I just inherited my father’s pride and joy, a self-restored, full refurb (was sat for 30 years) ‘79 V50 Mk2 with 15000 on the clock. I’ve been away from biking for 10 years, but when he got too ill to ride it and asked me if I wanted it, he seemed chuffed when I went for it (and I’m now chuffed to be riding it!) He was still riding it aged 80 – good man!
I took it for its first run out yesterday in the sunshine, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Lovely character, sound and handling – and great to be back on a bike! However, I’m new to both Italian and ‘historic’ bikes, having had all Jap previously. I’m no top-end, arse in the air speed freak (never owned a sports bike). My last (and favourite) bike was a Honda Transalp, a soft tuned sit up and beg 600 V twin with a relaxed ‘roll on, roll off’ power delivery. The power was ample for me and I loved the V twin power delivery; I like that the Guzzi feels similar(ish) – no offence!
As I said, I’m not a ‘fast as you can’ bloke; however I do like hustling through twisties, leaving the brakes alone, picking the right gear and rolling up and down the revs through the bends. This is when I ride/rev a bike the hardest. My concern is this: I found the Transalp suited my riding style well. It was great for ‘pick a good gear and roll on/off’ small road twisty riding, and was fine to be revved pretty hard (for me) up and down the range in and out of corners. But then the Transalp/Revere engine is known for being pretty much indestructible… I couldn’t resist trying similar on the Guzzi yesterday on a few of the twisties we have around here, and the bike felt great! Nimble, flickable and nicely enough power to have fun with, if the revs are kept up… So here’s my query: Can a 40 year old V50 (albeit with only 15000 miles up) cope OK with being ridden quite (fun!) hard between 4 and 5000 revs for short periods? I didn’t fancy taking the revs higher, and it had got ‘fun’ enough for me round the bends at those revs anyway. I found that 60-ish mph (also around 5000 rpm in top, I noticed) was pleasantly brisk enough for commuting between the twisties too, so it’s likely I’ll not take her much faster, or the revs higher, than 5000.
What’s your thoughts please? Will she suffer at my hands, or am I being overly cautious? Obviously I’m hoping the consensus will be for me to stop being a light-weight, that the bike will be fine. But I’d prefer not to do damage through ignorance…
One other question. I noticed that when in neutral, tick over is fine. Pull the clutch in and the revs drop to the point of stalling. Caught me out a couple of times at junctions yesterday (in gear, clutch in), until I cottoned on what was happening and kept a few extra revs on the throttle to compensate.
Thanks, Martin
I took it for its first run out yesterday in the sunshine, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Lovely character, sound and handling – and great to be back on a bike! However, I’m new to both Italian and ‘historic’ bikes, having had all Jap previously. I’m no top-end, arse in the air speed freak (never owned a sports bike). My last (and favourite) bike was a Honda Transalp, a soft tuned sit up and beg 600 V twin with a relaxed ‘roll on, roll off’ power delivery. The power was ample for me and I loved the V twin power delivery; I like that the Guzzi feels similar(ish) – no offence!
As I said, I’m not a ‘fast as you can’ bloke; however I do like hustling through twisties, leaving the brakes alone, picking the right gear and rolling up and down the revs through the bends. This is when I ride/rev a bike the hardest. My concern is this: I found the Transalp suited my riding style well. It was great for ‘pick a good gear and roll on/off’ small road twisty riding, and was fine to be revved pretty hard (for me) up and down the range in and out of corners. But then the Transalp/Revere engine is known for being pretty much indestructible… I couldn’t resist trying similar on the Guzzi yesterday on a few of the twisties we have around here, and the bike felt great! Nimble, flickable and nicely enough power to have fun with, if the revs are kept up… So here’s my query: Can a 40 year old V50 (albeit with only 15000 miles up) cope OK with being ridden quite (fun!) hard between 4 and 5000 revs for short periods? I didn’t fancy taking the revs higher, and it had got ‘fun’ enough for me round the bends at those revs anyway. I found that 60-ish mph (also around 5000 rpm in top, I noticed) was pleasantly brisk enough for commuting between the twisties too, so it’s likely I’ll not take her much faster, or the revs higher, than 5000.
What’s your thoughts please? Will she suffer at my hands, or am I being overly cautious? Obviously I’m hoping the consensus will be for me to stop being a light-weight, that the bike will be fine. But I’d prefer not to do damage through ignorance…
One other question. I noticed that when in neutral, tick over is fine. Pull the clutch in and the revs drop to the point of stalling. Caught me out a couple of times at junctions yesterday (in gear, clutch in), until I cottoned on what was happening and kept a few extra revs on the throttle to compensate.
Thanks, Martin