New to me Guzzi Stelvio

Well I took the plunge and bought this

(horrible pictures sorry!)

I know it's not to everyone's taste, it's big, red, bug eyed and weighs more than a small planet, but to me it's lovely. Has a few nice extras like heated grips, hand guards, flip screen which are all lovely in this weather. Pulls well, handles me, a pillion and full topbox with absolute ease, superbly comfortable and very characterful. Like riding a big purring cat. Just needs an aftermarket exhaust to really get that big v twin sounding its best. Bandit mk1 soon up for sale

Guzzi, Guzzi, Guzzi!!!

Excellent choice! If you've never had one before, you do need to be a bit positive about looking after it. ..but it will become a labour of love and it will pay you back a thousandfold! (I had SP1000 1979 - 88 - it died in crash on M1 - fortunately, I did not!)

I would love to have it back now!

Enjoy - you will.

S23

Looks great, makes a refreshing change from BMW RS 's , narrower too I bet.

Great looking bike. Never ridden a guzzi, do the wobble side to side like the BMW boxers do?

Great looking bike. Never ridden a guzzi, do the wobble side to side like the BMW boxers do?

Yep definite wobble. Feels nice sat at the lights give a little rev and it's like it's alive.

Great looking bike. Never ridden a guzzi, do the wobble side to side like the BMW boxers do?

 

Yep definite wobble. Feels nice sat at the lights give a little rev and it's like it's alive.

All part of the fun.....you don't notice it when you're under way, though.

Great looking bike. Never ridden a guzzi, do they wobble side to side like the BMW boxers don't?

fixed that for you.

BMW boxer engines dont jump to the side because the movement of the pistons is symmetrical and so in balance one with the other.

The pistons of a Guzzi are not... so the one piston is in a different position within the cylinder to the other.. and this causes the sideways jump. which is especially noticeable at startup.. and to a lesser extent at tickover.

you can see what I mean by looking at schematic engine animated gifs.

I think Moto Guzzis are smashing bikes... but very different to Boxer twins. Goat, If you ever go to the Italian Dolomites on one... park it next to a Ducati and watch as the Ducati is totally ignored by the locals. (especially if its a Panigale for some reason)

Blah blah blah blah blah...

All good in theory, but the brand new BMW R-Nine-T that i rode exhibited a very distinctive wobble at low speed, most noticeable when filtering slowly through tight gaps as it felt like the bike was weaving.

And last week when I was in the BMW dealership speaking to the sales guy about potentially buying a GS1200 I mentioned it to him and he knew what I meant and attributed it to "character". So it's not just me that can feel the boxers wobble.

Great looking bike. Never ridden a guzzi, do they wobble side to side like the BMW boxers don't?

 

fixed that for you.

BMW boxer engines dont jump to the side because the movement of the pistons is symmetrical and so in balance one with the other.

The pistons of a Guzzi are not... so the one piston is in a different position within the cylinder to the other.. and this causes the sideways jump. which is especially noticeable at startup.. and to a lesser extent at tickover.

you can see what I mean by looking at schematic engine animated gifs.

I think Moto Guzzis are smashing bikes... but very different to Boxer twins. Goat, If you ever go to the Italian Dolomites on one... park it next to a Ducati and watch as the Ducati is totally ignored by the locals. (especially if its a Panigale for some reason)

Errr... don't think you fixed the right bit!

The "wobble" is nothing to do with the piston phasing, it is a consequence of the torque reaction along the longitudinal axis of the bike created by the longitudinal crankshaft orientation, together with the mass of the flywheel. When you "blip" the throttle, the bike will rock to the side opposite to that of the direction of crankshaft rotation. As I recall, the Guzzi used to rock to the right (as you were sat on it) when you blipped it. My R1200GS and R1200RT used to do it as well.

This effect only occurs when the crank/flywheel is accelerating/decelerating so is not apparent at tickover or constant engine speed.

and now its gone. New owner picked it up this afternoon. Nice couple who live up north London way. Love hate relationship with the bike, Loved the engine the sound (after fitting a gpr exhaust) and feel of it was intoxicating. Comfortable bike. bloody heavy at slow speed, much heavier than a GS and holds weight up high. ugly as sin, never got the fizz looking at it. Clutch very heavy which is tiresome round London traffic, but out on the open road was great. More than anything it was the sound. I will miss it and have a feeling I will miss it a lot when I remember through rose tinted spectacles. All in all it was a cheap experiment, £3k got me the bike, bought a second hand gpr exhaust for £60. Owned for 9 months and 3 and halfish thousand miles. Sold in the end for £3050. Was due a service and mot which the new owner said he would do. so other than road tax, fuel and insurance its cost me nothing.