MV Agusta F4 1000 2018 — Specifications

Eight years without a major overhaul — that's the weight the MV Agusta F4 1000 drags across the shoulders of its 2018 spec sheet. Varese doesn't have the financial muscle of a Japanese manufacturer, and developing a new hypersport swallows budgets the Italian house prefers to spread across its ranges. The beast has therefore been maintained through engine evolutions and injections of electronics, while a Panigale V4 rolled in with its 214 horsepower and a Kawasaki ZX-10R kept shaving lap times. The result: the F4 moves forward on its crest, its inline-four singing like an angry soprano, and a design that hasn't aged a wrinkle since Tamburini.

Let's position the beast. Take an MV Agusta F4 1000 RR, strip it of its Öhlins, its Brembo M50 calipers, a handful of horsepower and its top-shelf wheels, and you get this base F4 priced at 20,990 euros. For comparison, a Yamaha R1 plays in the same price bracket with a more sanitized approach, while a BMW S1000 RR crushes everything with its surgical electronic aids. The MV plays another tune — that of transalpine character, of the hand-welded chrome-molybdenum steel tubular trellis, of the single-sided swingarm that remains a styling exercise even among the best-bred competitors. The 195 horsepower lands at 13,400 rpm, torque peaks at 110.8 Nm at 9,600 rpm, and the claimed top speed flirts with 291 km/h. Serious business, despite the age of the platform.

The engine is a 998 cc dubbed Corsa Corta for its ultra-short 50.9 mm stroke versus 79 mm bore. An architecture built to climb the rev range without running out of breath, with a 13.4:1 compression ratio that betrays its track vocation. The electronic arsenal is called MVICS and relies on ELDOR — ride-by-wire, four maps including one fully customizable, eight-level traction control fed by an inertial measurement unit, anti-wheelie, quickshifter and Bosch 9MP ABS with Race mode. Reading the spec sheet, one wonders what the MV Agusta F4 1000 R 2012 would have done with such an arsenal. Owners of the MV Agusta F4 1000 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, then the 2010, 2011 and 2013 model years, know moreover that MV Agusta F4 1000 maintenance demands above-average vigilance, throttle body synchronization at the top of the list and valve clearance checks to be watched like milk on the stove.

On the chassis side, the 50 mm Marzocchi inverted fork and the triple-adjustable Sachs monoshock thus replace the Öhlins units of the upmarket versions. It's not the level of a pure track weapon, but 120 mm of travel at each end and forged wheels are enough to draw clean lines on a circuit. Braking settles for four-piston radial calipers biting two 320 mm discs, a step below the M50s of the high-end MV Agusta F4 1000 R 2006, R 2007 and R 2010, but the MV Agusta F4 1000 CC has nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to available bite. With 191 kg dry, 830 mm seat height and a 17-liter tank, the riding position remains that of a pure hypersport — forget a tour of France two-up.

Who does this Italian speak to in 2018? Certainly not the beginner, nor the long-distance rider. It addresses the track rider sensitive to the gesture, the enthusiast who has ridden an MV Agusta F4 1000 Ago or dreamed of the MV Agusta F4 1000 Lewis Hamilton — in short, the motorcyclist who forgives the little roughnesses for the sonic texture, the line and the signature. On the used MV Agusta F4 1000 market, prices hold up correctly, proof that the charm still works. The new MV Agusta F4 1000 price remains one of the best entry tickets to an exclusive machine. Beautiful, demanding, aging but not expired, it continues to earn its spot on the starting grid.