A little while ago Aprilia posted a bunch of pics of the new Tuono. I like everything from the front forks back to the tip of its pointy tail, but I just can't stomach the "face" on that front fairing piece. It looks like a praying mantis (in a bad way), with a derivative design that reminds me too much of a Celica GT.
Separated at birth?
At first, looking at that Tuono picture, it wasn't too bad. "Why's Tony so spooked by that?" I thought. "It's no worse than the constipated wasp that was the newest model VFR."
And then I kept looking at the picture. And more and more little details started rearing their ugly heads.
The bizarrely-colored chevron underneath the middle headlight. The four cataract-blue eyeballs inside the headlights. The teeth of the grill.
That bike is horrifying.
I'd still borrow it from you, of course. Mmmmm V-twin purrrrrr. Nice scary ugly track-flicker bike.
Posted by: carolyn | October 12, 2005 at 07:37 AM
Well, one reason I was spooked was that this is the evolution of my beloved Tuono. I mean who really cares about VFRs? ;^)
The bizarrely-colored chevron is a stylized Italian flag.
The detail that I hate most is the chin spoiler that looks like a funny little mouth. It's ugly, and I think the way it looks is something of a design cliche. I was hoping that Aprilia's designers could do better than evoke the memory of a Toyota.
At the end of the day, I'm actually quite pleased the new Tuono generates no bike lust in me. My previous generation Tuono still looks totally-killer-awesome-cool in every conceivable way. ;)
Posted by: tony | October 12, 2005 at 01:52 PM
I still don't see a Celica GT.
I see a Spielberg ET.
Yuk.
Posted by: Stephanie | October 13, 2005 at 05:44 PM