ITALIAN FLAIR

Moto Guzzi’s all-new V85TT is a welcome new offering in the mid-capacity adventure-touring segment and one that spurned a lot of interest on social media when Trevor Hedge first highlighted the pending arrival of the machine on MCNews.com.au.

Guzzi’s most recent long-running adventure bike model, the Stelvio, was an all-roads touring bike. The Stelvio was not built for serious dirt tracks with rock-strewn climbs but instead for mega mile munching, with few stops required thanks to its 32-litre tank. However, it was competent enough to take on reasonably well-formed trails, and in NTX guise scored spoke rims and engine guards. It was powered by a very charismatic but moderately powerful 1151cc V-Twin that in its final 8V incarnation mustered 104 horsepower and 113 Nm of torque. It was comfortable and enjoyable, but at over 270kg it was not the best tool in the shed for negotiating tricky side tracks in the hands of moderately talented riders.

Still, the Stelvio had its fans, and I must admit that I too had somewhat of a soft spot for the NTX. That big 90-degree air-cooled transverse V-twin stirred the soul perhaps even more than a BMW Boxer. However, when in the market myself around the time the Stelvio NTX was released, it was the fizzing