Friday, September 4, 2009

MV Augusta - Sex On Wheels

Was able to watch a show on HD TV last night showcasing the story behind MV Augusta. Have always known that they are Italian boutique sport bikes and now recently acquired by Harley but it was damn interesting to hear their full back story. I really dig the mindset of not releasing new models but refining and refining some more on components enabling the bikes to get drastically better. Hearing the engineers speak on how porting each cylinder head fractions of a thousandths of an inch to gain 1-3 horsepower, was jaw dropping. As a manufacturer it must be a tough call to spend that much money and effort on R&D, only to produce several hundred new bikes per year. Then again that is what a boutique manufacturer is known for. Maybe those Harley dollars will go into coffers to make sure the brand stays alive. My better judgement says that the MV Augusta brand was acquired by Harley to solidify the American counterpart down the road as it understands that far more sport bikes are sold than cruisers. The Harley legacy seems to hold little weight with a plethora of folks my age as we are into riding bikes as bikers and not as driven to a certain famous American icon as they would love for everyone to believe. The brand recognition is fading unfortunately but that notion alone solidifies in my mind why Harley acquired MV Augusta. They wanted class and cool in another category, hopefully Buell can harness some of that fire as they are a damn fun bikes to run hard. - MV Augusta