I was hoping to get a yellow one, but after being told it could be another 8 weeks and could well have the radar thing, I went for the silver grey, which actually looks a lot better in the flesh.
Absolutely chucking it down, with very wet roads and new tyres, so I took it fairly steady.
Chucked my leg over the bikes lovely looking seat, bear in mind I have short chunky legs (29" inseam) I was pleasantly surprised to be able to get the full balls of my feet on the ground. I'm happy with that.
The seat felt very firm but was fairly comfortable and after my 58 mile ride home it still felt OK.
On startup the bike sounds very nice and clearly a Guzzi. Controls are the same as the V100 so I'm used to those.
Off we go, clutch felt fairly heavy but not enough to be a pain, ask me again when I've spent 20minutes in heavy traffic. Right from the off it felt totally different to the V100. The seating position is about perfect for me and the bike felt very comfortable and confidence inspiring even in the atrocious conditions.
IMHO the V100 engine (insurance companies are calling it the Stelvio 1100) is the best engine ever put in a bike, plenty of grunt, pulls very strongly from below 3k rpm and near perfect fuelling.
Suspension did feel a little harsh on the choppier roads but was absolutely fine on good tarmac. I always felt the V100 oversteered a little, maybe me not used to riding bikes with narrower handlebars, no such problem on the Stelvio, handling was very nice and I was soon pushing on a little quicker than I should have been in those conditions.
Gearchange is still not as nice as the V85 but a clear improvement on the V100 and you couldn't describe it as poor. There was one strange thing that I've never experienced on a bike before. When accelerating if you didn't allow the gear lever to go completely down after an upshift it didn't change up when next asked. I'm sure a minor adjustment of the lever will rectify this.
Heated grips could only be described as just adequate. The only reason I went for the Guzzi grips is that, the heated grips seem to have a softer spring than the standard throttle and make the bike easier to ride, imo.
Standard screen was pretty good and despite what one journo had said, there was a very distinct difference between the high and low positions. I'm not forever looking for the perfect screen to ride in a bubble of air, as long as there is no buffeting I'm good with the screen and this one was fine.
Overall, yes I'm a big Guzzi fan but I just loved riding this bike, it's easy to ride, very comfortable and confidence inspiring even in the foul weather conditions.
Off to Wales in a couple of weeks, so that will give me a better idea.
Absolutely chucking it down, with very wet roads and new tyres, so I took it fairly steady.
Chucked my leg over the bikes lovely looking seat, bear in mind I have short chunky legs (29" inseam) I was pleasantly surprised to be able to get the full balls of my feet on the ground. I'm happy with that.
The seat felt very firm but was fairly comfortable and after my 58 mile ride home it still felt OK.
On startup the bike sounds very nice and clearly a Guzzi. Controls are the same as the V100 so I'm used to those.
Off we go, clutch felt fairly heavy but not enough to be a pain, ask me again when I've spent 20minutes in heavy traffic. Right from the off it felt totally different to the V100. The seating position is about perfect for me and the bike felt very comfortable and confidence inspiring even in the atrocious conditions.
IMHO the V100 engine (insurance companies are calling it the Stelvio 1100) is the best engine ever put in a bike, plenty of grunt, pulls very strongly from below 3k rpm and near perfect fuelling.
Suspension did feel a little harsh on the choppier roads but was absolutely fine on good tarmac. I always felt the V100 oversteered a little, maybe me not used to riding bikes with narrower handlebars, no such problem on the Stelvio, handling was very nice and I was soon pushing on a little quicker than I should have been in those conditions.
Gearchange is still not as nice as the V85 but a clear improvement on the V100 and you couldn't describe it as poor. There was one strange thing that I've never experienced on a bike before. When accelerating if you didn't allow the gear lever to go completely down after an upshift it didn't change up when next asked. I'm sure a minor adjustment of the lever will rectify this.
Heated grips could only be described as just adequate. The only reason I went for the Guzzi grips is that, the heated grips seem to have a softer spring than the standard throttle and make the bike easier to ride, imo.
Standard screen was pretty good and despite what one journo had said, there was a very distinct difference between the high and low positions. I'm not forever looking for the perfect screen to ride in a bubble of air, as long as there is no buffeting I'm good with the screen and this one was fine.
Overall, yes I'm a big Guzzi fan but I just loved riding this bike, it's easy to ride, very comfortable and confidence inspiring even in the foul weather conditions.
Off to Wales in a couple of weeks, so that will give me a better idea.
