Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.TIME REMEMBERED· Racer Test: Giacomo Ago~tini's 1976 350cc Quattro Cilindri (Left) It was these uncorked megaphone exhausts that sang the last MV racing song In 1976 at Brands Hatch. (Right) Hunt laminated aluminum discs are used at the front. Though better than cast iron in terms of unsprung weight, the aluminum discs don't offer the same bite. Ceriani forks have adjustable rebound damping and their performance underlines just how far suspension technology has progressed since 1976. ber of gears all at once in swift succession rather than space them out as you would on a Manx Norton. When you ride one of these bikes you get a new slant on Agostini's apparent feat in adapting so swiftly . to riding a Yamaha two-stroke after a lifetime racing the MVs. The advances in suspension and chassis technology made in the past 20 years are also set in perspective when you ride the MV, especially on a bumpy circuit like Mid-Ohio. The piggyback Marzocch.i rear shocks were quite sophisticated for their time, but there just isn't enough wheel travel to get adequate suspension response in modem terms. (Right) The chrome-moly steel swlngarm features an eccentric pivot adjustmem. MV Agusta 350 Quattro Cilindri Specificalions EngIne . ..•......Air-cooled, DOHC, transverse, in-line four-cylinder four-stroke with central gear camshaft drive and four valves per cylinder ................ ...•...............................•.................54x 38mm 01.,1. c Output 349cc 77 bhp@ 16.400 rpm (at gearbox> Conop rIItIo 12.2:1 Cartouretlon (4) 34mm Dell'Orto with 2 remote float chambers ignition Dual Krober electronic COl with 12v battery c..rbo• ................................ six.speed extractable with gear primary drive Clutch Multiplate dry Chassis , Chrome-moly tubular steel open·cradle duplex frame with engine as semi-stressed member W ba_ 50.4 inches SU.p ion Front Reer \D 0\ 0\ M a ~ I-< OJ ~ 40 35mm Ceriani telescopic forks with adjustable rebound damping Fabricated box-section chrome-moly steel swingarm with eccentric pivot adjustment and twin Marzocchi shocks WIth external reservoir ............. .............................................................n/a T...I• ................................................................ 103mm Weight .. . 266.2 pounds B....... Front .... Dual 254mm Hunt laminated aluminum discs with twin-piston AP·Lockheed calipers Reer . . . . . .single 230mm Brembo cast·iron disc with single-piston Scarab caliper ......./11 ... Front 90/90-18 Avon Roadmaster AM20 on WM3 Morris mag-alloy wheel Reer 110/80-18 Avon AM22 crossply on WM4 Morris mag-alloy wheel Top..... .. 157.5 mph Y_of _ _ ucllaD 1976 0- _ TeMl Obsolete. Brooklyn. New York And in spite of their adjustable rebound damping, the 35nun Ceriani forks aren't a lot better. But within the context of its era and at the respectful speeds I was riding it, the MV handled well. It steers brilliantly, in spite of the kicked-out fork angle - or maybe because of it. The short wheelbase delivers nimble handling, the wide head angle and lots of trail - 103mm, says obby Oark - add stability. Accelerating hard around fast, bumpy turns never persuaded the MV to shake its head or flap the front wheel, even cresting a hill cranked over, in spite of the excellent grip from the modern Avon treaded tires developed for classic racing. You're in charge, not the bike. Not every rider of a mid-'70s works 350 or 500cc GP machine could say the same! The only thing I didn't really care for was the lack of bite £rom the Hunt alloy brakes compared to the cast-iron discs used by other European bikes in the early days of the disc-brake era. The 75055 Ducati I race today in Historic F750 events has the same Lockheed calipers as fitted to the MV but uses Brembo iron rotors, and th.e difference in braking power is substantial, even with a heavier bike. To put up with this lack of bite, Ago must really have liked the reduced gyroscopic effect and improved suspension response via reduced unsprung weight that the Hunts delivered. Can't say I would have. But as I left Brands Hatch that day, I would have given anything to have ridden the last MV to be raced - and now, thanks to Iannucci, I have. Having done so, one reaction is of surprise. I'm surprised it was so potent and modem-feeling to ride, surprised it was so small and snug to sit on, surprised it steered as nimbly and sharply as a two-stroke twin. But the strongest emotion is one of regret. We need bikes like the MV Agusta on Grand Prix race tracks today. Restrictive rules which discourage technical innovation and variety have resulted in an Identikit array of V-four twostrokes and half-size V-twin spinoffs in the modern 500 and 250cc Grand Prix classes. How ironic it is that the World Championship category which offers the most varied array of different design features and engine formats today is the Superbike class - nominally based on prod uction street bikes. The day the music died was a sad day for lovers of technical innovation as well as of fourstroke concert music, thanks to wellmeaning but myopic, unimaginative rules that even Honda wasn't able to circumvent with the NRSOO. My day at Mid-Ohio underlined how much we need a modem version of the MV Agusta back in racing today . and an oval-piston Honda, and a desmo Vtwin Ducati GP bike, and a Norton rotary, and a four-cylinder Kawasaki four-stroke, and all the other permutations of two-stroke / four-stroke / rotary / whatever that technical innovation will allow - and the only way to do this is to create a new Formula One Grand Prix class based on a fuel consumption formula. Let's do it now, then the music will play again. (N

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