#TractionControl

Today at Intermot, Moto Guzzi unveiled a revised V7 lineup with a host of new features. Despite its vintage heritage, the V7 II lineup will receive ABS and “Moto Guzzi Controllo Trazione,” better known as traction control. While the addition of ABS is no surprise considering all motorcycles sold in Europe are required to have the feature starting in 2015, traction control was slightly unsuspected. It makes sense, however, since much of the ABS hardware can perform double duty.

The front end of the Piaggio MP3 looks a bit like an angry Mutant Ninja Turtle or, if you stretch it, like a big scary frog. It’s a quirky scooter but the French seem to love it, having purchased nearly 70,000 of them. So, it was appropriate that Piaggio chose Paris as the city in which to launch the newest version of the MP3.

The queen of Vespas has received the latest in high-tech rider aids, with both ABS and traction control. The single-cylinder four-stroke buzzes underneath me as I’m sitting on a comfortable seat while smelling spring air in Tuscany, and I notice the butterflies in the fields covered in yellow spring flowers. It’s good to be liberated by the warming sun.

Piaggio‘s MP3 has been one of the most distinctive motor vehicles of the past decade, using two wheels up front, but able to lean like a true motorcycle. And it’s attracted an amazingly large fan base. The Italian company says it has sold 150,000 MP3s since the model line’s introduction in 2007.

Every fall, the big magazine where I used to work hosts an industry ride up in the mountains outside Yosemite, a time for the ad sales people to get in some serious schmoozing, and an excellent time for the rest of us to get in some fantastic riding during the day and some open bar in the evenings.

Ducati’s Diavel has been an odd Duc since its 2011 inception, going partway down a cruiser path but not fully committing to the segment’s form-ahead-of-function paradigm. The regular Diavels can feel a bit confused – it’s sort of a cruiser but one from a new sub-breed.

There’s no doubt about it, the Ducati 1199 Panigale is one sexy motorcycle. Its elegant curves and sharp lines make it a bike worth lusting after. If you’re up for it, the 1199cc Superquadro engine will exhilarate the soul unlike anything else we’ve ever ridden, just look how much we gush about the thing in our track and street portions of our 2013 Exotic Literbike Shootout.