2013 Moto Guzzi California Review: Emissary of the New Guzzi - Video - Motorcycle.com

Our European correspondent, Tor Sagen, reviewed both 2013 California models, the Custom and the Touring, following their respective Euro press launches a couple months ago. Recently, however, parent company, Piaggio, invited the US media to familiarize themselves with the new Guzzi model in an appropriate SoCal setting. Standing witness to the transformation from the old to the new California, it was apparent that the bike is worthy of closer inspection.

A comment by Galluzzi during our interview with the renowned industrial designer sums up the new philosophy of the 92-year-old motorcycle manufacturer. “Before it was ‘We did it, it’s done.’ And now it’s ‘We do it correctly or we don’t do it,’” he said. The California 1400 is the epitome of this statement.

Examples of this new philosophy are found in the details almost everywhere you look on the new California. Gone are the wonky foot controls that didn’t allow a booted toe beneath the shift lever, the knob for repositioning your right foot in order to properly operate the rear brake, and the unacceptably long dual-spring kickstand that was nearly impossible to extend and always clanged home when detracted. All replaced with ergonomically functional components.

Claims of 96 ponies at 6500 rpm move the California from almost last to the top of the horsepower list in our 2011 World Cruiser Shootout. Even when ascribing a 15% drivetrain power loss through its drive shaft, the resultant 82 hp beats the most powerful bike participating in that story, Triumph’s Thunderbird, and its 1597cc parallel-Twin’s rear wheel power by nine horses (82 vs 73). The T-Bird’s 93.5 ft-lb of torque at 2700 rpm still bests the California’s claimed 87 ft-lb at 2750 rpm, but it’s a much better figure than the 59.7 ft-lb way up at 5700 rpm of the old California.

Unlike the former 1064cc powerplant, the new 1380cc Twin pounds out oodles of low-end grunt, while similar in fashion to its predecessor the new engine eagerly spins to its redline. At idle the bike mildly vibes with the throws of the engine’s internals, but the kinematic engine support system – that isolates the engine and its components from the frame – negates any unwanted vibratory nuisances at above-walking speeds.

Endowed with its new electronic rider aides, the California 1400 stands more technologically advanced, in that respect, than Honda’s flagship supersport, the CBR600RR. The California’s cruise control is a simple, one-button affair of set it and forget it (no up or down incremental increases or decreases as found with other bikes’ cruise control), and its ABS system emits a loud clunk when initiated, but how many cruisers of this size, power and price are endowed with such applied sciences.

The old California’s seating position seemed modeled after a motorcycle of 250cc displacement where the buckhorn bars would “trap a taller rider’s knees against the fuel tank during tight maneuvers,” we reported in our review of the 2011 Black Eagle. For 2013 Guzzi stretched the California’s wheelbase five inches to 66.3 providing ample room compared to old bike’s confined quarters.

The new model doesn’t boast the seemingly unending amount of cornering clearance of the old Cali, but it will certainly out-handle many similar “cruisers” built more for form than function. The Guzzi willingly flew through sweepers, happily grinding away its floorboards, then quickly transitioned to equally abuse the other side’s boards through the next corner.

Keeping all this fun in check are dual 4-pot, radial-mount Brembo calipers gripping 320mm discs – a nod to performance braking other cruisers can only dream of. Piaggio says the California 1400 represents the largest financial investment into any modern Guzzi model.

Where the old California was repeatedly given a pass using “it’s a Guzzi,” as the catch-all excuse for its oftentimes inexplicable funkiness, this new Guzzi’s in no need of get-out-of-jail-free cards. This is a bike that will easily stand on its own merit against established models from Harley, Honda, Star, et. al. It’s time for us to round up the players for a World Cruiser Shootout Part Deux!

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