Bob the Guzzi image-builder
This Bobber is not really a bobber. But it’s still really cool, writes Paul Owen.
Have you noticed that there are more new Moto Guzzis plying our roads lately? Motorcycle registration statistics bear this anecdotal evidence out, and the Eagle brand has begun to take off in this country. Even the normallygrumpy distributor of Moto Guzzi had a grin on his face when I picked up this V9 Bobber test bike.
‘‘People are finally starting to get Guzzi,’’ he explained as the reason for his out-of-character facial expression.
There are two factors in this revival of interest in the world’s third oldest bike maker (when restricting the ranking to those that have been in continuous production).
The first is that several highprofile New Zealand dealerships have brought Moto Guzzi in from the cold, opening up betterpresented points of sale for the brand to appeal to a greater number of punters.
The second is that the products of the historic factory by the shores of Lake Como in the Italian Alps have become progressively cooler with each new release, and the model that’s leading the charge towards the acceptance of Guzzi by a younger demographic of buyers is this Bobber.
When it comes to the two-model V9 range, the V9 Roamer and V9 Bobber definitely appeal to different age groups.
Over 50? You’ll be wanting the more traditional-looking and shinier Roamer then. Still got a full quota of hormones? Step this way towards the Bobber, with its matt finishing, ridiculously oversized front tyre, and quasi-custombike appeal.
Either way, you’ll pay $16,990 for a well-finished, fun-to-ride, mild-mannered 850cc V-twin with traction control, ABS brakes, and shaft-drive.
Now I might be Roamer-fodder in terms of age, but I can’t deny that the Bobber is the betterlooking V9. I know this because I began to look more at my passing reflection in shop windows as I rode the Bobber past them, and I don’t remember the Roamer encouraging such mobile narcissism.
I even began to contemplate riding the bike with the requisite open-face helmet to complete the Hipster riding dress code, but then I remembered that my face is beardless and as craggy as a North Canterbury valley post-earthquake. Full-face head protection would continue to hide the fact that I wasn’t young anymore, and about as hip and cool as the mandolin player in The Irish Rovers.
So, apologies to anyone who thought that the V9 was being ridden by the guy in the Z-energy rabbit-return ad as I passed them; but the Bobber is a bit of a pretender as well.
Moto Guzzi has been guilty of naming a model after an entire genre of custom motorcycle before, and leaving it to the bike’s owners to explain that they didn’t actually create it, they simply bought it.
First, we had the V7 Cafe Racer, now we have the V9 Bobber. And the buyers of both have to fess up that they’re cheats; that they didn’t spend hours in the garage adding the personal fabrications and modifications that are the essential elements of motorcycle customisation. Michelangelo didn’t simply pop down to Bunnings and order some fancy wallpaper for the Sistine chapel, and a Bobber bought off the floor at a Moto Guzzi dealership isn’t really a bobber at all.
The Roamer is therefore the more authentic V9 Guzzi, both in terms of its honesty and its handling. Chucking that humungous 130/90 front tyre and 16in alloy wheel at the Bobber might have improved the looks of the bike, but the low-speed handling now resembles that of a Suzuki Van Van RV125 or a Yamaha TW200.
There’s an awful lot of inertia to be overcome as you try to get the V9 Bobber heeled over in a low-gear corner. It gets better in faster corners, and the equally high-profile 150/80-16 rear tyre does allow the Bobber to have more cornering clearance than the Roamer, but the latter V9 is still so much more chuck-able that there’s no comparison.
Maybe if Guzzi had allowed V9 buyers to build their own bobber out of a Roamer, the front tyre choice wouldn’t have become such an overstatement.
A 120/70 on a 17in alloy wheel would have allowed the bike to steer with more enthusiasm and less sidewall flex while still staying faithful to bobber design values.
Maybe I’m getting a little too purist here, and should embrace the factory custom as something more valid, especially when that factory has been fighting for its survival for the past four decades and it finally appears to have a hit product on its hands. And younger riders do appear to get the V9 Bobber. They don’t overthink it and seem to instantly embrace it as cool.
Which it is for most of what it is. There’s that throwback aircooled V-twin engine that laughs at the new Euro 4 emission rules while being unencumbered by a radiator. It’ll chug its way around the planet, using fuel by the sparingly-measured thimbleful, while delivering its modest power and torque outputs in a way that will continue to amuse.
The new Guzzi switchgear adds a high-tech air to the bike, and the huge ‘‘hazard’’ light switch on the right handlebar will be of value during every clogged motorway commute.
The single-disc front brake outperforms its modest specifications on paper, and the bike is mostly all-metal at a price that’ll make a Harley Sportster of similar performance blush.
While I still don’t get the V9 Bobber in either its model christening or why it has to have such a silly front tyre, I do get the reasons that it is building a new image for the brand and introducing a new generation of riders to the uniqueness of Moto Guzzi.