Hi, this is Martin Luther and welcome to insurance.ddmalar.live/. We're here in sunny Noale in northern Italy, just a little bit west of Venice, and we're here for the launch of this. The all well, not all new, but significantly new 2025 Moto Guzzi V7 Sport.
Now, to the uninitiated, the V7 is a very important bike for Guzzi. It’s a heritage machine, it’s the core of their retro roadster range now, which is their biggest seller, and it’s a bit like the Bonneville is to Triumph. It’s an iconic bike that explains their whole history and is the model of their retro range now.
History of Moto Guzzi V7
The V7, for those who are uninitiated, was the first, back in 1967, Moto Guzzi with the signature transverse V-twin engine with a shaft drive. That got evolved into the 1971 V7 Sport, which was their first really sporting machine with more power, better cycle parts, and that bike became the basis for the Le Mans, which we all know from the 1970s.
Now, they’ve had a V7 Sport before as a retro. They reintroduced it, the V7 Classic, way back in 2008, and the following year they did a V7 Sport version with clip-on bars, rear sets, this lovely green classic V7 Sport color, and it was a great bike. But it was a slightly uncomfortable one and it didn’t last for long.
What’s New for 2025
Now they’ve brought it back for 2025 on the basis of Euro 5+ coming out, so they’ve really addressed their whole V7 range for this year, and what they’ve done is they’ve upgraded the engine.
It’s still the 853 twin from the, originally from the V9 Bobber. It’s essentially the same 853 cc V-twin, which they introduced in 2021, which derived from the V9 Bobber. That format, it was 65 brake horsepower, whatever, but for Euro 5+, they’ve updated the valve train.
There’s a bigger, 20% bigger, I think, air box. There are new exhausts with, crucially, an extra third lambda sensor in the exhaust to get it through Euro 5+, and the result is not just cleaner and better.
It sounds better and it’s more powerful, only by about 3%, taking it up to 68 brake horsepower, but crucially, lots of extra torque in the mid-range from about 3000 rpm up. It’s got gobs of torque.
New Features and Upgrades
Otherwise, they’ve introduced fly-by-wire, which allows them to have more modes. On the basic V7s, the Stone and the Special, there’s just two modes, road and rain.
But on this one, you get an extra one, sport, which peps up the responsiveness a little bit, gives it a little bit more zip and drive and all that sort of stuff, and it also allows this new instrument binnacle which is LCD digital affair, which also in the sport guise has a fuel gauge on it.
And it also crucially, as I forgot to mention until now, the sport version has got these all new forks, all new brakes. The forks are the first USDs on a V7. They’re 44 millimeter, preload adjustable.
The brakes are even better. There’s now an extra disc where the other V7s just have one. It’s a 320 millimeter Brembo item with, not just one, but two full on Brembo radial monobloc four piston calipers, so that significantly upgrades the braking power.
And elsewhere the changes include things like new side panels. These lovely side panels are a new design and fit the bike really well. The tank is the same, 22 liter, echoes the original design.
The LED lights all around, a new specific seat with this red stitching, which is specific to the Sport, LEDs at the back, shorter mudguard front and rear. The whole look has been refreshed as subtly as because it’s a retro bike, but it’s been refreshed and improved.
READ ALSO:- Moto News Roundup: New Bike Updates United States 2025
Riding Experience
Crucially, how does it ride? Well, on board it’s familiar at first. The tank hasn’t changed. The riding position, I mean, changes slightly more upright than bikes like, I don’t know, the Bonneville Sport, the Speed Twin 900 Bonneville, which is a little bit more sporty.
It’s quite slim, it’s very solid and hefty feeling. There’s no plastic really on this bike. It feels like it’s almost hewn from solid cast iron. But it’s very planted as a result.
The engine is a peach. It’s grunty, might be a bit clunky, but we sort of like that in retro. But it’s really grunty, it’s got real great character, it’s got that typical Guzzi shimmy when you start it up.
And it revs through to 7000 rpm if you want, but you don’t really need to. It’s all about 3000, 4000, 5000 rpm where you just clunk it and rumble it through the gears.
Handling and Suspension
Handling wise, the front end is a significant improvement, particularly on the brakes which are much more powerful than before. There’s lots of power, there’s lots of feel from the lever. It’s got this nice span adjustable lever as well.
It feels planted, as I say. The steering’s a little bit lazy, a bit kicked out, but it steers ably enough. The weight’s pretty low, it rolls around corners happily, and the ride you get from the new suspension with the, I say, shocks unchanged with forks and these USD items with preload adjustable doobies on top.
It just feels a little bit more refined, a little bit more classy, a little bit more polished, a little bit more solid, a little bit more sporty. So it’s job done in all those respects.
Personal Opinion
Do I like it? How did the ride go? Love it to bits, to be honest. I always liked the V7 anyway. I didn’t like the uncomfortable old Sport, even though it was a great looking bike. I love the look of this, I love the feel of this, I love the engine on this.
I like the improved brakes, although if anything, probably too powerful. I like the improved forks and matching new yokes and nice little V7 Sport handlebar clamp at the top here. I like virtually everything about it. I like the seat, I like the ride.
But I’m not a huge fan of the clock, to be honest. The LCD digital design was basically an evolution of the one that debuted on the basic V7 Stone a few years ago, and it does all the things, it’s got fuel gauge on it, it’s got all the info you need, but it sort of jars a little bit in this retro heritage context.
And I also don’t particularly like, and that’s me, the all blacked out look. The Special, the mid bike in the range, which has all the same Euro 5 updates as the other ones, but not the sports forks, not sports brakes and so on.
There’s chrome silencers, chrome here and there, it’s more heritage looking. I’d like those off that, and I’d like And I’m also not a huge fan of the wheels. Even though they’re lighter at 1.8 kilograms than the other cast ones, I’d prefer some chrome wires that just fit the bike better.
I’m sure they could do it, but as I said, they are a nice design. The spoke design echoes, if you, for those nerds amongst you, the wing part of the Moto Guzzi logo.
So there are lots of nice touches and it has not only raised the dynamics, it’s raised its premium feel and overall sense of satisfaction you get with it. It’s gonna cost 9700 quid, it’s the most expensive one in the new V7 range.
That’s fine, it’s got good stuff on it. It’s only a little bit heavier despite the extra brakes and forks. It’s only two kilograms heavier because the wheels are apparently 1.8 kilograms lighter than before.
And for me, I love most of all the authenticity of it, the heritage of it, the genuineness of it. It’s very close competitor to Triumph’s Speed Twin 900. It’s actually got more power than that, it’s got more grunt than that, and for me, it’s more authentic than that.
The Triumph’s a great bike, but for me there’s a few question marks about where it comes from and where it’s built. This is built in Mandello. This is a classic design going back to the ’70s and ’60s before that. It’s got the right colors, the right look, and for me, I’d seriously consider it over a Triumph Speed Twin.
READ ALSO:- New Suzuki GSX-8T Retros Announced | Did you know These 6 Things