Our local dealer, Motopia New Mexico, got in a bunch of test ride bikes from Piaggio Group and needed folks to put some miles on them, so of course, I graciously offered my services to wring out a brand new sport touring bike. Duh!

Enter the new Moto Guzzi V100 Mandello. It’s using a modified version of their usual transverse twin motor and shaft drive system that Guzzis have had for decades. In this case, the motor is a liter in capacity, but they’ve rotated the heads to make it easier to work on and to allow for greater air and exhaust flow. It’s water-cooled, as well. It turns out an advertised 115 horsepower and about 77 ft. lbs. of torque. There’s the usual traction control, ABS brakes, and a host of other electronic doo-dads that I didn’t play with, like an electronic windscreen you can raise and lower, the wee aerodynamic flaps on the sides for the “adaptive aerodynamics”

that they are very proud of, and more. It’s got one of those LED screens for instrumentation. It shows a lot of information and is very useful. I still hate it; I like my old school gauges. And get off my lawn. Here it is in all it’s glory.

With all that aside, how was it? It’s very comfortable. I spent just over an hour and 70 miles in the saddle, riding in heavy street traffic here in Albuquerque, on the interstate, secondary highways, and the challenging mountain twisties of Sandia Crest road. The saddle is superb — I’d easily put it against any other sport touring bike for comfort. It’s a wee bit tall for folks under a 32″ inseam, but I had no problems getting on and reaching the ground at stops; getting off was a bit more challenging. I kept catching on the hand/top box rails.

It’s very quick, and probably fast, as well. What do I mean by that? It gets up to speed fast. The shaft drive really moves the torque and getting on the highway was effortless. Like the V7, these things like run long in the gears or they get finicky until they are warmed up. The bike doesn’t really wake up until 4,000 rpm, and and doesn’t start to shine until 5,000. In a few blimps of the throttle in sixth gear, I was able to climb from 80 to 95mph in about 2 seconds. Not bad. Without hitting the redline, I got the machine up to 118mph indicated a few times and it was still pulling. I never hit the governor on the engine speed, but supposedly there is one. It also will bleed speed very quickly with engine braking.

The motor is smoother than any other Guzzi I’ve ridden. There’s a bit of the side to side that would similarly feel on a BMW boxer, but the quirkiness of the Guzzi motor is gone. At speed, it’s glass. The exhaust note is good — not too loud, but it’s got a nice growl to it.

It handles well. The weight is much higher than I’m used to with the V7 and the Enfields and similar classic styled bikes, but once I got used to it, I was turning with ease up and down the Crest road. Turns at speeds that would have scrapped hard bits on the V7 and even the Enfield Interceptor still had plenty of clearance. It’s nimble and stops well.

(You’ll note that the dealer forgot to put a temp tag on the bike…good thing I didn’t get in front of the one state trooper!)

The V100s I’ve seen at the shop and on the road have superb paint, fit and finish. The one I got was the Marina edition — a tip of the hat to Italy’s marine aviation division. The bike looks good, although I think I’d get tired of this look, as compared to the white and green S version of the machine.

The downsides — and some of this might be because we were breaking these in to first service and they have been demo bikes, so they’ve not been treated the best: The gearbox is clunky — especially into first. When I would drop into gear out of neutral, the bike would lurch just a bit. Not a great feeling. Shifting was stiff, but it was similarly tight on my V7 and a friend’s V85, but after the first service and oil change, loosened up considerably. Most likely, this example hadn’t been the best cared for and would see similar changes in behavior with service. But with how good the motor and handling were, this was a glaring low point.

Another issue — and again, this could have been an issue with the demo bikes — the gear indicator would not show neutral. If you kicked up from first gear, it showed in first; if you kicked down from second, it showed in second. During my trip back into town and shot up through the gear getting onto I-40 and it showed sixth as being in fifth. I dropped a gear for a few seconds and shifted up and it indicated correctly. It might be a glitch in this one machine, but who knows? I have noticed that my V7 takes a whil to indicate correct gear once you release the clutch (while clutched it has a null reading.) Are these deal breakers? No — but if they are something across the line, hopefully the boys at Guzzi are working on a software fix.

Outside of that, it is overall a very, very good motorcycle. If I was looking for a sport touring bike with luggage and so forth, I think I’d probably lean toward the Mandello, even though the Japanese stuff is usually cheaper. Compared to the BMWs and Triumphs, I think this thing is a winner. It’s running about $15,000 — so if you’re a Triumph or BMW or Ducati guy, this thing is in your price range (or cheaper). If you’re a UJM guy, it’s going to be a bit rich.