The Italian manufacturer, Guzzi, has finally produced a model to rival – and scare – Harley, writes Tom Robert
THE THOUGHT came to me the other day that, if you can enjoy a bike in howling wind and rain, you can enjoy it anywhere.
The reason this came to me, since you ask, was because I was riding a bike in howling wind and rain and really enjoying it, despite the fact that I seemed to be coming down with an attack of the screaming heebie-jeebies and every joint ached as if I had just gone 15 rounds with a demented wombat.
The bike in question was the Moto Guzzi Bellagio, the latest phoenix to rise from the smouldering ashes of the Italian manufacturer’s often troubled past – a past in which, as Harley owners like to forget, Mandello was just as prominent as Milwaukee in promoting the rise of the cruiser in the seventies, with bikes like the Eldorado, Ambassador and California.
Where they fell down was lack of dealer back-up and the fact that Guzzi was to financial stability what George Best was to synchronised swimming.
What that meant was that, while Guzzi owners were every bit as loyal as Harley riders, the latter was more likely to be a retired bank manager imagining he was Peter Fonda, the former a part-time mechanic with his head buried deep in the entrails of an oily gearbox.
Well, you can only rest on your laurels for so long, and although Harley sells 300,000 bikes a year and Guzzi only topped 10,000 in 2006 for the first time since 1983, two facts mean that if I was Harley, I would start looking in my rear-view mirror some time soon.
One is that current owners Piaggio have given Guzzi financial stability and technological investment and the other is that, in the same way that the Stelvio is better than the BMW GS1200, the Bellagio not only beats its obvious rival, the similarly priced Harley 1200 Sportster, but is up there with the more expensive Dyna Fat Bob.
Being Italian, of course, it looks better than pretty much any other bike on earth (apart from a Suzuki Hayabusa), especially in the lustrous black colour scheme, counterpointed exquisitely by chrome spokes, over and under exhaust and trademark transverse cylinders.
In fact, the only style detail that jars with the otherwise perfect image is the square digital information panel, which clashes with the elegant cream speedo – even if it does give useful information like external temperature, battery level, high tide in Tokyo and Saturday’s lottery numbers.
Start up and you get that delicious syncopated V-twin burble, slightly more civilised than Harley’s visceral thunder, but none the worse for it. Climb aboard and the seating position is perfect, bars and pedals nicely neutral so you can cruise or push on.
And push on you can, for while there’s enough low-down grunt for you to leave it in sixth all day if you want, drop a gear or two, wind open the throttle and you get a joyous response which invites you to thunder past cars, swoop and dive into bends and roar down straights with the glorious song of that V-twin bouncing off houses, cows and passing pensioners.
Particularly attractive is the knowledge that the combination of a low, stable centre of gravity, nicely balanced suspension and excellent Brembo brakes will have even tyro riders feeling at one with the bike within half of an hour of setting out.
Splendid. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just pour the water out of my boots and phone Harley to tell them to get off those laurels and get back to work.
FACTFILE
Engine:935.6cc air-cooled transverse V-twin with two valves per cylinder and fuel injection
Power:55kW (75bhp) @ 7,200rpm
Torque:78Nm @ 6,000rpm
Performance:top speed 115mph, consumption 45mpg
Transmission:six-speed gearbox, shaft final drive
Brakes:front twin 320mm floating discs, rear single fixed 228mm disc, both with Brembo calipers
Tyres:front 120mm, rear 180mm
Fuel tank capacity:19 litres, plus four-litre reserve
Price:€11,500; contact Moto Guzzi Dublin, Oak Road Business Park, Dublin 12, tel: 01-460 3168, motopoint.ie. Price in the UK £7,194.
(Test bike supplied by RR Motorcycles, Lisburn, 028 92 666 033, rrmotorcyclesni.com.)