It was never on my list but I am now the owner of a Moto Guzzi V85TT Travel, 2022. Unexpected? Yes. Exciting? Yes. Will it tour? That’s the plan, and this is how it’s going. Read my ongoing, updating, extended review.
I acquired the V85 TT Travel in May 2026 for €8100 with 10.5k km on the clock. This review is updating regularly.
July 2026. Kilometers traveled so far: 1000 2500.
A summary review of the V855 TT Travel (2022)
A characterful and comfortable, touring adventure bike, the V85 TT Travel will support you in efficient and relaxed long-distance discovery. It’s a tractor at the traffic lights, a smooth runner in the hills and has its limits on the motorway.
It’s designed for getting to far-away places in comfort and exploring those places when you arrive. You’ll have fun, you’ll feel proud, you’ll enjoy the torque and you’ll get annoyed at luggage falling out of the panniers every time you try to get something out. 130 km/h cruising is possible. 120 km/h is better. Winding country roads are even better.
My background
Born in 1968 I’m 174cm tall (5′ 8″) and fairly slim. I’ve toured around France, Great Britain, New Zealand and a lot of Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg.
My previous bike was (and still is) a Honda VFR 800 Gen 6 sports tourer but I’ve tried plenty of bikes in my life. This is, however, my first adventure tourer.
I live in Bonn, Germany and I regularly ride the Eifel and Westerwald regions. I also love camping.
Say hi! and ask questions on Instagram.
Why did I buy a V85 TT Travel?
In June 2027 I will be attempting a 10000 km tour of south east Europe. While I love the VFR800 for reliable and fast long distance tours, (five countries in a day?) it’s a struggle at low speeds and it’s tough on my back and shoulders. The V85TT was never on my shortlist, but it’s here now, and I’m testing the living daylights out of it. If it cuts the mustard, it’s the bike for the tour.
Recent tours include a 2 day tour of the Hunsrück region in Germany and a 550 km (341 miles) single day, five country tour to give the seat a full-on test. The results were good.
Full Review of the V85TT Travel.
First ride: easy.
This is a really welcoming bike to ride with a smooth, forgiving clutch and plenty of low-down torque.
Karchang! Chug! chug! Brap! Brap! The official sound of a V85 TT! It sounds great under low-rev load. Brap brap!
Design and feel. What a fantastically focused classic bike design. There’s no comparison and i’m loving it. My Honda VFR800 has a similar, unique feeling and some great design angles. The V85 TT has more great design angles and is truly a ‘classic’ design in my eyes.
Power. 75 PS and a shaft drive. This is, in my experience, the minimum you’ll need for one-person, multi-week touring. It’s spot-on for country, hilly roads but the 120-140km/h range feels a little strained. 160km is achievable but at that speed you’re riding a brick. In comparison to my VFR, there’s a range between 130 and 180 km/h that’s completely missing. Note: I live in Germany.
Torque. There’s way more usable torque here than on my VFR 800 (82 Nm at 5000 rpm vs 80 Nm at 8,500 rpm on the VFR) making country roads, switchbacks and start-stop riding very easy and enjoyable. It’s huge fun to be powering out of switchbacks.
Sport mode in town can catch you out on the V85 TT but I’m riding on Road and Sport mode mostly and haven’t yet done much on the gravel.
Powering out of switchbacks on the V85TT is just so much fun. The tourque! #motosky #v85tt
— Chippy (@meetmobility.com) July 18, 2026 at 10:31 AM
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Seat and height. The height is turning out better than I thought. At 174 cm tall, (31 inches inseam) I’m not able to flat-foot on the 830 cm seat height. It means there’s a few cm missing for those fall-away road moments and I don’t feel as confident pulling up at traffic lights so i’m being more careful to plan my footing.
As for the seat comfort, it seems comfortable but wide. There are a few positions you can take up and, so far, I have been very happy. In one 530 km single -day tour it was my arms that were feeling tired, not my back or my bum and compared to the (comfortable) VFR800 it’s a lot better all round. Cruise control is my new must-have.
Weight. Not much more than my VFR but easier to push around the garage, probably because of the longer bars.
The weight helps keep the bike stable and on point but it is a heavy bike, especially when the tank is full.
Switchgear. It’s different, yes, but you’ll probably know about that before you buy it. I have absolutely no issue with the layout and quirky switches. The indicator lights are way easier than on my VFR!
Instrument cluster…not the best design. A combo of flashing lights and a small LCD panel.
This is certainly not what my idea of Italian style is and it’s not even functionality focused. I suspect there are safety rules being considered here.
An example: The lights-on indicator is on when only the ‘eagle’ is lit and not when the low-beam is on.
Screen characters could be bigger, for old eyes.
Luggage is surprisingly sturdy, is easy to remove, is nicely branded and uses a single key locking system. There’s 61 liters of capacity. However, they open sideways and one of them has an awkward shape to fit around the exhaust. You will need to use liners or packing cubes to get the best out of them but you will be annoyed trying to use them mid-tour.
The best way to use them is to consider them as suitcases that you unmount and use at your destination. Keep your regularly used items in a top box or tank bag. I don’t particularly like top boxes but this is something I’m now considering for my 10k tour.
I’m not 100% sure whether i’ll use this luggage for the 10k tour, for two reasons. 1) Soft luggage might be a better option (see my VFR 800 soft luggage setup) but i’ll test that. 2) I’m not sure this luggage is built for the sort of tour i’m planning. The quality seems good, but I can see weak points.
The luggage mounting frame includes a small rear rack.
I have confirmed that the 50l SW Motech Pro Cargo Bag works (2 day tour and no problems to report.)
The hard luggage will fit underneath that cargo bag so the fact that the luggage opens outwards is a bonus in this 111 liter setup.
Screen. The Travel variant has the largest of the screen options. Up to 80 km/h it’s offers loads of protection. Above that i’m finding a resonance with my helmet that needs breaking up. The screen has a small amount of angle adjustment so I have tipped the screen towards me now and it seems to have reduced the turbulence.
The allen key for adjusting the screen is under the seat on the top of the battery cover.
Gears, clunk! They take time and neutral can be a problem on the downshift, but it’s a solid gearbox, with a solid clunk.
Others have mentioned that it can become a personal challenge to get a smooth gear change and I can understand that!
Speed and acceleration. My instrument panel shows that I’ve hit 165 km/h but this isn’t a high-speed touring bike. It will glide along at 120 km/h all day and it will pull extremely well up until 100 km/h. Note that the indicated speed is about 10% too fast with my sports-focused tyres.
This bike is about tourque and i’ll be honest – I think it’s teasing me to be faster than I should be. Maybe it’s the exhaust note.
Brakes / ABS. The brakes are good but I need more testing. Info coming soon.
Traction control. Info coming soon as I explore the modes and get close to some limits.
Suspension. Coming soon.
Sound: I’m loving it. Certainly better than the VFR….up to 6000 RPM, where the VTEC on the VFR takes it into a different league. There’s tunnel-potential on the V85 TT though, if you know what I mean!
The cold-engine problem: The V85TT likes to be nicely warmed up before it gives you stable fuelling. For the first 5 minutes, even on a warm, sunny day, it’s not settled and low-speed control isn’t easy.
The neutral gear problem: Finding neutral from 1st isn’t easy. Finding it from 2nd is an art. I’ve even seen the display registering the wrong gear while searching so watch out! You’ll get used to it though, and that clunk! when you change gears.
Efficiency: The V85TT is extremely efficient up to about 80 km/h, especially without luggage. Ride faster than that though and it shows its shape. At 120 km/h with luggage you’re not exactly cutting through the air and you’ll see that in the fuel consumption figures. On country tours I’m seeing 4.1 liters per 100 km (which again is probably 10% better than the real figure.) At motorway speeds with the luggage, 6 l / 100km.
Handling. I’ve been doing a lot of technical slow-speed excersises and it feels incredibly manouverable at low speed. The turning circle is extremely tight compared to my VFR800. You’d expect that, but I wasn’t! Around mountain twisty and switchback territory I find it stable, confidence-inspiring and fun. More information coming soon.
Heat. There’s less than a gen 6 VFR800, but that’s not saying much! It’s warm, for sure, but I need more testing. I keep looking for the water temperature reading on the dash but, of course, there isn’t one.
Cruise control. Easy, simple, works.
Navigation / Bluetooth: The V85 TT Travel includes the MIA bluetooth feature that couples a smartphone with the Moto Guzzi app and displays turn by turn navigation on the built-in screen.
I’ve fitted a Beeline Moto 2 and an SC Connect holder and i’m testing three solutions and will write a full report when the testing is complete.
Neither the Moto II nor the built-in navigation solutions are as good as Calimoto for planning, but there’s always something positive to be said for a built in solution, although in terms of route planning, the MIA navigation solution is the most basic.
3 years for €25 seems like a very fair price, as long as the app remains active for three years.
The built-in navigation app includes GPX importing but there’s no editing available on imported routes. I’ve already used multi-waypoint planning and Here navigation, the third party solution that drives the navigation solution, appears to offer alternative routes that you can click on to activate but there is no on-screen route dragging or ability to add waypoints via tapping on the map. For a touchscreen app, this is a bizarre omission and it feels like I’m back in 2010. Compared to Calimoto and Beeline it’s very poor.
And surely route planning is a key part of the fun of motorcycle navigation, dragging routes around based on elevation, highlights and favourites, time of day, weather and personal preferences.
It’s clear to me that this is just an app for getting somewhere safely, and it seems to do that well.
Settings include basic route styles, ferries and a setting that disables the inclusion of dirt roads as part of the route. That could be a problem in some countries where dirt roads are the only option.
I haven’t tested the following:
- Maximum route limit
- Following imported GPX routes
- Live re-routing
- Downloading routes
Lights / Night Riding. Coming soon.
Moto Guzzi V855TT Travel (2022) Specifications
| Engine Type | Transverse 90∘ V-twin, 4-stroke, OHV, 2 valves per cylinder. |
| Engine CC | 853 |
| Engine Bore x Stroke | 84 mm×77 mm |
| Engine Cooling | Air-cooled |
| Maximum Power | 76 PS (56 kW) @ 7,500 rpm |
| Maximum Torque | 82 Nm @ 5,000 rpm |
| Emissions Class | Euro 5 (119 g/km CO2) |
| Fuel Consumption | 4.9 L/100 km (official) |
| Gearbox | 6-speed |
| Clutch | Dry single disc |
| Final Drive | Shaft drive |
| Frame | High-strength tubular steel trellis frame. Engine as stressed component. |
| Seat Height | 830mm fixed. (Lower seat option: 810mm.) |
| Front Suspension | 41 mm upside-down hydraulic fork. Adjustable spring preload and rebound (170 mm travel) |
| Rear Suspension | Box-type aluminum swingarm with lateral monoshock; adjustable spring preload and rebound (170 mm travel) |
| Front Brakes | Dual 320 mm stainless steel floating discs, Brembo radial-mounted 4-piston calipers |
| Rear Brake | Single 260 mm stainless steel disc, floating 2-piston caliper |
| ABS | Continental multi-map cornering ABS (Rear ABS can be disabled in off-road mode) |
| Wheels | Cross-spoked tubeless rims |
| Tires | Front: 110/80 – R19 Rear: 150/70 – R17 |
| Seat Height | 830 mm |
| Ground Clearance | 210 mm |
| Dry Weight | 209 kg |
| Kerb Weight (Wet) | 230 kg (all fluids, 90% fuel, without standard Travel accessories) / approx. 243 kg fully equipped |
| Fuel Capacity | 23 Liters |
| Factory Equipment | Higher touring windscreen, 39L/27L plastic-and-aluminum side panniers, heated grips, Moto Guzzi MIA Bluetooth connectivity platform, center stand. |