Here is a message for the Austrian manufacturer of a well-known energy drink.
You don’t need Red Bull to give you wings.
You see, the V100 Mandello, Moto Guzzi’s latest sports tourer, comes with an elegant pair on the side of the tank which pop out to keep your knees dry in the rain, and cossetted in a cocoon of still air even in the middle of a howling gale.
Innovative – but then, so is the whole bike, which was created from scratch to celebrate the centenary of the company founded by First World War Italian Navy pilots Carlo Guzzi, Giorgio Parodi and Giovanni Ravelli.
When Ravelli died in a plane crash in 1919, the other two chose an eagle as the company symbol in his honour when they started Moto Guzzi in 1921 in the factory on the shores of Lake Como where the bikes are made to this day.
It was rather appropriate, then, that I climbed aboard the bike outside that very same factory on a cool, damp morning to test a machine which like all Guzzis still bears that eagle logo.
Being Italian, it looks infinitely stylish, and with rain in the air, the outriders had donned midnight blue Dainese waterproofs which made them the only riders ever to look good in rain gear. The rest of us looked as if we wearing bin bags.
Still, never mind. If God had wanted me to look stylish, he would have called me Giovanni.
Climb aboard the plushly sculpted seat, and it being a sports tourer, the seating position is a happy marriage of sporty and touring, the mirrors are good although not astonishing, and the 5in TFT screen, while not the 10.25 widescreen that BMW has on its bigger beasts, is entirely adequate, showing you all you need to know, including which of the four modes you’re in – Pioggia, Strada, Turismo or Sportivo.
If you’re not as fluent in Italian as what I am, these translate as Soggy, Urban Hipster Dude, Born to Cruise and Hooligan.
The controls, unlike the Honda Africa Twin which has 4,826 buttons on the left bar, are beautifully simple and intuitive. A single button on the right bar toggles between the riding modes, and four buttons on the left got the electric screen up to maximum height and the heated grips nice and toasty quickly and easily.
As opposed to me using the usual bloke method of pressing buttons at random until something happens, that is.
The engine, meanwhile, has been tilted forward slightly for more legroom for taller motorcyclists, and as one, I can report it works. There is a taller seat option, but even at 6ft 7ins I found the standard seat entirely fine.
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Since we started by winding our way through the Mandello city streets, I started in Urban Hipster Dude mode, then out on the open road switched to Born to Cruise, but to be honest didn’t notice a huge difference.
The aforementioned wings slide out seductively at 70km/h, or 43.496mph precisely, but I didn’t notice much difference when they did, to be honest.
Still, they look cool, which in Italy is the main thing.
Even in Born to Cruise mode, progress is gloriously swift and smooth, and with 82% of torque available from 3,500rpm, I could take uphill hairpins in second gear without even coming close to stalling.
The bike weighs 233kg, but is beautifully balanced that handling is light and agile, and semi-active suspension on the S version I was riding means that it soaks up rough straights, while cornering ABS on both the standard and S laughs off gnarly bends with equal aplomb.
For those gnarly bends if you’re caught out after dark, the headlights turn into corners as you do in case there’s an insomniac cow standing in the road.
With Brembo callipers and two hefty 320mm discs up front, braking is equally smooth and swift, with a slipper clutch to stop the back wheel locking if you downshift a little too enthusiastically, although surprisingly, the rear brake was a bit spongy and needed a firm foot for trail braking into downhill corners.
The quickshifter, which like the heated grips comes as standard on the S version, was a bit clunky in the first three gears, as many are, and refused to play ball a couple of times, but when I needed to use the clutch, it was delightfully light, and going up and down the top three gears, the quickshifter was firm but flawlessly precise.
Right, time to switch to Hooligan mode, which added a thrilling alacrity to proceedings, although at the expense of making the throttle occasionally snatchy and the suspension firmer.
To be honest, for smooth, swift progress, especially with the love of your life on the back, I’d go for Born to Cruise pretty much all the time.
As for the sound, I have said several times that on electric bikes you get used very quickly to swishing along in blissful silence, but I’ve had a word with myself to remind me that there is something deeply satisfying about the visceral snore of a big V-twin.
By now the promised rain had arrived with a vengeance, so I switched to Soggy mode, at which point the wings slid out to keep my knees dry, but progress was so sluggish that I was soon back in Born to Cruise mode.
And in spite of the rain, feeling splendidly happy to be riding a machine which is agile and sporty yet all-day comfortable, and with a gloriously smooth yet characterful engine, all of it adding up to a very fitting tribute to 100 years of Moto Guzzi, and to the ghost of Giovanni Ravelli.
All the nudes that’s fit to print
RACHAEL Clegg is completely bonkers, but it suits her.
Anyone who’s been around the world of bikes, particularly the TT, will know her as the delightfully batty journalist, artist and model whose annual calendars are always worth looking forward to.
After hearing the tales told to her by her dad, former TT racer Noel Clegg, she decided to recreate them with a series of calendars featuring tasteful and witty nude photos of her gallivanting around the course at the relevant points to each story.
Now she’s gathered the best of the best into a fabulous coffee table book, along with a fascinating history of the TT and some photos I’d never seen before.
The result is stunning, both in words and images, and there will be more. Can’t wait.
It’s £89 at rachaelclegg.com
