#street

If there’s one thing you can count on in the world of motorcycledom, it’s that MV Agustas will always be beautiful. Case in point: the Brutale. In this case, the 750cc inline-Four Brutale S, designed by none other than the great Massimo Tamburini. In this week’s Church of MO feature we go back to 2004, and Sean Alexander’s impressions of the stunningly beautiful 750 Brutale. Sean was still at his fighting weight back then, AMA racing and all, which makes his thoughts about the MV all the more interesting. Does beauty translate into a winning street and track naked? Read on to find out. Also, be sure to check out the five-page photo gallery for a lot more pictures.

In the past few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to take some extended rides at night – most recently my return from this past weekend’s World Superbike round at Laguna Seca. As I frequently do, when I have a bunch of saddle time on my hands, I started noodling on something to while away the hours. For this trip, the topic was how much I love riding motorcycles in the dark.

No shootout has been as difficult as this one pitting the Aprilia Tuono V4R APRC ABS against the BMW S1000R and KTM 1290 Super Duke R. Not just in how tight the outcome of the scoring (which was stupid close), but more so in the intangible elements of emotion, sensation and the if you have to ask, you wouldn’t understand bliss of why we ride motorcycles.

Remember when superbikes from the late-‘80s were 750s and were the baddest motorcycles on the track, the ones we paid our hard-earned money to go watch those gods we call professional roadracers toss around at the limits of adhesion – and sanity? We do, too. But since the superbike class has moved on into the realm of the literbike (and 1200cc for Twins), many riders (and manufacturers, sadly) have forgotten the breadth of performance available from sportbikes whose displacement falls between 600cc and 1000cc.