Brutal(e) weather?

[nickst4]

As it gets colder in the UK and the roads get muckier, the fair-weather occasional riders amongst us (me, that is) feel less and less inclined to take nice bikes out for a spin. It struck me this morning that spring should be well on its way in the Antipodes, which is a lovely thought. Hopefully Trevor is enjoying it and, specifically, riding his MV Agusta Brutale. We need to be told all about it, in case we should all be looking out for one!

Nick, UK

[Trevor68]

Haha spring here has been a disaster of fairly epic proportions. Rain, more rain, and floods just about everywhere!

I did sorty south for our annual week long sojourn to Bright in Victoria, but it was a mixed bag. On the trip to Sutton I rode through floodwaters up to my knees, at which point I noticed the "push" from the current and thought I might be in a spot of bother, especially as at the midpoint I passed an abandoned car that had been travelling the opposite way. The Brute never missed a beat though, and I passed 2 trail bike riders waiting on the other side who looked at me in great admiration, or so I imagined, maybe it was more a look of "who the feck is that idiot!".

Still my friend had a hair dryer, boots were dried, and much merriment ensued. Sunday the 10 of us set off for Bright, within 10 mins one of us had buckled both rims in a pothole, but they held air for the rest of the trip. Only a few sun
showers followed us through the mountains that day and we had a great time.

Monday was a great loop and mostly dry, a really good days ride had by all. Tuesday we set out up Mt Buffalo where some black very wet very slippy bitumen defeated my old reflexes and down I promptly went. I had enough of the shite wet roads so I told my buddies I was going back to the house, but ended up in Myrtleford licking my wounds over lunch at the visitors centre there. It soon became pretty obvious that I wasn't going to be able to move much tomorrow, so back to Bright, packed up my gear, set off at 1:00pm and was home by 5pm, only stopped once for fuel and a leak.

The bike pulled up exceptionally well, mirror and crash knob took the hit and saved just about everything. Me, not so much, three broken ribs and a hematomia on my left thigh that now has me going by the name elephant leg!

[nickst4]

Awesome!

So the Brute would suit anyone thinking of going off-tarmac and fording rivers? Who knew?

[Trevor68]

Yes the Brute is surprisingly docile, I suspect it either has a Race ECU, or been remapped on a Dyno. Fitting the MV Corse exhaust usually makes them quite volatile without a remap, so she has definitely had some work done, it is a super smooth unit.

[Aussiejoe]

I'll reiterate Trev's comment, weather has been shit down under! I'm wanting to get the Navigator out to ride to work, but it's about 3 degrees when I come home. We were getting sleet on the western highlands this week, and there was snow down Trev's way, and this is November! I think the weather would be better in the UK at the moment!

[nickst4]

UK weather wet and windy but not too cold though. So much for my plan to migrate south for the winter!

[Trevor68]

It's that bloody La Nina chick!