SHOOTOUT
P80
6 TH
2013 MIDDLEWEIGHT SPORTBIKE SHOOTOUT PART II
M
V Agusta won over many
a rider when it released
teaser pics of its sultry
F3 675. The Italian marque's inaugural Supersport entry sources
a 675cc inline triple – the same
configuration as Triumph's Daytona 675. Our MV test bike took
the Triumph similitude one step
further, with a nearly identical
colorway of white bodywork and
red accents. But when the rubber
met the road, the two bikes parted
ways on the scoresheet – with the
refined British brawler getting the
better of its raw Italian rival.
The F3's triple isn't an exact
copy of the Triumph engine formula. Only the 675cc displacement is the same, with the MV
design more oversquare, sporting
a 3mm wider bore (79mm) and
3.7mm shorter stroke (45.9mm).
The F3's 114.31 hp edged out the
Daytona for peak horsepower on
the dyno, but only by 0.63 hp.
The Italian's advantage came from
a high-revving gasp at 14,800
rpm – the Triumph peaking 1800
revs earlier. A glance at the torque
curve reveals the stroked out Daytona has the F3 covered all the
way until 13,500 rpm.
