Moto Guzzi modernizes its streetbike lineup and the 2023 Moto Guzzi V100 Mandello S.
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Earlier this season, we test rode Moto Guzzi’s 2023 V100 Mandello S from the official international press introduction in the Mandello del Lario region of northern Italy. This is an all-new sport-touring rig for Moto Guzzi. Moto Guzzi has manufactured motorcycles out of its factory on the shore of Lake Como for more than 100 years. The 2023 V100 Mandello S ($17,490) is the first truly new and modern Moto Guzzi that we’ve seen in the company’s recent history.
Looking back a few decades, this V100 most resembles, in our minds, the Griso eight-valve that Guzzi offered. We loved that motorcycle and always wondered when it would get a revamp or a refresh. Although this V100 Mandello is positioned a little differently, it’s actually very similar in application.
The 2023 V100 features an all-new, water-cooled transverse-mounted 1,042cc V-twin. Unlike a traditional V-twin in which the engine is mounted underneath you with the front cylinder facing forward and the rear cylinder facing back, this engine is mounted sideways. The pistons are on either side of the motorcycle, much like a boxer twin from the Motorrad factory. But instead of the pistons working at an opposed angle, this is a V angle...
Full story here: https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/reviews/moto-guzzi-v100-mandello-s-review-2023/
Photography: The Piaggio Group and Adam Waheed
Video: The Piaggio Group and Adam Waheed
Motorcycle Gear Worn
Helmet: Arai Signet-X
Jacket: REV'IT! Blackwater
Gloves: REV'IT! Kinetic
Pant: REV'IT! Maple 2 Ladies SK
Boots: TCX Dartwood Waterproof
Motorcyclist Shirts: https://teespring.com/stores/motorcyclist
Shop Products We Use: https://www.amazon.com/shop/motorcyclistmagazine
See more from us: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/
--
Earlier this season, we test rode Moto Guzzi’s 2023 V100 Mandello S from the official international press introduction in the Mandello del Lario region of northern Italy. This is an all-new sport-touring rig for Moto Guzzi. Moto Guzzi has manufactured motorcycles out of its factory on the shore of Lake Como for more than 100 years. The 2023 V100 Mandello S ($17,490) is the first truly new and modern Moto Guzzi that we’ve seen in the company’s recent history.
Looking back a few decades, this V100 most resembles, in our minds, the Griso eight-valve that Guzzi offered. We loved that motorcycle and always wondered when it would get a revamp or a refresh. Although this V100 Mandello is positioned a little differently, it’s actually very similar in application.
The 2023 V100 features an all-new, water-cooled transverse-mounted 1,042cc V-twin. Unlike a traditional V-twin in which the engine is mounted underneath you with the front cylinder facing forward and the rear cylinder facing back, this engine is mounted sideways. The pistons are on either side of the motorcycle, much like a boxer twin from the Motorrad factory. But instead of the pistons working at an opposed angle, this is a V angle...
Full story here: https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/reviews/moto-guzzi-v100-mandello-s-review-2023/
Photography: The Piaggio Group and Adam Waheed
Video: The Piaggio Group and Adam Waheed
Motorcycle Gear Worn
Helmet: Arai Signet-X
Jacket: REV'IT! Blackwater
Gloves: REV'IT! Kinetic
Pant: REV'IT! Maple 2 Ladies SK
Boots: TCX Dartwood Waterproof
Motorcyclist Shirts: https://teespring.com/stores/motorcyclist
Shop Products We Use: https://www.amazon.com/shop/motorcyclistmagazine
See more from us: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Hey folks, so earlier this season we test rode Moto Guzzi's 2023 V100 Mandello S.
00:08 This is an all-new street bike from Moto Guzzi out of northern Italy.
00:15 Now a lot of people might not know, but Moto Guzzi has actually been producing motorcycles
00:19 out of its factory on the shore of Lake Como for over a hundred years.
00:26 This 2023 V100 Mandello S that we operated, this is the first truly new modern Moto Guzzi
00:34 motorcycle that we've seen in the company's history.
00:39 Now if you look back 15-20 years, this V100 most resembles in my mind the old Grisso 8-valve
00:49 motorcycle that Moto Guzzi made for a while around 15-20 years ago.
00:54 I love that motorcycle, I always wondered when that motorcycle would get a revamp or
00:58 a refresh and although this V100 Mandello is positioned a little bit differently, it's
01:04 actually very similar in application.
01:08 Let's get into it.
01:09 Now the 2023 V100, this features an all-new water-cooled, traverse-mounted V-twin.
01:20 Water-cooled, traverse-mounted V-twin means instead of the V engine being mounted underneath
01:25 you with the front cylinder facing forward and the rear cylinder facing back, this engine
01:30 is mounted like this.
01:32 So the pistons are on either side of the motorcycle, much like a boxer twin from the Motorrad factory,
01:42 but instead of the pistons working in an opposed angle, this is in a V angle like that.
01:49 Now Moto Guzzi has done a number of really important changes to this iconic power plant.
01:56 First off, the engine is significantly shorter than before.
02:00 Those old air-cooled Guzzis, they always had really long transmissions and Moto Guzzi was
02:06 able to shave off four inches off the depth of the engine from front to back and it's
02:14 quite noticeable.
02:16 The cylinder heads have also been reconfigured.
02:19 They always had the exhaust aimed out from the front of the motorcycle.
02:23 Now they are canted 90 degrees and exit from the side.
02:28 The V-block is still positioned in a 90 degree angle.
02:33 Other improvements include dual overhead chain driven camshafts and adjustable ride-by-wire
02:41 throttle.
02:42 This is a really neat motorcycle.
02:45 Now the thing I love about this 1042cc engine is just how much character it has.
02:57 It has a little bit of that longitudinal rumble and shake, but it's nothing like past Moto
03:05 Guzzis.
03:07 The counter-rotating crankshaft really does a lot to make this motorcycle very nimble.
03:14 This bike weighs north of 500 pounds with a full 4.5 gallons of fuel, but when we were
03:21 riding around the shores of Lake Como, you would never know that this motorcycle weighed
03:26 this much.
03:27 It was very nimble and very apt to change direction.
03:31 You have to remember the roads in Northern Italy, they're small.
03:36 These are narrow roads.
03:37 These are not wide, big American roads designed for big vehicles.
03:42 Typically, you wouldn't really want to be operating a 500 pound street bike on these
03:46 type of roads, but the V100 Mandelo S, it offered awesome handling.
03:53 We were operating the up spec S model, which adds $2,000 to the US MSRP.
04:01 It goes from $15,500 to $17,500.
04:05 For that extra $2,000, you get semi-active Ohlins suspension, you get heated grips, and
04:12 you get a nice adjustable windscreen.
04:16 There's also some nice styling touches that make that motorcycle stand apart from the
04:21 base $15,500 motorcycle.
04:25 The Ohlins semi-active suspension, the ECT.0 that a lot of these bikes have nowadays, it
04:31 just works really good.
04:32 It just takes out all the fuss out of having to adjust the damping of the fork or the shock.
04:38 You set it, you forget it.
04:40 Of course, the suspension is tied to each of the four riding modes, rain, touring, and
04:47 sport, and urban.
04:50 All of these riding modes deliver a much different ride quality.
04:56 I prefer the sport riding mode the most.
04:59 It gave the most intimate throttle response and really made that V100 really fun to ride
05:06 on these back roads around Lake Como.
05:10 Ergonomics on this motorcycle, I really liked how narrow this motorcycle felt.
05:16 I felt real comfortable on it.
05:18 Even though it's a 500-pound bike, it doesn't really look that big.
05:22 It's nice and compact from front to back.
05:25 It's fairly narrow in terms of width.
05:28 It's really a good urban touring bike.
05:31 It's a kind of bike that you can be comfortable on and still have a good degree of maneuverability
05:37 in the city.
05:38 Yet, if you wanted to, you can fit the OE accessory hard cases and go on some light
05:45 touring missions with it.
05:47 The electronically adjustable windscreen is a really handy feature.
05:52 The aerodynamic features on this motorcycle has these louvers that open when you are in
06:00 a speed over 45 miles per hour in the touring mode.
06:05 These louvers, what they're designed to do is they're designed to reduce the turbulent
06:09 air inside the cockpit and reduce the amount of precipitation that comes in the cockpit
06:16 while you're riding in the rain.
06:18 It's also worth noting that when you're riding in rain mode, those louvers are always open
06:23 to hopefully deflect some of that water off your body.
06:27 I think it's a neat concept.
06:29 The louvers worked really well.
06:31 They opened and closed very seamlessly.
06:33 They certainly look cool.
06:34 It's a very neat feature.
06:37 But the actual application of them, I don't know.
06:40 It's kind of silly to me.
06:41 I don't think it really made that much of a difference when I was riding.
06:45 It's worth noting that Moto Guzzi did some wind tunnel testing on the aerodynamics package
06:52 on this vehicle.
06:54 Moto Guzzi actually had a wind tunnel at its historic factory in Northern Italy, but that
07:00 wind tunnel has since closed and they now lean on the Piaggio Group wind tunnel where
07:06 they do all of their super bike and all of their wind tunnel testing at the Piaggio Group
07:12 HQ, which is the ownership group of Moto Guzzi and Aprilia and Vespa.
07:20 Now styling on this V100.
07:22 I love the styling of this bike.
07:24 This bike is a real head turner.
07:27 The premium green paint with the S, I love it.
07:30 It looks got this nice like British racing green color with the black wheels.
07:36 It just looks really tasty.
07:38 I like the single-sided swing arm.
07:41 I like that this motorcycle has a shaft final drive.
07:46 Moto Guzzi did some good R&D engineering on the shaft final drive where it doesn't have
07:52 a lot of jack effect.
07:53 So when you give it the throttle, it hooks up and goes.
07:56 It feels very natural.
07:58 It feels very much like a conventional chain final drive motorcycle, except there is no
08:05 chain to clean and no mess.
08:07 It's very nice.
08:08 Of course, you're going to have to service that shaft final drive intermittently, but
08:13 that's one of the ownership costs of shaft final drive.
08:18 Brakes on this motorcycle, triple disc hydraulic brakes on this bike, keep speed in check.
08:23 I love that this bike has a big, strong rear brake, 280 millimeter disc with a two piston
08:30 caliper.
08:31 I love bikes with strong back brakes and this V100 employs just that.
08:37 It also has ABS that you can turn off if you want, if you want to do some slides.
08:43 Another really neat feature about this bike is it's the first Moto Guzzi that I've probably
08:47 ever ridden that had a real clutch.
08:50 Moto Guzzi's have always had these really strange, really vague feeling dry clutches
08:54 that are just on or off.
08:55 They're on or off.
08:56 They don't feel good.
08:58 This V100 has a real wet oil cooled clutch.
09:04 It has good feel, real good response.
09:07 The S model we operated was fitted with an electronic quick shifter.
09:11 The electronic quick shifter was a little bit lazy in terms of it shifting.
09:15 I wish it had a little bit faster programming, but then again, this is Moto Guzzi's first
09:20 try at having an electronic quick shifter, so we'll let it slide on this bike.
09:25 Now keeping tabs on everything is the Piaggio Group's now signature five inch color TFT
09:33 display.
09:34 This display was originally fitted on the 2021 MY, Aprilia RSV4, and the Tuono naked
09:42 bikes.
09:43 I like this display.
09:44 The user interface is a tremendous improvement from where Piaggio Group and Moto Guzzi was
09:49 before.
09:50 Still, the fonts inside that five inch color TFT display could be larger.
09:57 It's sometimes kind of hard to see some of the settings when you're riding with that
10:02 motorcycle.
10:03 Clutch gear is also very nice, but it could benefit from slightly better tactile feel,
10:09 but still it is a big improvement from where we remember where Moto Guzzi was coming from.
10:16 Now the sound and character of this engine, this engine is just a hoot to ride.
10:20 It pumps out right around 115 horsepower at the 190 series Pirelli tire claims Moto Guzzi.
10:29 It's not the fastest thing on the road, but it's enough to get the blood pumping and have
10:33 some excitement, especially on slow to medium speed roads.
10:38 That's where this bike really, really excels.
10:41 I really like how smooth the engine is.
10:43 I like the purr of it.
10:44 I like that the engine doesn't vibrate excessively and it doesn't throw off a ridiculous amount
10:50 of engine heat onto your feet.
10:52 You got to remember those V twin cylinders are right there by your feet and yeah, you
10:56 do feel a little bit of engine heat, especially when you're riding at slower speeds inside
11:01 the confines of a city, but it's definitely not too much.
11:05 I could definitely live with it.
11:07 Overall, first impressions of this 2023 V 100 Mandela.
11:12 I like it.
11:13 It's a really nice bike.
11:15 It's nimble.
11:16 It's got decent power.
11:18 It's fun.
11:19 It feels a lot more modern than Moto Guzzi's used to feel.
11:23 The engine doesn't have this weird shake.
11:25 The clutch works really well.
11:26 Right now the brakes are sharp.
11:28 It has a lot of amenities like heated grips, like an electronically adjustable windscreen,
11:33 like semi-active electronically adjustable suspension, USB charging point.
11:40 There's a lot of things that are really neat about this motorcycle.
11:44 Yeah, the aerodynamic louvers, they're cool, but they're kind of weird too at the same
11:49 time and the fonts on the instrumentation could be bigger.
11:54 But if you're looking for a motorcycle that has that classic style and that classic character
12:01 that only Guzzi can deliver with a lot of modern amenities that most new bikes have,
12:08 I think you're going to be really happy with the V 100 Mandela S and the price, $17,500
12:16 for a motorcycle built in Italy with a two year manufacturer's warranty.
12:21 That's not a bad price.
12:23 The fit and finish on this bike is pretty good too.
12:26 I was really impressed with how well that engine was put together and some of the machining
12:31 on the motorcycle hard parts.
12:33 Moto Guzzi has done a really nice job with this V 100 Mandela S.
12:38 Well that wraps up our review of Moto Guzzi's V 100 Mandela.
12:45 It's worth noting because we were on an official press introduction, we weren't able to run
12:52 this vehicle through our standard gamut of tests, including night riding, riding on our
12:59 favorite sporty road and registering the fuel mileage.
13:04 We were able to record some commentary during the course of our ride, which we will end
13:12 this review with.
13:14 Sorry this commentary isn't totally in order.
13:18 We had some microphone problems as usual.
13:22 If you can remember, we had microphone problems with our 2021 RSV4 track review from WeatherTech
13:30 Raceway Laguna Seca.
13:32 Oh, it still bugs me, but we're going to leave you with some commentary that was recorded
13:37 live from this event.
13:40 We'll see you guys next time.
13:41 Make sure to surf on over to MotorcyclistOnline.com.
13:45 That's where all of our written content lives.
13:48 Give this video a thumbs up if you liked it, thumbs it down if you didn't because we love
13:52 hearing from the naysayers.
13:53 We'll see you guys next time.
13:55 Thanks for taking a moment to ride with Motorcyclist.
13:59 All right folks, another neat feature that this street bike has is its adjustable aerodynamic
14:09 louvers.
14:11 These louvers are said to reduce turbulent air inside.
14:17 My cockpit.
14:20 You can open them or close them right now.
14:24 They are set up to open when we're in the touring mode.
14:29 We go into touring mode with this button right here and they turn on.
14:36 Okay, maybe the rain mode.
14:38 Now they go on.
14:39 Look at them.
14:40 How cool is that folks?
14:43 This reduces turbulent air inside the cockpit.
14:50 I don't really know if I can feel it that much.
14:53 It feels like it's a little bit less air in this region, but I would say it's a probably
15:00 pretty small change.
15:03 You got to remember that the Piaggio group or Moto Guzzi especially, they had a wind
15:13 tunnel.
15:14 They were one of the early adopters in the olden days of having a wind tunnel and that
15:20 allowed them to achieve optimum aerodynamics on their motorcycles back in the day.
15:30 Fast forward to today and that wind tunnel is just too old school.
15:37 They now rely on a different, more modern wind tunnel that the Piaggio group has, I
15:43 believe in Noelle, Italy.
15:49 That is the deal with these active louvers aerodynamic.
15:53 But also the Moto Guzzi people were telling me that this reduces the amount of rain that
16:00 flies on you when you're riding in rainy conditions.
16:05 Pretty neat.
16:08 All right folks, we found out how to put this into the Imperial system.
16:14 You just hold down this button here, go into dashboard and you can switch the language
16:22 and the units.
16:24 It was very easy.
16:25 The only thing that was kind of annoying is you go into the units and you have to adjust
16:29 everything, fuel consumption, temperature, pressure.
16:33 It's not just a universal setting.
16:37 Some people might like that, but the more button pushing you have to do, the less awesome
16:41 it is in my opinion.
16:44 We can also go here to the, sorry, to the riding mode and tailor each of the four riding
16:54 modes, sport, road, touring and rain.
16:59 We can adjust those.
17:00 I don't know why those are in English right now.
17:03 And then we can adjust the semi-active suspension.
17:10 All right folks, let's giddy up at the controls of the Mandello V100.
17:19 Yes, finally some turns without traffic on the surface.
17:30 Now despite this vehicle weighing right around 500 pounds with a full tank of fuel, this
17:41 vehicle is, it handles very nicely.
17:44 I like how agile it is.
17:48 It's very easy to put where you want.
17:50 The good thing about these middleweight sport touring bikes is that they're real agile.
17:56 They don't take up a lot of room.
17:59 They're relatively compact for a touring bike.
18:03 And I love a big heavyweight touring bike, no doubt, but big heavyweight touring bikes
18:12 take up a lot of room in the garage.
18:14 They are more difficult to wield in dense traffic.
18:22 And they're just a lot.
18:23 Of course they're awesome when it comes to going to the grocery store because you can
18:27 put all your stuff in there, riding 500, 600, 700 miles during the course of a weekend.
18:33 Those bikes are awesome for that too.
18:35 But realistically, if you're not taking these big trips all the time or traveling far distances
18:42 all the time, these middleweight sport touring bikes are the sweet spot.
18:48 Well folks, just before we started getting into some nice corners, we have to stop to
18:56 collect photography and videography for our additional supplementary content that we provide
19:06 at our company.
19:08 So we will tune in to you guys with a little bit.
19:11 Like we said before, we are on someone else's program at these official press introduction
19:18 events.
19:19 So we can't just do whatever we want or collect all of our media the way we know how, and
19:26 we can't do our elaborate testing program like we do on all vehicles we test stateside.
19:33 Alright folks, I'm going to do my photo pass.
19:35 I will see you later.
19:36 [engine revving]
19:38 [engine revving]
19:40 [engine revving]
19:42 [engine revving]
19:44 [engine revving]
19:47 [engine revving]
19:49 [engine revving]
19:51 [engine revving]
19:53 (engine revving)
19:55 (engine revving)