Beauty and Beast in One
Story by Mike Seate and Jay LaRossa
Photos by MV Agusta and Jose Gallina
Just as the relentless arms race of race-replica sportbikes dies down, another full-bore contest has begun. This one pits motorcycle manufacturers against each other in a no-holds-barred race where the fastest, most powerful hyperbike still wins, only now the motorcycles have (slightly) taller handlebars, minimal bodywork and all the latest electronic rider aids.
In this round, MV Agusta, the small-batch Italian maker of scintillating, Space X-fast road missiles, has gone the Barry Bonds route with a special edition of their long-running Brutale supernaked with insane levels of grunt. The already formidable engine now produces 208 rear wheel horsepower. That’s not a misprint: 208 ponies is more than American muscle cars churned out in the 1980s and enough to make the new Brutale RS feel, well, like trying to lasso a charging tiger, saddle it and control the wild beast while moving at twice the speed of traffic.
