My friends at WTR are to be thanked for what was probably my best time ever straddled on a saddle.

Let me get straight to the introductions. The rides were Italian, both of 'em. The Aprilia Dorsodura 750 supermotard and the legendary MV Agusta F4 MY10, yes that's right, the MVF4. For the enthusiast, this bike has the same radial valves seen in the Formula 1 Ferrari cars (92 -93). Is among the few European superbikes that have a four inline, creating that awesome hum.

The excitement of having these Italian girls all to myself for the next 3 days was such, that I lost motor control of my lower jaw. Wide open in awe and disbelief over how amazing these bikes looked when you saw them up close. The MVF4 especially, is really a piece of art. True to its Italian origins.

They were mine, and I got to choose where to ride them for the day. I chose to ride up to Genting Highlands, famous for the wide twisting roads that climbed up to an altitude of 5900ft.

Ride and route

The route was planned, we ride from KL to Lord Murugan's temple at Batu Caves via the wide and well paced federal highway and then after a small prayer and some pics head out to the famous twisting roads up Genting highlands. A lunch up in the cool hill station to rejuice the batteries before we head back into KL city and meet some other bikers at those famous street eat outs. The circuit would be roughly around 120kms including the little detour to include Batu Caves and should take half a day with all the stops and food breaks.

We started at 8am from KL, kitted and geared for the day, I chose to start with the Dorso, while my brother hopped on eagerly atop the F4. Our pilot for the day, was trusty Rush from WTR, who'd make sure we didn't get lost or more importantly stick to the speed rules and discipline. Its easy to get tempted on these bikes, believe me.

The twin cylinders on the Dorsoduro sparked up with a roar. The distinct scream generated by the Vtwin, through its high tail light hugging exhausts has a raw pleasure about them. The electronics on board let you set the bike up for three different ride modes. Sport, Rain and Tour. These are essentially three different ECU maps. Very handy when you are in a country like Malaysia where the weather gods push sun and rain buttons like they were on a pinball machine. The modes can be changed on the fly and let you remap without affecting ones riding flow.

We were all set and got on to the federal highway and quickly formed up and got to a good cruise speed. This stretch let me familiarise myself with the aggressive up-right riding position. It reminded me of my motocross sundays on my Yamaha RX back home, only this one was some 6 times bigger and felt like a box of crackers. If you want to read more about the bike, jump to my other post that focusses on this bike.

We got to Batu caves in about 30mins and at the parking, were immediately surrounded by fans, not of me of course, but the gorgeous Italian hotties. I moved back a couple of steps and let the shutter bugs click away.

Batu Caves is a limestone hill, which has a series of caves and cave temples, in the Gombak district, 13 kilometres (8 mi) north of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu or Batu River, which flows past the hill. Batu Caves is also the name of the nearby village.

The cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, dedicated to Lord Murugan, incidentally our family deity too. It is the focal point of Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia.

After a prayer to Lord Murugan,  We headed out to ride towards Genting. The ride from here on was a lot more fun, I think the break helped me re-calibrate myself to the Dorso and somehow this time put me in-charge. Changing the modes are great fun, I enjoyed switching between the sport and tour modes. The gentle acceleration of the tour mode through the city stretches to the aggressive sport mode when you can make that change. The versatile nature of the Dorso is quite enjoyable.

Malaysia has a great road network that is very well suited to motorcycling. With almost every little point on the map connected, you can be sure to have a great road wherever you plan to take your riding. The changing landscape adds to the joy for touring. Cruising along lets you see a lot of this wonderful country in the way it is meant to be seen. The culture is very rich here too, the main ethnicities here being Malay, Chinese and Tamil, you get a fantastic mix of food, language and everything else in between.

We hit the Genting foothills and immediately, it became a lot more exciting. The landscape got thicker and greener, with a winding dark black tarmac snake cutting through it. The roaring Dorso and the MV were singing all out and filling the valley up with music (for the moto-enthusiast that is). There are a couple of great photo ops on this route and we stopped to take some good shots of the bikes here. Some of them I have posted with this article. The bikes easily catch attention of other bikers we met some who decided to pull-over to chat. The wonderful thing about these trips is you always meet other bikers and make new friends. Catching up on what's the scene there like and all the local bike talk.

We got up to Genting by noon, with an ear to ear grin. The ride up was absolute fun on these bikes, the long banking corners and the straights that were just long enough to enjoy the power on these bikes was a perfect match. We deserved a good hearty lunch to celebrate.

Up on top, there are a lot of options for gastronomic touring for foodies like us. We decided to try something local. Rush suggested a quiet resto that seemed to be pretty popular with the locales there. We tried some local delicacies and a lot of ice-lemon to wash them all down.

After our lunch, we were quite eager to get back on to the bikes. So going down, we swapped bikes. I would get to ride the MV and figure out why my brother was having, apparently, so much more fun that he was boasting about over lunch. And I have to say, the MV is a dream. Its every bit of the legend it claims to be.

The MVF4 is such a well balanced bike that it almost reads your mind before you take that cornering decision. The ride position was not a taxing as I thought it would be compared to other popular bikes in its class.

Riding the twists were a complete dream on this bike, I felt in complete control as the four cylinders effortlessly powered away and the large discs grabbed every bit of the traction to create a wonderful riding experience. As we came down to lower altitudes and the roads got straight and the engine was now well heated up and had reached its optimum performance temperature.

Earlier, before we started, Rush had promised to flag for me the stretch where I could open up the MV safely and get a feel for its full power. As we got to this point, I got the signal from our pilot. I looked ahead and it was a straight line, was easily a km plus. I tucked in and powered through the gears. The acceleration was real quick, hitting 200+ kmph in no time. There was no fuss at all, the MV cut through the thick tropical air like a knife and was quite hungry for more. I looked ahead and saw a gentle left hander coming up, and cut the acceleration. The MV hummed back seamlessly delivering confidence inspiring control as I entered the corner at around 150 kmph.  I just loved it, the power, the balance, the control.

The rest of the ride was just absolute fun. We got back to KL and quickly settled back into lower cruise speeds to suit the traffic. The ride was a good mix of terrain and pace and really did feel quite fulfilling though it was just 120kms. As we rode through the city, I was excited about the next 2 days we still had to enjoy the bikes.

Now back, the bikes turned a lot of heads as we entered the tight busy streets of KL. We were on our way to meet up with some friends from the local biking circuit and discuss you know what. Bikes.

Biligiriranga Hills, B.R.Hills in short, is a hill range situated in south-eastern Karnataka, at its border with Tamil Nadu in South India. The area is called Biligiriranga Swamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary or simply BRT Wildlife Sanctuary. It is a protected reserve under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Being at the confluence of the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, the sanctuary is home to eco-systems that are unique to both the mountain ranges. The site was declared a Tiger Reserve in December 2010.

It was the right time to ride up here, was just before the monsoon would hit it and wash off perhaps some of the forest roads. The ride would not be about pace, more about a quite stroll into the deeper parts of the sanctuary. My CBR 250R is well suited to these kind of roads, being a single cylinder and light enough to do some stand up and ride if the situation arose. My riding buddy decided to get his FZ 15, since we were sticking to a fun light ride.

We headed as early as possible, around 6am to beat the traffic that would come down on us as we headed towards Kanakapura. We made it in time and were on our way through the winding country roads towards Kollegal, our breakfast stop. This road is dotted with many little hallis (villages) and towns and being a single lane highway, sees a lot of local traffic. One must be careful not to over speed here as there is always a chance of some little moped or worse cows that could decide to jump ahead of you. This density is also in a way a good thing if you enjoy seeing the country on a motorcycle, which is really the best way to appreciate any country-side really. Its best to keep the pace around at 80 - 90kmph in these parts.

There are enough fuel stops on the way and little eateries too if either tanks need refuelling. We got to Kollegal and got a quick bite of hot idlis and sambar that are famous in these Darshinis and also a tasty and safe bet. A strong south indian filter coffee to refresh the head and we were off again.

Just after/at Kollegal, make sure you take the deviation to B.R.Hills if you are planning to do this ride. The roads get narrower from here on and you see a lot more of the villages. Sometimes the road narrows down enough to be almost at the front door of some homes. As you near the hills you get to a forest check post. An entry here and you are off into the scenic sanctuary. Of course at the time of the year we were riding, pre monsoon, the forest was dry and really in need of some rains, though, beautiful it still was. We rode quiet and slow not to disturb the forest and when we had the chance took a couple of pictures. We are not allowed to park up along these roads, so the stops had to be under a minute.

The ride into these forests really are very rewarding, being one with nature is best done with a motorcycle I always thought and this is one of those places you would really enjoy if you have the same passion as me.

The Idea of taking a motocross bike and turning it into street ready machine is what supermotards are all about. And in that kingdom, The Dorsoduro 750 and the bigger 1200 variant, are perhaps one of the most successful creatures. Aprilia has seeked to demonstrate its supermoto race pedigree in this street legal version of their know-how, and it does work, quite well.

You must have already read about the ride time I got in Malaysia on the Dorso in my other post, and have to say, I really got to enjoy this motorcycle's ability to be so versatile. I would imagine this 750 being the right kind of motorcyle to suit my kind of biking needs. Its ability to take on various kinds of terrain with little effort makes it a real contender if you plan to live off a single motorcycle, tour, sport or just plain 'ol city.

The tri-map, fly by wire electronics on the dorso give it a great combination of power and comfort. If you are like me, an RX (Yamaha RX100) freak, who spent most college days jumping around on the Yam, then you are going to love the Dorso. Even for beginners, I would say starting with the relaxed, least agressive Rain mode is a good way to get to know the ride. Once you have had enough time getting sure about it, you can switch to the Tour mode. Of course the madness really begins once you switch to Sport. The rear wheel is so eager to spin and grab the tarmac that you'll find yourself rodeoing it with just small quick throttle twists. The exhausts turn up the antics too. The high swept back pipes let out a "I'm serious, lets ride" roar. Watch out, here comes rude boy.

The stance, though high, is quite spot on in terms of balance. With most of the bike made from light weight high grade plastics and alloys, it translates to great control, responding quite quickly to rider inputs. The suspension is great, with the upside down forks travelling enough for the likes of a dirt kid. The long travel in the rear setup included makes the entire package feel really light. Turning radius too is much tighter compared to the larger bikes in this cubic range. Its light enough to be, can I say, prankster like. You definitely do find your brat side emerge on this Dorso.

The looks on this bike are sure to get you noticed. The lines are clearly inspired by the motocross/supermoto machines and with the rider position being quite high, you'll find yourself towering over in traffic. Make sure you rev the V-twin if you want people to turn and look at you. They sure will turn to look twice.

From a touring perspective, this bike will fare well. However, don't expect great distances doing high speeds. The bike tops out at a decent 200kmph but the lack of fuel capacity from the small 12-litre tank clearly points to Aprilia's focus. Short bursts around the country. You could tour on these bikes when the sunshines and you have enough fuel stops on your route to quench its thirst. Yes, Its not great on economy either, around 16kmpl(38mpg). Expect a 160km range from a full tank.

The way I look at it, its still a great package, barring range and fuel economy. If you are looking to tour through twisting country roads, hitting little towns and even cities, the Dorsoduro is a great choice. I'd pick it again any day.

Full write up coming soon...

Full write up coming soon...

A post on this is coming soon, till then, here are a couple of pics of the F4.