I've been looking at stuff about Motus motorcycles lately, really interesting.
Made in Alabama. Designed by these two guys, the president and vice president
of the company:
The other day I was looking at the Motus web page and saw a "schedule a test ride" button,
so I mashed it.
Behind the scenes, one of the guys in the above picture contacts a lady
named Amanda at Hourglass Cycles in Buford Georgia, and she called me up the next day.
Sure I can come ride one. No, not just around the block, go for a good ride! Here's Amanda:
So... to back up a little, I headed out to meet Stanley Steamer in Georgia around 7:30 this
morning. I stopped for this picture along the way because it is so awesome. Last year this
corn crop was just a bunch of two foot tall brown crispy sticks by this time because of
last year's drought... no drought so far this year
I met Stanley near the Hartwell Dam in Georgia, but before we could head out to
Buford, we had to make a detour back to South Carolina:
We headed back out towards Georgia, I knew which way I wanted to go, sort of... I
second guessed myself when we were almost there and turned back the other way,
but that wasn't right. Finally we crossed over the Savannah River back into
Georgia...
I picked a backroads route to the shop, which is near Lake Lanier, which
is near Atlanta (ugh)... the backroads route worked out great, at one
point we passed over I-85 and I looked down at the 4th-of-July weekend
traffic down there and it made me smile
... We arrived at the shop
and they made a big fuss over us, because they are nice and because
we might be there to buy a very expensive motorcycle... they showed
us how everything worked and we got ready to take off on our ride. We
were gone over and hour and went about 65 miles through the country!
I had to go to four Honda shops before I could find one that would let
me test ride my Valkyrie around the block!
So, off we go, me on the Motus... the MSTR one with 180 horsepower and 120 or so
foot pounds of torque. The Motus has a V-4 watercooled pushrod engine with
hydraulic valves. It's not one of those wind-it-up-to-12000-rpm bikes, it has
TONS of controllable power no matter what gear you're in. I never revved it
out, but it has a sane powerband that red-lines a little past 7. Here it is going
65 in 3rd gear. It has three more gears past this and will probably do 150
without breaking a sweat. I bet I could have done a power wheelie right
here if I was Gordon - he wouldn't be able to stand himself if he had one
of these bikes...
I bet I never shifted past 4th...
The brakes are awesome. All of the components are beyond top-of-the-line,
Brembo, Ohlins, Sargent seat, Helibars, carbon fiber components, it just
makes your head spin.
This is a freaking test ride!
Finally we had to head back towards the shop...
I was wearing a gopro "chesty" strap for my camera since I couldn't stick a gopro mount
on their motorcycle. My chest was looking through the windshield, but not me.
There's a place on the way where there's like 100 acres of old cars. I made that
up. Maybe its only 70 acres, who knows. Anyhow, we stopped there, I wanted to
get a few pictures of the Motus with all the cars. I tried to bargain with this guy,
but he wanted four dollars to let us in...
This other feller was much more reasonable and let us in for free...
So, off we went through the sea of old cars and fire trucks and you name it
they had it...
Finally we made it back home safe to the shop...
The Motus is an incredible motorcycle. There's this "torque effect" you get
when you twist the throttle in neutral, its hard to describe. But the overflowing
power is very controllable, I just putted through the 65 mile long test ride
the same way I ride everywhere and the bike was perfectly happy with that.
But if we could get T-Bird on one to flog it, it would be perfectly happy with that
too. It is almost the perfect motorcycle. It is comfortable, but... it only has one
seating position: The Attack Position.
I wondered if my bike would suck when I got back on it to go home...
I hopped on it and my bike was... still a naked Goldwing with a Russell seat,
a comfy backrest and a swell set of perfectly positioned hiway pegs. And solid
as a rock, calm by comparison... it is hard to describe, the Motus is perfectly
controllable, but you can tell there's a monster inside there that will come out
if you let him out... The Motus guys on the magazine above will probably throw
up a little when I say this, but I wish there was a back-rest/hiway-peg option.
It wouldn't hurt the Attack Position at all. As I drifted home down two hours
of serene backroads with my rear-end supported in the wide sweet-spot
of my Russell seat and my back resting on the awesome Utopia backrest
and my feet up on the highway pegs, I was sure I didn't care two cents for
the attack position at that time
. Yet, the Valkyrie has real foot pegs too,
and a fine attack position, anytime you want to assume it.
Thanks for the test ride Motus folks - I won't soon forget it, I promise! Today
was an awesome day!
-Mike "And Stanley Steamer bought us lunch at a good sea food place
"
