adventure of all The biggest - mcn-images.bauersecure.com · MOTO GUZZI STELVIO £8704 Guzzi’s first adventure tourer, which they hope is the Italian answer to the R1200GS. The

ROAD TESTTHE BIKES

MOTO GUZZI STELVIO £8704Guzzi’s first adventure tourer, which they hope is the Italian answer to the R1200GS. The new 108bhp, 8v engine is from the 1200 Sport and the Stelvio uses shaft drive, sporty 50mm forks and radial Brembos. It’s the only bike here without an ABS option.

BMW R1200GS £9195 (£10,945, as tested). New for 2008, the dominant R1200GS gets subtle tweaks to make it even better. An improved gearbox, 5% more power and optional traction control make the BMW hard to beat. Our bike came with the Dynamic and Premium options (including ABS, ASC ‘Anti Slip Control’ and ESA ‘Electronic Suspension Adjustment’).

THANKSThanks to Pidcocks Triumph 0115-946-2220 for the loan of the Triumph Tiger.

KTM 990 ADVENTURE £8945Amazingly, the Adventure has been with us since 2003, but the fuel-injected 990 version came out towards the end of 2006. KTM’s off-road heritage really shows through on the Adventure as it’s as good on the dirt as it is on tarmac. ABS comes as standard.

TRIUMPH TIGER £7699 (£8299 – ABS VERSION)This is the latest version of Hinckley’s long-running Tiger (which has been around since 1992) and has the wailing, tried and tested 1050cc triple motor out of the Speed Triple and Sprint ST. Our bike comes with optional ABS brake system fitted.

44 ❘ MOTOR CYCLE NEWS APRIL 9, 2008 APRIL 9, 2008 MOTOR CYCLE NEWS ❘ 45

The biggest adventure of allWhere better to rate the new Moto Guzzi Stelvio against its adventure bike rivals than on a ride to Italy’s Stelvio Pass?

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IAN

JU

BB

Continues over

michael.neeves @bauerconsumer.co.uk

SPRING starts early in Italy. Winding our way back to the Moto Guzzi factory,

after a weekend in the Italian Alps, the temperature is already up to 18ºC and it’s only 11am. In the blazing sunshine the first flies of the season are ending their lives on my visor and I take a sec-ond to contemplate that life is good. Very good.

It’s the final leg of our jour-ney and we’re riding the gloriously twisty dual car-riageway which follows the east side of Lake Como. Each time we pop out from one of the many tunnels, which let our convoy of adventure bikes drill through the mountains lining the lake, the magnificence of the view never fades, it just gets stronger. Squinting back into the sun after the odd kilometre of black visor-enhanced darkness, the picture postcard view of the smooth blue lake takes my breath away every time.

For the past hour I’ve been riding the new Moto Guzzi Stelvio and, to be honest, I don’t want the journey to end; I could keep on riding for days, but we have to return the bike to Guzzi’s factory in Mandello del Lario on the edge of this stunning lake. This is Italy at its finest: four of the best adventure bikes you can buy in one of the best biking countries there is.

Il Passo dello Stevlio, or the Stelvio Pass near Bormio, 48 hairpins and all, is like a super-sized length of spa-ghetti draped over the Italian Alps – and it is the place that inspired the name for Moto Guzzi’s new adventure bike.

It was also the inspiration for this test. The idea was simple. Ride one of the first Guzzi Stelvios fresh from the factory to the place that gave it its name to see how it measures up to its rivals: the KTM 990 Adventure, Tri-umph Tiger and the goliath that is the BMW R1200GS.

We knew beforehand there was a chance this early in the year that the pass would be closed, still covered with snow, but we ignored this detail and went anyway. Sadly our worst fears were

realised – a big red barrier at the bottom of the Pass and a sign saying ‘chiuso’ (Italian for ‘closed’) was the confir-mation. Drat!

But in truth it didn’t make any difference. We still had three glorious days of riding in 20-degree Spring sun-shine, through stunning roads on big, mile-munch-ing adventure bikes, all of which gave enough opportu-nity to see how the Stelvio measures up.

For the first part of the journey I’d made sure I was on the KTM and then the Triumph, for the simple, childish, reason that they wheelie. You can do little ones on the Beemer and Guzzi but it’s not easy. With their lengthways-mounted engines and shaft drive they bolt from left to right, up and down when you try and get the front airborne; it’s not a manufacturing fault, it’s just the way they are. Of

the four bikes here, you can have more fun on the 990 Adventure and the Tiger when you’re in the mood, compared to the more busi-ness-like BMW and Guzzi.

But things didn’t start well for the KTM. Just a few miles down the road the tickover took on a mind of its own. Sometimes it idled properly, other times it screamed its head off at 4500rpm. When it was play-ing up we had no choice but to back brake against the engine when filtering through town, with the rear disc getting so hot it turned blue. It was a problem for the entire journey, so despite the fact the KTM is supremely comfy (more so than the old 950 Adventure, thanks to its bigger gel seat), roomy, fast and fun, it was completely let down by this intermittent fault.

None of this dampened my enthusiasm though, and as we headed north to the Alps, through industrial-sized, sinuous tunnels with the

‘I could keep on riding the Guzzi for days in the Alps’

Riding four abreast is not recommended – even in Europe

ROAD TEST

BMW R1200GS

Handling 8/10Performance 8/10Comfort 9/10Equipment 10/10Value 8/10Overall 43 out of 50

Cost: £9195 (£11,255 as tested )Power (claimed): 105bhpDry weight (claimed): 203kgTorque (claimed): 85ftlbIn showrooms: NowColours: Grey, orange,

blue, silverInsurance group: 13 TECHNICAL SPECFuel capacity: 20 litres Seat height: 850/870mm, Rake: 25.7º Trail: 101mm, Wheelbase: 1507mm Engine: Air/oil-cooled 1170cc (101 x 73mm) 8v flat-twin. Fuel injection. Six gears. Chassis: Tubular steel subframes bolted to engine. BMW Motorrad Telelever front suspension with adjustable single shock. Paralever rear suspension with single rear shock, adjustable for rebound damping and preload. ESA optional. Brakes: 2 x 305mm front discs with four-piston calipers. 265mm rear disc with twin-piston caliper. Optional ABS. Tyres: 110/80 x 19 (F), 150/70 x 17 (R).

SPECSKTM 990 ADVENTURE


Cost: £8945Power (claimed): 97bhpDry weight (claimed): 199kgTorque (claimed): 70ftlbIn showrooms: NowColours: Orange, blackInsurance group: 13 TECHNICAL SPECFuel capacity: 22 litres Seat height: 860mmRake: 26.6º Trail: 119mmWheelbase: 1570mmEngine: Liquid-cooled 999cc (101 x 62.4mm) 8v, 75º V-twin. Fuel injection. Six gears. Chassis: Tubular steel trellis frame. 48mm WP forks adjustable for preload and rebound/compression damping. Single WP rear shock, adjustable for preload and rebound/compression damping.Brakes: Brembo: 2 x 300mm front discs with twin-piston calipers. 240mm rear disc with twin-piston caliper. ABS-assisted.Tyres: 90/90 x 21 (F), 150/70 x 18 (R).

SPECSMOTO GUZZI STELVIO


Cost: £8704Power (claimed): 108bhpDry weight (claimed): 214kgTorque (claimed): 80ftlbIn showrooms: AprilColours: Red, black, white Insurance group: 13 TECHNICAL SPECFuel capacity: 18 litres Seat height: 840/865mmRake: 27º Trail: 125mmWheelbase: 1550mmEngine: Air/oil-cooled 1151cc (95 x 81.2mm) 8v, 90º V-twin. Fuel injection. Six gears. Chassis: Tubular steel trellis frame. 50mm upside-down forks adjustable for preload and rebound/compression damping. Single rear shock, adjustable for preload and rebound/compression damping.Brakes: Brembo: 2 x 320mm front discs with four-piston radial calipers. 282mm rear disc with twin-piston caliper. Tyres: 110/90 x 19 (F), 180/55 x 17 (R).

SPECS

The R1200GS has new bodywork and engine tweaks for 2008

Quirky but packed with info, computer is an optional extra

Apart from a bigger engine, KTM is unchanged since 2003

Basic but adequate KTM clocks are shared with Super Duke


from previoustemperature rising, I took to the Triumph, which is easily the best looking of the bunch with its alien-meets-supermoto snout and high back end. Belting through the tunnels it sounded the best, too, its in-line-three cylinder 1050cc engine yell-ing its lungs out with that distinctive Hinckley howl. It accelerates like stink and is the most ‘road bike’ feeling of all the machines here. It has the shortest travel sus-pension (150mm front and rear compared to the KTM’s 220mm, BMW’s 200mm and Guzzi’s 170mm), so is ultra-tight and accurate in the corners. It’s fun like a sportsbike, but comfy and practical like an adventure tourer should be.

Like the BMW and KTM, the Triumph also has ABS, and when we were riding the Swiss/Border – where the temperature dropped to zero – I was glad of its heated grips (although the switch in the fairing isn’t as neat as the integrated toggle switch in the switchgear of the BMW). The screen is a little low for a six-footer like me, but there is a taller touring screen available from the Triumph catalogue.

With the sun fast disap-pearing behind the snowy mountains it was time to turn in and look forward to the morning’s main event: when the Guzzi Stelvio took on the might of the BMW.

The Sunday morning rays stretched up over the Alps, but were temporarily blocked by the fog of cold engines warming (and the KTM yelling its lungs out), and we’re in store for anoth-er unforgettable day.

BMW’s R1200GS has had things pretty much its own way in the adventure world since its launch in 2004 and it’s easy to see why. Like that original model, this tweaked 2008 version is a class apart. Joining the early morning skiing traffic up the moun-tain, the GS is light and agile for such a physically big machine. It’s as solid as a Tonka toy and the engine purrs smoothly at low revs following the slow train of

cars up the steep inclines. Spot a gap in the traffic, whack open the throttle, and even if you’re a gear too high, the sheer torque of that big boxer engine catapults the big adventure bike past lines of cars.

A manually-adjustable screen lets you hide from the elements for cruising and, unlike any of the other machines here, there are toys aplenty to play with if you tick all the options lists. You can specify ABS, heated grips, ESA – which lets you choose ‘soft’, ‘normal’ or ‘sport’ depending on how stiff you want the suspen-sion, what kind of mood you’re in or what road you’re on. There’s ASC (Anti Slip Control) too, which we never had to call upon – this is one to turn off if you want a Boorman-style wheelie.

So, in short, the Beemer has it all: speed, solid han-dling, excellent build quality, strong brakes, and, like the KTM, long-travel suspen-sion that gives it serious off-road capability too. So where does the Stelvio fit in?

To begin with, not very well. Compared to the BMW, Triumph and KTM, the Guzzi has a hole in its mid-range bigger than the

‘The Stelvio’s mid-range gap makes you think it’s a 600’

Through the twisty Italian Alps, the big Adventure bikes didn’t encourage any high-speed antics Triumph scores on comfort and is more road-biased than rivals The Stelvio Pass was closed due to snow – we think they lied...


TRIUMPH TIGER


Cost: £7699 (£8299 ABS version)Power (claimed): 114bhpDry weight (claimed): 198kgTorque (claimed): 74ftlbIn showrooms: Now Colours: Black, orange, white,

blueInsurance group: 14

TECHNICAL SPECFuel capacity: 20 litres Seat height: 835mmRake: 23.2º Trail: 87.7mmWheelbase: 1510mmEngine: Liquid-cooled 1050cc (79 x 71.4mm) 12v, in-line-triple. Fuel injection. Six gears. Chassis: Aluminium twin-spar frame. 43mm upside-down Showa forks adjust-able for preload and rebound/compression damping. Single rear adjustable Showa shock. Brakes: Brembo: 2 x 320mm front discs with four-piston Nissin radial calipers. 255mm rear disc with twin-piston Nissin caliper. ABS (optional). Tyres: 120/70 x 17 front, 180/55 x 17 rear.

SPECS

WATCH THE VIDEOSee video footage of these adventure bikes in action in the Alps by going to motorcyclenews.com/stelviotest

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New 8-valve Guzzi is very refined and well-equipped

Retro meets modern on the Guzzi’s stylish dashboard

The Triumph is developed from a road bike – and it shows

Crisp, clean Triumph clocks are shared with the Speed Triple


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Dave Martin“The BMW is excellent. Just the fact that it’s a BMW says it all

really. You can’t really fault the Triumph either. I’m not so keen on the Guzzi as it doesn’t feel so comfortable, the engine seems like it needs some more go and it’s just lumpy. The KTM is OK but with the problem we had with the tickover it’s a little bit tricky to judge.”

Bob Stockley “I’m a bit of a sports bike person so none of these are

really my cup of tea, but I think if I was going to go for one I’d put my trust in the BMW. I’ve just got a feeling with the others that they’re too quirky, maybe with the exception of the Triumph, but I wouldn’t trust them 100%. But with the BMW you’ve just got to sit on it and feel all the controls and it feels like a quality machine.”

Bruce Dunn“If I was to put them in the order I prefer, it would be

Triumph first as I like the low seat and heated grips which kept my hands warm on the mountain. The BMW and the KTM I find a bit too tall for me; I can’t really manage them that well. I quite like the Guzzi, though, it seems much more refined than Guzzis of old.”

SECOND OPINIONS

Mont Blanc tunnel. So much so that you would not believe the Guzzi transverse twin is a 1200 – it feels like a 600 when you need the power most, and that’s when over-taking. Coming back down the mountain every overtak-ing manoeuvre had to be thought out a long way ahead. Pull out, twist the throttle and nothing hap-pens, even in second and third gear, downhill!

The Guzzi’s throttle response is smooth and there’s decent bottom end power for pootling along in town, but if you need to accelerate quickly you’ve no option but to thrash the big four-valve V-twin to the redline. At 6000rpm it does pick up and accelerate hard for the final few thousand rpm, but it’s over too quickly before you need to slot another gear home. Overall, the power delivery is far too peaky for a touring bike and it needs a shedload more grunt if it’s ever going to compete with any of these machines, but especially the BMW, on equal terms. We didn’t try it two-up, or laden with luggage, but the Guzzi is likely to suffer even more with added weight aboard. The gruntier Guzzi two-valve engine would be a much better powerplant for a machine like this, which makes the choice so bizarre.

Some of our testers didn’t like the Guzzi’s vibes either. Admittedly the engines in all the other bikes are smooth and polished by comparison, but it does give the Stelvio character and you soon get used to, and even enjoy, it. Guzzi gearboxes have improved massively over the years and the Stelvio’s works perfectly too.

Like the Triumph, the Guzzi is more road-biased

than the KTM or BMW, so the handling is reassuring from the 50mm adjustable forks and fat, 180-section rear tyre. The roomy riding position and big comfy seat made it a pleasure to ride on our long trip too. On the braking side, the radial Brembo front brakes are up to the job in normal circum-stances but flying down the mountains, using lots of brake into the corners they eventually start to fade.

In conclusion, our razz around the Italian Alps showed us that the BMW is still the king of the adven-ture tourers. The Triumph is loud, raucous, fast and a lot of fun; the Guzzi so laid back it’s almost horizontal and the KTM likes ticking over at 4500rpm. But as if to blow the whole test out of the water, two things happened on our way back to the Guzzi factory from the Alps on the Monday morning.

Firstly, the KTM ‘mended itself’, so putting itself straight back into the hunt. As a do-anything, go-any-where machine it’s up there with the BMW in terms of comfort, speed, off-road ability – but crucailly it is more fun to ride. It’s only let down on this test with its reliability and some will like BMW’s more sober approach to touring with practicalities like shaft drive and the chance to go mad on the options list.

As a proper adventure bike it’s ahead of the Tiger as it’s

‘Worth a look, but the Stelvio can’t topple the BMW R1200GS’

Stelvio may be out front here, but it has a long way to go to beat the Triumph and BMW in reality

Stelvio is more suited to the road than the big Beemer, which can go anywhere, any time

got off-road ability, but for pure road use the Tiger’s more sure-footed chassis, short-travel suspension and lower seat height makes it a better proposition.

And so we’re back where this story starts, with me rid-ing the Stelvio back to the factory in Lake Como. Despite not making the grade from a performance point of view against the competition, I was still happy to be completing the journey on the Italian adventure tourer. Ridden in isolation it is a good bike, so long as you’re not in a hurry and are happy to just sit back and take in the scenery. It’s comfy, soulful and with that Moto Guzzi badge on the tank you’re going to be tak-ing home a part of famous biking heritage with you when you leave the show-room. So although the Stelvio isn’t a BMW beater, but it’s still worth a serious look.

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adventure of all The biggest - mcn-images.bauersecure.com · MOTO GUZZI STELVIO £8704 Guzzi’s first adventure tourer, which they hope is the Italian answer to the R1200GS. The