Motus Owner Loving It!

HARWINTON, CT – It’s the first one sold in New England and Ernie Torizzo is loving his new American-made Motus.

The Harwinton motorcycle collector, who has such brands as Ducati, BMW and MV Agusta in his garage, picked up the 1,650cc MSTR model from Rocket Moto Sport in Nashua, NH on Aug. 30.

“I rode it home on back roads and it was unbelievable,” he said last weekend.

Built at a plant in Birmingham, AL, the Motus set him back roughly $38,000, but he feels the money was worth it. “They’ve paid attention to detail,” Torizzo said. “I find it very smooth, very comfortable.”

Getting a thumbs up from Torizzo were the riding position, the transmission and the braking. “The suspension is absolutely great,” he said.

Torizzo didn’t mention the power delivered by the 180-horsepower, V4 motor. However, riding behind Tom MacBurnie one night, to whom he loaned it, all I can say is that one moment Tom was directly in front of me and the next he was a speck in the distance. During our ride, we stopped at the Harwinton Volunteer Fire Department to show it off.

Torizzo rode 200 miles on the Motus during the first week that he had it. He figures it will be his last new purchase.

Motus has been shipping motorcycles to dealers since early summer, according to company president and co-founder Lee Conn. Rocket Moto Sport is the lone Motus dealer in New England, and Torizzo’s was the first one delivered.

Motus is hoping to land a dealer in CT. “We are very focused on working with shops that make sense in terms of product mix and culture,” Conn said.

Torizzo took a leap of faith in buying the Motus. “I just hope they make it,” he said.