Moto Guzzi has produced a bike that is both fast and comfortable, with the most alluring growl, writes TOM ROBERT
‘YOU’LL LIKE THIS,” said Keith at the dealers. “IT’S VERY LOUD.”
“WHAT?” I grinned.
“TERMIGNONI AFTERMARKET PIPE. LISTEN TO THIS,” he went on, giving the throttle a friendly blip.
We both stood there as the noise soared and died in a glorious snorting, gurgling threnody of aural bliss – like the two sad gits we probably were.
The thing is, he was right. The sound of a bike, whether it’s the syncopated burble of a Harley V-twin, the seismic thunder of a Rocket III or the unmitigated howl of a Ninja at full chat, is an integral part of the pleasure of riding it and, on the pleasure scale, it doesn’t come much better than the sound of the Griso, with that hefty aftermarket exhaust.
The Griso originally came into being as a concept bike and was only put into production because reaction was so positive to its stylish, yet muscular, look and what promised to be a macho, torquey performance from that big V-twin.
The original production run went down so well that the backroom boys at Guzzi went away and made it even better, tweaking a remarkable 563 components in the engine, doubling the number of valves per cylinder to four, lengthening the stroke and, in the process, increasing the capacity from 1,064cc to 1,151cc and the power from 87bhp to 108bhp.
And now, I thought, as I rode off down the road to the accompaniment of that glorious growl, with the power bumped up even further to 121bhp and that Termignoni silencer, the Griso has probably arrived at its finest hour.
Best of all, the satisfaction of riding it is not mitigated by an aching back and wrists, for Moto Guzzi take the view – which may come as a surprise to their compatriots down the road at Ducati and Aprilia – that motorbikes can be both fast and comfortable.
As a result of this revolutionary theory, the seating position on the Griso is reasonably upright, giving you the safety and comfort of knowing that you can see everything around you, from the analogue tacho and digital speedo on the neat dash, to the road disappearing behind you in the excellent mirrors.
And, far from creating an anodyne riding experience, all of this makes things like overtaking much more pleasurable than on a pocket rocket, particularly when you kick down a gear using that featherweight clutch, wind up the throttle and hurtle past assorted Beemers and Porsches with a grin on your face and the song of the engine in your ears.
The V-twin, which is torquey enough at low revs to trundle around town perfectly comfortably, really comes into its own from 6,000rpm, producing a hefty shove that just keeps on going until the tacho creeps closer to the 8,000rpm redline and a discreetly flashing red light on the instrument panel ticks you off for being a naughty boy.
Faults, if there are any, are that the front end felt light and vague when cornering hard, but it was nothing that couldn’t be cured with a firm dose of countersteering.
That 120 front tyre tends to tramline a bit as well, but again, it’s nothing life-threatening, particularly since the balance of the bike is so good.
On motorways, you also tend to get blown about somewhat, and at high speed, a small but noticeable vibration turns the vehicles in those otherwise excellent rearview mirrors into fuzzy blobs, to the rather worrying extent that you can’t see whether they have blue flashing lights or not.
But then, the Griso isn’t a bike for long motorway journeys. It’s for swooping and diving along country A-roads, after several hours of which I returned it to Keith.
“I’M DEAF BUT HAPPY, KEITH,” I shouted, handing him the keys.
“Thought you might be,” he replied.
Factfile Moto Guzzi Griso 8V
Engine: 1,151cc, V-twin eight-valve four-stroke producing 121bhp @ 7,500rpm, 58lb ft of torque @ 6,000rpm
Transmission: six-speed gearbox, shaft final drive
Top speed: 145mph
Brakes: front – twin floating 320mm stainless steel wave discs; rear – single 282 mm fixed stainless steel disc
Wheels: three-spoked aluminium alloy
Seat height:800mm
Dry weight: 222kg
Fuel tank capacity: 16.7l,
Price: €12,995. Moto Guzzi Dublin, 01-460 3168, motopoint.ie
(Test bike £7,192 from RR Motorcycles, Saintfield Road, Lisburn, 028 92 666 033, rrmotorcyclesni.com)