I think the V7 would be better suited to 2-up long distance touring with luggage and stuff..
I think the C5 was a much better job of retro styling.
The V7 retro styling looks to be a half-hearted effort, at best.
IMO, Guzzi should make an exact duplicate of the old 1976 LeMans 1 model, as faithful as they can do. Oval barrels and heads on it too.
Put new electronics behind the old-style gauges and covers, and EFI to pass emission requirements, and give us a real classic that meets modern expectations.
That's a bike I could buy.
That's actually the bike that made their name. I can't for the life of me understand why they keep making odd variants that they name after it, but don't just make the real thing.
People don't buy Guzzi bikes to beat Japanese bikes on the racetrack. They buy them for their looks and feel and heritage. It doesn't have to be fast. It just has to look exactly like the old LeMans 1, and have improved reliability and meet Euro 3.
If I owned Moto Guzzi, that's the first project that I'd do.
It would sell like hot cakes.
The next one that I'd do would be an exact replica of the El Dorado, done the same way, with modern electronics and EFI hidden behind the old style bodywork.
That one was popular with the "bagger crowd" and would fill the retro touring market very well. Even though I personally actually prefer the 850-T3 for that, I think the El Dorado is more popular overall.
That's all they'd have to do.
Those 2 bikes, real "modernized in a hidden way" duplicates of the LeMans 1 and the El Dorado, would out-sell everything else they make now.