VOL. 53 ISSUE 36 SEPTEMBER 13, 2016 P101
The name Flying Fortress
even sounds military, like some
wonderful aerial jail that specifi-
cally targets those Taliban and
ISIS wankers, which, in my view,
ratchets the MGX further up the
badass list. Or, of course, like
the famous American Flying For-
tress B-17 bomber that wreaked
havoc wherever it was assigned
to do business during WWII.
The reason for my thoughts
comes down to that glorious,
sexy material covering the
MGX—carbon-fiber. Thirty-five-
years after McLaren produced
the first carbon-fiber monocoque
for a Formula One car, carbon-
fiber has reduced in value to the
point where it has become a
feasible and accessible material
for high-end production prod-
ucts—like this MGX.
Light and strong, unless
you're going to plaster sponsor
logos all over it, carbon-fiber is
best left clear-coated and on full
display to let you get a full sense
of its presence. It's like rolling
with a Rolex outside your cuf-
flinks, while in your Bentley, with
Miss America in the passenger
seat.
Moto Guzzi gets this, and
when the world first stole a
glimpse of the MGX last Decem-
ber, there was a collective gasp.
Victory has been the dominant
one of late in the "mine is louder
than yours" bagger styling de-
partment. Harley-Davidson's styl-
ing has been rather sedate by
comparison, and the MGX sits
somewhere in the middle. The
(Left to right) Unfortunately
those panniers don't have
enough volume for how good
they look. Braking power isn't
extraordinary but adequate.
The dash is ultra clean with
no visible buttons. A USB port
hides behind that little cutout
below the two dials.
