Charlie’s Impressions

Only a week to go until a girls’ trip around Ireland, my Moto Guzzi V50 has a complete ignition failure. With not enough time to diagnose and get replacement parts, the R80G/ ST was suggested as a viable replacement.

To me, the bike just looked big, heavy and tall. I didn’t think there was any way I could use it as a tourer, especially once my luggage and camping gear had been added. With Owen’s modifications, I couldn’t even touch the ground, so we borrowed an original ST seat and shock. This brought the bike back to a height where I could securely touch the ground with both feet, and this convinced me to at least take it for a test spin.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to ride; nowhere near as heavy as it looked, and with big wide bars it was easy to manoeuvre at low speed; 30 minutes of riding and I was sold!

At 2am, as I was leaving for the ferry, the bike looked particularly huge with all my bags on the back and I was horrified to find I couldn’t lift the bike off the side stand... only to realise I still had my foot on it. I blame the right-hand side stand, which is really weird to use.

Aside from a few nervous moments at the start on the slippery ferry floor, I never really struggled with the bike for the whole 700-mile tour and felt confident even when navigating a hilly campsite. While it’s not particularly heavy, its dimensions felt quite big while riding, which in turn made it feel stable and comfortable. I did 12-hour days in the saddle and rarely got aches or a numb bum. Its gentle nature and lazy power meant it was easy to live with on a long day’s riding. When it comes to corners, I’d usually prefer a café racer or sportsbike, but the BMW was actually just as fun to carve round west Ireland’s tight and twisty mountain roads.

By the time I got back I was a bit in love and sad to give it back to Owen – especially as he spends his time thrashing the poor thing through mud and dropping it on trails. It’s far too nice for that. He should get himself a proper enduro bike and give Big Bertha to me.