There sat a 1988 Moto Guzzi Mille, two years and 38500 miles old. The dealer was a friend, of sorts, and assured me that it was a good ‘un. Cash on the nail, it could be mine for £3500. I laughed, he urged a test ride upon me. I was impressed enough to part with £2975.
The Mille is the cooking version of the big 1000cc V-twin Guzzi range. It shares the same cantankerous shaft drive OHV design with the other models but is so mildly tuned that top speed is a mere 110mph. The bike has a very heavy feel, both in its controls and handling. A remarkable amount of force is needed to throw it through the bends but straight line stability is very good right up to top speed.
With a heavy clutch, reluctant gearchange, wrist breaking throttle and lurching shaft drive I found my initial excursions through heavy traffic both physically and mentally torturing. The whole machine seemed to shake to the off beat tune of the 90 degree V-twin at lower revs, although once some decent speed was achieved in a tall gear engine shakes were merely reassuring rather than debilitating.
I found that 70 to 90mph cruising in fifth was quite pleasant, whether on motorways or fast A roads. There was a bit of urge left for acceleration to the ton if the occasion arose. Below 40mph the engine grumbled and the shaft stuttered, so changing down a gear or two for slower speeds was necessary. Not always easy with a gearchange that was so heavy it destroyed my old motorcycle boots within the first week. The change was slow and ponderous, making it difficult to match revs to gear ratios, resulting in a back wheel that slid around a lot on downchanges.
Once heeled over the bike would track around corners dead on line as long as there was a slight amount of acceleration. Using the linked brakes or backing off the throttle resulted in troublesome lurches as the suspension reacted with the shaft drive. Having complained thus, I must admit that the few times I had to wrench the beast on to a new line when banked over, to avoid a clash with blind cagers, the machine seemed to respond instinctively to my violent inputs!
My friend the dealer had only sold me the bike at such a bargain price on the understanding that if anything went wrong I would have to fix it myself. So, with 41400 miles up I was a bit miffed to find that the electric starter had failed. A breaker provided a replacement for £25. This was to be the start of a series of minor electrical malfunctions. The switches were the original Guzzi stuff and had developed the quaint habit of filling up with water when it rained and operating on their own. Riding along with the indicators flashing in a random manner was merely amusing, much more embarrassing was when the horn came on full blast in a town centre and only stopped working when | pulled out a bunch of wires.
I set about replacing various bits of the wiring, as well as replacing the switches with Japanese stuff. I was appalled by the total mess of wiring that I found, some of it original, a lot of it bodged. There was nothing for it but to pull the whole lot out and start again. I simplified matters by removing various relays (from what I could gather, one relay operated another relay which operated a third which would eventually get the starter rolling...), the ignition switch and the indicators. I had to take a week off work to sort it out. Some holiday!
The linked brakes would have been good had not the calipers kept gumming up. I rarely had to use the front brake lever, the foot pedal (operating a single rear and front disc) provided more than ample stopping other than in those kind of emergencies that turned hair white. Also, pad life was only 4-6000 miles. Wet weather braking was good if occasionally a bit too fierce at the rear disc, locking up the wheel and sending the back end into a vicious slide. Easily controllable as the tyre gave plenty of feedback from the road and despite the Mille's mass, there was a strong tendency towards its inherent straight line stability.
The bike came with a nearly new set of Pirellis, which were nice rubber but the back lasted only 7200 and the front 9000 miles. A set of Metz’s induced some mild wobbles once past 90mph and lasted even less well. Avon's finest were finally tried, not as good grip as the other tyres in the wet, but generally adequate. The front went for 15,000 and the rear for 10,500 miles - as I could buy them cheaply locally, this was more than acceptable.
The bike ran up to 51850 miles without any mechanical problems, used for a mixture of hardcore commuting (55 miles a day), weekend joy riding and the odd 2000 mile holiday jaunt. I grew to love the bike’s relaxed cruising gait and by then my muscles and reflexes had adjusted to the machine’s machinations in heavy traffic. Some pretty horrendous noises started coming from the shaft’s universal joint, a common Guzzi malaise, and one that was fixed by the nearest Guzzi dealer for £85.
The next 9000 miles continued in a pleasant enough manner, only routine maintenance and oil changes necessary. The bike had come with wire wheels rather than the more robust cast items that Guzzi normally fit to their motorcycles. These had needed little attention until, when on a very heavily laden tour, two up, a couple of spokes on the back wheel snapped, evidenced by a hell of a wobble at 80mph. We staggered home slowly. I was able to effect a cure myself by replacing the spokes. I found that the wheel bearings were pitted from running without any grease. The front were the same. A set of replacements fitted before they could give any trouble.
Finish on Italian bikes has always been the subject of much abuse, but the Mille was generally OK. The odd spot of rust was easily sorted and even the chrome on the original (at least as far as I could tell) silencers was still intact. The bike was used hard in all weathers, only cleaned about once a month, so this was an impressive display of inherent quality.
A pity that quality wasn’t inherent in the valve train. At 66700 miles there was something seriously amiss within the engine, power had disappeared above 4000 revs and it was using more oil than petrol. The camchain (yes, like a CX500 they couldn’t be bothered with gear drive) was knackered and great chunks were missing out of the camshaft lobes. Bits from breakers only cost £40 and the engine was easy to work on. Performance was restored to a degree, but the motor was showing its age with a top speed reduced to 97mph and fuel gone from 55mpg to 46mpg.
We still chugged on bravely, putting 75300 miles on the clock when the main bearings started rumbling and there was enough smoke out of the exhaust to put a YPVS Yam to shame. The gearbox had also become very reluctant to work but that had happened so gradually that I only noticed when coming back to the Guzzi after riding another bike.
Guzzi enthusiasts reckon they will go around the clock with ease, but my engine internals were comprehensively worn out - there was little that was not in need of either replacement or refurbishment. At that time I was flush with cash so could have dumped the Mille at the back of the garage and bought something newer. It so happened that I knew the breaker had a crashed 1991 model with just 5500 miles on the clock. I bought the engine plus carbs and shaft drive for £725. No problems fitting it into the old chassis, just a heavy lump to heft around.
The machine ran better than before with a 115mph top speed and nearer 60mpg than 55mpg, but I had ultimately become a bit disenchanted with the Mille and didn’t want to repeat the life and death cycle again. I sold the Mille, with all the accumulated spares, for £3250, which meant I had not taken a very big loss over two years and nearly 40000 miles of riding. I would recommend buying a low mileage one if you want a pleasant tourer for out of town work or long distance commuting. They are fairly easy on the pocket and very pleasant to ride within their limitations.
I've just bought a BMW R80RS, which so far has proven a much more enjoyable machine. I'm hoping this one will last for 100000 miles.
Wilf Dixon