Moto Guzzi V85 TT

Hi there all from France - I gave in and I am expecting mine anyday now... Could someone please point me in the direction of a list of things to watch out for at reception, like which bolts and nuts to fix, cables to tie and the like... and things to check at the shop before leaving (apart from the obvious) - Cheers !

Congrats on your new purchase! Other members have had issues with the bolts holding the bash plate coming loose. The cables from the hand-controls on my bike rub against the bottom edge of the TFT display and have worn the plastic down a bit. Try to tie them back so they don't contact the display. The red paint on the rear rack of my rosso kalahari is pitted and has rubbed off slightly where I secured a hepco-becker (ortlieb) dry bag during a 4-day trip. Some extra precaution to protect the finish is in order. I plan to see if this can be claimed under warranty. Several owner have described a bounce from the front tire at speeds of 50-60 kph; I have it too. It was worse on my 4-day trip with the back weighted down and has seemed to abate to almost nothing with the bike unladen. Apparently replacing the front tire has helped others.

Enjoy the bike!

Brad

Just a thought about this front wheel bouncing thing. I believe (in the US), the red framed and black framed bikes come with different tires. I am wondering if it is only one frame color, and thus one type of tire, that is involved. Could some folks reply with the tires they have and if they have the bounce or not. Might be interesting.

i have that wheel bouncing also on my gray one
so it has nothing to do with the anakee adv tires
my dealer has no idea with this
i think that it is aproblem from the wheel or the fork

Just started looking for these so I can maybe visit one in person. The closest V85 I found at a dealer through Cycle Trader was almost 1000 miles away. Guess I will need to travel a bit in the spring if I'm still interested. Their dealer network is pretty sparse and I live in a motorcycle black hole called Arkansas.
Mike

Why one of the best states for riding has so few dealers has always perplexed me. I always say the best mountain riding in Texas is in Arkansas.

OK, thanks. This issue is one of the (very few) things that is holding me back from getting a V85. Maybe it is not that big of a deal, but stuff like that can really bother me.

More bouncing research. I had pretty sever bouncing from the original tire, after getting a new tire on warranty it got 80-90% better but still have a slight fluctuation at 50-60 km/h.
Today I took the bike to a local MC garage (very competent people) and they took the tire of and measured the rim roundness.
It was 0.6 mm out of round, nothing that would cause the bounce due to them. They also checked breaks, fork action and bearings, all was fine.. they also messed around with the suspension settings with no luck.

They have no definite answer what’s wrong but seemed very sure it’s not from the rear wheel. They didn’t have a tire from another brand/model in stock but were suggesting some testing with another brand/model tire.
I’ll probably get a new tire of another brand just to exclude bad Michelin tires.

I read about the grey bike above, with different tires but still bounce.. Hmm, I’ll give it ago with another brand anyway.

Congratulations on the new bike. In addition to the bash plate bolts (mine were fine actually but more than one owner has had them loose) the bolts that hold the bar end weights on came loose on my bike so check those for sure. I'd say take a set of allen keys and give the bolts a turn to see if they are loose or not, I found my throttle side brake lever perch to be loose as well

And don't forget to check the nuts holding the seat hump. Some folks have lost it entirely. Either Loctite the existing nuts, or replace with lock nuts.

I knew I forget something, that was it.

I just got back from the dealer. They got some more V85tt's in, one gray and two McD. The gray one had Metzler and the yellow had Michelin.

Also, the seats are different.

I don't want anyone to think that they all have the bouncing problem, mine has been very smooth one or two up getting close to 1000 miles
I also checked for loose bolts but did not find any.

Thank you for your quick replies - I will post a summary.
Will see if owners in France have also had this mystery bounce and if a solution was found

I had/have the front end bounce with the Michelin Anakee tire. I replaced it with a Shinko 705 and still have a bit of bounce at about 35-40 mph, but it is less than before. I had checked the Anakee for roundness and balance as well as the rim -- nothing that I could identify that would cause the bounce - although I have increased the rebound damping substantially from stock and that helped some as did increasing the rear shock pre-load which raises the rear and puts more load on the front end. YMMV.

On a French forum I read, 2 guys have reported that bounce at 50/60 kph - one mentioned it to the dealership and their mechanics seemed to think it might have something to do with the drivetrain in 4th gear... I have no more info so far

that is the next action
change the metzeler tires to bridgestone a41
then we will feel and see

but there must be a reason to find out

Same as me, also ran a dial indicator around the rim and didn't find any substantial movement either side to side or up and down. Still have the hop. Would like to try the Matris suspension stuff to see if it makes a difference in the hop.

I have grey with Metzler tires and a bounce at about 40 mph or 65 km/h. I put clothes pins on the fork inner protector/deflector thingies and could see about 1mm of runout. I plan to true the front wheel this winter. (It's 5 hours each way to the closest dealer.)

The suggestion that the front wheel bounce is caused by the drivetrain and 4th gear is, um, imaginative.

EDITED because I did the distance conversion 100% backwards.

You're not wrong! How did they determine this? Examining the oily fluid in the bottom of their Scrying Bowl? Analysing the entrails of a sacrificial chicken? Stroking a toad?