V85 TT Merged Threadfest

[pauldaytona]

Pete, the central plug part is the same as on the v9 is used. But did you see that there are roller tappets used like in the 8v engines? Rocker arms are the same as in the v9.

 

[pete roper]

Yeah, I knew about the V9 heads and rocker carrier, I was just re-mentioning it. They'd been banging on about roller tappets in some of their promotional blurb so it was good to have it confirmed by the parts list.

Parts #15 for those unfamiliar.



Given all the talk of how using a TI inlet valve reduces mass sufficiently to enable whacky opening cam profiles giving greater VE it would seem counterintuitive to then use a much heavier roller tappet. Since we are unlikely to get a decent explanation it's all pretty much immaterial though.

Pete

PS. I see the buggers have changed the diagnostic plug as well. Damn their rotten eyes! :D

[rocker59]

Given all the talk of how using a TI inlet valve reduces mass sufficiently to enable whacky opening cam profiles giving greater VE it would seem counterintuitive to then use a much heavier roller tappet. Since we are unlikely to get a decent explanation it's all pretty much immaterial though.

Pete
 

But Pete, the roller lifters are part of what allows the wacky cam profiles.  Maybe they're heavier than solid, I don't know, but they do follow and stay on the cam better.  Roller lifters and roller rockers have been SOP in American pushrod V8 race engines for decades.

[Tusayan]

I think the industry wide move to roller cam followers in everything from production V8s to Guzzis to Lycoming aircraft engines is a valid response to durability problems caused by more demanding cam profiles, corrosion concerns and less zinc in current oil. Roller cam followers are better.

Valve weight is particularly important because valves accelerate more than cam followers given rocker ratios of 1.2 or whatever.  F = MA

Reports from the Sardegna press event seem to indicate reasonable performance from the V85TT engine, more than the earlier versions, but I’ll be interested to see the first independent dyno tests to confirm rider impressions.

[Knuckle Dragger]

https://www.promotor.nl/video/moto-guzzi-v85-tt-2019-eerste-test-vlog/

[JJ]

 

[Unkept]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abUPOGgxGO8

Pretty nice video, of actual riding without annoying music over top. :)

He even takes it on some dirt which is nice.

Sounds good even with the stock exhaust in my opinion. Looks like it has more power...

[twowings]

That looks and sounds fantastic. I want one.

[rocker59]

The 14th picture (or 5th picture down in center column), behind the V85, there is a silver cafe style bike red valve covers.

What is that?!

I'm unsure which particular photo you're talking about.  The 5th row centre or 14th photos show no bikes at all in the background. Of those pictures that do have a couple of slightly 'unusual' companions in the background, one seems to be an Aprilia of some sort.  Sorry don't know which one it is.  They all look the same to me.  This is from an RSV1000R owner!  The other odd companion (from the Czech republic) seems to be one of those interminable V75 variants with what appears to be a 'wingless' Stucchi-type bikini.

Looks like a dolled-up V7/9 Racer:

[Chuck in Indiana]

That looks and sounds fantastic. I want one.

You can have everything you seek
for a dollar down and a dollar a week.
 

[Kiwi_Roy]

I used to catch birds that way when I was a kid - Nice Bait

[Muzz]

Nice one Roy.

[Rhodan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abUPOGgxGO8

Pretty nice video, of actual riding without annoying music over top. :)

He even takes it on some dirt which is nice.

Sounds good even with the stock exhaust in my opinion. Looks like it has more power...

Nice video!  Thanks for sharing it.

[Huzo]

That looks and sounds fantastic. I want one.

I don't want ONE....!
I want MINE...!

[Knuckle Dragger]

The more I see of those quad-colour "hey look at me" lurid yellow ones the more I despise that particular colourway.  The "tricoleur" red/black/white one, whilst less overexposed, is little better.  Maybe I'm getting old, but those sort of lurid, try-hard paint jobs are better suited to a learner bike from east asia rather than a hand-made Italian original.  Tacky, tasteless & trying just a little to hard to be 'young', 'appealing' or maybe 'relevant' & failing to such a degree that it becomes a little comical.  Today's true arbiters of taste (teens)are able to identify these sort of wannabe fails from miles off.

The steel blue is pretty boring by contrast, & the red/black one is pretty, but in a way that may very well date a bit too fast.  When middle-aged red bikes get on a bit they tend to look a bit naff in my opinion.  Red is more a sporting bike colour.  The V85 is the very antithesis of sporting I suspect.  Just a slow old-school allroad tourer rather than a sportster.  I think it's best to leave red for the inevitable Le Mans "replica" that's inevitably coming (hopefully with multivalve heads & other sporting pretensions hat may actually make it actually worthy of the name) next year rather than their dirt road tractor....

Which brings me towards the previously dismissed Silver/Grey/Black colourway.  I'd initially labelled this boring as hell, but it's growing on me.   Conservative, understated but unmistakeably classy.  The ideal dovetailed fit to the bike sporting this particular colour combination.  To me, it encompasses the very spirit of the bike better than any other 4 alternatives.

Guzzi must be careful not to parody itself too much.  The ongoing OEM 'custom' market may be temporarily 'en vogue', but fashion is fickle;  today's hero all-too-quickly becomes tomorrow's embarrassment.  I can already see it happening with the unfortunately named "Racer" variant, that is becoming a bit of a running joke in some circles.  Guzzi makes classics better than just about any other manufacturer still around, but must guard against becoming a manufacturer of machines that overtly display style over substance.

Does anybody remember the then state of the art, ultra-chic Triumph X75 Hurricane,  Ducati Paso, or the K1 BMW?  Didn't think so.  I rest my case.  The concept of 'factory custom' is probably best treated as oxymoronic..  They tend to go together like oil & water.

Guzzi's are eminently customisable.  One of the company's main appeals (to me anyway).  But a 'custom' is supposedly, if not truly a 'one-off' then certainly extremely rare.  Not the cloned lazy cashed-up hipster's answer to being a me-too wannabe, parked in identical ranks down at the local overpriced coffee boutique.

[Huzo]

Oh...
Ok then.

[bad Chad]

Hmm, interesting take on arguably the most anticipated Guzzi in several years.

[kingoffleece]

Paint is subjective.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

I rather like the "yellow" ones - they stand out in a sea of boring and pay homage to Guzzi Dakar racebike.

[Huzo]

I rather like the "yellow" ones - they stand out in a sea of boring and pay homage to Guzzi Dakar racebike.

Did you ask before you sat on "my bike.."

[Tusayan]

Hmm, interesting take on arguably the most anticipated Guzzi in several years.

I'm sure they will have a color for everybody.  I like the solid red because it reminds me of an early R100GS.  I'm not a fan of retro anything so despite liking the 1980s yellow/red scheme I'm not sure I could buy one that color.  Maybe.  The less directly retro Red and White also looks OK to me.

The V85TT strikes me as the most anticipated Guzzi since the 1100 EV and the original Daytona.  I'll be interested to read the first road tests and see how that affects demand.  I have a feeling the bike is in actuality what a lot of people have been looking for. More and bigger and more complex is wearing thin for many and the current BMWs are a joke in that regard.

I'm also looking forward to seeing the taller seat opinions and learning if the centerstand option is actually going to be manufactured and available. Loading and unloading saddlebags on a side stand doesn't work well.

[Kiwi_Roy]

I'm willing to bet the Ronald McDonald colour scheme will prove the most popular by far, who wants boring mono-colours, its my preference  .
I don't think much of the luggage though

[Devildog]

A Russo Kalahari please

[NWrider]

Are there any more pictures of the Rosso Kalahari other than the one above and a side shot with bags and trunk.  I'd like to see one from the side without the bags & trunk.

[SteveRivet]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abUPOGgxGO8

Pretty nice video, of actual riding without annoying music over top. :)

He even takes it on some dirt which is nice.

Sounds good even with the stock exhaust in my opinion. Looks like it has more power...

Good video and review.  The guy has 13,000 views and it's only been up a day or so.  Machine looks like it could be all Guzzi's hoping it could be.  I'm a fan.

Steve

[hauto]

Nice video.Makes the TT look like good.It gives you the impression that he's really booking,till you look at the speedo.The fastest he went was 60ish MPH. Like to see where the TT runs out of breath.

[blackcat]

A Russo Kalahari please

Personally, I think this is the better looking bike than the yellow but too each their own.

[pauldaytona]

Are there any more pictures of the Rosso Kalahari other than the one above and a side shot with bags and trunk.  I'd like to see one from the side without the bags & trunk.

 All stock pictures from guzzi:
http://press.piaggiogroup.com/en_EN/post/show/158561/moto-guzzi-v85-tt.html#lg=1&slide=34

[Knuckle Dragger]

Personally, I think this is the better looking bike than the yellow but too each their own.

Using 'just' 3 colours is better than 4 I agree.  Red almost always looks good on bikes.  But to me the entire effect is kind of spoilt by having those bright red little subframes each side of the headlight assembly.

What the hell are they for anyway:  i.e. what actual, fruitful, practical, useful purpose do they serve?  Apart from mounting the indicators to.  Indicators could've been put anywhere:  bar ends, mirrors, hand guards, or on their own stalks elsewhere.  The rear subframe is a beautiful engineering statement of triangulation forming a conveniently placed combi luggage rack & grab rail.  Small, light but presumably strong, and made in the best, most resilient & flexible rather than rigid steel but with rigidity engineered in through a succession of triangulated perimeter welds.

So what are those brighter than bright red, complex, compound curved and welded, expensive to manufacture tiny subframes at the front actually for, other than to stick out like dog's nuts & look purposefully but uselessly 'rugged' or something?  Is that it?  Merely to convey a message of tough, rugged purposefulness without actually performing any concrete function whatsoever?  It's not a headlight mount is it?  A headlight guard?  Is it some sort of mid 80s retro Paris-Dakar wannabe design cue?  I just don't get it.  Does anybody know or for that matter actually care?
 
At least in the plain colour steel blue & silver grey variants the framework, including those dubious little mini-frames, are toned down in colour to a less in-your-face darker shade of grey/black.  Rather than an assemblage of brightly coloured, contrasting components the 2 darker colours project more of an integrated, unified whole.  I think this is down to the lower contrast in framework & plastics to the rest of the more mechanical components.
 
I like the bike.  It's personally the most likeable bike that Guzzi have made since the demise of the LeMans III.  I dig Guzzi's singular, purposeful focus on their 70s & 80s machines.  I hate the addition, ex factory, of useless frippery & embellishment.  Detracting as it does from a bikes' purity of purpose.

I love a good custom too.  But a true custom, individually hand-made & reflective of the owner/makers' philosophy.  An owner modifies, adds & subtracts according to taste & needs, not usually 'just because they can'.

[NWrider]

It looks to me like the head light mounting frame has changed from the early pictures which were mounted to the top of the fork.   Later ones are bolted in from the sides and not seemingly directly attached to the top of the fork - a less expensive production change?