GOLDEN EAGLE

Even Moto Guzzi’s staff must have been surprised by the success of the V85 TT last year. After all, production in Mandello del Lario had been unspectacular for decades. Countless new models had come and gone without making much impact, let alone breaking sales records or approaching the status of Seventies icons like the 850 Le Mans or original California.

Then suddenly the two-wheeled world couldn’t get enough of a new bike with Guzzi’s trademark pair of air-cooled pots sticking diagonally out on each side. Show-goers had swooned over the adventure V-twin on its unveiling at EICMA in Milan; journalists had enthused at the press riding launch in Sardinia. More importantly, customers were making it a hit in the showrooms – so much so that for a while the atmospheric old factory on the banks of Lake Como couldn’t keep up with demand.

Looking over the Guzzi’s stubby perspex screen as the A5 unravels on a sunny afternoon months later, this outbreak of Italian-style TT mania seems perplexing – but at the same