Moto Guzzi Breva
MOTO GUZZI BREVA
CW RIDING IMPRESSION
Wind of change
BRIAN CATTERSON
AS PARTY FOULS GO, THIS WAS a classic. In the midst of the press luncheon for the new Moto Guzzi Breva V 750 IE, International Marketing Director Roberto Mucci knocked over a pewter sugar bowl, spilling its considerable contents across the table.
Clearly, this was the result of a design flaw, determined the culprit-the hinged lid was too heavy for the bowl beneath to support, even when full. Closing the lid, he picked up the bowl and chuckled as he read the inscription on the bottom: “Made in Italy.”
That little café scenario is
of the Italian manufacturing industry. All too often, Italian products look far better than they work. And in the case of Moto Guzzi motorcycles, how could you expect anything else? The company’s neo-classic cruisers and sportbikes are powered by an air-cooled, two-valve, pushrod V-Twin that debuted when the Beatles were still together, and which has received precious few updates since. In recent years, Moto Guzzi has become a sort of Italian HarleyDavidson, churning out a dozen or so models based on two basic platforms, the California cruiser and V11 sportbike. Road tests routinely see the bikes damned with faint praise, the stories peppered with choice adjectives like “timeless” and “venerable.”
The good news is that Moto Guzzi, in business since 1921, is still in business. That seemed unlikely as little as two years ago, when under its previous owners, the ItaloAmerican Trident Rowan Group, the firm looked like it was down for the count. Hamstrung by relentless cost-cutting, the factory produced just over 3000 motorcycles in 1992, down from a high of 60,000-plus in the post-war glory days.
Matters improved considerably after Aprilia’s Ivano Beggio stepped in and purchased Guzzi in 2001, the rumored $60 million fee netting him the famous Eagle’s Wing logo and the storied factory on the shore of Lake Como near the Swiss border. Since outfitted with a new, more modem assembly line, the M-G factory produced some 11,000 motorcycles in 2002, is aiming for 15,000 units this year and 20,000 by 2005.
To reach that figure, Guzzi management realized they needed to expand their lineup, which is where the new Breva comes in.
“The Breva is an extremely important model,” explains General Director Roberto Brovazzo. “Not only is it the first ‘coming out’ from the new company, it shows that Moto Guzzi is serious about being a modem company with a wide range of products.” Part of that range includes entry-level machines, a category from which Guzzi has been absent since the 650cc V65 was stricken from the U.S. lineup in the mid-1980s. While the Nevada 750 cmiser has been available in Europe since 1989, it was never offered here. “As far as I know, no one ever wanted to bring it in,” says current Moto Guzzi North America Marketing/Advertising Manager Rick Pawelka. “The styling was wrong, and it didn’t make enough power.” Can’t say that about the Breva. Named for a warm breeze that blows away the clouds that mass over Lake
Como, the Breva is heavy on style and light on frills. It’s intended as a sort of naked city bike, the typical buyer expected to be a new or re-entry rider, and very likely a woman.
In creating the Breva, Guzzi’s engineers started with the old Nevada 750 engine. Like the Moto Morinis of yore, the Nevada’s cylinder heads are a flat Heron design, with the combustion chambers cast into the piston crowns. Those pistons received a new graphite coating to reduce friction and extend life, while a new ring configuration minimizes oil consumption. The camshafts and oil-breather system also are new, and the airbox has been redesigned to reduce intake noise, allow easier filter access and accommodate the new Weber-Marelli fuel-injection system. A double-barrel 36mm throttle body replaces the Nevada’s twin 30mm Dell ’Orto carburetors, offering improved rideability and greater power output (a claimed 48 horsepower, up from the Nevada’s 46). In conjunction with an exhaust catalyzer, the
ELI system lets the Breva meet current and forthcoming emissions standards.
The five-speed transmission also has been upgraded with new ratios to match the engine’s revised powerband, a new selector mechanism and shift linkage to improve shifting and a new lubrication system. The dry clutch received a new friction-plate material aimed at reducing lever effort.
The steel-tube double-cradle frame is all new, and the attractive bodywork was penned by Marabese Design in Milan, the same firm that dreamed up the V11 Sport and the naked Griso prototype unveiled at last year’s Intermot Show in Munich.
Guzzi celebrated its 82nd birthday by hosting a press introduction for the Breva on the week of March 15th, the date the company opened for business in 1921. Attendees were put up at the charming Castello di Casiglio hotel, and our test ride took us through the rolling hills south of Lake Como to Bellagio, where we boarded a ferry to make the crossing to the factory in Mandello del Lario.
As befits an entry-level motorcycle, the Breva is small in stature, its seat measuring just 31 inches off the ground. The reach to the tubular handlebars is short, and the footpegs are moderately rearset, putting the rider in a slightly sporty stance. Yet in spite of its close-coupled riding position, the Breva is comfortable even for long-legged folk. The handlebar-mounted windscreen (appropriately rose-tinted on our red testbike) works better than you think it would, even if it resembles something from the J.C. Whitney catalog.
Disengage the cable-actuated clutch and toe first gear, and you discover that the clutch and gearbox improvements live up to their billing.
Shift throw is still a bit long compared to the typical Japanese sportbike or Ducati, and the neutral light isn’t completely trustworthy, but it’s miles better than on previous Guzzis. The hand
levers aren’t adjustable, though, which they really ought to be on a bike aimed at female riders.
Roll on the throttle, let out the clutch and the Breva responds immediately, its low-end torque output making the engine feel stronger than its 744cc. The fuel-injection feels crisp 99 percent of the time, the exception being the occasional “hunting” sensation at low rpm. The flexible, userfriendly powerband is nice in inner-city traffic, where it lets you squirt out of harm’s way, as well as on a twisty backroad, where you can be lazy and leave the tranny in one gear with little loss in performance. And it’s a real boon to the novice rider, who might forget to shift on occasion. Rev the engine out and you’ll find the meat of the power between 6000 and 7000 rpm, before the party gets shut down by the 8000-rpm rev-limiter.
Like all Guzzis, the Breva’s V-Twin has a longitudinal crankshaft, but thanks to the smaller pistons and flywheels, there’s little of the side-to-side rocking motion that occurs when you blip the throttle on the 1064cc models. Similarly, the Breva is shaft-driven, but even without any sort of Paralever or Parallelogramo or whatever, there’s not a lot of up-and-down herky-jerky. Chassis geometry is middle-of-the-road, the 28 degrees of rake and 4.3 inches of trail striking a happy medium between sportbike and cruiser. This, combined with narrow (110mm front, 130mm rear) 17-inch tires, means the Breva steers lightly yet is stable at speed, though the steering isn’t what we’d call neutral and the front end feels vague when pushed hard. Cornering clearance is good, not great, but it’s probably sufficient for neophytes.
The Marzocchi suspension also strikes a happy compromise, the nonadjustable fork and preload-adjustable twin rear shocks offering decent damping yet sprung for lighter riders; heavier riders bottom the fork on the brakes. As for the brakes themselves-a combination of Brembo and Grimeca components, with a single four-piston caliper in front and a twopiston job in the rearthey’re more than up to the task at hand.
And that’s a good way of describing the Breva as a whole. Well-thoughtout and executed, it’s an excellent entry-level motorcycle, and one which Moto Guzzi officials hope will help put
the company back in the black.
“In the past, Moto Guzzi put thousands of people on this type of motorcycle,”
Brovazzo says confidently. “Now, we can do it again.”
That will probably be the case in Italy and other parts of Europe, but will the $7490 Breva 750 sell in any great numbers in the USA? Not likely, especially in the face of competition like the $5899 Suzuki SV650.
But that’s okay, because there’s also a Breva 1200 in the works, which promises upgraded components and sporttouring capabilities. Couple that with the announcement that the company will build production versions of the Griso and MGS/01 prototypes shown at Munich, and Moto Guzzi is very definitely back. Never mind that it was never really gone.
