It's not bad is it?
Had a test ride today at my local Guzzi dealer and, despite the good things I've heard about the V85TT, I was prepared not to like it. I went on the GS so I could get a feel for them back to back and in truth I still like the GS a lot so I was expecting disappointment.
To my surprise after the first ten minutes when I was underwhelmed it grew on me quite quickly and after three or four hours on it I was loathe to give it back. The engine's a lovely thing, It's not as quick as the GS for obvious reasons, less power and a more lazy response for two, but it's not underpowered at all for it's engine size. As others have said you just have to use the gearbox properly. No issues overtaking, plenty of engine braking, and very decent handling on the back lanes.
It's also not as bad as expected on A roads and motorways. Plenty of power for cruising into the 90's, plus a bit to spare if you push it, and not too bad on the buffeting despite the fact the ugly touring screen on the travel edition is just at the wrong height for me.
It's a bit lighter than my beast, a bit lower, although the seat height isn't massively different from a GS seat on low setting and it's dead easy to manoeuvre. It's also pretty frugal, and the heated grips are fine in my view. Some dislike the switchgear but for me it's all in a good place and fairly simple. Also it does have some vibration but it's not bad vibration. I could certainly live with it. You can have either plastic or tin panniers, and although the metal ones probably look better, I quite like the side opening plastic ones, plus the pannier rails for them are less obtrusive.
Other than the screen, for which there are various after market options, including the Ermax screen that Steve likes, there's not that much wrong with it. The TFT is a bit annoying in that the very time you'd like to know what gear you're in it doesn't tell you unless the you let the clutch fully out, although it seems to happily pull away in any gear almost. The other thing is the big brother yellow and red lights that flash at you when you get anywhere near the top end of the rev. range. Apparently that can be adjusted and the salesman showed me how.
Overall I'm quite impressed. The stumbling block for me is that yer man only has the travel edition and the red block colour. The travel colour is about as bad as the colour on my old 800GSA which was best described as 'baby's first push' although the overall package on the travel is quite good, apart from the touring screen. The other colour he has is block red which is a bit meh. The deal I had been offered was a good one with the GS included as trade in but if I want the yellow one, which I do, he can't get one in before December, and the powers that be won't let him give the same discount after 30th November. Not the salesman's fault, he's been good, but bean counters further up the line.
I'm not in a rush so if he can't shift the blockage at his end I may wait until December and see what happens. If they've still got 2020 models to shift, which it seems they have, then there should be another offer in the pipeline, hopefully.