{"id":19147,"date":"2011-03-19T09:58:18","date_gmt":"2011-03-19T09:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.influx.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=19147"},"modified":"2022-06-21T12:57:28","modified_gmt":"2022-06-21T11:57:28","slug":"five-top-italians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/five-top-italians\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Top Italians"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moto Guzzi V7 Sport (below)<\/em>
\nI first saw one of these long and low stunners basking next to a tent at an early \u201990s Bulldog Bash. A churning hit my guts that was unrelated to days of semi-ferral survival on hoof \u2019n\u2019 eyelid burgers and rough keg bitter. I was in love. Yes, I liked the later Le Mans, but back then Guzzis rumbled beneath my radar. This earlier bike\u2019s all-new chassis and engine mods improved hugely all Guzzis that followed. It\u2019s a 120mph race-bred gem that when released in 1971 was fast, exotic and twice the price of a Honda CB750 Four. A few years after the campsite encounter, I bought one cheap, in bits. We\u2019re still married.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ducati 900SS<\/em>
\nThere are rarer versions of the big sporty 1970s Dukes, but this one has always done it for me. Lean and muscular, like a whippet on steroids, it barks a deep bass thud through barely-silenced Conti megaphones that spit trouser-flapping, chest-punching pulses. The stretch to the clip-ons is like assuming the position prior to something unspeakable, but being stretched across that tank as the long-legged torque from the desmo V-twin makes all around you go blur and boom is what riding is all about, isn\u2019t it?
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bimota Tesi 3D<\/em>
\nYou\u2019ve got to give it to Bimota, for a little firm they\u2019ve got massive, well, let\u2019s say gnocchi. When they debuted a concept of their freaky hub-centre-steered creation at the Milan Show in 1983, it\u2019s argued that it so overshadowed their other models that the punters kept their money in their pockets to await the production version, thus bankrupting the firm. The Rimini factory\u2019s fortunes have since gone up and down like a bride\u2019s nightie, but they\u2019re still there and this latest incarnation of the Tesi, the Ducati 1100-powered 3D, is a weird and beautiful praying mantis in metal. Love it.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

MV Agusta Magni 850<\/em>
\nWhen Phil Read won MV\u2019s last 500cc title in 1974, grand prix bikes looked like this. I was nine years old and it had a lasting impact (as did Wendy Johnson showing me her gerbil behind the shed, but I digress). Arturo Magni was MV\u2019s last race boss and when the firm closed in the late \u201970s he started creating heavily-modded versions of the slightly disappointing 750S road bikes. Loads of neat features, including a great chassis, the swap to chain drive and those swooping, barely-silenced pipes. Forget the price. I\u2019d have to sell a kidney from every member of my extended family, which might be deemed unethical. I\u2019ll continue to dream.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Aprilia RSV4 Factory<\/em>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nNot a typical choice for me. I\u2019m often left cold by bikes that so humble my abilities I can hardly see the point of them. But the Factory gets my vote for its bogglingly high spec, buttock-clenching performance and yet at a price that, while not cheap, isn\u2019t outrageous given what you get. It\u2019s cramped, loud, ridiculous for the road and probably says something unfortunate about the size of my manhood, but there you go. Oh, and given that Aprilia is part of the Piaggio group, I love that such exotica is essentially funded by sales of humble little scooters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Latin-Lover Mick Phillips on a fistful of his faves…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[332,6],"tags":[2791,2793,951,1104,890,877,262,759,593],"class_list":["post-19147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bikes","category-features","tag-aprilia","tag-bimota","tag-italian","tag-italian-bikes","tag-list","tag-moto-guzzi","tag-motorbike","tag-mv-agusta","tag-piaggio","manufacturers-aprilia","manufacturers-bimota","manufacturers-mv-agusta-2","manufacturers-piaggio"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFive Top Italians - Influx<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Influx Editor selects his top five Italian motorcycles; Mto Guzzi, Ducati 900SS, Bimota Tesi 3D, MV Agusta Magni 850 and the Aprilla RSV4.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/five-top-italians\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five Top Italians - Influx\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Influx Editor selects his top five Italian motorcycles; 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