Misting of headlamp/digital display 2023 V7 Stone

Hi folks. I’m riding my first Guzzi after wanting one since the 70s (many bikes in between then and now, including a dozen or more beemers over the last 30 years) Mine is a 2023 model V7 Stone Special Edition, which I really like. Done about 1800 dry miles since April this year. On two occasions - one in late spring and one today - I’ve got an almost instant small-scale misting of the headlamp after a couple of miles. Today a bit colder than recently (external temp about 8.C) and with literally about a dozen spots of rain a misting started to spread across the internal glass (ok plastic) of the ‘digital display’. On arriving home 15 minutes later, I noticed that the same small-scale misting as on the cold, damp day in spring was visible, starting at the corners of the ‘eagle’ running light and into the face of the headlamp. No big deal as yet, but just surprised as I’ve never, since and including the first Tiger Cub in 1970, have I had a bike that suffered from misting of the lamps though often riding in the wet between Sheffield and Manchester. Had a look on line and the issue is there on various threads, but generally as an issue arising in colder climates than ours. Does it get bad if it’s really cold or wet? Has anyone successfully had a warranty claim accepted (I notice misting is aa exception to the warranty conditions, being ‘normal’ apparently? None of the discussions on the threads are very helpful or conclusive. I’m still under warranty, obviously. Any advice/info?

Return to the dealer for warranty repair, it could be a small crack in the housing.

Hi, did you progress this at all? Last few rides on my 24 plate V7 Stone Special Edition I have had a little patch of mist toward the lower right quadrant of the speedometer. About the size of the old 50p.

Hi there
Thanks for your query MotoBrownie. Did I progress the matter? Well, yes and no. ‘Yes’ in that I contacted the dealer (Via Moto - who are no longer a dealer, having ended the Piaggio dealership arrangement and having also moved from Sheffield to Barnsley turning my ride from 5 mies to 30) - and they weren’t very interested beyond saying ‘Oh, bring it in if you want’. and ‘no’ in that I haven’t done so, as yet. The misting problem on the nacelle and headlight/running light still continues as soon as the air chills or dampens (I haven’t tried full rain as I just don’t trust it . The nacelle misting on mine sounds exactly like yours- same place exactly and from old 50p to twice that in size - and your inquiry serves as a bit of a prompt to me to push the matter rather than just going ‘Oh, well…’ and accepting it. I like the bike very much but sort of half expected a glitch or two from an Italian job after having a Ducati 750 (carbs froze as soon as the sun went in) and a lovely but gloomy Morini 500 (that switched it’s own lights off at random) sandwiched between around twenty pretty bullet-proof BMWs over the last 40 years. Please let me know where you go with yours and if you make any progress, and I’ll do likewise

PS MotoBrownie. I should add, that the mist has always cleared very quickly. Ine, question in return: do you have a fly screen on you bike. Last time it happened I wondered whether the screen was directing a particularly cold stream onto the speedo. I haven’t experimented by taking the screen off, but will do. (That, though doesn’t do anything to potentially explain my meadlight misting though, obviously)

Hi there, I don’t have a fly screen on mine - it’s fully stock at the moment.

I had an hours ride today as the weather had warmed up (well, warmed up to 3.5 degrees C). Was getting toward dusk when I pulled into a petrol station toward the end of my ride and under the canopy lights I saw that the entire right half of the speedometer was misty. Only light mist and I hadn’t really noticed it while riding. Plus it started shrinking back fairly quickly like you say.

I’m going to call the dealer I bought it from (Frasers in Gloucester) tomorrow and see what they say. I’ll let you know.

Hi again
Yes, exactly the same experience as me. Thanks also for the info about the fly screen which eliminates that as a cause. Yes do let me know how you get on. I think you’ll have noticed in my very first post that I mentioned the warranty exception clause about ‘misting’. It’ll be interesting to see how your dealer responds to that. Oh, yes I meant to ask you before whether you are getting the headlight/running light misting. it’s possible to miss it unless you either catch a glimpse of it or specifically have a look.
I’ll test mine again as soon as I get chance to get out on the road (we’re still iced up here - though it’s thawing a bit today - and the road surface is still thick in road salt). Anyway, thanks for getting in touch. I drew a blank pretty much with my first post and thought ‘Oh, is it just me?’. But I have to fall back on NEVER having had misting on lights or speedo on any bike I’ve had since 1970 - and I’ve some rough 'uns!

PS Please feel free to quote my case to support yours if it helps. The location and spread of speedo misting is EXACTLY the same as yours and in the same temperature/dampness conditions: starting top right quadrant and spreading across towards the centre

Hey folks, just wondering, do you use your bikes frequently.?
Are where are they stored.?
Asking because when commuting daily on my Vstrom I noticed nothing so far as misting, despite riding through all weathers, however, since changing jobs I no longer commute and have noticed some slight misting in the Suzuki’s headlights.
Similar to your experiences, it’s only slight and disappears once warmed up.
I wondered, as the bike seldom goes out in the rain, whether it’s a result of being sat in an unheated concrete garage and the infrequent use.
For reference my V7, which has a similar lifestyle so far as storage, doesn’t show any signs, though as I’ve had it for only six months I’ve probably used the Guzzi more frequently.

Hi all, this is my first posting, having just joined.
I have a 2023 V7 850 Stone, and I will shortly be getting my instrument cluster exchanged under warranty for the second time! In both cases I appear to have the same misting as is being reported here - lower right side covering the time and odometer. Interestingly, the circumstances were different in each case. The first was after a ruined camping holiday to Scotland last year when I ended up riding 3 days through light - moderate rain. That time the misting was quite bad. This time around it started after the snows we had last November and only occurs in freezing temperatures.
I see that a few people slate the service from Via Moto Sheffield on various sites, but my experience has been quite different. They’ve always done right by me, including agreeing to swap the instruments on both occasions, after having got authorisation from Guzzi.
As for the headlight - yes, mine mists up too and Guzzi won’t authorise a change, stating that this is normal!? Maybe it’s an LED thing? I don’t know, but I ride a fair bit at night and never had a problem, so I’m happy to let it be.
I hope this explanation has been helpful.

Hi there KingOrry
Thanks for giving this matter your thoughts, we’ll keep them in the mixer as the puzzle goes forward. All I can say for the moment is that I’ve kept, oh, 15 plus bikes in the same garage with more or less the same seasonal usage levels and not had any problem with lights or speedo misting, (and one was a 1974 BMW R90/6 that lived in the same conditions for 20+ years) Though…as I’m saying this I’m having to stop myself because, now I’m talking about the issue, I do half-remember a teeny bit of an issue with headlight misting on a recent 2018 R1200RS (which for some reason didn’t worry me. I’ve had so many BMW’s I can kind of take 'em or leave 'em). This Guzzi was bought new (one of only two new bikes I’ve had) so there’s a sort of ‘warranty’ anxiety headspace that goes with that - “Oh sh*t, I’ve bough a lemon!”

Hi Grey_Mountain
Thanks for this, it’s very useful. Are you still using Via Moto now they’re at Barnsley? Are they doing the replacement? I don’t have any grouse with them except they are moving out of the dealership (in March I think. From conversations I’ve had, they have their reasons) and, I presume, will no longer have any obligation to me even though I bought the bike there in March last year and will have a year left on the warranty. Mine’s just a ‘shrinking dealership’ moan I guess. Anyway, I’ll get the bike in as soon as I can. That is… if it starts! The dreaded silence/dead click is beginning to raise its ugly head. OK the ignition is working on second or third press but, hey, the battery is fully charged…I know it’s very damp out…but it is garaged. Hang on. This is a 9 month old bike with just 2k on it! Oh, I so want to be a full blown Italianisti but - Ducati, Morini - I’ve been down this strada before and each time I’ve crawled back shamefaced to that well known pug ugly, expensive but nevertheless functional German brand.

Hi,
Thanks for your feedback. I wasn’t pointing a finger at anyone concerning Via Moto. I bought my V7 from them and did a lot of research about the dealership prior to buying the bike and saw a few negative comments on different forums. But I had a good experience with the test ride and only good experiences with the dealership since then - I’ve bought riding gear from them and get my bike serviced and it’s all been fine.
Indeed, not doing a good enough job of maintaining the bike (I’m used to trailies and Adv), I had not realised how prone the clutch pivot arm was to being fouled up by road crud thrown off the rear tyre and, of course, it seized up. Via Moto kindly cleaned it up and re-lubricated it and offered guidance for free. I do get my bike serviced there, but I think that them doing that was quite exceptional in my experience. The only shame is Via Moto’s move away from Piaggio and out of town. They tell me their mechanics will still carry out servicing but I’m not sure what the deal is with warranty work going forward.
I’ve been riding since 1987, having mainly owned Yamahas, Hondas and one BMW, and even with these ‘ultra reliable’ manufacturers each bike had quirks; having owned several XT600s and Teneres, they invariably broke their tacho cables, which weren’t up to taking the torque; Hondas had pitiful brakes and beemer had quirky eletrics!
Anyway, I’ve done 12k miles on the bike now and I’ve not had any really big problems. The issues I have had and the resolutions have been;

  • Instrument cluster - water vapour ingress x 2 - not good (no two ways about it) - replaced under warranty
  • indicator control cube - failure of the indicator switch - replaced under warranty.
    That’s it. That’s not bad considering that I ride all year round, and keep it on my drive under a cover. I use and treat it like a workhorse and it’s done right by me so far - plus I love the looks, which is a bonus!
    Yes, the starter button was a bit tempremental when I first got the bike but I’ve learnt to press it from the edge, rather than the middle, to ensure there’s a good contact and to also spray it occasionally with contact cleaner and I’ve not had any problems since.
    I have just fitted some Oxford heated grips and will be fitting new Hagon Nitro rear shocks on it tomorrow, in the hope of my first outing this year on Saturday.
    See you out on the road.

Hi there
Much respect to your all year, all weather 12k and thanks once more for your full and helpful comments. Thankfully, I don’t have to do my couple of days a week Sheffield/Manchester all year commute any more. Maybe that’s left me a bit too preoccupied with little glitches to do with water and electricity getting in each other’s way . Anyway, I’ll get on to Via Moto and see what they say about doing warranty work. Might I ask, did you have photo evidence of the misting? Was that sufficient for them to go to Piaggio?
By the way, I’m also interested in your updates with the heated grips - I’ve noticed some folk being nervous about whether the bike can cope with the voltage drain - and the rear shocks. Would you possibly keep me in the loop as to how these updates work out, as I’ve been considering both.
Ps Ta, also, for the “press the edge of the starter button” tip. I’ve heard that said for the Le Mans.

Kudos to you for doing the Sheffield to Manchester run, as that can be pretty tricky over winter. I used to do Sheffield - Leeds, which is just motorway, so is easier.
Anyway, I went over to Via Moto today and they replaced my instrument panel with a new one - fingers crossed, third time lucky for no misting.
Steve Wall, the head of servicing at Via Moto, confirmed that they’ve now parted ways with Piaggio, so they can’t do any further warranty or recalls work for Guzzis, but they will continue servicing the bikes and my understanding (but please do check yourself) is that as long as the bike is serviced by a ‘competent person’, having the service from a non-official mechanic does not invalidate the warranty. Steve said the servicing costs will now be substantially cheaper, so I’ll keep going there as the closest other centre is Nottingham.
I’ll post an update on the heated grips and new shocks on the respective feeds

Yeah, I spoke to Via Moto yesterday (I think to the main man) and he told me that they’d expected to be able to keep going until March but coming back after Xmas they found that Piaggio had reneged on that agreement and pulled the plug on everything as from Jan 1st - so no more warranty work, no more ‘official’ servicing. So it looks like I’m heading down to Nottingham for any official dealer response. I had a long and friendly conversation with Via Moto and they’ve had a very rough dealer deal from the sounds of it. The guy there was urging me to email Piaggio directly and berate them and felt that it would be a good thing if everyone in the club did the same. He wasn’t a happy chappy.
Anyway, thanks for your info and support. Can I just ask again what ‘evidence’ you had to provide for Piaggio. Was it a case of passing photos/video to Via Moto and them arguing it with the company? I’m just keen to know as I don’t want an extra trip to Notts in crap weather to ‘prove’ I’ve got a problem. As we know, the misting is temperature/weather related and I’m keen not to get there with insufficient evidence just because of that notorious sunny south climate threshold round about junction 28!
All the best

Hi again,
Apologies, I now remember that you’d asked about evidence, but I forgot to reply. Yes, I took two photos - one with the instruments off as that seemed to show the extent of the misting better and one with the instrument on to show how was obstructing the info. Also, I thought that it might be handy to show in the photo temperature reading, as my photo showed it was 8c, not exactly freezing temperatures. I then found the dealer’s email address on google and emailed the photos with the claim, so that I’d have evidence of my claim. In any event, it was no hassle, just like the first time; Via Moto called me after four days to say that MG had accepted the claim and to book me in for the swap over (only 1/2 hour all in).

Best of luck with your claim. Let us know how it goes.

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Hi there…and sorry for the late reply - I’ve just found your email which had gone into my spam box for some reason! Anyway, thanks so-o much for your message . It’s really helpful, and I’ll let you know how I get on with the guy in Nottingham.
At the moment I’m treating treating my V7 for intermittent starter button failure (and following your prescription of contact cleaner - seems to be working) and also the right indicator not staying on when pressed…and the left one not flicking back to the middle to the switch-off position, as it should do (WD 40 seems to be sorting what, in that case, must be a sticking switch). As soon as you get to winter these things all start appearing. It’s so damp at the moment. PS I’ve also got my eye on your post about the heated grips. Sounds tempting.

Thanks again, and all the best for now.

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As an update I took my bike out for a spin on Saturday and the misting on the Speedo was the worst it has ever been!
I need to pull my finger out and get it sorted, especially reading the posts on this thread since I was last here.

I also have the staring issue - push the starter and… nothing. Hold it in for five seconds and it will usually start (easily, so I don’t see it as a battery issue), but sometimes needs a minute and a second push before it will turn over (again, easy starting once it has decided it will recognise the button has been pressed).

Yes it is damp and cold, the garage is unheated and the breathable dust cover won’t magically keep the bike warm.
But the unloved Honda next to it (whose battery was left to die… twice) has none of these issues, even when not used for weeks on end. The Guzzi is three years younger too!

Must contact the dealer and hopefully get it sorted.
I just don’t fancy the three hour return journey in foul weather.

P.s. I’m also keen for heated grip updates!

Maybe whilst you’re holding the starter button you’re shifting your finger? And moving to the edge of the button, where it will finally work?
If I was lucky enough to have a Toyota and a Maserati in my garage I know which one would be most sensible to take to pick up a friend from the airport, but I also know which I’d want to take ;0)