Moto Guzzi’s V85 TT has been generating some real sizzle for the Italian marque, becoming one of their top-sellers since it debuted in late 2018. Its muscular, classic-inspired styling has all the right lines for the adventure bike crowd. And after we tested it in Sardinia last year, the bike got high marks as a solid travel machine. However, with its street-oriented performance, the V85 TT wasn’t quite the platform some dirt fans were hoping for.

Of course, there’s no bike that can’t be improved by someone with enough talent and a clear idea of why rally-style bikes are so appealing. Now Italian designer Oberdan Bezzi has done just that, giving the moto world his own version of the shaft-drive V85 TT, which he calls the V90 TTR.

A lot of people will look at Bezzi’s concept bike and think it’s what the Guzzi should have been, or at least what a more dirt-oriented version of the V85 TT could be. First and foremost, you notice that the concept bike sits high and proud on a 21/18-inch front/rear spoked wheelset. That change, along with increased suspension travel, give the bike a more aggressive, purposeful look and would significantly improve off-road ability.

Upfront, Bezzi ditches the V85 TT’s high fender for a low version, a change that works well with the more substantial fairing design. The fairing flows smoothly into the gas tank, which appears largely unchanged. That’s a plus, as the stock Guzzi holds a generous 6.1 gallons of fuel. Bezzi’s concept adds sleek auxiliary tanks to the rear, capacity unknown, for some serious theoretical range. The upswept exhaust remains, looking less bulky, the rear racks are gone, the side panels are smoothed out to blend in with the rear tanks and the rear fender is put on a diet.

His sketches don’t fully display the front of the bike, but it seems he’s also binned the distinctive “soaring eagle” dual headlights for a round design, a change that lends a retro, off-road feel at the expense of some distinctive Guzzi panache.

If the bike’s moniker is any indication, Bezzi is also calling for a bump in displacement, presumably to up the V85 TT’s 80-horsepower figure. At 900-cc, it would be in the ballpark with the Triumph Tiger 900 and Husqvarna’s planned Norden 901, and in league with Ducati’s planned 1,100-cc Desert X Scrambler. 

Will Moto Guzzi take note and incorporate some of these changes? Who knows. But it is encouraging that there are already two versions of the V85 TT: base and Adventure, which features a different paint scheme, adventure-oriented tires and other accessories. If Guzzi wants to push the Adventure model more toward dirt riding, they now have a road map.

Author: Bob Whitby

Bob has been riding motorcycles since age 19 and working as a journalist since he was 24, which was a long time ago, let’s put it that way. He quit for the better part of a decade to raise a family, then rediscovered adventure, dual sport and enduro riding in the early 2000s. He lives in Arkansas, America’s best-kept secret when it comes to riding destinations, and travels far and wide in search of dirt roads and trails.