It's late in the afternoon on a Friday, a mere hour before dusk and I'm ripping through the Malibu Canyons listening to the one of the most evocative sounds I've ever heard while on a motorcycle when I'm reminded of the mantra, “show me, don't tell me”. Oddly enough because this bike does both; it's hot, it's stunning and it also happens to fly.

And by fly, I mean it rips up the road in front of you with such a wild ferocity that you are fairly certain that even the speedo can't keep up.

Whipping around each successive corner I feel like a kid again. I'm mesmerized by the same sensation that I remember having on dirtbikes as a child ­ only now I'm an adult who's riding on the street and enjoying breathtaking scenery that I've witnessed a million times before fly past me in a whole new way.

Like most riders, I think I've got a pretty good handle on the sensation that comes from going fast. It's one of the reasons why people ride in the first place because on some level we like to thrill ourselves. But then you get on a bike like the new MV Augusta Brutale 910 and you realize that whatever physical reaction you've felt from going fast is nothing compared to what you feel on this bike when you come out of a corner and get on it hard.

Without hesitation, the second you begin to twist the throttle the Brutale fires you straight ahead and by the time your mind catches up with the bike you find yourself half a mile down the road smiling inside your helmet. It's amazing. As sensations go, I'm sorry you can't bottle this sort of emotional and physical excess. It's that much fun.

The new MV Agusta Brutale 910 is the bigger, badder follow up to MV's rousing Brutale 750 success. A machine that's engine has more displacement than the 750 but actually weighs less. It's a bike that has a lot of impressive statistics and attributes; a 408-pund dry weight, 136 horsepower, Nissin brakes, a Sachs rear shock, and Marzocchi forks just to name a few.

photo by Gary Copeland

Leaving the shop on the Brutale I'm pretty skeptical. Why would I be interested in a standard bike? Don't get me wrong I thoroughly get the street-fighter bike ethos and it's definitely cool, but I've never considered myself someone with that particular sensibility. I don't exactly have the fancy Italian scuffed up leather jacket to go with the look. But looks as it turns out can be rather deceiving. This bike might look gutsy and MV Agusta might bill it as ‘Motorcycle Art', but in reality it is a completely exposed racehorse of a sportbike with a soul that wants to do one thing only, go fast. Very, very fast.

By the time I fight my way through cross-town traffic on the 101 freeway during rush hour all of the usual Italian cycle characteristics appear to be present. The mirrors are basically unusable. They shake and rattle to the point you wonder why they even bother putting them on the bike. A fix it ticket would be easier to deal with than watching traffic with these things. After an hour of stop and go, the seat feels like you're sitting on a three hundred degree cranked-up oven. As I start working my way across the lanes just after the 405-101 merge the temperature gauge never moves from it's pegged low 200's position. Of course no matter how hot I feel, it's not nearly as hot as everyone else appears to think this bike is. In true Italian fashion everyone stares at it. Cell phone conversations cease in the cars next to me. Eyes shift and heads turn. Even though all sorts of other sportbikes and cruisers lane split past me, none get the reaction from the freeway audience that the Brutale gets. None get the magical parting of the sea effect while navigating through the traffic either. People simply seem to understand that this is a special bike.

If I was riding a Ducati Monster I doubt the public reaction would be quite the same. I would imagine it's not a great stretch to believe that the Monster is MV Agusta's main competition in the high-end, high-performance, semi-exotic naked streetfighter market. The Monster S4R stands at a comparable price point, but weights more (425 lbs vs. 408 lbs) and has less power (113 hp vs 136 hp). Between the two I'm not sure there is much of a choice. At least I don't see it.

photo by Gary Copeland

Finally hitting the canyons, it's remarkable how quickly you can feel comfortable on this bike. There's something altogether charming about sitting up in the saddle with wide, relatively raised handlebars as you swing around the corners. Physically the Brutale does not feel very large while you're sitting on it. I'm only 5'10 and I feel like I'm hanging all over this bike. However within minutes of my first few left, right, left combinations it becomes clear that riding this bike is an exercise in leverage. And leverage as it turns out is fun. A heck of a lot of fun. Especially in empty canyons near sunset when the roads are clear, the visibility good and the views spectacular.

A few miles down the road my smile is growing exponentially and there's no end in sight. There is such an amazing sensation when you come into a corner, sitting up high on this bike and have the ability to manhandle it in and out of the turn. It's completely whippable and there is such an extreme sensation of control ­ not in that planted, without a doubt holding the line sportbike sense, but rather almost as if you're riding a very, very fast version of your kids' Big Wheel and you have the ability to directly force the bike in any direction at any moment in any corner.

There are a lot of bikes that have great leverage advantages and relatively upright seating positions in today's motorcycle universe, but I doubt any of them come out of the corners like this bike does. The Brutale is an absolute accelerating beast. After every corner I'm amazed there's still tread left on the tires. It's absolutely exhilarating how fast it stands you up after you've gotten on the throttle and flings you down the road with such a wild force that you find your heart pounding with the kind of super-excited but semi-nervous energy that you thought you'd never feel on a bike again.

The 4-cylinder 909.1cc engine redlines at 12,000 revs and has the most linear power delivery I've felt in ages. It just goes… And goes… And goes…And goes… To the point where I can't believe there's still more, yet there is. Eventually I'm up-shifting purely because I feel obligated. Not because the bike cares. It'll deliver flat-out racetrack power anywhere. Unlike so many other bikes there's no dead spot, no lag, and no wait. With no fairing to protect you, it's an incredibly outrageous experience as you soar down the road with the wind pounding on your chest and your heart beating away madly as the smile on your face grows and grows. By the end of the afternoon I'm convinced this is what riding a motorcycle should feel like ­ not a sportbike mind you, but a motorcycle. This thing is a complete kick. It's visceral. It's mind altering. It's chaotic and yet utterly controllable. And it's brash. The bike just simply stands out no matter where you are.

Heading back through ‘The Playground' portion of Mullhulland, I couldn't help but feel like this is the way an Italian engine should work. I'm sure that some would consider that a travesty to Italian motorcycling lore no doubt, but once you've experience the rush that this bike offers it's hard not to believe that this is indeed the way these bikes were meant to be built. The linear nature of this particular engine simply overwhelms your instincts and alters your perception of what up until now seemed possible on a production Italian motorcycle. It works, it works well and it works fast. Very, very fast.

photo by Gary Copeland

On most bikes cornering speed is the basis for much of my enjoyment, but here ­ on this bike ­ coming out of the corner and smoothly applying the power is just as much of a kick if not more so. It's a captivating experience that's just wild from the moment you start until you finally roll off and realize what you've just experienced.

Of course naked motorcycles are not exclusively ­ or even usually - canyon dwellers. Historically - before the mainstream motorcycle design collective took note of their genius - streetfighter cycles were born in cities across the world simply as a means of cheap transportation. Then they got deemed ‘cool' because they were. They had the ‘it' factor and the design cycle perpetuated itself once more with the introduction of the modern ‘naked bike'. The Brutale is simply the most modern deviation of this design cycle. It's brash and it's ballsy in a much more modern and stunning way then most of its naked competitors.

Over the course of the rest of the weekend I rode all over Los Angeles. From the beach to the hills to the canyons and back, this bike just makes you want to ride it. Even if it's just around the block. The smaller size and more compact nature makes it seemingly more maneuverable and the throaty engine lets everyone know where you are when you're stuck in traffic. Unlike some bikes in stop and go, the Brutale's clutch is very friendly. It's not a chore to use it at all and the transmission is rock solid. After a shift you always know if you're gotten into the next gear or not - unlike some other bikes I know.

photo by Gary Copeland

The only real issue I have with the Brutale is a function of its compact size; I find the placement of the pegs abnormally close to both the shifting lever and the rear brake lever. If I had this bike long term I'd seriously consider a set of rear sets in order to move the pegs back a bit. An extra couple of inches would make a world of difference for my riding style and physical size. But seeing as how that's an easily changeable point it's hard to even bring it up.

Ultimately the Brutale 910 is just one hell of a motorcycle. I dig it on so many levels it's not even funny, but in all reality much of that moto-lust is due to the amazing F4 engine. It's hard to resist this kind of power and this kind of power delivery. I say this fully aware of how much I love my Ducati 999… This engine in the Brutale is just unreal. It's unlike anything I've ever experienced and it leaves the 999 feeling very, very slow in the giddy up factor. The seat of the pants sensation leaves no doubt who's got more juice. I thought I knew what riding a rocket ship felt like but in reality the Brutale's concept of true speed is something completely and altogether different from what I knew. If ever there was an engine that I lusted after it's the F4.

When you take all that power and wrap it up in such a marvelously modern take on the hardcore balls-to-the-wall muscle bike aesthetic it becomes a very hard package to resist. Even for a sportbike fanatic.