Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Corsa-spec Pirelli EVa rubber fitted to <\:he bike - the front a special 120/65ZR17 design created at Tamburini's behest, to .combine the light handling and precise steering of a 120/6o-section Supersport 600 cover with the better feedback at full lean of a 120/70 tire, as used on most Superbikes - nothing grounded at Monza, even at extreme angles of racetrack lean. Everything has obviously been calculated down to the last millimeter in accomodating the rider (footpegs and gear lever are adjustable, via eccentric inserts), including the stylish slashcuts in the fuel tank/airbox shroud, which allow you to tuck your arms in even tighter and wrap them around the top part of the bike for an aerodynamic yet comfy stance when tucked down behind the surprisingly effective yet small screen. This gives better wind protection than you might expect at speed, if not quite up to Yamaha R7 standards for a slim-line special like this. at bad, though. From trackside, the note of the MY's trademark four-pipe exhaust system seems pretty undistinguished - sounds just like a good Japanese bike! - but when you hop aboard and crank up the starter, you get quite a different impression. Gas it up hard, and there's a lovely howl- but (Above) Handling is superb, with a chassis that's as narrow and nimble aa any twin. (lAIft) Clothes on or clothes off, beauty prevails. not from the exhaust system, though. It's the intake noise from the quartet of 47mm throttle bodies - big for a 750cc four - pointing upward straight at you, only slightly muffled by the air filter and airbox shrouding. Anyway, having heard the MY coming from a couple of miles away the first time I saw it in action more than a year ago, when fitted with a more "musical" (Le., open!) exhaust, I know there's considerable potential for an optional "track use only" set of pipes that every customer will surely buy - well, provided they plan to use their MV Agusta as the ghost of Count Domenico Agusta would expect, and ride it! Above all, don't follow the example of Max Biaggi, who has one on order but says he plans not to ride it but to just stick it in his living room and admire the aesthetics. What a waste; bump him down the delivery roster, per cortesia, Claudio.... But back to the real world - and the next surprise in store is the performance of the ultra-short-stroke 16-valve engine, which, contrary to much speculation, was not designed either by or in conjunction with the Ferrari Formula One team, though the radial-valve cylinderhead design (which delivers improved cylinder filling and better combustion, says Cagiva's F4 engine guru, Andrea Goggj) did emanate from an initial Formula One-derived design study produced back in 1989 for Cagiva by the Modena design studio of the Castiglionis' churn Piero Ferrari (son of Enzo). That's the sum total of the Ferrari connection, says Claudio Castiglioni though as the proud owner of a low-mileage F40 (see photo), he's happy for you to draw comparisons between the respective heritage of the MV Agusta and Ferrari marques! At 73.8 x 43.8mm, the F4 engine is considerably more oversquare than even a 73 x 44.7mm Kawasaki ZX-7R, until now the 750cc four with the shortest engine stroke. You'd expect the MV Agusta to be a real rev· hound with those kind of engine dimensions, but while Goggi says the superbike race version Cagiva is developing runs to 15,500 rpm already, in treet form the MY is a different proposition. For a start, it's incredibly flexible and forgiving low down, puJling cleanly off the 1400-rpm idle and happy to run at 40 mph in a line of traffic in sixth gear at 3000 to 4000 rpm without any sign of transmission snatch or a surging pickup. . The Weber-Marelli EFI is extremely well-mapped, especially low in the rev range, nor is there any of the jerky pickup from a closed throttle that cllaracterizes so many fuel-injected bikes - includ· ing tile R7. The noisy primary drive of the prototype I rode almost a year ago has since been silenced, and it's now also okay to ride the bike in jeans, because the previous excessive heat from the fairing exit ducts has been eliminated, thanks to a revised two-stage cooling system and the largest radiator fitted to any production street bike, specially made for Cagiva in Japan, and cooled by two largediameter fans. But now you do notice 'a rattle from the cen tral cam chain (retained to keep the engine as slim as possible, says Goggi, rather than move it off to the side, as is now the current trend). However, this soon disappears as the revs mount, and it is probably due to the resonance of the carbon-fiber bodywork used on the Serie d'Oro models, says works tester Paolo Bianchi; the prototype of the volume-production F4S he's testing at present, with GRP bodywork in stead of carbon and aluminum chassis castings replacing the magnesium, doesn't have this noise. Nevertheless,. this is a surprisingly accommodating traffic tool, with the only major downside being the typical Tamburini riding stance, which - as on the 916 - puts a lot of body weight on your arms and shoulders, aimed at loading up the .front wheel in pursuit of enhanced grip and greater corner speed. That's fine on racer road or lapping the Monza Autodrama, but it becomes pretty tiring when riding in traffic at slower speeds sitting up. But then, any MV Agusta is a hard-nosed piece of hardware - so put up with it.. The F4's short-stroke radial-valve engine is an a'dded factor in the bike's functional excellence. Surprisingly, though, it doesn't spin up so quickly as

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