Moto Guzzi Mille

Moto Guzzi Mille

STANDARD TIME

LOOKING FOR A NEW MOTORCYcle just like those old motorcycles, are you? Then direct your gaze towards the Moto Guzzi Mille, a giant, red, Latin V-Twin anachronism of a motorcycle. If our mail is any indication, some of you out there in Motorcycleland have been pining away for the basic standard motorcycle of yore. Well, pine no more. The Mille is it.

There is no way that the designation “standard” is synonymous with the words “bland.” or “dull,’ at least not with respect to the Mille. It’s a bike as full of character and flavor as a dish of gnochi. First of all, there’s that engine, a great, whomping 948cc lump, longitudinally situated in the bike’s semi-double-loop, single-backbone tube frame. This is a motor that speaks with a wonderful basso profundo exhaust note and which injects a considerable dose of personality into the process of moving the bike. Its handshake reveals very heavy throttle-return springs in the bike’s twin, 30mm Dell’ Orto carburetors, though our Italian connections tell us the cure for that is simple and cheap. And, as you rev the engine, the torque reaction from its beefy crankshaft and 12-pound flywheel rocks the bike to the right, but this is more an oddity to be noticed at stoplights than a problem that causes handling glitches, at least at the speeds the Mille likes best.

SPECIFICATIONS

Moto Guzzi Mille GT

$6995

And it does have speed preferences: It’s most happy at the national speed limit or below. Its smooth clutch and light shifting combine with the engine’s 78mm stroke and millstone-like flywheel to make smooth departures a snap. Indeed, those factors make the engine almost impossible to stall on getaway. Once at speed, feet firmly in the reality of life with a standard bike, you find that the engine's seamless supply of torque makes fourth and fifth gears the only ones necessary. You find that the long, wide, deep saddle is amazingly comfortable, and you find that the high, wide bars are perfect for the sort of backroad cruising that allows you to drink in the smells and the scenery.

Just don't be fooled by the Mille’s ride, which is Euro-firm, or by its powerful front/rear linked brake system. into mistaking it for a bike with sporting pretensions. Because of the bike’s relatively slow, lazy steering, it is not sportbike-flickable, and when cornered hard at high speeds, the bike's 35mm fork tubes just give up and allow the bike to wobba-wobbawobble.

But hey, this is a traditionalist’s ride, not a racer; it’s a brand-new motorcycle, with all the considerable virtues and charm of a fresh piece of equipment, that looks, and indeed, feels, just like a freshly restored old motorcycle. It's an instant classic, and with its shaft drive and simple, push-rod engine, it's a bike capable of providing a lot of satisfaction.