#record

[Frequent MO readers will know that our friend, Thai Long Ly, is not a man of few words. Consequently, we should’ve known what we were getting into when he offered to write up his experience with Tuono modifications. Still, we never expected an 8,400-word opus. So, we decided to break the story into easier to digest pieces. Here is Part 1 for your reading enjoyment. – Ed.]

Each year thousands of motorcyclists and motorheads flock to the rainy town of Portland, Oregon, from all over the continent and even the world to see more than 100 custom bikes of all styles on display. The final count of attendees to the 8th-annual One Motorcycle Show over the February 10th weekend was 17,000, with another 2,000 at the 1 Moto Pro flat-track races on Sunday.

Suzuki’s GSX-S1000 is another one of my personal faves; I like the way it looks, nobody can argue with the way the 140-plus horsepower four-banger goes – and the price is right too. Where else are you going to get that kind of grunt in a beautiful blue package for $10,499? Gabe was spot-on with his recent column.

Motojournalists lined up to heap praises upon Yamaha’s FZ-09 when it appeared as a new model for 2014, and MO was right there on the bandwagon. There wasn’t anything not to like in the all-new 847cc Triple, with all the modern ride-by-wire trimmings in a designer chassis, for a price substantially less than its Euro-competitors.

It’s no secret, when it comes to low-RPM fueling MV Agusta’s been literally stumbling over itself. The company’s premiere F4 and F4 RR models have also been berated for throttle lag and intrusive traction control. All unacceptable characteristics of an ill-programmed ECU on an exotic motorcycle commanding a lavish ownership fee.