Moto Guzzi V850X Tech Info Emerges

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All we have is a logo at the moment, but the paper trail indicates unveiling is at hand. (Moto Guzzi/)

Moto Guzzi has tried to break out of conventional motorcycle categories with the new V100 Mandello, a machine intended to combine the appeal of a naked roadster with the comfort of a tourer. Now there’s another boundary-blurring machine coming for 2023 in the form of the V850X.

Based on the current V7 retro bike, the V850X borrows the firm’s twin-shock frame and the new 853cc V-twin engine, but adds wire wheels with deep-treaded Michelin Anakee adventure bike rubber along with styling unlike anything else on the road. A spy shot published in Italy last year showed a machine with a seat and tail that look to be inspired by the 1985 V65 Lario, a bike that, like the new Mandello, took its name from Guzzi’s Mandello del Lario hometown. It also showed a nose cowl incorporating a small LED headlight and stanchion guards that stretch down the right-way-up fork legs, rather like the 1996–1998 Suzuki RM250 ‘crosser.

The louder, more powerful V7 Stone Special Edition is also inbound soon. (Moto Guzzi/)

The bike’s name has since become clear, with Guzzi’s parent company, Piaggio, registering trademarks for the “V850X” name and its logo, even accidentally allowing a dedicated web page for the machine to briefly appear online.

Further concrete details of the V850X have now appeared in the form of European type-approval documents that show its key dimensions and performance figures.

The info confirms the V850X’s ties to the V7 range, including it as an addendum to the existing V7′s type approval rather than a stand-alone application of its own. The shared frame and engine mean it’s inevitably close, but not identical, to the V7 in size and performance.

While the V850X’s wheelbase, at 55.4 inches, is the same as the V7′s, the bike is shorter overall at 81.7 inches, down from 82.7. Its width is unchanged at 33.7 inches, suggesting the bars are carried over from the V7, but the V850X measures around half an inch lower at its highest point.

The unaltered wheelbase suggests that, while the V850X’s tires give a slightly more off-road look, their sizes are unaltered, at 18 inches at the front and 17 inches at the back, as the alloys of the V7 Stone and the wires of the V7 Special.

Although the V850X has more substantial bodywork than the very traditional V7 models, it manages to be a lighter bike. The approval documents put it at 470 pounds including fuel, compared to 481 pounds for the V7 Stone and 492 pounds for the V7 Special in the same state. It’s possible that, since those measurements are made including fuel, the V850X carries less gas in its redesigned tank than the surprisingly capacious 5.5 gallons of the V7 Stone and Special.

The type approval confirms that the V850X has the same 853cc twin as the V7, but different exhausts that increase its power and volume. At comparable rpm, the V850X is 2 decibels louder than the V7, and its peak power rises from 64 hp to 66 hp and arrives at 6,700 rpm instead of 6,800 rpm. In Europe there will also be a restricted, 47 hp version of the bike to cater to inexperienced riders with limited A2 licenses.

In addition to the V850X, the new type approval reveals that an additional V7 model, the V7 Stone Special Edition, is also on the way. It gets the same free-flowing exhaust as the V850X for an identical rise in performance and volume, and features narrower bars than the standard V7, reducing its width by around half an inch.

With both the V850X and the V7 Stone Special Edition now approved for road use in Europe, the bikes’ official unveiling is surely imminent.

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