Moto Guzzi Millepercento Scighera 8V test

Menus

• Civilized sporty roadster
• Griso 8V V-Twin, 1.151 cm3, 105 hp and 124.4 Nm, 190 kg full made
• Discovery – 65% more power and 35% more torque
• The sporty Alba
• Scighera
• In the saddle
• Test
• Conclusion

Civilized sporty roadster

Griso 8V V-Twin, 1.151 cm3, 105 hp and 124.4 Nm, 190 kg full made

The market debut of the BMW R18 range powered by the new air / oil-cooled OHV big boxer has made people look at comparable twin-cylinder ranges within the competition and especially at Moto Guzzi.. But for the moment, the Italian company is focusing entirely on its mid-displacement V85 platform, half that of the R18, in particular with its trail V85-TT which largely occupies the activity of the plant in Mandello del Lario. But between the 853 cc V85-TT / V9 and the 1,380 cc MGX-21 and California, nothing is able to compete in the current range with a Ducati Monster 1200 or a Triumph Speed ​​Twin. There was the Griso 1200 8V, but it bowed out in 2016 with Euro4. Yet the 1,151cc 90 ° transverse V-Twin had earned a solid reputation for reliability and performance that riders the world over had come to appreciate. Granted, its Quattrovalvole engine produced only 110bhp at 7,600rpm and that power seemed limited for such a displacement, but the torque of 108.4Nm available at 6,400rpm made for an easy ride, suitable for the life of every day and with its own character. Call it a civilized streetfighter.

Test of the Millepercento Guzzi Scighera 8V

Suddenly, there is nothing similar in the current catalog of Moto Guzzi. A lack that prompted one of the largest Guzzi dealers in Italy, Stefano Perego de Millepercento (literally one thousand percent) located near Monza half an hour from Mandello, to try to remedy it.

We wanted to restore some of the excitement that is lacking in the Moto Guzzi lineup today. I have many clients who are looking for a "sporty" Guzzi, but there is nothing like that coming out of Mandello anymore. So we decided to try and do something about it !

Discovery – 65% more power and 35% more torque

Stefano Perego created Millepercento (MPC) in 2005. Three years later, he became a full-fledged manufacturer, like Magni, Bimota and other brands specializing in tailor-made. Being a manufacturer means that MPC can have any of its small volume products approved in Europe. So far there have been three models of this type, all essentially EVO versions of the existing Moto Guzzi, starting with the Millepercento BB1 which made its road debut in 2009 based on an original chassis from Griso equipped with a liquid-cooled OHV engine bored to 1,420 cm3 and developing 135 horsepower with two large titanium valves per cylinder. Designed by independent engineer Giovanni Mariani based in Milan and packed with technologies derived from Nascar racing engines, this engine produces 65% more power and 35% more torque than the 1,064cc engine from which it was drawn. It is even 30% more powerful than the 1.151 cc 8V launched by Guzzi in 2008. In 2007, Giovanni Guareschi won the Battle of the Twin at Daytona riding an MGS-01 equipped with a BB1 engine, reduced to 1.350 cm3 to meet the regulations, facing an armada of Ducati superbikes. This was what served as the basis to create a real Millepercento muscle bike using a Euro3 version of this engine, still producing 146.9 Nm and the stock chassis of what was then the sportiest Guzzi (the Griso ), but with Ohlins suspensions and Brembo radial brakes.

The Millepercento Scighera 8V, Alba and BB1

Millepercento then sold a dozen copies of the BB1 ​​to customers in Italy, Japan, Australia, Finland, Germany, UK and France. Some of them were very enthusiastic to discover that, contrary to the impression given by Moto Guzzi who widely communicated on the victory of Guareschi at Daytona against the Desmo, this motorcycle was made with an engine which was not designed by the constructor.

The Millepercento BB1

The sporty Alba

With the engine Mariani took care of, it was now time for Millepercento to take care of the chassis. So in March 2008, Perego hired Giuseppe Ghezzi, designer of the MGS-01 during his brief tenure with Moto Guzzi, to design the aptly named Alba ("Dawn" in Italian), unveiled at EICMA 2009 and finally produced in 2012. It was a fully faired sports car powered by a stock Griso 1150 engine. For Ghezzi, the Alba represented the long-awaited Guzzi superbike he had dreamed of designing since 1992. It was also his first sporty Guzzi..

She ended up winning Protwins races in Europe. Two versions were produced, each using the same chassis designed by Ghezzi: the Alba, with the stock engine of the Griso 1200 8V conforming to Euro3 and a more radical and expensive BB1 ​​engine Albacete taking its name from the Spanish circuit where the MGS-01 had won in endurance. It also meant that the Albacete was not homologated in Europe and that each customer had to take care of registering it themselves..

The Millepercento Alba served as the basis for the Scighera

The carefully designed tubular steel trellis frame by Ghezzi has been designed to accommodate either of the V-twin engines as a semi-load bearing element. This versatility meant that the complex aesthetic of the Alba, a mix of KTM-style angles and very Italian curves, was also dominated by two long ducts flanked on the crankcases and descending under the cylinders to bring in fresh air. on the back of the motorcycle. This is because on the Albacete the liquid-cooled engine radiator was placed under the saddle to maintain a clean front, hence the ducts, while the Alba received a large oil radiator for cooling. The chassis geometry was also sharper than on the original Guzzi frame of the BB1 ​​and the whole thing was much lighter too..

The tubular frame imagined by Ghezzi for the Alba is used on the Scighera

Scighera

Ghezzi left Millepercento in 2011, leaving Perego to develop the third model he initially envisioned, combining the Alba chassis with an original Griso 1200 8V engine, but this time with streetfighter styling like the BB1. To achieve this, he called on Filippo Barbacane, the most famous Italian specialist in Guzzi preparation with Officine Rossopuro, to produce the Scighera, unveiled in 2014. Named in reference to the mist found in the countryside Lombard around Milan. Despite its hefty price tag of € 29,000, Millepercento made several Scighera before Moto Guzzi shut down the Griso in 2017 rather than bringing the 8V in line with Euro4. But while the Griso still has no replacement, Stefano Perego continues to supply frame kits to update an already registered 8V Griso or even sell the complete motorcycles using reconditioned engines..

If Moto Guzzi has stopped the Griso, MPC continues to provide kits to transform its machine into Scighera

The chassis of the Scighera is identical to that of the Alba designed by Ghezzi and made of ALS 450 tubular steel and not of CrMo. Its fully adjustable 48mm Ohlins fork housed in Ergal triple triple trees with 120mm of travel is set at an angle of 24 ° (adjustable to plus or minus 0.5 °) to the Griso’s 26.5 ° factory and offers 98 mm of trail against 108 mm. Add to that a shorter wheelbase of 1,470mm vs. 1,554mm, plus the fact that the engine is located 40mm higher in the frame and 75mm further forward of the front hub and it is obvious that the machine has a sharper and more precise package.

At the front, the Цhlins fork is fully adjustable

In the saddle

When I piloted the Alba, Giuseppe Ghezzi explained to me:

When the motor is mounted higher in the frame, it improves traction and braking due to the increased weight transfer. When it is lower in the frame, it is better for agility, but the higher position allows you to go faster! You just have to work a little more on the bike to do it…

The 1.151 cc V-Twin has been reassembled in the frame compared to the Griso 8V

Not as much as on an original Griso, because once aboard the Scighera, you are immediately aware that the steering is sharper, more precise and above all more intuitive, it is really not necessary to engage as much as on a standard Guzzi to take the bike wherever you want. The fact that Ghezzi’s tubular steel frame is noticeably narrower between the knees than a factory Guzzi frame adds to the feeling of agility and one feels much more like part of the MPC rather than sitting down. as on an example built in Mandello. This is the case despite a fairly high saddle height of 890 mm that Ghezzi has chosen so that the rider’s weight also contributes to mass transfer. When designing the chassis, he also focused on centralizing the rider’s and motorcycle’s weight, which made it easier to change direction despite a higher center of gravity..

La Millepercento Scighera 8V

We have brought the rider and engine closer together to facilitate handling without sacrificing comfort as this is very important to reduce rider fatigue in endurance..

I would say it works as it takes a lot less effort to take the Scighera from angle to angle in a series of curves following a winding road up the hillside. However, despite this high seat, I had no trouble putting both feet on the ground with my 1m80 thanks to the narrower frame between the legs. The rider is well seated on this bike and the adjustable handlebars mounted on the top triple triple tree help find the ideal position.

The saddle is high, but narrow and makes it easy to put your feet on the ground

Test

The increased responsiveness thanks to the shorter wheelbase and the more radical geometry result, despite the higher center of gravity, in greater liveliness. It is no longer necessary to anticipate changes of direction well in advance, as is often the case with the Guzzi. This machine is very responsive with the advantage of a fully adjustable Ohlins TTX36 rear shock. A rare thing on a shaft-driven motorcycle, it is progressive, which adds an unexpected degree of smoothness to the rear suspension despite the reduced travel of 115mm. It also provides something that you don’t really look for in a streetfighter, namely a fairly good rolling quality, including on rough surfaces whereas the shoulder of the Dunlop Roadsmart rear proves to be very effective on the angle, without the slightest parasitic movement when trying to maintain speed in a curve. This is the case because MPC has been able to resist the temptation to reinforce the look of the Scighera with a large tire at the expense of handling. The 180 / 55-17 rear tire is wide enough for a bike like this where quick changes of direction are what you really want. Function beats form on the Scighera. This therefore translates into a determined single-seater streetfighter that exposes its shortened aluminum tube subframe. The bulky casing and the intake vents of the massive rear radiator of the Alba have been abandoned. A smaller cooling system is now hidden under the transmission, flanked by a pair of fairings.

Road test of the Millepercento Scighera 8V

The Dunlop de la Scighera tires are mounted on great wheels that I had never seen before riding this bike and which represent the return of a big name in equipment. Borrani alloy rims were a must for riders in the days when all motorcycles relied on spoke rims. Since their replacement with one-piece molded rims in the 1970s, the Italian company has focused exclusively on four-wheelers rather than two-wheelers, at least until now. The Scighera’s 24-spoke Boranni M-Ray composite rims feature solid aluminum hubs laced to the aluminum rims by stainless steel spokes via Borrani’s "Only-Spokes" system. This eliminates nuts and thus reduces weight for reduced rotational inertia, therefore faster acceleration and better braking. A specific sealing system allows the use of tubeless tires such as Dunlop.

Borrani spoke rims reduce inertia

We also notice the quality of the Scighera’s brakes with 320mm Brembo double floating discs gripped by four-piston monoblock radial calipers. These brake the motorcycle’s 190 kg (all full against the 222 kg dry of the original Griso 8V) from high speeds with excellent feedback. Combined with the lighter rims, braking is further improved, as is liveliness. The integration by Ghezzi of the final drive housing of the Griso shaft and its progressive damper also works well. It is probably the most manoeuvrable Moto Guzzi sports car that I have been able to ride, even more so than the previous MPC Alba, which relies largely on the same chassis. The Scighera is however lighter and with less fairing, thus offering more agility. It also presents a step up from the best Guzzi designed so far, the MGS-01, which is not as comfortable when it comes to stringing together virolos and is not so easy. to change the angle.

Thanks to the Brembo equipment, braking is imperative

Although the key internal components of the Scighera’s eight-valve engine remained unchanged on this bike, better intake and exhaust breathing resulted in a 6-horsepower boost over the stock model to reach 105 horsepower at 7,600 rpm. In addition, the torque distribution is increased over the entire rev range with 15% more and a peak of 124.4 Nm at just 4,900 rpm. This allows for good acceleration and makes the engine smoother than it used to be. The Scighera is really fun to take strong, with crisp but linear acceleration from 4,000 rpm and faster than on any other stock Guzzi. It is also due to the only internal modification of the engine which equipped my test model but which MPC sells as an option: a lighter engine flywheel of 2kg and a single-disc clutch with diaphragm which, without sacrificing the torque that has always claimed the V-Twin Guzzi, also made it possible to increase the acceleration of the engine and to make it more responsive without generating jerks. This torque has also been improved by Millepercento’s Air One intake system which sees a single Dell’Orto 64mm throttle body replacing the two original 50mm elements, supplied with fresh air through two inlets on either side of the fuel tank while the air box has been replaced with a high performance BMC conical filter. The two intake ducts leading from the throttle body to their respective cylinder heads each carry a single injector. This assembly results in an action with the handle much lighter than on the other Guzzi. The reason is simple since the cable only actuates one throttle valve instead of two..

The Twin gains 15% torque to reach 124.4 Nm at 4,900 rpm

The result is a noticeable extra kick from low revs to the breaker at 8,300 rpm, with a strong zone between 4,500 and 7,000 rpm that is easily accessed through the gearbox. six-speed which turns out very smooth. I just wish there was no shifter. However, there is no need to think twice when using the clutch to shift all six gears because the Griso’s stock shifting is precise and one of Guzzi’s best. Better still, there is no jerk in the transmission from closed throttle, unlike some Guzzi engines. The torque curve is also flatter and revs faster than on the original configuration..

The revs are faster and go smoothly

Another explanation for the increase in overall engine performance comes from the Zard 2-in-1 stainless steel exhaust system which, thanks to the elevation of the engine in the frame, now passes under the oil pan to dramatically improve clearance. on the ground. This means that the two 50mm manifolds come together fast enough to create a single 60mm tube with a catalyst installed for Euro 3 compliance. Add new engine mappings via the Athena GET ECU and the result is a smoother finish. linear, clean and consistent in power, without that drop in the curve experienced by the Guzzi at mid-speed. But the Scighera is not Euro4, however, not only for noise and emissions reasons, but also because it has no ABS..

Conclusion

Millepercento and Officine Rossopuro have teamed up to produce a truly attractive road-going Moto Guzzi, although it can no longer be sold in Europe. However, it remains sold in the rest of the world with a reconditioned Griso 1200 8V engine. It is also possible to fit the 1,420cc BB1 engine delivering 30% more power and torque with limited additional weight and an additional cost of around 5,000 € depending on specification. European bikers, on the other hand, can acquire kit parts, including the chassis to convert an 8V Griso already registered to the Scighera specifications….

Millepercento Scighera 8V

Strong points

• Agility and maneuverability
• Motor
• Ergonomics
• Transmission

Weak points

• Cost
• No ABS or shifter
• No longer sold in Europe

The technical sheet of the Millepercento Guzzi Scighera 8V

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