automoderated, emailconfirmed
17,285
edits
m (Daniel45 moved page Moto Guzzi Mille GT to Moto Guzzi Mille GT 1000) |
|||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Motorcycle | {{Motorcycle | ||
|name = Moto Guzzi Mille | |name = Moto Guzzi Mille 1000GT | ||
| | |photo =Moto-Guzzi-Mille-1000GT.jpg | ||
|aka = | |aka = | ||
|manufacturer = [[Moto Guzzi]] | |manufacturer = [[Moto Guzzi]] | ||
|parent_company = | |parent_company = | ||
|production = | |production = 1987 - 1990 | ||
|model_year = | |model_year = | ||
|predecessor = | |predecessor = | ||
|successor = | |successor = | ||
|class = | |class = | ||
|engine = | |engine = Four stroke, 90°V twin, longitudinally mounted, OHV, 4 [[valve]] per cylinder. | ||
|bore_stroke = | |bore_stroke = | ||
|compression = | |compression = 9.2:1 | ||
|top_speed = | |top_speed = 189.7 km/h | ||
|power = | |power = | ||
|torque = | |torque = | ||
|ignition = | |fuel_system = | ||
|spark_plug = | |ignition = Current distributor | ||
|battery = | |spark_plug = | ||
|transmission = | |battery = | ||
|frame = | |transmission = 5 Speed | ||
|suspension = | |frame = Duplex cradle, disassemblable | ||
|brakes = | |suspension =Front: Telescopic forks <br> | ||
|front_tire = {{tire|110/90- | Rear: 2x Koni, 5 position preload | ||
|rear_tire = {{tire|120/90- | |brakes =Front: 2x 300mm discs <br>Rear: Single 240mm disc | ||
|rake_trail = | |front_tire = {{tire|110/90-V18}} | ||
|wheelbase = | |rear_tire = {{tire|120/90-V18}} | ||
|length = | |rake_trail = | ||
|width = | |wheelbase = | ||
|height = | |length = | ||
|seat_height = | |width = | ||
|dry_weight = | |height = | ||
|wet_weight = | |seat_height = | ||
|fuel_capacity = | |dry_weight = 220 kg / 485 lbs | ||
|oil_capacity = | |wet_weight = 229 kg / 504 lbs | ||
|fuel_consumption = | |fuel_capacity = 25 Liters / 6.0 US gal | ||
|turning_radius = | |oil_capacity = | ||
|related = | |fuel_consumption = | ||
|competition = | |turning_radius = | ||
|related = | |||
|competition = | |||
}} | }} | ||
The '''Moto Guzzi Mille | The '''Moto Guzzi Mille GT1000''' was a motorcycle produced by [[Moto-Guzzi]] between 1987 and 19990. It could reach a top speed of 189.7 km/h. | ||
==Engine== | |||
The engine was a Air cooled cooled Four stroke, 90°V twin, longitudinally mounted, OHV, 4 valve per cylinder.. The engine featured a 9.2:1 [[compression ratio]]. | |||
==Drive== | |||
Power was moderated via the Dry twin plate [[diaphragm]] unit mounted on [[crankshaft]] end. | |||
==Chassis== | |||
It came with a 110/90-V18 front [[tire]] and a 120/90 -V18 rear tire. Stopping was achieved via 2x 300mm discs in the front and a Single 240mm disc in the rear. The front suspension was a Telescopic forks while the rear was equipped with a 2x Koni, 5 position preload. The Mille 1000GT was fitted with a 25 Liters / 6.0 US gal fuel tank. The bike weighed just 220 kg / 485 lbs. | |||
== Photos == | |||
[[File:Moto-Guzzi-Mille-1000GT.jpg|600px|Moto Guzzi Mille 1000GT]] | |||
[[File:Moto-Guzzi-Mille-1000-GT-87--1.jpg|600px|Moto Guzzi Mille 1000GT]] | |||
[[File:Moto-Guzzi-Mille-1000-GT-87.jpg|600px|Moto Guzzi Mille 1000GT]] | |||
== Overview == | |||
Everything old is new again Max Williams last year | |||
was when it finally dawned on Moto Guzzi that competing with the Japanese on | |||
styling as well as technological grounds was a complete waste of time. However, | |||
reversing wholesale into the 'sixties wasn't quite what one expected as a future | |||
launch policy. Yet early in 1988, Guzzi importer Keith Davies waxed enthusiastic | |||
about a 'good old fashioned' machine in the mould of 'the old 650cc V7' which | |||
had lumbered into the mists of time back in the early seventies. | |||
The thinking behind this new model, he explained, | |||
was that in their faintly ridiculous attempts to extend the life of the ageing | |||
V-twin engines by tarting them up with wholly inappropriate (and largely | |||
unstable) 16-inch wheels and swoopy designer bodywork, the factory had all but | |||
abandoned the traditional Guzzi afficianado. My own view is that the T5 | |||
adequately displayed the old fashioned virtues of solid if unexciting power, | |||
solid if unexceptional handling and solid if uninspiring visual appeal. Only the | |||
ghastly bikini fairing and the instrument binnacle gave lie to the T5's modest | |||
mien, but on consideration, a chap who was serious enough about having a Guzzi | |||
that looked like a rea/Guzzi could've easily done something about that with the | |||
aid of a spanner and a decent breaker's yard. | |||
As it is, Guzzi have more or less done it for him | |||
with the launch of the Mille GT. Rather than simply upgrade-or more accurately-refrograde | |||
the T5, they have bolted together a slightly curious amalgam of T5 and | |||
California. As if tojustify the GT appendage, they've taken the standard | |||
9.2:1,948cc motor that powers the lumbering Cali and clothed it in chassis, | |||
bodywork and cycle parts from the lighter and nimbler T5. (In fact it shares its | |||
basic framework with the Cali). The gearbox and ratios are, however, those of | |||
the T5. | |||
This version of Mandello's biggest banger puts out | |||
around 65hp and 54ftlb of torque, which is about the same as the standard T5. | |||
Considering that the Mille is actually 22lb heavier than the T5 at 507lb (dry), | |||
one wonders why Guzzi bothered putting the bigger engine in at all or if they | |||
were dead set on the idea, why they didn't whack in the 10:1 Le Mans pistons, | |||
40mm Dellorto carbs and hotter cam which would really justify the GT tag...and | |||
make fora very interesting plot indeed. | |||
The only immediately discernible differences between | |||
the Mille and the T5 apart from the cylinder heads, are the wheels, the | |||
instruments and of course the plastic that surrounds them. The Mille has 18inch | |||
wheels at both ends, the front shod in a 110/90 Phantom, the rear in a 120/90. | |||
Although the T5 had a 16in front end, the wheelbase remains the same at | |||
59.2inches which suggests that the geometry has been altered slightly to protect | |||
the innocent. Where the most dramatic change occurs is in the option of good ol' | |||
fashioned wire wheels (costing £130 extra) and it's ironic that the factory had | |||
to go to Spain to get them from Messrs Akront, hence the extra cost. | |||
The instruments are basically as per the T5 but are | |||
minus the ammeter and clock, and are stuck in chrome 'bullets' redolent of the | |||
Guzzi Florida (and every other quasi boulevard cruiser you can think of). Look a | |||
little closer at the Mille and you will notice a few other backWards steps, such | |||
as the dumping of lattice-work alloy footrest hangers in favor of sensible (and | |||
cheaper) steel tubes, the provision of sturdy chrome engine guards, and | |||
undrilled brake discs. | |||
Of course, with the arguable exception of the wheels, all of this is cosmetic | |||
and as such is spurious to the question that runs through the minds of all | |||
caring, sharing Italophiles, namely: when is Guzzi going to emerge from the dark | |||
ages and secure a future for itself that will keep the marque alive in the '90s? | |||
I'll save my own pontif ications on that subject for Lore but in the meantime it | |||
must be said that the Mille GT is not a bad motorcycle as I discovered soon | |||
after I picked up the 'standard' alloy wheeled version from the factory at | |||
Mandello. Its traditional Falcone-red livery suits the bike's image...and looks | |||
pretty too.wheeled job had a bit more feel to its roadholding, however. All | |||
Guzzis now have switchgear that is more in keeping with common sense as well UJ | |||
as industry (i e Japanese) standards. For instance, the choke control rotates | |||
around the left bar and is not the on/off affair it was J of yore. | |||
Starting and slow running are therefore less of a chore than they once were. | |||
The clutch mechanism has also been altered to offer | |||
a slightly lighter, more progressive lever action. I soon eased into the light | |||
traffic round Lake Como on a somewhat chilly, overcast day and realised that the | |||
Mille required marginally less conscious effort to acclimatise oneself to than | |||
other Guzzis I've taken from the factory. | |||
After the initial spitting and hesitance of cold | |||
running had subsided, I began pushing the Mille quite hard along the twisty | |||
lakeside perimeter road, soon discovering that the hard suspension forgave | |||
little in the way of road surface irregularities. Guzzi's characteristic lack of | |||
fork compliance and choice of tautly sprung Koni shocks came as no surprise of | |||
course, but I was caught off guard by the Mille's tendency towards understeer - | |||
the consequence of having ridden nothing but 16inch front wheeled Guzzis in | |||
recent years. | |||
The Mille thus required a little more dedication to | |||
duty in the steering dept and more application of muscle than I'd made mental | |||
provision for, but fortunately the relatively high and wide handlebars | |||
considerably aided this process. A few miles up the road I collected a friend of | |||
the female persuasion and found that the added weight on the pillion actually | |||
enhanced the effectiveness of the Koni Special D shocks already set on their | |||
lowest preload (the front end was kept empty of extra air). | |||
The pillion also had a slightly improving | |||
effect on the handling, for the extra payload kept the whole thing more firmly | |||
on the road without making the steering any heavier. So two-up we swirled around | |||
the Italian humour, abetted by the legendary torque of the grunty V-twin which, | |||
although reluctant to pull strongly at about 5000rpm, allowed the lazy rider to | |||
stick with one or two gears for almost every occasion. 18mph per 10OOrpm in top | |||
gear is what you get from an engine that will pull happily from below 1500 revs | |||
(and 25mph) in that self-same 4.37:1 cog. Spirited, rather than wild, activity | |||
in the engine room yields an entirely acceptable fuel consumption figure of | |||
47mpg overall, which is damn good for a machine of this capacity, regardless of | |||
performance. And it's also slightly better than the 45mpg I got from last year's | |||
T5! | |||
The engine will rev quite handsomely if you stoke it | |||
harshly enough, and by screaming the thing up to the 8000rpm bloodline in fourth | |||
gear and then dumping up into top, the Mille would clamber up to an indicated | |||
120mph at 6500rpm. Knowing the legendary inaccuracy of Italian instruments but | |||
having no available means to check the Mille's speedometer, I suspect that this | |||
means around 105/110mph. | |||
As neither I nor anyone else of sound mind expects tarmac blistering | |||
acceleration from a Guzzi engine any more, one has to content oneself with the | |||
rorty exhaust note and the sense of simple yet visceral engineering that | |||
delivers it. The biggest of the Mandello twins is not a particularly | |||
free-spinning engine, sharing as it does the same heavy flywheels as the | |||
California-spec motor, but the 30mm DellortoPHF carbs put gas into the | |||
combustion chambers quite efficiently and the feeling you get when you crack | |||
open the throttles is stimulating in an entirely different way from indulging in | |||
the same activity on a liquid-cooled, five-valve Japanese multi. | |||
This slow-but-responsive solution to the quest for | |||
motorcycling's ultimate virtues is not, unfortunately, complemented by the | |||
Mille's brakes, which feel unnervingly wooden and thus encourage overbraking | |||
until you get used to them. When the front anchors bite, they bite-which caused | |||
a bum-clenching prayer for more road the first time I nearly locked up the front | |||
wheel. Again, the inconsistent retardation curve of the Brembos is something I | |||
adapted to in a relatively short time, but the lack of sensitivity was not. | |||
On a more positive note, I can report that in | |||
addition to vastly improved switchgear, the array of idiot lights is both more | |||
comprehensive and more immediately legible than on last year's Guzzis. There is | |||
now a fuel level warning lamp (when it glows, you've still got about two gallons | |||
left out of five), as well as the normal stuff. To the left of the lamp panel | |||
(and just above a rather flashy polished alloy handlebar clamp), there's now a | |||
button that activates an emergency flasher system. | |||
The Vitaloni mirrors are of the same ilk as the T5's | |||
- ugly but highly effective. I can't quite understand why Moto Guzzi built a | |||
traditionally styled machine yet didn't opt for something that looked more the | |||
part-surely they would've been cheaper? The same goes for the plastic fenders | |||
and alloy grab rail which are straight off the T5 and rather inappropriate with | |||
their mild aerofoil styling. | |||
Build quality gets better each year at Mandello but only by small increments, | |||
which means that this year's models are put together and finished to a slightly | |||
higher standard than last year's models. However, the Guzzis are still a bit | |||
below the norms tolerated by the Big Four, and certainly way behind those of | |||
BMW. | |||
In some respects Guzzi would seem to be grasping at straws with the Mille GT, | |||
but when you learn that the Mille was actually developed (although that's rather | |||
overstating it) in response to dealer demand, primarily from Germany, then maybe | |||
it's not such a dumb move. Les Harris proved that there was a steady market for | |||
his bitza Bonnevilles, and even his Rotax-engined Matchlesses are allegedly | |||
selling quite well. The demand for machinery that is reliable, easy to maintain | |||
Heavier Cali's drilled Brembo discs are better in | |||
the wet. Forks are softer, more progressively sprung than Mine's, thus improving | |||
ride quality but roadholding handling still ponderous. | |||
sounds and sensations that don't conform (or, unfortunately, perform) to | |||
mainstream standards may very well be on the increase. | |||
It's something of a shame that a bike like the Mille, whose true development | |||
costs must've been amortised a decade or more ago, still costs as much as far | |||
more sophisticated and exciting machines. As long as that's the case, its appeal | |||
will remain with a dwindling band of oldsters who remember what this sort of | |||
motorcycling was all about and who can afford to indulge their nostalgia and | |||
whimsy. Those who've known nothing but high-tech Oriental sportsbikes will be | |||
unlikely to consider time-warp travel aboard a Mille GT unless it were sold for | |||
a lot less than 4399 ponds. | |||
Source Motorcycle Magazine 1988 | |||
==Specifications== | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
|- | |||
!Make Model | |||
|Moto Guzzi Mille 1000 GT | |||
|- | |||
!Year | |||
|1987 | |||
|- | |||
!Engine Type | |||
|Four stroke, 90°V twin, longitudinally mounted, OHV, 4 valve per cylinder. | |||
|- | |||
!Displacement | |||
|949 cc / 57.9 cu-in | |||
|- | |||
!Bore X Stroke | |||
|88 x 78 mm | |||
|- | |||
!Cooling System | |||
|Air cooled | |||
|- | |||
!Compression | |||
|9.2:1 | |||
|- | |||
!Induction | |||
|2x 30mm Dell'Orto VHB with air filltering and inlet silencer | |||
|- | |||
!Lubrication | |||
|By pressure pump | |||
|- | |||
!Ignition | |||
|Current distributor | |||
|- | |||
!Starting | |||
|Electric | |||
|- | |||
!Max Power | |||
|67 hp / 49 kW @ 6700 rpm | |||
|- | |||
!Max Power Rear Tire | |||
|62 hp / @ 6700 rpm | |||
|- | |||
!Max Torque | |||
|6.6 kgf-m @ 5750 rpm | |||
|- | |||
!Clutch | |||
|Dry twin plate diaphragm unit mounted on crankshaft end | |||
|- | |||
!Transmission | |||
|5 Speed | |||
|- | |||
!Final Drive | |||
|Shaft, within right side pivoted fork leg. 4.71:1 reduction | |||
|- | |||
!Frame | |||
|Duplex cradle, disassemblable | |||
|- | |||
!Front Suspension | |||
|Telescopic forks | |||
|- | |||
!Rear Suspension | |||
|2x Koni, 5 position preload | |||
|- | |||
!Front Brakes | |||
|2x 300mm discs | |||
|- | |||
!Rear Brakes | |||
|Single 240mm disc | |||
|- | |||
!Front Tire | |||
|110/90-V18 | |||
|- | |||
!Rear Tire | |||
|120/90 -V18 | |||
|- | |||
!Dry Weight | |||
|220 kg / 485 lbs | |||
|- | |||
!Wet Weight | |||
|229 kg / 504 lbs | |||
|- | |||
!Fuel Capacity | |||
|25 Liters / 6.0 US gal | |||
|- | |||
!Consumption Average | |||
|18.1 km/lit | |||
|- | |||
!Braking 60 - 0 / 100 - 0 | |||
|13.3 m / 41.1 m | |||
|- | |||
!Standing ¼ Mile | |||
|13.2 sec / 157.9 km/h | |||
|- | |||
!Top Speed | |||
|189.7 km/h | |||
|} | |||
{{Moto Guzzi}} | {{Moto Guzzi}} | ||
[[Category:Moto Guzzi motorcycles]] | [[Category:Moto Guzzi motorcycles]] |