Moto Guzzi Audace 1400 Review

Cruiser motorcycles evoke a strong emotion. They are generally loaded with style and posses a powerful character. Cruisers were made popular by the Americans, but what we ride here comes from Italy. This is the Moto Guzzi Audace 1400. Moto Guzzi is an iconic Italian motorcycle brand which has many accolades to boast of, including winning races at Moto GPs and the Isle of Man TT. Now owned by Piaggio, it sells its range of motorcycles in India through Piaggio’s network. We lay our hands on this mean machine to find out its speciality and uniqueness. 

Moto Guzzi Audace 1400 Design

The Moto Guzzi Audace 1400 is a true blue cruiser. Its looks unique and has a low seating with a long wheelbase. The bike we rode was finished in matte-black shade and looked intimidating.  It has a single round headlamp with a straight handlebar, but the actual sinister look starts from there onwards. The full black fuel tank sits atop a transversely mounted V-Twin engine, which has protruding cylinder blocks on either side. This is what makes the bike look unique and badass! This is complimented by the outward facing exhausts. The split seats are well integrated and beautifully sculpted, ending into the tail which slopes downwards. The tail has two strips of LED lamps that again have a distinctive look. The instrument pod is a stand alone unit which is a combination of digital and analogue. It displays a digital speedo, trip meter, riding modes, temperature, fuel gauge, gear indicator and the tachometer which is analogue. The switchgears are simple and of decent quality. The bike is more suited for tall riders and shorter ones will find it cumbersome.

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Moto Guzzi Audace 1400 Engine

The Audace 1400 is fitted with a 1380cc, transverse V-Twin engine that makes 95bhp of power at 6500rpm and a peak torque of 121Nm at a very low 3000rpm, which suggests the low end grunt this machine has. The engine comes to life in a rather dramatic fashion, the way it literally shudders when started.

Racing the engine while standstill results in the bike tilting towards the right side, which is something you won’t generally find on other bikes.

The Moto Guzzi Audace 1400 is shaft driven and this itself is a unique feature which helps deliver better power, with minimal loss. The bike starts off briskly and comes into its own on the run. Those vibrations felt at idle vanish once the bike is in motion and it settles to a smooth ride. The engine is very punchy and has loads of torque available at low rpms.

Moto Guzzi Audace 1400 Ride and Handling

The ride on the Audace 1400 is smooth, however, the suspension is on the stiffer side and riding over potholes or bad patches is not such a pleasurable experience. But where this bike excels is in the handling department. It is easily one of the best cruisers we have ridden when it comes to handling. Though the bike weighs around 300 kgs, the way it take curves in its stride is surely commendable.

Getting a little more enthusiastic, you can easily scrape the footpeg.

The Audace 1400 has three riding modes – Veloce, Turismo and Pioggia, which means power mode, cruising mode and rain/snow mode, where the power is reduced to avoid slipping. There is a switchable traction control system too and the bike also comes with ABS.

As mentioned earlier the Moto Guzzi Audace 1400 is meant for tall riders or XL sized ones. While you stretch out your legs to the footpegs, you also have to lunge forward to grip the straight handlebar, which is something that shorter riders will find bothersome and not comfortable either. The seat though is very comfortable. The bike also has cruise control which allows you to enjoy a long, uninterrupted ride.

Also, while riding, your knees are very close to the protruding cylinders, which I didn’t realize while riding as I had my knee guards on. But one surely needs to be careful and appropriately dressed while riding this one.

Moto Guzzi Audace 1400 Price

The Moto Guzzi Audace 1400 is priced at INR 23.38 lakhs (on-road, Pune). The bike is currently sold through its company-owned dealership – Motoplex, in Pune. The company plans to open more outlets in major cities, shortly.

Verdict

The Moto Guzzi Audace 1400 comes as a fresh product in the growing high end cruiser motorcycle segment. While the Harleys rule this segment , others like Indian, Triumph and Suzuki also have their presence. The Moto Guzzi though priced on the higher side, brings some uniqueness to this segment and is also fairly feature rich, not to forget its stand-apart styling. If you want a big cruiser, with loads of raw power and you also wanna be different from the crowd, the Moto Guzzi Audace 1400 will fulfill that desire.