By: www.motorcyclecruiser.com

Stalwart middleweight gets 853cc engine upgrade, other tweaks for new year.

If you’ve been a longtime fan of Moto Guzzi’s popular middleweight V7 series over the years, chances are you’re like us and have wished for a bit more pep in its step, especially considering how the competition has been stepping up its game. Well, you’re in luck; the Italian marque has just announced a major upgrade to one of its most classic and least expensive designs, in the form of a new 853cc motor—the V7′s largest powerplant to date. For 2021, the Moto Guzzi V7 will come in just two versions, the V7 Special and the V7 Stone, which whittles the series lineup down substantially. In 2020, for example, there were a whopping 10 variants, if you include the Anniversary models.

Guzzi is calling the 2021 V7′s bigger mill “a new engine,” while also admitting that it’s a close relative of the one already propelling the firm’s V85 TT adventure bike. That means around 25 percent more power, with a claimed 65 hp at 6,800 rpm (up from the previous 52 hp at 6,200 rpm) and more torque, going up to 53.8 pound-feet at 5,000 rpm. What’s more, you won’t have to rev out the new Goose to get at it; more than 80 percent of that grunt will be accessible at just 3,000 rpm. We’re wondering (and hoping) if that also means the V9 models will be seeing that same engine update for 2021.

But that’s just the main event—there are other revisions swirling around this latest V7 version which Guzzi claims makes the new bikes “faster, more comfortable…and more refined,” though from what we can glean, they’re fairly minor. In the absence of a full spec sheet (which we’re still waiting for), Guzzi says there have been reinforcements to the frame and the headstock area to improve handling, the fitment of a larger shaft final drive, and new aluminum wheels on the Stone, which wear a wider 150-section rear tire (though it’s still 17 inches).

You’ll also see new, longer-travel Kayaba shocks out back and a new stepped saddle design to boost ergos, but most of the other stuff is purely cosmetic, like the stylish new side panels and a shorter rear fender, both of which, when paired with the new exhaust system, deliver a slightly more refined look.

After that, it comes down to model preference and how retro you wanna get, with the base Stone wearing cast wheels and a single gauge digital display along with full LED lighting (with DRL), topped with a black saddle. In fact, the Stone blacks out much of its exterior, with the wheels, shocks, exhaust, and side panels also getting inky. The V7 Special on the other hand, more readily taps into its classic past, with silver spoke wheels and dual analog dials for the speedo and the rev counter, capping it all off with a brown saddle.

Guzzi has also told us the V7 Stone will come in three satin-finish color schemes when it hits North America: Nero Ruvido, Azzurro Ghiaccio, and Arancione Rame (basically black, blue, and orange). The more classically styled V7 Special, on the other hand, will be offered in Blu Formale and Grigio Casual (what looks like a purplish-blue, and gray). There’s no official word on pricing as yet, but we’ve heard both models will be fairly close to the MSRPs of existing V7s, in the $9,000 range, which will easily cement their status as the most affordable in the Guzzi portfolio.

But given the new bike’s larger displacement, we do wonder how Guzzi can justify calling it a V7 (kudos to ditching the Roman numeral updates though). Maybe there’s a fair bit of model reshuffling coming down the pike for 2021?