Moto Guzzi V85 TT

In this day and age, adventure motorcycles need to look purposeful without compromising on the aspect of modernity. With that respect, the Moto Guzzi V85 TT fulfills this requirement. Its neo-retro looks with many modern elements from front to rear make it look distinctive and purposeful. There are many elements of this motorcycle that purely are different from other motorcycles in its category.

At the front, the Moto Guzzi V85 TT has a dual rounded headlamp, which is something that adventure motorcycles from yesteryears used to have. However, these headlamps are all LED units and are also accentuated with a sleek horizontally extended V-shaped daytime running LED in between.

Above the headlamp, there is a wide but short tinted windscreen, while below it there sits the high mounted front fender. In an interesting development, there is a small triangular air vent nestled between the headlamp and the front fender, which has honeycomb mesh over it. The sides of the headlamp are flanked with LED turn indicators, with tubular clamps around them.

From the side too, the Moto Guzzi V85 TT is an interesting motorcycle to look at. The slightly low-mounted fuel tank and a unique layout for the V-twin engine grab your attention here. The engine as well as exhaust pipe flowing out of it get white cowls over them. The 2-into-1 exhaust pipe flows towards the left-hand side of the motorcycle and is mounted just beside the seat, making it look very unique.

The rest of the design of the Moto Guzzi V85 TT includes slim trapezoidal side body panels and tubular pipes, which are a part of the frame and flow from the front to the rear. These pipes integrate luggage carrier mounts at the rear sides and also have a flat panel behind the seat to serve as mounts for luggage. The Moto Guzzi V85 TT gets road-spec soft compound tyres over the spoke wheels. The dual-rounded LED tail lamps with their whirling effect look super cool.

The Moto Guzzi V85 TT gets a rectangular LCD instrument console, which might look a bit dated when compared to the full TFT units of what the competition is offering at the moment. However, this unit itself is very informative, and displays readouts for speedometer, tachometer, fuel gauge, engine temperature gauge, gear indicator, average and instantaneous fuel economies, distance-to-empty, odometer, and trip meters. The unit is also compatible with the Moto Guzzi MIA multi-media platform, which supports Bluetooth connectivity for music streaming, making and receiving calls, and navigation.

The Moto Guzzi V85 TT has been engineered as a long-distance tourer, and many attributes support this fact. The motorcycle has a suspension combination of 41mm upside-down telescopic forks front and twin-sided swingarm with an off-set mono-shock, both of which get an adjustable extension and spring preload.

This suspension has been tuned on a softer side to make the ride quality comfortable. The large 23 fuel tank and a claimed fuel efficiency of 4.9 litres/100 km make it a true mile-muncher. The motorcycle is equipped with a 19-inch wheel and dual 320mm disc brakes at the front and a 17-inch wheel and 260mm disc brake at the rear.

At the heart of the Moto Guzzi V85 TT is an air-cooled, transverse-mounted 90-degree V-twin 853cc engine. This unique engine is mated to a 6-speed gearbox and puts up 80 bhp of maximum power and 80 Nm of maximum torque.

The Moto Guzzi V85 TT is a premium middle-weight motorcycle, and to suit its premium positioning, it gets decent riding aids like ride-by-wire, three riding modes (street, rain, and off-road), cruise control, traction control, and dual-channel ABS.

While the Moto Guzzi V85 TT might not have the snob value of other premium middleweight adventure tourers from other global bike-makers, it puts a strong case for itself with a unique design and a potent chassis. The engine too is a sweet mill and feels torquey enough for both low speed and high-speed riding.