The Racer is nothing more than a styling exercise on the very capable bones of a standard V7. Add some quality upgrades like shocks, rearsets and aluminum side covers and a couple of aesthetic bits and it’s a nicely done factory throwback to the earlier days of Guzzi’s racing history.
No fuss, no muss with finding a vintage bike and building it up from scratch and cobbling together the cafe’d look. Perfect for mechanical nebbishes like myself.
To say it’s a conversation starter would be an understatement. I’ve literally had people cross a busy 5 lane road (one being turn lane) to get a closer look at the V7R. It’s somewhat disconcerting to have people chase you through traffic to take pics or videos of your bike.
When I explain to random individuals that walk up to me that the bike has very modest performance numbers at best…they DONT care…the comments are always the same…Beautiful, look at that tank…that motor is so cool, I’ve never seen that before…and the always popular…Did you restore that yourself.
As the OP mentioned, the V7R is rather surprisingly comfortable to ride. I’ve had it out for a few 250 mile days and I did just fine. The clip ons are upswept at the point they affix to the forks so it’s somewhat deceiving. There’s not as much weight on your wrists as one would think looking at the bike in profile. Of course once you’re moving the wind on your chest reduces weight even more.
At a hair under 6 feet it’s still comfortable for me although I get the occasional hip cramp requiring me to do some stretching when not in the saddle and before getting back on. For me that’s more a result of old age, then a cramped cockpit.
