now the Tracer are perfect examples of how to listen to your customers. If Honda had done so with the 2 ST’s, we might all still be riding them.

Greg
 
Mondo said:
Hey, Al. I have read extensively about the bike and there are things to watch for, but there are fixes, etc., just as there were for the 1100 and 1300. You are also correct that the newer years are showing improvement in both problems and upgrades, something mother Honda never did with either bike. The continued upgrades and improvements Yamaha has done with the FJR and now the Tracer are perfect examples of how to listen to your customers. If Honda had done so with the 2 ST’s, we might all still be riding them.

Greg
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Get it. I like that its air cooled also. its a really nice package.
 
Mondo said:
Hey, Al. I have read extensively about the bike and there are things to watch for, but there are fixes, etc., just as there were for the 1100 and 1300. You are also correct that the newer years are showing improvement in both problems and upgrades, something mother Honda never did with either bike. The continued upgrades and improvements Yamaha has done with the FJR and now the Tracer are perfect examples of how to listen to your customers. If Honda had done so with the 2 ST’s, we might all still be riding them.

Greg
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I was looking at that bike and wouldn't be afraid to buy one. After all I bought a BMW :rofl1: .....go for it
 
Mondo said:
improvement in both problems and upgrades, something mother Honda never did with either bike.
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To be fair I'd need to know how a 2023 Guzzi of any flavor compares in reliability to a current ST1100 or 1300 now not to mention if any flavor of Guzzi's reliability could be compared to a brand new 1100 or 1300.

When there's no competent dealer close by a bike that breaks down at 1000mi instead of 750mi isn't a how lot of comfort. Obviously those number are arbitrary but my concern isn't. Honda's aren't perfect but their reliability (especially that of the STs) is legendary. I'd want a hold lot of data points before I traveled too far. There will be those Guzzi drivers who've traveled tens of thousands of miles with no problems. My guess is they're in the minority. Maybe not.

As much as I'd like a V7 I'm just not confident in their reliability. If something tweaks and I can't fix it there's no way for me to get it to a dealer. The same applies to my ST but the odds of needing a dealer are much slimmer.
 
ST Gui. I am not going to argue that point as Guzzi dealerships are few. My closets dealer is 90 miles away. But like this forum there is a great forum for Guzzi's as well, GuzziTech.com. But on the other hand the ST1100 and ST1300 parts availability will if not already be an issue. Once a MC hits 10 years new parts will become more unavailable. And honestly the internet is now our supplier of parts not necessarily the local dealer. I am sure the jury for life and reliability of the V7 is still out I am not sure pre-judging is in order. But that's your call. Also not sure about Honda or other manufacturers and many BMW dealers won't service a bike over 10 years old. So again we are on our own.

For those of use who do our own maintenance the V85 is a simple machine. Other than the electronics like all bikes nowadays. The engine is a simple pushrod motor with tappets that are adjusted with a lock nut and screw. similar to the SOHC CB750. Oil changes and gear box and final drive maintenance are simple. Pulling the rear wheel you don't have to deal with the cleaning and special grease like the ST's. The wheel mounts right to the Cush drive. Dead simple.

In my case the bike does not have a warranty so the onus is on me. Prior to buying I talked in person to many owners of these bikes and other than heat management from the cat they have had no issues. But like all I am sure there are exceptions to the rule, just like the ST's. Some have no issues and others just seem to have problems.
 
ST Gui said:
To be fair I'd need to know how a 2023 Guzzi of any flavor compares in reliability to a current ST1100 or 1300 now not to mention if any flavor of Guzzi's reliability could be compared to a brand new 1100 or 1300.

When there's no competent dealer close by a bike that breaks down at 1000mi instead of 750mi isn't a how lot of comfort. Obviously those number are arbitrary but my concern isn't. Honda's aren't perfect but their reliability (especially that of the STs) is legendary. I'd want a hold lot of data points before I traveled too far. There will be those Guzzi drivers who've traveled tens of thousands of miles with no problems. My guess is they're in the minority. Maybe not.

As much as I'd like a V7 I'm just not confident in their reliability. If something tweaks and I can't fix it there's no way for me to get it to a dealer. The same applies to my ST but the odds of needing a dealer are much slimmer.
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There are many owners who’ve ridden their Guzzi’s hundreds of thousands of miles. Guzzi’s are extremely reliable…once you work through the bugs. There are often small annoying things that you end up addressing but afterwards, they’re usually rock steady. They’re also orders of magnitude easier to work on than a fully faired, liquid cooled V4. I’m not a Guzzi fanatic but I’ve had a 73’Eldorado, a 75’ T3, a 2002 Le Mans, 2006 California Vintage, 2008 1200 Sport and there’s a 2021 V7 850 sitting next to my 2003 ST1300.

I am enjoying my ST tremendously. I’ll be riding it around the Finger Lakes in a couple weeks and to PEI and VA this Fall. However, if I was going to ride around the world I’d take the V7, not the ST. That choice isn’t even close. There’s just so much less that can go wrong with it.

I’m not a fan of the owner of Guzzitech and think both Wildguzzi and ADVrider are far better resources for information but ymmv.
 
I certainly don’t think someone who has owned 6 Moto Guzzi’s is an aficionado… lol, isn’t that close to the definition of? :)

JohninVT, your point regarding working out the bugs is spot on. And there’s the transverse twin…
 
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