MOTO-GUZZI 1200 SPORT (2006 - on) Review

Year: 2007

Best features: Can't stop looking at it. Torque across 6 speed.

Buying experience: I bought mine used

Version: 4 valve

Year: 2009

Annual servicing cost: £325

I'm struggling to think of what to change it for! It goes well, bags of character, shaft drive, panniers, reasonable economy (48 mpg) and what a sound! It's not a sportsbike though. It has taken me around the continent and also happily does a short trip to the shops. Took a while to get used to it and for the first month I thought I'd made a mistake but then.....it all 'clicked'. Just wish Moto Guzzi were going to build another large capacity roadster - I'd put a deposit down now!

Year: 2008

Annual servicing cost: £150

I live in the U.S. and do not see many 1200 Sport bikes. Great ride around town and good manners on the highway. The pushrod engine a real thumper. People are very curious about this machine and ask me all kinds of questions.

Have the bike 4 years now and have done 15000 miles on it. It is definitely an underrated motorbike which is very competent and under another badge, it would have sold much better. It is a softly sprung and extremely comfortable motorbike. I have done 400 miles on a day with most of them on b roads with only a little soreness on my wrists. I have changed the steering with that of the next model (4v) for a little more upright driving position but is still a bit of a reach, so there is some weight on the wrists. I have also fitted a custom made windscreen which does a good job of preventing the body and the helmet of the air pressure although it produces excessive noise on the helmet. The seat i like sitting on a sofa. The engine is quite smooth and linear. It works and pulls smooth from 1800 rpm and after 5000 it produces a heavy groar much like an old American V8 engine. You can feel a hole in the powerband on the two last gears between 3 and 4 thousand rpms and that's the only flow of the engine. Otherwise is a well tuned, vibration free engine with moderate but able performance. The rear wheel output should be around 75 horses but on b roads you never feel short of power. On the straight i have seen 131 mph and can cruise all day on 110 quite comfortably for both bike and rider (but with earplugs). The suspension is as plush as it gets and can absorb every bump you might come across. It is very economical and on b roads never exceeds 52mpg. It can use alot of fuel driving through the town especially on congestion. On the road the bike handles very safe. It is softly sprung so it is not accurate and have average feel from the suspension but if you overdo it, it slips very controllably and in a slow and composed manner which leaves you confident. It is a heavy bike but has a low center of gravity and the longitudinal placement of the engine add to a quite easy steering at least on turns of over 40 mph. On tighter turns of course you need to kind of wrestle with the bike. The brakes are exceptional with feel, progressiveness and strength. So far is a very reliable and qualitative motorbike which is also very easy to work on it. I recently did the valve adjustment by myself, which is a very simple procedure that can be completed in a little more than an hour. A beautiful roadster that really awakens your senses and touches your soul in a magnificent and unique way.

I teetered on the brink of the ubiquitous BMW 1200GS, the only thing putting me off the BM was really how common they are, on my commute I must see half a dozen. Changing from my Suzuki SV1000S to this has been brilliant, just what I wanted. The Suzuki was a good bike, versatile, powerful and reliable, but I have become increasingly tired of chain drive. I cover 1400 miles a month and maintaining a chain drive had become a tedious chore, particularly as the SV had no centre stand and I do not have a garage. The Guzzi has been a delight, softer sprung with a lovely comfy seat to pamper my ageing arse cheeks, easy handling, decent fuel economy and a whacking great tank too. I'm a big fan of v-twins but perhaps one of the few complaints I had was that this one sounded a little asthmatic - a Quill exhaust has remedied that and it now makes a beautiful deep burble. I did have a couple of oil leaks from the rocker covers, but thanks to the nature of the engine these are supremely easy to fix. All in all, I believe this is a much overlooked bike. People to often plump for the lumpen (or just plain ugly) GS when there is a svelte Italian just begging to be ridden.

I bought this bike within a couple of hours of first seeing her. I had no intention of changing my then current bike, but what can you do when face to face with such a beautiful Italian Stallion.

This is a quite remarkable deviation from main stream. I used to have a 1200 bandit, and for the first month I had this, I was wondering what I had done. 3000 miles later we have really bonded. I think it really is the best. I went hooning around mid Wales a couple of weeks ago on it and it is truly mermerising in the way, I suspect, no sports bike could be - got 58 mpg over two tank fulls - so more frugal than you might think. The onboard computer though that was only 46 mpg so something lacking there then. I commute on it most days - its fine in traffic unless the speed drops below 15mph when becuause if the lumpy V twin delivery it becomes necessary to slip the clutch and that puts more weight on my arms and the enjoyment soon fades. Also it has wide bars so filtering can be limitted. The speedo is MPH only, and the computer will show max speed and average speed in mph or kph, but not current speed, so if you go abroad no way of easily telling you speed in the local currency. Doesn't come with a centre stand so my dealer assembled one from Norge parts. There was no delay in getting the parts either... and the final idosyncrasy - When selecting fist gear from cold, keep the gear selector depressed as you let the clutch in or you will be in neutral for ever - you can feel the gear select. The gearbox is fine after a couple of miles. Would I buy another one? - Oh yes!