Rode at the North American press launch of the 2005 MZ 1000S at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona last week. Not done with my review yet, but I received a CD with pictures of me from the launch yesterday and I thought I'd share a few of them. Check out http://www.motorcycledaily.com my review will be up soon.

 

That bike is Lamborghini-esque.

 

fugly!

 

is that the inline 2 cylinder?

 

mirrors are cool, i don't like the split headlights tho, how much does that run?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by arjusmc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">is that the inline 2 cylinder?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yes

 

Nice glasses, ha.

 

how is the power curve on it, kinda odd compared to the rest of the engine configurations we have. i remember seeing somting about the bike on 2wheeltuesday a while ago. the bike has a nice look to it. what market are they goin after with this bike?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bottle fed &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">fugly!</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by arjusmc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how is the power curve on it, kinda odd compared to the rest of the engine configurations we have. i remember seeing somting about the bike on 2wheeltuesday a while ago. the bike has a nice look to it. what market are they goin after with this bike?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The motor is really smooth which an inline twin isn't supposed to be but it has a balance shaft so I guess that's why. The power characteristics are similar to a 90 degree V-Twin.

As far as what market they are after I'm not really sure. Neither are they I think based on what I saw/heard at the intro. I can't see the bike as a VFR competitor, but I think that may be the closest market segment it can fit into.