After seven months, 6000 miles, and a pretty cold commuting season this winter thanks to my car needing an engine rebuild, I’ve gotten to know the Guzzi pretty well. Here’s what I’ve learned:

Gas mileage is solidly good — on both the crappy “winter gas” and the less ethanol-challenged “summer gas”, I’ve been getting a reliable 54 mpg, regardless of style of riding. The motor and shaft drive work very well together to make it a quick machine — acceleration is very good for the displacement, power delivery is very smooth and linear, with a steady climb to redline. Speaking of — it’s not 6500rpm. It’s 7500rpm before the governor cut in on you. I’ve adjusted the shift light to a more appropriate 6000rpm. Top end still hasn’t been achieved, but she’s been up to 115mph in a highly aggressive pass and still was pulling. My guess is it will top out around 120-125mph.

The first oil change will alter the character dramatically. If the V7 is being a rough when you first get it, wait until that first oil change before you make any judgements; mine smoothed out dramatically and ran much better after the first 500 mile service. That said, the transmission is still pretty clonky compared to my old Triumph Thruxton or the Royal Enfield Interceptor (which is superlative), or even the BMW boxers, especially when you first fire it up. It usually takes a few blocks for the transmission to smooth out — most likely as the transmission oil gets circulated. I’ve also found occasionally it doesn’t want to drop into first when you first get ready to ride. Ease the clutch out just a hair and tap into first. No issues.

It’s cold-blooded. It really does like to limber up a bit before you take off. If you hop on and go at the start of the day, you’ll see the transmission material above.

It handles much better than you think. At parking lot speeds, it turns with grace. At high speeds, it tips in very well, but you need to scoot your ass or you’ll hit pegs. It doesn’t lose its footing in hard braking (but the nose does dip — progressive springs might be in order), and in high wind — and I mean 50 knot gusts with 30 sustained — it’s rock solid. (Side note — the new Royal Enfield Super Meteor is fantastic at handling wind.) Some of that is the excellent Dunlop AeroMax tires…which we don’t get in the States. It’s coming up on needed a rear at 6000 miles, and I’ll probably swap to the tire-of-choice for my 2010 Thruxton — the Shinko 712s. I suspect the bike is going to tip in much more aggressively.

There’s more out there to mod the look or performance than you think, but you have to hunt a bit. I’ve thrown a Dart flyscreen on it, as well as changed the execrable plastic injector covers to the nice black aluminum ones from the Stone Special, then dumped the stupid, massive plastic starter cover for a sleek black metal one from BAAK. For performance parts, GuzziTech is the place to look. Their forums are a treasure trove of information.

The midnight blue bike — sorry, “gray stripe” — attracted dust like crazy. I’m constantly wiping it down.

Service time is much better than other bikes I’ve had. The 6000 mile service was about a third less than I expected, thanks to things being much easier to access and lower labor costs.

Accessories that are branded? Not so much. They’ve got a tee-shirt design or two and an “adventure” style motorcycle jacket, but that’s really it.

Overall, after half a year, I’ve gone from not being sure I made a mistake trading the excellent little Interceptor 650 for the V7, to really loving this machine. It’s solidly made, easy to maintain, good on gas, and pretty damned zippy for a standard-styled 850 twin. It blows the tires off the old Thruxton.

If you’re looking for a classic-looking motorcycle that not everyone has, you’re willing to put up with not a lot of clothing accessories, this is a solid choice. I’d actually take one of these over a 900 Bonneville any day.