CR&S
DUU
The
Duu — Italian for two — follows the “two” theme throughout the bike. It’s a
two-seater with a V-twin engine and it fuses the sporty European and muscular
American motorcycle cultures. But the most impressive specification in this
repertoire of twos is the massive 2.0-liter engine.
That’s
right. It’s a naked sport-bike with a powerplant that dwarfs those in a lot of
small cars.
CR&S says the Duu is much like
its smaller sibling the Vun –“one”— as “a motorcycle made for bikers by
bikers.” But goes further as an exercise in innovation. The company claims it’s
a combination of modularity and muscle. The muscle is indisputable, but the
modularity isn’t something that goes beyond the factory floor. It’s more of a
made to order personalization from an à la carte menu. If the menu ever
changes, you can be sure of one thing — the house specialty will remain a
healthy two-liter helping of aluminum.
The
engine is the very same designed by specialty tuning company S&S in
celebration of its 50th anniversary. A big player in the specialty parts market
for American V-twins, S&S is responsible for a plethora of motorcycle drag
racing and land speed titles. The two-liter X-Wedge engine was its call for a
big-bore work of art that met the latest emission and noise standards. What
we’re really itching to find out are what kind of performance numbers we can
expect.
Based
on looks alone, the Duu seems poised to tackle any corner, cruise any straight
or own any drag strip with a high level of panache. We have seen motorcycles
reminiscent of the MV Agusta Brutale in
styling and others similar to Confederate Motorcycles in raw aggressive look. But
much like a wife meeting a mistress, not once did we imagine such an encounter
would create so much passion and sex-appeal.
Just
as you suspected, all that muscle and personalization doesn’t come without a
premium. Weighing in at a base-price of € 20,000.00 (US$ 29,500) the Duu costs
enough to buy a Brutale almost twice over.