#Brutale800

MV Agusta has decided to streamline three key models – the Brutale 800, Dragster 800, and Turismo Veloce 800 – in order to bring costs down and provide consumers more affordable options into the MV family. The trio of models are part of the MV Agusta Rosso Range and will come in any color you want as long as it’s…red.

Reparto Veicoli Speciali #1, which was designed in coordination with the Castiglioni’s own C.R.C. (Castiglioni Research Centre), translates to, “Special Vehicles Department #1”. When a motorcycle manufacturer whose slogan is “Motorcycle Art” assigns a department to something special you can bet on the production of a unique, and extreme machine.

Year after year, we gush about liter-plus-sized streetfighters that offer ultra-sport performance with agreeable street ergonomics. Our expert riders love Super Dukes and Tuonos, and also appreciate S1000Rs and Ducati’s big Monsters. And yet, even we can agree that machines that pound out 140+ horsepower to a rear tire approach the area of overkill for streetbikes.

“Nasty, brutish and short” is the famous phrase used to describe the life of the typical medieval peasant (or MO editor), but it could almost describe some of MV Agusta’s earlier Brutales. With this latest electronically enhanced iteration, MV has brought the bike all the way into modernity and then some. The goal, according to MV, was to make the new bike more customer-oriented and easier to ride, with a focus on both reduced fuel consumption and a more friendly user interface. To find out, one of us had to go ride it.

Each year around this time the MO staff gathers to contemplate the new breed of tasty two-wheelers coming our way. This is also when each editor begins positioning himself for a particular press launch. Last year, Preemptive Editor, Troy Siahaan made it abundantly clear that only an act of God would keep him from the R1 launch. This year he’s communicated the same thing about the new Suzuki SV650, a bike that, democratically, didn’t even make this list (Ouch. -TS).

In his First Impression and First Ride reviews of the MV Agusta Brutale 800 Dragster RR, our European Correspondent, Tor Sagen, lays out the nuts and bolts of the Dragster RR. Similar to the Brutale 800 RR I rode as part of MV Agusta USA’s recent media meet-n-greet, the Dragster benefits from the same engine mods (larger throttle bodies, revised airbox, dual injectors per cylinder, EFI tweaks, etc.) and electronic upgrades. This includes the MVICS 2.0 engine management system with modified traction-control settings and a quickshifter good for both up- and down-shifts.

Last week we posted a First Impressions ride review of MV’s hottest Dragster model, the new RR version. Today, our Euro correspondent, Tor Sagen, delivers a full review of the Dragster 800 RR.

MV Agusta hosted a media launch for its new Dragster 800 this week in France. Although the weather wasn’t ideal for motorcycle riding, our Euro correspondent, Tor Sagen, brings us the following quickie ride report. Stay tuned for the full review.

A shootout comprised of four motorcycles of inline three-cylinder arrangement displacing four dissimilar engine capacities from three manufacturers? An unthinkable prospect when Triumph brought the venerable Speed Triple stateside in 1995. Yet here we are today embroiled in this exact scenario, nearly crapping our britches in childlike excitement at the wonderful diversity of three-cylinder motorcycle models from which to choose.

Any bike nut who’s fascinated by performance loves sportbikes. But consumers often have a narrow focus on what makes for a desirable sporting machine, often opting for a faired crotch rocket rather than a relatively comfortable naked roadster. But while naked sporty bikes from Japan have almost never sold well in America (R.I.P. Suzuki SV650…), unfaired sportbikes from Europe are in relatively high demand.