Do we have any owners on here?

What are peoples views of this bike.

I like the look of it in black and it as at the upper end of the price range I am looking at. The one thing the suprises me is the fact it only has an 18 litre tank.

There was a road test of this, the 1200GS, 800GS and 990 ADV in 'Bike' Magazine in UK. One thing that struck me about the bike was its weight... i think it works out at about 25kg heavier than the GS,nearly 40kg heavier than the KTM and 50kg heavier than the 800GS. It didnt get to bad a write up as i remember, as much as you can beleive magazine road tests!, but i seem to remember it was considered the least capable of all four, especially when you consider it is in the same price bracket as the KTM & BMW.

Personally, i would also worry about reliability issues... and that is from someone with an '02 KTM640 Adv!!!

Anyway, for what its worth... but be interesting to hear form real owners as i am looking to change steed at the moment too.

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Will

Some day so soon....

Guzzi Stelvio weighs 214 kg
BMW 1200 GS - 203 kg
BMW 1200 GS ADV 223 kg
Suzuki 1000 VStrom - 207 kg

All are claimed dry weights by manufacturers .
Not much in it really !
I read the MCN "road test" , which slated the Stelvio .
MCN testers are brain dead IMHO .

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Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

I am a Guzzi-head and owns a couple of Guzzis, including the Quota which is sort of the Stelvio's predecessor. I was looking forward to a real BMW GS contender, and more importantly, a bike to supplement (never replace...) my Quota. I was therefore quite surprised not to say very disappointed when Guzzi turned out this steed. Sure, it's a nice roadgoing bike, but its bias is solely on road. With a 180 rear tyre, too short spring travel, 19" front wheel (forgiveable, but the Quota has 21"), to small tank, lack of proper protection of bellypan, panniers made from plastic (even though rumors has it that Guzzi is turning out some alu panniers for the Stelvio) and too much... road, if you see what I mean, I will not be buying the Stelvio. Reliability issues is not something I'd worry about - the Guzzis are ok in that departement. If Guzzi on the other hand turn out a proper Stelvio Adventure, being all I want from it, I'll even sell my car to afford it. I also wish they'd make an offroad adventurer in the mid-sized twin class with the beautiful, grunty 750 engine they use on the Breva and V7 Classic. The Guzzi engines are perfect for adventure bikes - why don't they make some proper ones??

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HansP
All you wanted to know
about riding in Norway

Just to clarify the weights i mentioned earlier, they were actual measured by the magazine 'wet' weights with all bikes oiled, fueled and ready to go... Stelvio was 268.9kg, 1200gs(not Adv) was 244.1kg, KTM990 was 230.5kg & 800GS was 218.5kg.

All manufacturers vary sometimes quite significantly how they measure the weight of their own bikes to come up with a theoretical 'dry' weight of the bike.

Basically, you cant trust any of them! but whichever way you look at it, the Stelvio is a heavy bike.

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Will

Some day so soon....

I own a California Vintage, do not buy a Moto Guzzi. The little niggles (indicator fell off, oil light comes on in the rain, indicators stop working for a day every now and then) coupled with poor dealer/manufacturer supply of parts have outweighed the good points of the bike. People keep telling me that the build quality is so much better on new bikes like mine, what was it like before?

Had a good test ride on MG Stelvio.

Main motivation was it's the closest to the BMW GS series: shaft drive, oil-cooled horizontally mounted engine, all shafts rotating parallel, with dry clutch and separated gearbox casing, a symbiosis which IMHO is one of the best solution in terms of longetivity and simplicity, ease of maintenance and yet has character.

So on paper it is a good candidate to replace the GS if ever it was required.

Pros:

Sweet motor, near-perfect EFI maping from low to high revs, loads of power from the new 8-valve Guzzi engine especially redlining it really fires up, front got up even in 2rd gear hitting redline w/o any clutch help. Strong breaks (maybe just a bit too strong, blocked the rear often (non ABS)). Surprisingly precise gearbox and elliminated shaft-drive "lift effect" and much more stable ride with the new CARC system. Actually I quite liked the "oddball" design, better in real life than on the pictures. Despite it's weight, apparently the centre of gravity sits relatively low - once you get it moving the bike gets very nimble, especially with the 19" front wheel having less rotational inertia (compared to the 21") makes the big bike ride like a dream in the curves considering it can do some dirt roads too.


Cons:

Suspension too dampened, clearly more street oriented bike. Ergonomics a bit too typical italian: I'm 182cm tall and the handlebars were too close to me (for shorter hands?) making my riding position a bit unconfident. A bit too much vibrations on handlebars, especially on low revs. The throttle was too "snatchy", too easily uncontrollable with vibrations, potholes or corrugations on the road, making the bike very nervous handling on slow speeds (and this can probably be adjusted out). Some dash board numbers are unreadable while riding because of strange dashboard design-layout. Expected more low grunt from a 1200cc twin (i.e. R1200GS is considerably more "grunty" on low notes compared to it), and also noticable vibrations at low revs (hitthing throttle hard below 3.5Krpm) 8V MG twin needs 3.5+Krpms to feel "comfortible" both torque- and vibrations wise (i.e. I also test-rided MotoGuzzi Norge, while not as torquey as the R1200GS, the "older" MotoGuzzi 4V engine had decent grunt on low revs and yet less vibrations compared to 8V). When inspected visually closer the finish wasn't perfect - welds on the frame bits, paint and plastics were questionable at some spots.

Is Stelvio a R1200GS beater that I've rided many times now? Definately not. But all in all a good move from MotoGuzzi - IMHO it can be made a serious travel bike for an enthusiastic traveller who looks for an alternative for the popular R1200GS. Like most of European bikes - Stelvio is a very "involving" ride, very unlike Japanese bike that seek for the "universal average" for its rider and thus can leave you neutral or bored - with MG it's more rather polarized "you'll love it or hate it" case. (I loved it.)

A suspension upgrade with aftermarket stuff, decent engine protection, knobby tyres, decent panniers and some ergonomics adjustments draws a picture of Stelvio as a very worthy travel bike in my mind!

If interested - certainly go to your nearest Guzzi dealer to have a longish testride on one.