First bike; used 2017 V9 or new 2019 V7iii

[tycoonbob]

Hi everyone, I'm new around here!

I grew up riding dirt bikes, quads, mini bikes...anything with wheels and engines. Lots of single track trail riding, as well as track. Never really owned/ridden a street legal bike until I bought a 2020 Honda Monkey 125 early this year, and I've fallen in love with street riding. The Monkey I don't consider a real bike, so I'm not looking for my first real street bike. I've spent way too much time researching bikes going from Triumphs (Speed Twin, Scrambler 1200, Tiger 900), to Hondas and Yamahas (CB500X, XSR700), to Guzzi's...and I've pretty well settled that a Guzzi will be my first bike. I want to get a V85TT, but I think I'm going to hold off on that until I'm more comfortable street riding, so I want to stay on the cheaper side.

About an hour from me, someone has a 2017 V9 Bobber for sell with 450 miles on it. Bike looks brand new, never dropped or damage...honestly not sure why they're selling it. I can probably get it for $5-5.5k, and I'm sure I'd be happy with it. Alternatively, my nearest Guzzi dealer has a few V7's to choose from, such as a 2019 Special for ~$6.5k, and a couple 2019 Stone's for $6k, which are the two I would probably consider. They also have a 2018 Rough for $7k, but I honestly don't know the difference between these V7 trims (can't for the life of me find a simple way to understand the differences). I'm not a huge chrome fan, nor am I the biggest fan of tubed/spoked wheels.

I assume if I went for the new V7's, I'd probably add an extra $1k on top of those prices for TTL/PDI. In short, $7-8k for a new 2018/2019 V7, or $5-5.5k for a used (450mi on the odo) 2017 V9 Bobber. The extra power of the V9 is obviously appealing, but I'm wondering if there are other things to consider. I figure for the V7's I'm gonna end up doing something with the suspension, and I've read that it's popular to do the evap delete and ecu tune. Is the same true for the V9? Are they tunable for a little extra umph out of them?

What would you do? Also, is there a clear and concise chart that shows the differences between the V7iii trims?

EDIT: For what it's worth, I'm 6'2" and 280lb, and will be riding 70% country/twisty roads, 20% city, 10% highway. Nothing off-road, other than the occasional gravel driveway.

 

[DeadEye]

Hi Tycoonbob

I went from a couple of dirt bikes, IT125, XR200 to a XR650, and I was looking for something more streetable and went for a used 2017 V7 Stone, the weight of the bikes steered me away from the BMW and Triumph.
The V7 isn’t light but it was lighter.

You might do better on the V9, if you like the Bobber style and you can’t beat that price for a nearly New bike.

 

[john zibell]

I'd have to say test ride them. For your size I don't know how well you would fit on either. You might be better off with an older EV (California) style bike. The EV looks like a cruiser, but handles very well because of the Tonti frame and large diameter forks. Also there are some excellent prices on used 1100 Breva and 1200 Norge machines. You can check this site classifieds. http://www.mgnoc.com/

 

[Vagrant]

I tend to be brutally honest so don't take offense. I also weigh in at 240 (but I'm a short shit) so I have a pretty good idea about what you need and I own a V7III special and a V85.
the V7-9 are going to be on the small and underpowered side for you. If one feels right and looks right then that's the one. 4 weeks ago you could have gotten a brand new V9 for $5500 so used 5K at best. The V85 is a fantastic bike and will handle your weight well from both a suspension and a power standpoint. All V7-9 will need shocks and fork springs for your size so add $600+ to the asking price. I'd rather find a used or year-end closeout on the V85 even if you need to take a loan for $100 a month for a couple of years. JMHO!

 

[tycoonbob]

I tend to be brutally honest so don't take offense. I also weigh in at 240 (but I'm a short shit) so I have a pretty good idea about what you need and I own a V7III special and a V85.
the V7-9 are going to be on the small and underpowered side for you. If one feels right and looks right then that's the one. 4 weeks ago you could have gotten a brand new V9 for $5500 so used 5K at best. The V85 is a fantastic bike and will handle your weight well from both a suspension and a power standpoint. All V7-9 will need shocks and fork springs for your size so add $600+ to the asking price. I'd rather find a used or year-end closeout on the V85 even if you need to take a loan for $100 a month for a couple of years. JMHO!

Definitely appreciate the feedback. With the prices I listed above on new V7 holdovers, those are the prices they have listed. I suspect I could get them down a bit, but with TTL/PDI/etc, it would eat in to those savings. From reading, I was fully expecting to buy at least rear shocks if I got a V7, but wasn't sure if the same was true for the V9. For what it's worth, I added spring spacers to my Monkey's rears, and they're fine now. The front is a little soft, but a $300 cartridge kit will fix that. I have more expectation from a "real" bike, though.

I've not sat on or drive any MG at this point. Either tomorrow or Tuesday I'm going to go look at that V9 and try it out, which will give me a decent frame of reference (I hope).

I really want to buy something in the next week or two so I can enjoy it this year, so waiting for a closeout on a V85 in Nov-Feb time range probably isn't realistic. I'm not sure what kind of rebates/wiggle room dealers have on the V85's, but I imagine it isn't much. I know the dealer nearest to me has had the same 4 V85's for at least a couple of months now.

To be clear, I'm not looking for the most powerful bike or something to get out and hot rod on. I'm not a super experience rider, but buying something like a Honda CB300 is not going to cut it. I will outgrow that in a couple of weeks, and my build it just too much for one of those. If I were to skip MG, I'd probably be looking at a Yamaha XSR700 or a Honda CB500X...maybe a Street Twin, used Thruxton, or even a Husky Svartpilen. I did consider the C7 Racer as well, mainly because the Ohlins shocks from the factory.

 

[Andrew Joy]

I had a 2017 V9 bobber for two months and ended up trading it in for a 2018 V7iii Milano. The V9 is great for around town, but any time I brought it on the highway or got it above 65, it didn't feel "locked in". I noticed I was subconciously white knuckling it often. Not to mention any bump in the highway would go right up through my spine and send me off the seat, resulting in some certain words being yelled. I couldn't keep up with anyone above a 70 mph pace. The V7iii can handle any speed with just a pinky to guide the bars, almost any bumps with no problem, and the wind basically doesn't exist to it. In my opinion, the 100 cc difference isn't noticeable, and after some amazing upgrades from GuzziTech (exhaust, sas removal, evap removal, ECU flash), the V7 is beyond amazing. I'm sure some upgraded suspension on the V9 would work wonders, but I never got that far with it. The V9 definitely turned more heads though. Both are super easy bikes to ride. If you could test ride both on the highways, bringing them up to 70-80, that'd be best in my opinion.

Edit: I'm 5'8" 160 pounds. If you're 6'2" the V7 might feel cramped, but it's great for someone my size

 

[MotoG5]

I had a 2017 V9 bobber for two months and ended up trading it in for a 2018 V7iii Milano. The V9 is great for around town, but any time I brought it on the highway or got it above 65, it didn't feel "locked in". I noticed I was subconciously white knuckling it often. Not to mention any bump in the highway would go right up through my spine and send me off the seat, resulting in some certain words being yelled. I couldn't keep up with anyone above a 70 mph pace. The V7iii can handle any speed with just a pinky to guide the bars, almost any bumps with no problem, and the wind basically doesn't exist to it. In my opinion, the 100 cc difference isn't noticeable, and after some amazing upgrades from GuzziTech (exhaust, sas removal, evap removal, ECU flash), the V7 is beyond amazing. I'm sure some upgraded suspension on the V9 would work wonders, but I never got that far with it. The V9 definitely turned more heads though. Both are super easy bikes to ride. If you could test ride both on the highways, bringing them up to 70-80, that'd be best in my opinion.

Edit: I'm 5'8" 160 pounds. If you're 6'2" the V7 might feel cramped, but it's great for someone my size

Interesting. I have had my V9 Bobber for about a year now and have almost 3k miles on it. It has the same mods as your V7, GTM SS Megs, SAS kit, evap removal and Todds reflash using the tool. After getting some break in miles on it I started pushing it up into the rev range. I ride with a group made up of several brands of bikes on both highway and twisty paved back roads. I have never had any problems keeping up. Unless we are running above 70 mph I dont go into sixth gear. Passing on two lane roads is not an issue and I don't ever need to down shift to do so. The bike is comfortable at sustained 75-80 mph runs on the highway. Out here in the great plains this is a common thing. At the 3k mark the bike is just starting to loosen up. Pretty much like all of the Guzzis I have owned you have to put some miles on before they start to break in. My last bike was a Stelvio NTX that I rode for seven years. The Bobber is no match for it by any means but it was not a huge step down either in my opinion. As for the suspension I totally agree with you on this. My next move already on order are upgrades for this. I like the bike more than enough to go ahead and finish it off.
I am 6' and 210 lbs. and feel just fine on the bike. I did also replace the seat with a solo saddle and added a windshield.
AS for the OP's questions I think that Vagrant makes a good point about his size and weight making the largest bike he would be willing to go with a good idea.

 

[aproud1]

Hi everyone, I'm new around here!

I grew up riding dirt bikes, quads, mini bikes...anything with wheels and engines. Lots of single track trail riding, as well as track. Never really owned/ridden a street legal bike until I bought a 2020 Honda Monkey 125 early this year, and I've fallen in love with street riding. The Monkey I don't consider a real bike, so I'm not looking for my first real street bike. I've spent way too much time researching bikes going from Triumphs (Speed Twin, Scrambler 1200, Tiger 900), to Hondas and Yamahas (CB500X, XSR700), to Guzzi's...and I've pretty well settled that a Guzzi will be my first bike. I want to get a V85TT, but I think I'm going to hold off on that until I'm more comfortable street riding, so I want to stay on the cheaper side.

About an hour from me, someone has a 2017 V9 Bobber for sell with 450 miles on it. Bike looks brand new, never dropped or damage...honestly not sure why they're selling it. I can probably get it for $5-5.5k, and I'm sure I'd be happy with it. Alternatively, my nearest Guzzi dealer has a few V7's to choose from, such as a 2019 Special for ~$6.5k, and a couple 2019 Stone's for $6k, which are the two I would probably consider. They also have a 2018 Rough for $7k, but I honestly don't know the difference between these V7 trims (can't for the life of me find a simple way to understand the differences). I'm not a huge chrome fan, nor am I the biggest fan of tubed/spoked wheels.

I assume if I went for the new V7's, I'd probably add an extra $1k on top of those prices for TTL/PDI. In short, $7-8k for a new 2018/2019 V7, or $5-5.5k for a used (450mi on the odo) 2017 V9 Bobber. The extra power of the V9 is obviously appealing, but I'm wondering if there are other things to consider. I figure for the V7's I'm gonna end up doing something with the suspension, and I've read that it's popular to do the evap delete and ecu tune. Is the same true for the V9? Are they tunable for a little extra umph out of them?

What would you do? Also, is there a clear and concise chart that shows the differences between the V7iii trims?

EDIT: For what it's worth, I'm 6'2" and 280lb, and will be riding 70% country/twisty roads, 20% city, 10% highway. Nothing off-road, other than the occasional gravel driveway.

We are similar in size. I test rode a V9 and a V7iii. Assumed I would go for the V9 before I rode them but bought a 7.

Stock the V9 was a better fit. I just preferred the handling, feel and looks of the V7. I think on either you will need a suspension upgrade and you would also benefit from a peg drop. I am now much more comfortable on my V7. Also added 20mm to the rear shock and dropped the front forks 10 mm.

I've upgraded a lot and if I started over again the suspension would be my first upgrade.

Pretty sure I'd be just as happy with the V9 (with modifications). Definitely feels more powerful.