Factfile The Moto Guzzi Stelvio is a beauty - and it doesn't compromise on performance, writes Tom Robert
MOTO GUZZI. Even the name fills you with a funny warm feeling, as if you are riding down the Amalfi coast in glorious sunshine, with your girlfriend on the back.
You're overtaking on a blind corner while lighting a cigarette and talking to her over your shoulder, and she's listening with one ear while arranging with her mates to meet for lunch in that sweet little cafe down by the sea in Positano.
There is, however, only one problem with this vision. I can't give the girlfriend all my love - not because I'm happily married, but because I've fallen for the motorbike instead.
In mitigation, I can only say it was impossible not to. Only the Italians could make a big trailie look this sexy: spoked wheels, the burnished glow of the exhausts sweeping back from those uniquely Guzzi transverse V-twin cylinders, the rakish angle of the screen, the svelte lines of the tank in a deep, lustrous lipstick red, set off perfectly by the brushed aluminium wedge below and the heroic Moto Guzzi badge of a soaring eagle on each side.
Not to mention the little compartment on the right side of the tank which, at the touch of a concealed button, pops open so that you can store your finest kid leather summer gentleman's motorcycling gloves while you go off for an espresso.
Oh, it's no use: this bike is so idiosyncratically stunning that I'm going to come down any minute with Stendhal Syndrome, the affliction named after the author who, so overcome by the beauty of Italy on his first visit, kept fainting and having to be revived by copious draughts of the local brandy.
It is, in fact, so good looking that you could almost forgive it if it were a terrible motorcycle - but the wonderful truth is that it rides much better than its obvious rival, the BMW R1200GS, not to mention looking sexier and costing less: €10,995 compared with BMW's €12,625-€15,284.
For a start, the upright riding position is perfect, with a wide, comfortable seat for both rider and pillion, perfectly placed handlebars, great mirrors and an adjustable screen which makes tireless motorway cruising all day a doddle, particulary since, surprisingly for a fairly tall bike, it seems utterly impervious to gusty crosswinds.
Although at 214kg it's almost as heavy as the 223kg of the BMW, it feels like a feather by comparison which, combined with those wide bars, perfect balance and smooth power delivery, means that you can fling it into corners far faster than the Beemer, lean it over until the footpegs touch and just hold it there, planted and stable all the way round.
Put it this way: within half an hour I was cranking it around my favourite test corner virtually as fast as the Suzuki GSXR-600.
Acceleration from the traffic lights may not be sports bike-quick, but I'd lay a safe bet that if you went out on the Stelvio with a bunch of mates on their mean, lean revving machines, you'd get from A to B just as fast as them, but more smoothly, and with a lot more comfort.
The clutch is butter-soft; the engine has just the right mix of macho vibration and seamless delivery of power; the Brembo brakes will do all you ask of them; and even minor controls like the indicator switch seduce you with their effortless ease of use.
Well, except for the hazard warning button, which I pressed accidentally and then had to disconnect the battery to finally switch off. Still, it's a minor glitch and I can think of only two things which would have made it even better.
If the luggage rack was hinged so that it could act as a pillion back support. And if I hadn't had to hand it back.
BIKETEST MOTO GUZZI 1200 STELVIO
Engine:90-degree transverse V-twin, eight valves; displacement: 1151cc; 105 bhp @ 7500rpm; 80lb ft of torque @ 6400rpm
Bore and stroke:95 x 81.2mm
Compression ratio:11:1
Fuel capacity:18 litres
Dry weight:214kg
Tyres:Pirelli Scorpion Sync; front 110/80-19, rear 180/55-17
Suspension:front 50mm inverted telescopic Marzocchi, 170mm wheel travel; rear One Boge damper, 155mm wheel travel, adjustments for preload and rebound damping
Brakes:front 320mm discs, four-piston Brembo radial calipers; rear 282mm disc, twin-piston Brembo caliper
Price:€13,750. (UK price £8,704). Test bike supplied by RR Motorcycles, Lisburn