Moto Guzzi: Well chuffed with Guzzi

The V7 is happiest at low revs - enjoy the torque and evocative soundtrack from twin megaphone pipes. Photo / Jacqui Madelin

Ah, the delights of a classic bike. The wonderful chuffing soundtrack, and those relaxed putters through verdant spring mornings, pausing for an espresso with a sea view and your sweetie by your side.

Then it won't start. Or blurts oil on your trousers. And needs superstar levels of attention to keep running.

Which is why bikes like Triumph's Bonneville and this Moto Guzzi V7 sell, for they deliver enough of that traditional look and feel to please, alongside modern reliability.

This Guzzi's ancestor was designed by Giulio Cesare Carcano in the early 1960s. The man famous for building a V8 Moto Guzzi designed an air-cooled, transverse cylinder pushrod V-twin, mounted it across the frame and linked it to shaft drive. At 700cc it was called the V7 and was effective enough back then to win the Italian police bike tender.

But almost exactly the same power in today's machine means you can forget high-speed shenanigans.

Pull the manual choke out, finger the start button and she fires, then settles into that chuffing idle with the off-beat side-to-side rumba so characteristic of Guzzi.

The V7 is a great cafe cruiser. The classic soundtrack turns heads; the classic look's admired; the upright riding position and wide bars deliver great all-round view and traffic-weaving control while the engine's relaxed persona feels right at home.

It's also right at home on New Zealand B-roads. The bike's been designed with stability in mind and though there's a fair bit of dive from the Marzocchi forks under heavy braking, and the suspension was a tad firm over the bigger hits, the V7 felt confident over the wide mix of surfaces I traversed.

It's also happy to lean way into corners, with lots of ground clearance and plenty of torque for pulling out of bends, though high speeds are out of its league; good news for your licence.

Best bits? That the V7 is happiest at low revs, where you can make the most of the torque and the evocative soundtrack delivered by those twin megaphone pipes. I like having a clock and air temperature gauge, too.

Not so good, a gear lever that needs assertive action, the odo's habit of switching to the trip reading at random, and the fact there's already visible oxidation of some metal fittings - apparently a polish, then surface protectant will clear it up and keep repeat oxidising at bay.

Still, those are minor quirks - and quirks are vital to any classic's character.

MOTO GUZZI V7

We like
Classic style, plenty of character, tractable engine and handling suits year-round any-roads riding or relaxed cafe runs

We don't like
Seat's a bit firm, you need to polish and protect some metal bits when you buy, odo-trip quirk may annoy

Powertrain
744cc across-the-frame V-twin four-stroke pushrod motor, five-speed transmission, shaft drive

Performance
35.5kW at 6800rpm, 54.7Nm at 3600rpm

Price
$14,990

Vital stats
2185mm long, 805mm seat height, 198kg wet weight, 17-litre fuel tank