The F4 first caught my eye being bruce waynes choice of vehicle when he wasnt in his Lamborghini. I think that alone makes a statement that the producers and director chose that bike over a ducati.
I never forget when I saw one for the first time. I bought an F4 1000 shortly afterwards. But, krikes, was that thing uncomfortable - SO cramped. But I loved it. My sister called it the Envy Agusta!
I owned one. Under powered, felt like a 600 and riding position was a killer. Every thing was forgiven when you got off though and took a look. Exhaust noise was cool and the sound from the air box was assume
Tamburini finished the 916 in early '93 and immediately went to work on the F4 and it shows, the F4 seems to clearly be an evolution of the shape of the 916. The F4 was originally conceived as a Cagiva, but the Castiglioni's obtained the MV name around 1992 and the 750 F4 was a worthy first effort. It had a long gestation period (1991-1997), Ferrari was not "behind" the bike, they were paid for initial design efforts of the engine that was largely abandoned except for the radial valve layout. Ferrari was in financial trouble with the recession of the early 90's and unloved 348 as their bread and butter model.
Some history/context on MV and Ago's run of championships: When GP bike racing started up after the war in 1949 the Italians almost immediately began to dominate. Particularly in the 350/500cc classes. From the early 1950's until the mid 1960's the GP grids were a bunch of lads on Norton, AJS, Velocette, and BSA singles who desperately needed some prize money to pas for gas to the next race and maybe some salami and bread and a tire if they could swing it. The rest of the field were the Italians,: factory teams with supercharged V twins, triples, fours, and Moto Guzzi's 12,000 rpm V8. By 1957 the economy in Europe and Italy had improved enough so that people could afford cars and they stopped buying bikes. So the Italian manufacturers all got together and made a gentlemen's to leave GP bike racing. This was an agreement that Count Domenico Agusta immediately broke. His company was an aerospace company that mostly built helicopters and with the Cold War going strong he was doing just dandy. So from then until 1974 Surtees, Agostini, Hailwood, Read won every single 500cc Championship on the 'Fire Engine' MV's against those same British lads on their now ancient thumpers.
MV is the Pagani or Bugatti (yes, Bugatti has Italian history) of Motorcycles And the F4 750’s and 1000’s are really something people need to take in at least once, it feels like a 600 in every aspect besides power
Do you want all of the Italian-motorcycle fiery performance and design, but also don’t want to drain your kids’ college tuition savings? Then buy an Aprilia and enjoy yourself.
@SongJLikes Speaking of Aprilia, I hope Bart makes a video about them; in the future. Either, about how they’ve made V4-powered superbikes relevant again (after, Honda neglected what used to be the company’s favorite engine configuration, in the late-80's to early-90's), with the RSV4. Or, how they used to carry the entire 125cc (Moto3) and 250cc (Moto2) classes, in the 1990's to the very last years of the tiny 2-Strokes. Also, how Aprilia has been the earliest motorcycle manufacturer for so many GP/WSBK champions, and how significant the company is/was to building future racers in said 125cc/250cc 2-Stroke eras. (But, at what cost; given how Piaggio, Aprilia's parent company/creators of Vespa, has severely neglected their older subsidiaries: Gilera and Derbi.)
I had 2 F4 in the past, and what a motorcycle.... it's the best bike ever made, when you look at it it's hard to believe it's almot 30 years old design. it still the best looking motorcycle in 2024...
44 Teeth did a series of videos traveling with an F4 (1000cc) and another Ducati. They even raced them against modern top liter bikes in a track day and the F4 was able to keep it up to them. Definitely an amazing bike that looks like it was launched today.
I think MV Augusta still has the most number of championship title , please correct me if wrong from building helicopters to motorcycles what a manufacturer
In the lengthy history of MotoGP the most successful is Honda. By the mid point of the 2023 season, riders on Honda bikes had clinched a total of 313 Grand Prix victories. Second place in the number of wins goes to Yamaha (245 wins), third place to the Italians MV Agusta (139 wins).
My dream bike is a Rivale 800, its the bike that got to like bikes. to this day i remember when the bike came out and little me drooling over the pictures.
I will have one up for sale soon. It's gorgeous, the engine is fantastic but the suspension is terrible with too little adjustment. It's got a Silmoto exhaust, best sounding bike in town.
Proud owner of an F3 800 here. Had a cbr 600 before, and also and RS660 aprilia. the MV is quick, light, and sound unique. but it has her problems for sure. Rear brake is non-existent unless you bleed it every 200km, and it still have some weird electronic behaviours, for example a couple of days ago after a 20km ride i turned it off and it didn't want to switch back on, it seemed like the battery was dead which didn't make any sense after a long ride and some charging the night before. went away to do some commisions, came back and it started right away. it's like the CU goes crazy and decide to block the battery from sending electricity to the starter, for whatever reason. Also valve clearance every 12000km that costs around 800€
I always think the original plan was to put the badge on the Cagiva GP bike, after all that was bourne out of the failed attempt to buy the MV race team when they quit. Claudio was refused and he bought a japanese bike to go racing with and painted it red and silver, this team later became the Cagiva team with their own bike. I think he toyed with that idea but then realised he had already fullfilled that dream, so he closed the GP team, sold Ducati (because it was struggling anyway) and put his mind to reviving the MV road story. When you look at it like that a lot of the small decisions fit together and you could say he achieved his goal. BTW the poster you have is the second variation 'silver' edition, the 'Oro' being the first.
As a former owner of a Ducati 907, and Ducati 888 SPO (owning them in the 1990s) I've heard the "Ferrari of Motorcycles" thing for years. My current ride is a 1997 Moto Guzzi Sport 1100 that I've got an embarrassing amount of time and money into. So, the question I've had for years, with Ferrari already taken, would that make Guzzi the Maserati, or Alfa Romeo of Motorcycles? :)
I just recently sold my Superveloce. While it was arguably one of the most visually appealing bikes I've ever owned, it just didn't retain its value. I took a bath on this thing and it took me over a year to sell. Not to mention the known rear brake problems that plague this model as well as others that MV refuses to fix. There are better value bikes for the money, this is for certain. Heck, my old Ducati 748 is more fun to ride. That's been my experience
It IS the most beautiful bike made in the modern age. Trumps the 916 and the RC30. The 3 are hands down the most striking. I owned RC30 #236 for several years. Even during that time. I drooled over the F4. Absolutely stunning!
Great video Bart ! Quite interesting. When you spend money like that on a motorcycle, you've got to build a nitrogen-purged glasscase in your living room and keep it there. There is absolutely no reason to take it out on the street, where some snotty kid on another run-of-the-mill "cheap" bike has you reading his registration plate ! Vehicle for vehicle, a Ferrari.gets far more gawks than a MV would ! And few want an engine that sounds like a Lister concrete mixer. Trinidad & Tobago. West Indies.
My friend race bikes professionally he bought f4 he said it was the most uncomfortable bike ever had. Looked beautiful in the garage as long as you didn't want to ride it
I owned the F4 SPR #134 and it was an awesome bike. It got more attention than my bright yellow 748 on the road or parked. The engine was impressive and nothing really happens below 6500rpm. Then it pulls like mad and you have to hold on with your legs, arms and teeth because it want to tear you off. Cool bike, not the most comfortable or easy to ride compared to the 748/916 which go where you look/think you want to go. The F4 wants to fall into turns and makes you constantly have to make steering inputs. I’d still own one, probably the 1000, just because…. It’s Italian 😂
It's a shame no one really knows why it sounds and feels so different, when it's actually a super easy explaination. The Crankshaft assembly was designed to be as light as possible to make it rev much quicker, since theres no flywheel for the alternator on the crankshaft, that's why it sounds lumpy at low rpm or idle but therefore revs super quick and always needs the highest rpm to get going
Ducati is THE Ferrari of motorcycles without question. MV is a boutique brand. They don't have the racing pedigree in the modern age. Had they kept racing and producing next level bikes they would be the Ferrari of bikes. But they are more for show than competitive performance. They are more like a Lamborghini than a Ferrari.
@bartmotorcycle Could happen after some time especially now. And if MV were still racing at a high level on all fronts then I would look at MV more so as a Ferrari type. But rather than the Lamborghini of bikes, they are more like the Alpha Romeo of bikes. MV is one of the oldest Italian Marques. Benelli is oldest I believe.
MV F4 is carrying a lot of DNA similarities to a 916 , 998, and 1098 - not just because of Tamburini involvement. Just look at frame and swingarm. taken the best of all those Ducati models years 90s and 2K. Reviewers of MV F4 have even commented that they handle like a 1098 with a 4 cyl. To me the F4 is a halo motorcycle like the Ducati Desmosedici RR . F4 is a beautiful bike don't get me wrong but to me Ducati is still the closest to a Ferrari based on WSBK and MotoGP history. btw do you think Aprilia would be like the Lamborghini of motorcycles ?
As many said already, MV is too niche to be Ferrari, they're defo Pagani, Ducati remains the Ferrari of the two wheeled world. I'd say that leaves Aprilia as the Lamborghini, but they've got much more racing history than Lambo could ever hope to get.
Hmm... a few facts about MV Agusta. It is true that MV Agusta was and remains a Rolls Royce on 2 wheels. The last original model to leave the MV Agusta factory was the Grand Prix 1100 produced in 1980 with a traditional cardan drive on the rear wheel. The head of design at MV Agusta was Arturo Magni. The reborn MV Agusta with the F4 model in the mid-90s is just Ducati's attempt to strengthen its brand on the MV Agusta model. The F4 is largely the creation of Massimo Tamburini who was the lead designer for all models at Bimota so the F4 is an onomatopoeia of Bimota. The new MV Agusta doesn't have much in common with the old MV Agusta except it has an inline 4 cylinder and a 4/4 exhaust, everything else is Ducati like the mono arm on the rear wheel.
Ducati 748/916/996 was drawn from Tamburini when Cagiva owned Ducati Factory (then sold in 1995), that's why MVAgusta since 1998 has mono arm and something similar to previous Ducati: the chief designer was ever Tamburini
back in 1984/85, laverda had already established itself as “the ferrari of motorcycles.” don’t have the sales brouchure in front of me, couldn’t post it here if i did, but below is something from a cycle world mag from around that time, actually later but still the reference is there. and 5-8-85 is when i bought one 1984 rga 1000 jota, the arancione pony, and its in out in the garage right now. and its right next to a 2002 mv agusta F4. the two most beautiful bikes ever. any ding dong who says any other bike but laverda is the ferrari of motorcycles doesn’t know shit. and any idiot who says mv agusta is crap is himself a total ‘tard who’s never ridden or owned either. In the 1980s, an ad campaign touted Laverda as “The Ferrari of Motorcycles.” Indeed, given the company’s soulstirring, 1200cc Triples-and in the absence of MV Agusta-that might have been true then. But in the interim, while Laverda was missing in action, Ducati has most assuredly assumed that mantle. Where does that leave Laverda? Tough to say. “The Alfa Romeo of Motorcycles” might not be as flattering, but it’s a lot more accurate. □
The F in F4 is literally Ferrari. The cylinder head was design by the Scuderia. I own an MV 1000cc with full racing exhaust and the bike sounds like a F1 Ferrari from the 90's is insanely loud.
The Ferrari of Motorcycles.... I really don't know what Bike I'd compare to a Ferrari. Certainly not Ducati though- I look at them as the Harleys of Sport Bikes- sure they're nice and well built but they're not worth the price- more of a fad brand than anything else, though there is certainly quality in their products. I can't really say one bike in particular that fits the Ferrari badge, but there's a lot of well built race Bikes out there that could qualify. For me it's more like Bikes between 600-800cc, that's the perfect power/weight ratio bracket to Me so most race Sport Bikes built in that displacement probably qualities as a Ferrari to me. Me dream Bikes are a Ninja 636 or 750r (Ninja 636 race oriented bike that was about in about 2010ish, my Ninja 750 was mid 80s to early 2000s Sport Bike) In the end- to Me, there is no Ferrari of Bikes, all the brands make such great products that nothing stands out in a significant way compared to other Brands in the same way that Sports Cars do.
I thing that the MV Agusta is more like the Bugatti of Motorcycles. Ferrari and Ducati have not only been competitive but dominated the top level of racing for various runs of many years. MV the masterpiece of beauty and is exotic but not a proven winner in over 60 years. FYI my brother has an F4 and it was never competitive-too heavy and very limited low and mid range torque. Even riding on the street they are not that great as you have to keep the revs up to do even a moderate amount of accelerating.
MV makes the most savagely beautiful machines, the modern versions of which have savage performance too, but it comes with dogshit reliability! Like an italian cowboy or dommy mommy who’ll rough you up till you feel it in your soul but you can’t trust either with your wallet on the bedside table
Their reliability has always been quite good, the problem is their minimal ability to support their products. I have owned a great many MV over the last 20+ years and have allways known I need to find my own solutions. As I was drawn to motorcycling the the early 80;s with little money to pay others this has always been my approach to owning bikes. It seems sad that this has been lost in the two wheeled comunity over the decades.
Ferrari won't stuck into similar design for over 2 decades and milk money by all those LIMITED editions. I love the original F4 back to the early 2000 but now it just feel "meh" to me.
Hmmm, I see your argument but don't agree - Ferrari is mainstream now. Ducati mirrors them pretty well, both were special but questionably made. Now Ferrari is a tour de force in technology and so is Ducati. MV reminds me more of Lamborghini, specifically pre-Audi. On a piece of paper, nothing remarkable relative to it's peers, but just _look at it_. It is an exercise in 'feeling' more than anything else. Original Countach is a great example - it's an awful car by the metrics of what makes a car good, but holy shit it's special.
I went for the F3. Sublime throttle. Great feel. That angry exhaust on power is worth any money. The Lamborghini of Italian 2 wheels, in my mind. Hated the Brutale. Awful gearing. Worse than a Monster.
Per amore di dio, Castiglione is pronounced Castil-YON-ay (stress on second syllable). The GLI dipthong makes a "lyuh" sound; the G is totally silent. Another example of this pronunciation would be the Italian word for Garlic, "aglio", which is pronounced "AAL-yo", or for Son, "figlo", pronounce "FEEL-yo" In Italian, unless the "G" is first letter of the word, it's always silent as part of a dipthong. th-cam.com/video/M0KNhI4aWr0/w-d-xo.html
Ducati is still the Ferrari of bikes as far as brand recognition and attention to detail and "road presence" goes. You could show a picture of a F4 to someone who rides motorcycles daily and still not know what theyre looking at. People who dont even ride motorcycles can identify a Ducati when they see one most of the time. Ferrari's are the same way. Like that other comment said, Pagani or Maserati is the closer comparison to MV since they both care more about creating museum bikes over performance and racing. I love MV's but they're not even close to the bike version of a Ferrari especially the new mv's.
Some years ago my sister had an F4 750. I remember her complaining about the extreme ride, poor reliability, servicing and parts costs - sounds like a Ferrari to me ... 😉
One of my riding buddies had an F4 and it had electrical issues, a rear hub seizure and other tech gremlins. Now this was 5 years ago and apparently they've been working on solving these issues and creating better dealer support. They are beautiful bikes, but I decided I could live with constantly bleeding the rear brake of my Panigale over dealing with the tons of issues he had with the MV.
@@MeN2Wheels49 No. Ducati's quality control has vastly improved since being bought by Audi/VW. Now are they as dependable as a Suzuki GSX750Z? Probably not, but there are super high performance motorcycles(Panigale V4, SFV4, Diavel for example). Now a Ducati Scrambler is one of the most reliable bikes on the market today...but its a pretty simplistic bike too.
I was lucky enough to take a 750 F4 out for a good thrash back in 2005. The things I remember are the weak brakes, the rock hard suspension, the bars that trapped your hands against the bodywork, the mirrors that only show your elbows and the motor that couldn't match my 636. It looked very nice, though.
Unfair comparison realy as they had already moved on to the 1000cc version in 2004. Also the brakes feel much better once the suspension is set up to fit the rider/road and the lock stop problem is not relevant when you're riding it, only when pushing it around parking.
I'll tell you lucky! I got to follow one through Deals Gap. It was phenomenal! My ears 'gasmed the whole way. It made me with my cool ass Rat Ninja was quiet.
In Italy we say that MV Agusta (and lately Ducati too) builds motorcycles for rich californians. You'd be surprised how few people here know what MV Agusta even is!
I have a 2000 F4 750. It gives me goose bumps when i ride it. I find myself staring at it when parked. The attention it attracts when in public cements it as Italian royalty. Sometimes the spec sheet doesn't reflect the magic that's present.
You missed out the Brutale, a superb rideable bike which makes MV accessible to a lot more riders. In 2010, I was offered a brand new 2009 Brutale for about 60% of the 2010 model, by a small UK based sports car dealers who were branching out into MV Agusta bikes. I turned down the deal, and have of course regretted it ever since. You are 100% correct when you describe MV Agusta as the Ferrari of motorcycles. Thank you for sharing.
No, I get it, Ducati, Moto Guzzi, MV Agusta… I only wonder, why nobody ever mentions Aprilia? And not just RSV4 or Tuono, there are a fairly impressive collection of Aprilia motorcycles that actually beat Ducati on every corner that nobody even heard of.
Massimo Tamburini is probably the sole reason why I have the bikes I do. Both my Monster 1100 and my 800 SuperSport are direct lineage from his vision in 1998 when he revamped both the monster and supersport lineup of air-cooled ducatis, along with pushing major changes to the engine's overall design structure.
I arrived in the motorcycle scene in the late '50s when Surtees was riding the 500 and winning..., what sounds they made for those old TT recordings. I had a 175cc MV for a time but never had it running. The engine was in pieces with a bad big-end bearing and the modest dealer that had taken it to fix was at a stand-still to get the right parts. That engine though was a marvel - among other things, a vernier cam drive sprocket to dial in that marvelous little soc to do its work. Always loved the color scheme of the MVs and I wish the market would support the smaller displacement units like were popular in the late '50s and early '60s. Simplicity is now lost, this current crop of exotic high performance machines show excellence in talented engineering but has taken motorcycling too far into the expensive toy for the well-off. Not the only one lamenting that change in things I'd guess.
I had an F4 1000S for a few years in the Philippines. Hard suspension shit brakes and the quality control of the finish was somewhat lacking. It seemed like everything was just put where they could fit it, wiring all over the place.You had to remove the seat cowling just to check rear brake fluid level. Removing the seat wasnt as easy as it sounds either. Glad to be rid of the piece of crap!
Very well written and spoken text, but please the narrator did not bother to pronounce Carlo's surname properly it is phonetically Castilyoni the g is silent/mixed with the L. Castiglione and Tamburini, what a duo !!
The most amazing thing is how modern it still looks. This bike is nearly 30 years old, and while the other bikes from that era DO look like that old, the MV could well be a modern day bike
My dad owns the 750 and the tamburini. Has always told me that the 750 is horrible to ride because it jams his thumbs when he turns lol. Apparently the tamburini fixed that. What it didn’t fix was being able to see the mirrors. Beautiful bikes though I want to own one.
In my opinion, the best looking Italian motorcycle to date is the Benelli Tornado TRE 900. The beautiful green and silver is so unique, as is the sound and looks - with twin underseat fans looking incredibly aggressive. This bike was also designed by Adrian Morton. I have one in the WSBK race team colour scheme and it looks gorgeous. 👍
Ever since it came out when i was a kid, I've loved the F4. If you remember that this came out in the 90's is was far ahead of the competition in regards to design. Many of the Japanese bikes where going to take styling cues from it for years to come. Would love to own one one day!
![How Ducati made the Best [looking] Motorcycle Ever](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yDM0d8KVWNY/mqdefault.jpg)
I'd say that Ducati is the Ferrari of motorcycles and MV Agusta is the Pagani of motorcycles.
Yes!! my thoughts exactly.
I think Ducati was the Ferrari of motorcycles, but luckily the Germans fixed it
@@francoisdutoit8006Silly comment
Beauty and performance Ducati gets my vote.
I've had the same opinion too!
The F4 first caught my eye being bruce waynes choice of vehicle when he wasnt in his Lamborghini. I think that alone makes a statement that the producers and director chose that bike over a ducati.
As I recall, it's also what Will Smith rode in "I, Robot".
I never forget when I saw one for the first time. I bought an F4 1000 shortly afterwards. But, krikes, was that thing uncomfortable - SO cramped. But I loved it. My sister called it the Envy Agusta!
I owned one. Under powered, felt like a 600 and riding position was a killer. Every thing was forgiven when you got off though and took a look. Exhaust noise was cool and the sound from the air box was assume
Tamburini finished the 916 in early '93 and immediately went to work on the F4 and it shows, the F4 seems to clearly be an evolution of the shape of the 916.
The F4 was originally conceived as a Cagiva, but the Castiglioni's obtained the MV name around 1992 and the 750 F4 was a worthy first effort.
It had a long gestation period (1991-1997), Ferrari was not "behind" the bike, they were paid for initial design efforts of the engine that was largely abandoned except for the radial valve layout. Ferrari was in financial trouble with the recession of the early 90's and unloved 348 as their bread and butter model.
Damn, this video makes me feel even more proud to own a MV Agusta F4 haha.
Some history/context on MV and Ago's run of championships:
When GP bike racing started up after the war in 1949 the Italians almost immediately began to dominate. Particularly in the 350/500cc classes. From the early 1950's until the mid 1960's the GP grids were a bunch of lads on Norton, AJS, Velocette, and BSA singles who desperately needed some prize money to pas for gas to the next race and maybe some salami and bread and a tire if they could swing it. The rest of the field were the Italians,: factory teams with supercharged V twins, triples, fours, and Moto Guzzi's 12,000 rpm V8. By 1957 the economy in Europe and Italy had improved enough so that people could afford cars and they stopped buying bikes. So the Italian manufacturers all got together and made a gentlemen's to leave GP bike racing. This was an agreement that Count Domenico Agusta immediately broke. His company was an aerospace company that mostly built helicopters and with the Cold War going strong he was doing just dandy. So from then until 1974 Surtees, Agostini, Hailwood, Read won every single 500cc Championship on the 'Fire Engine' MV's against those same British lads on their now ancient thumpers.
MV is the Pagani or Bugatti (yes, Bugatti has Italian history) of Motorcycles
And the F4 750’s and 1000’s are really something people need to take in at least once, it feels like a 600 in every aspect besides power
Do you want all of the Italian-motorcycle fiery performance and design, but also don’t want to drain your kids’ college tuition savings? Then buy an Aprilia and enjoy yourself.
@SongJLikes
Speaking of Aprilia, I hope Bart makes a video about them; in the future.
Either, about how they’ve made V4-powered superbikes relevant again (after, Honda neglected what used to be the company’s favorite engine configuration, in the late-80's to early-90's), with the RSV4.
Or, how they used to carry the entire 125cc (Moto3) and 250cc (Moto2) classes, in the 1990's to the very last years of the tiny 2-Strokes. Also, how Aprilia has been the earliest motorcycle manufacturer for so many GP/WSBK champions, and how significant the company is/was to building future racers in said 125cc/250cc 2-Stroke eras.
(But, at what cost; given how Piaggio, Aprilia's parent company/creators of Vespa, has severely neglected their older subsidiaries: Gilera and Derbi.)
I had 2 F4 in the past, and what a motorcycle.... it's the best bike ever made, when you look at it it's hard to believe it's almot 30 years old design. it still the best looking motorcycle in 2024...
I ALWAYS ❤ MV AGUSTA...!!!!
It's Rarest of rare.
just looking at the THUMBNAIL PIC...i couldn't stop myself to watch this video.
Tamburini finest design.... the 1st gen F4 is in my bucket list of bikes to own😊
44 Teeth did a series of videos traveling with an F4 (1000cc) and another Ducati. They even raced them against modern top liter bikes in a track day and the F4 was able to keep it up to them. Definitely an amazing bike that looks like it was launched today.
I think MV Augusta still has the most number of championship title , please correct me if wrong from building helicopters to motorcycles what a manufacturer
Honda?
APRILIA ⁉️
In the lengthy history of MotoGP the most successful is Honda. By the mid point of the 2023 season, riders on Honda bikes had clinched a total of 313 Grand Prix victories.
Second place in the number of wins goes to Yamaha (245 wins), third place to the Italians MV Agusta (139 wins).
@@777Patriot Where Suzuki at?
@@godemperormeow85914th with 97. They only won the championship 5 times. Sheene (X2), Schwantz, Kenny Jr and Mir.
My dream bike is a Rivale 800, its the bike that got to like bikes. to this day i remember when the bike came out and little me drooling over the pictures.
I will have one up for sale soon. It's gorgeous, the engine is fantastic but the suspension is terrible with too little adjustment. It's got a Silmoto exhaust, best sounding bike in town.
These bikes are so undervalued right now, is ridiculus.
The F4 and the original Brutale have changed bike design forever.
Proud owner of an F3 800 here. Had a cbr 600 before, and also and RS660 aprilia. the MV is quick, light, and sound unique. but it has her problems for sure. Rear brake is non-existent unless you bleed it every 200km, and it still have some weird electronic behaviours, for example a couple of days ago after a 20km ride i turned it off and it didn't want to switch back on, it seemed like the battery was dead which didn't make any sense after a long ride and some charging the night before. went away to do some commisions, came back and it started right away. it's like the CU goes crazy and decide to block the battery from sending electricity to the starter, for whatever reason.
Also valve clearance every 12000km that costs around 800€
owning a F4 Brutale 750 I can only agree. the engine is a masterpiece!
I always think the original plan was to put the badge on the Cagiva GP bike, after all that was bourne out of the failed attempt to buy the MV race team when they quit. Claudio was refused and he bought a japanese bike to go racing with and painted it red and silver, this team later became the Cagiva team with their own bike. I think he toyed with that idea but then realised he had already fullfilled that dream, so he closed the GP team, sold Ducati (because it was struggling anyway) and put his mind to reviving the MV road story. When you look at it like that a lot of the small decisions fit together and you could say he achieved his goal. BTW the poster you have is the second variation 'silver' edition, the 'Oro' being the first.
i dont often agree with you Bart, but with this video, i do. the MV F4 is an amazingly beautiful bike.
As a former owner of a Ducati 907, and Ducati 888 SPO (owning them in the 1990s) I've heard the "Ferrari of Motorcycles" thing for years.
My current ride is a 1997 Moto Guzzi Sport 1100 that I've got an embarrassing amount of time and money into.
So, the question I've had for years, with Ferrari already taken, would that make Guzzi the Maserati, or Alfa Romeo of Motorcycles? :)
888 spo was my favorite bike I've ever owned
In pure sound I'd say the CBR1000RR-R SP Fireblade from 2023 is the one that at max speed sounds like a NA V12 Ferraris
I share this view. MV Augusta looks beautiful yet ferocious. Then the sound: a screamer. Without doubt, the Ferrari of sport/superbikes.
I just recently sold my Superveloce. While it was arguably one of the most visually appealing bikes I've ever owned, it just didn't retain its value. I took a bath on this thing and it took me over a year to sell. Not to mention the known rear brake problems that plague this model as well as others that MV refuses to fix. There are better value bikes for the money, this is for certain. Heck, my old Ducati 748 is more fun to ride. That's been my experience
The 312 is my dreambike still ( well on the dream list anyway)
But the full carbon Claudio Castiglione version was just pure bike porn
It IS the most beautiful bike made in the modern age.
Trumps the 916 and the RC30.
The 3 are hands down the most striking.
I owned RC30 #236 for several years. Even during that time. I drooled over the F4.
Absolutely stunning!
Great video Bart !
Quite interesting.
When you spend money like that on a motorcycle, you've got to build a nitrogen-purged glasscase in your living room and keep it there.
There is absolutely no reason to take it out on the street, where some snotty kid on another run-of-the-mill "cheap" bike has you reading his registration plate !
Vehicle for vehicle, a Ferrari.gets far more gawks than a MV would !
And few want an engine that sounds like a Lister concrete mixer.
Trinidad & Tobago.
West Indies.
My friend race bikes professionally he bought f4 he said it was the most uncomfortable bike ever had. Looked beautiful in the garage as long as you didn't want to ride it
I owned the F4 SPR #134 and it was an awesome bike. It got more attention than my bright yellow 748 on the road or parked. The engine was impressive and nothing really happens below 6500rpm. Then it pulls like mad and you have to hold on with your legs, arms and teeth because it want to tear you off. Cool bike, not the most comfortable or easy to ride compared to the 748/916 which go where you look/think you want to go. The F4 wants to fall into turns and makes you constantly have to make steering inputs. I’d still own one, probably the 1000, just because…. It’s Italian 😂
My first bike crush and still the best looking bike ever
13:00 ✨
It's a shame no one really knows why it sounds and feels so different, when it's actually a super easy explaination. The Crankshaft assembly was designed to be as light as possible to make it rev much quicker, since theres no flywheel for the alternator on the crankshaft, that's why it sounds lumpy at low rpm or idle but therefore revs super quick and always needs the highest rpm to get going
MV Agusta more like the Paganni of motorcylcles for me.
Great video! Maybe consider doing one on the Honda Benly CB92R.
Thank's Bart. 👍🇮🇹 🇺🇸
Bimota, hands down. The difference being the choice of powerplants.
Ducati is THE Ferrari of motorcycles without question. MV is a boutique brand. They don't have the racing pedigree in the modern age. Had they kept racing and producing next level bikes they would be the Ferrari of bikes. But they are more for show than competitive performance. They are more like a Lamborghini than a Ferrari.
Come find me when Ducati has 38 Grand Prix titles... ok that might actually happen soon
@bartmotorcycle Could happen after some time especially now. And if MV were still racing at a high level on all fronts then I would look at MV more so as a Ferrari type. But rather than the Lamborghini of bikes, they are more like the Alpha Romeo of bikes. MV is one of the oldest Italian Marques. Benelli is oldest I believe.
I have got a MV Agusta, Moto Guzzi, Aprilia & Vespa, all Italian 😂
Your 100% correct,
MV ALL THE WAY.
MV F4 is carrying a lot of DNA similarities to a 916 , 998, and 1098 - not just because of Tamburini involvement. Just look at frame and swingarm. taken the best of all those Ducati models years 90s and 2K. Reviewers of MV F4 have even commented that they handle like a 1098 with a 4 cyl. To me the F4 is a halo motorcycle like the Ducati Desmosedici RR . F4 is a beautiful bike don't get me wrong but to me Ducati is still the closest to a Ferrari based on WSBK and MotoGP history. btw do you think Aprilia would be like the Lamborghini of motorcycles ?
As many said already, MV is too niche to be Ferrari, they're defo Pagani, Ducati remains the Ferrari of the two wheeled world. I'd say that leaves Aprilia as the Lamborghini, but they've got much more racing history than Lambo could ever hope to get.
i have no license but your videos make me want to get one
They’re very difficult to get now, the CBT procedure is very involved and not cheap!
Get it, just got mine a few months ago.
i'm from europe so ours probably requires me to sell my soul and do safety stops against a wall@@philtucker1224
f4 1000cc 2007 owner! silver & black edition
The best street bike ever made by far is the 1979 RD 400 light and fast and reliable.
A resurrected brand..... Either way, Bimota must surely then be the Lamborghini. 😎
MVAgusta made the "Ferrari of motorcycles" back in 1976. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Agusta_750_Sport_America
I think in the motorcycle world,
Ducati = Ferrari
Aprilia = Lamborghini
MV Agusta = Pagani
MV Agusta = Maserati
Bimoto = Pagani
Hmm... a few facts about MV Agusta. It is true that MV Agusta was and remains a Rolls Royce on 2 wheels. The last original model to leave the MV Agusta factory was the Grand Prix 1100 produced in 1980 with a traditional cardan drive on the rear wheel. The head of design at MV Agusta was Arturo Magni.
The reborn MV Agusta with the F4 model in the mid-90s is just Ducati's attempt to strengthen its brand on the MV Agusta model. The F4 is largely the creation of Massimo Tamburini who was the lead designer for all models at Bimota so the F4 is an onomatopoeia of Bimota.
The new MV Agusta doesn't have much in common with the old MV Agusta except it has an inline 4 cylinder and a 4/4 exhaust, everything else is Ducati like the mono arm on the rear wheel.
Ducati 748/916/996 was drawn from Tamburini when Cagiva owned Ducati Factory (then sold in 1995), that's why MVAgusta since 1998 has mono arm and something similar to previous Ducati: the chief designer was ever Tamburini
Where will you put Norton then?
The John Deer tractor of motorcycles.
I love my Brutale 1078rr.
back in 1984/85, laverda had already established itself as “the ferrari of motorcycles.” don’t have the sales brouchure in front of me, couldn’t post it here if i did, but below is something from a cycle world mag from around that time, actually later but still the reference is there. and 5-8-85 is when i bought one 1984 rga 1000 jota, the arancione pony, and its in out in the garage right now. and its right next to a 2002 mv agusta F4. the two most beautiful bikes ever. any ding dong who says any other bike but laverda is the ferrari of motorcycles doesn’t know shit. and any idiot who says mv agusta is crap is himself a total ‘tard who’s never ridden or owned either.
In the 1980s, an ad campaign touted Laverda as “The Ferrari of Motorcycles.” Indeed, given the company’s soulstirring, 1200cc Triples-and in the absence of MV Agusta-that might have been true then. But in the interim, while Laverda was missing in action, Ducati has most assuredly assumed that mantle.
Where does that leave Laverda? Tough to say. “The Alfa Romeo of Motorcycles” might not be as flattering, but it’s a lot more accurate. □
Thanks
Moto Guzzi is the Masarati of motorcycles.
The F in F4 is literally Ferrari. The cylinder head was design by the Scuderia. I own an MV 1000cc with full racing exhaust and the bike sounds like a F1 Ferrari from the 90's is insanely loud.
Ferrari is the ducati of cars
Mv Augusta every day thou I'm biased as I own an f4
The Ferrari of Motorcycles.... I really don't know what Bike I'd compare to a Ferrari. Certainly not Ducati though- I look at them as the Harleys of Sport Bikes- sure they're nice and well built but they're not worth the price- more of a fad brand than anything else, though there is certainly quality in their products. I can't really say one bike in particular that fits the Ferrari badge, but there's a lot of well built race Bikes out there that could qualify. For me it's more like Bikes between 600-800cc, that's the perfect power/weight ratio bracket to Me so most race Sport Bikes built in that displacement probably qualities as a Ferrari to me. Me dream Bikes are a Ninja 636 or 750r (Ninja 636 race oriented bike that was about in about 2010ish, my Ninja 750 was mid 80s to early 2000s Sport Bike)
In the end- to Me, there is no Ferrari of Bikes, all the brands make such great products that nothing stands out in a significant way compared to other Brands in the same way that Sports Cars do.
I thing that the MV Agusta is more like the Bugatti of Motorcycles. Ferrari and Ducati have not only been competitive but dominated the top level of racing for various runs of many years. MV the masterpiece of beauty and is exotic but not a proven winner in over 60 years. FYI my brother has an F4 and it was never competitive-too heavy and very limited low and mid range torque. Even riding on the street they are not that great as you have to keep the revs up to do even a moderate amount of accelerating.
AH YES. DUCATI, THE COMPANY OWNED BY LAMBORGHINI. THE TRUE FERRARI OF MOTORCYCLES 😅
Mayby BIMOTA is the ferrari of moto
MV makes the most savagely beautiful machines, the modern versions of which have savage performance too, but it comes with dogshit reliability! Like an italian cowboy or dommy mommy who’ll rough you up till you feel it in your soul but you can’t trust either with your wallet on the bedside table
Their reliability has always been quite good, the problem is their minimal ability to support their products. I have owned a great many MV over the last 20+ years and have allways known I need to find my own solutions. As I was drawn to motorcycling the the early 80;s with little money to pay others this has always been my approach to owning bikes. It seems sad that this has been lost in the two wheeled comunity over the decades.
Ferrari won't stuck into similar design for over 2 decades and milk money by all those LIMITED editions.
I love the original F4 back to the early 2000 but now it just feel "meh" to me.
Hmmm, I see your argument but don't agree - Ferrari is mainstream now. Ducati mirrors them pretty well, both were special but questionably made. Now Ferrari is a tour de force in technology and so is Ducati.
MV reminds me more of Lamborghini, specifically pre-Audi.
On a piece of paper, nothing remarkable relative to it's peers, but just _look at it_. It is an exercise in 'feeling' more than anything else. Original Countach is a great example - it's an awful car by the metrics of what makes a car good, but holy shit it's special.
There's only one company to purchase my bike from... you got that right. Honda.
Why would you want to spend way less for a bike that looks better, better quality and much more reliable?
@@Lemmon714_honda are boring and ugly
I think MV is more like Lamborghini and the same for Ducati and Ferrari
I went for the F3. Sublime throttle. Great feel. That angry exhaust on power is worth any money. The Lamborghini of Italian 2 wheels, in my mind. Hated the Brutale. Awful gearing. Worse than a Monster.
Aprilia…FTW! 🤣😂😆
Aprillia
Bimota gets no love.
Per amore di dio, Castiglione is pronounced
Castil-YON-ay (stress on second syllable).
The GLI dipthong makes a "lyuh" sound; the G is totally silent.
Another example of this pronunciation would be the Italian word for Garlic, "aglio", which is pronounced "AAL-yo", or for Son, "figlo", pronounce "FEEL-yo"
In Italian, unless the "G" is first letter of the word, it's always silent as part of a dipthong.
th-cam.com/video/M0KNhI4aWr0/w-d-xo.html
I used to to like sports bike for the sake of them being sportsbikes up until I saw a Dragster 800rr
Remember bimotor
Ducati is INDEED the Ferrari of motorcycles.
MV Agusta is the Lamborghini.
And Harley owned them, for no f ing reason.
Awesome!
Ducati is more like Lamborghini...
I "own" an MV Agusta in my pc game, Ride 4. In the same garage though I prefer my Ducati Superleggera V4.
Ducati is still the Ferrari of bikes as far as brand recognition and attention to detail and "road presence" goes. You could show a picture of a F4 to someone who rides motorcycles daily and still not know what theyre looking at. People who dont even ride motorcycles can identify a Ducati when they see one most of the time. Ferrari's are the same way. Like that other comment said, Pagani or Maserati is the closer comparison to MV since they both care more about creating museum bikes over performance and racing. I love MV's but they're not even close to the bike version of a Ferrari especially the new mv's.
Ferrari of motorbikes is Ducati. Period.
You do know Ferrari made a motorcycle so it'd be the actual Ferrari of motorcycles.😂
There has been one MV that Ferrari agreed to badge as a Ferrari, the joke is it was built in Birmingham (UK)
Some years ago my sister had an F4 750. I remember her complaining about the extreme ride, poor reliability, servicing and parts costs - sounds like a Ferrari to me ... 😉
One of my riding buddies had an F4 and it had electrical issues, a rear hub seizure and other tech gremlins. Now this was 5 years ago and apparently they've been working on solving these issues and creating better dealer support. They are beautiful bikes, but I decided I could live with constantly bleeding the rear brake of my Panigale over dealing with the tons of issues he had with the MV.
🤣
isn't all Italian bikes are like that? lol
@@MeN2Wheels49 No. Ducati's quality control has vastly improved since being bought by Audi/VW. Now are they as dependable as a Suzuki GSX750Z? Probably not, but there are super high performance motorcycles(Panigale V4, SFV4, Diavel for example). Now a Ducati Scrambler is one of the most reliable bikes on the market today...but its a pretty simplistic bike too.
My 748 ducati was worse.
I was lucky enough to take a 750 F4 out for a good thrash back in 2005. The things I remember are the weak brakes, the rock hard suspension, the bars that trapped your hands against the bodywork, the mirrors that only show your elbows and the motor that couldn't match my 636. It looked very nice, though.
Unfair comparison realy as they had already moved on to the 1000cc version in 2004. Also the brakes feel much better once the suspension is set up to fit the rider/road and the lock stop problem is not relevant when you're riding it, only when pushing it around parking.
@@jarlborg1531it's a sports bike, if you're riding it properly you don't need mirrors. 😂
That would be the Alpha Romeo of bikes
I'll tell you lucky! I got to follow one through Deals Gap. It was phenomenal! My ears 'gasmed the whole way. It made me with my cool ass Rat Ninja was quiet.
Set up set up set up. You never love a bike until you set it up for you.
In Italy we say that MV Agusta (and lately Ducati too) builds motorcycles for rich californians. You'd be surprised how few people here know what MV Agusta even is!
I have a 2000 F4 750. It gives me goose bumps when i ride it. I find myself staring at it when parked. The attention it attracts when in public cements it as Italian royalty. Sometimes the spec sheet doesn't reflect the magic that's present.
You missed out the Brutale, a superb rideable bike which makes MV accessible to a lot more riders.
In 2010, I was offered a brand new 2009 Brutale for about 60% of the 2010 model, by a small UK based sports car dealers who were branching out into MV Agusta bikes. I turned down the deal, and have of course regretted it ever since.
You are 100% correct when you describe MV Agusta as the Ferrari of motorcycles. Thank you for sharing.
They are truly a beautiful bike that has been able to keep its looks barely changed over the years.
No, I get it, Ducati, Moto Guzzi, MV Agusta… I only wonder, why nobody ever mentions Aprilia? And not just RSV4 or Tuono, there are a fairly impressive collection of Aprilia motorcycles that actually beat Ducati on every corner that nobody even heard of.
Ducati= Ferrari
Aprilia= Lamborghini
Mv Agusta= Maserati
Moto Guzzi= Alfa Romeo
I guess that makes sense
Marketing man! Aprilia is much better
@@ramms not really tho
@@rowdy6274 elucidate
People talk about Aprilia quite a lot nowadays, they’re getting a lot of hype lately
Massimo Tamburini is probably the sole reason why I have the bikes I do. Both my Monster 1100 and my 800 SuperSport are direct lineage from his vision in 1998 when he revamped both the monster and supersport lineup of air-cooled ducatis, along with pushing major changes to the engine's overall design structure.
The F4 engine was derived from the 1990-1992 Ferrari Formula One engine. Thats how it gets its unique BEAUTIFUL sound.
I arrived in the motorcycle scene in the late '50s when Surtees was riding the 500 and winning..., what sounds they made for those old TT recordings. I had a 175cc MV for a time but never had it running. The engine was in pieces with a bad big-end bearing and the modest dealer that had taken it to fix was at a stand-still to get the right parts. That engine though was a marvel - among other things, a vernier cam drive sprocket to dial in that marvelous little soc to do its work. Always loved the color scheme of the MVs and I wish the market would support the smaller displacement units like were popular in the late '50s and early '60s. Simplicity is now lost, this current crop of exotic high performance machines show excellence in talented engineering but has taken motorcycling too far into the expensive toy for the well-off. Not the only one lamenting that change in things I'd guess.
Hey Mr Tamborini play a song for me,,,,
I had an F4 1000S for a few years in the Philippines. Hard suspension shit brakes and the quality control of the finish was somewhat lacking. It seemed like everything was just put where they could fit it, wiring all over the place.You had to remove the seat cowling just to check rear brake fluid level. Removing the seat wasnt as easy as it sounds either. Glad to be rid of the piece of crap!
Very well written and spoken text, but please the narrator did not bother to pronounce Carlo's surname properly it is phonetically Castilyoni the g is silent/mixed with the L.
Castiglione and Tamburini, what a duo !!
Since Ducati is owned by Lamborghini, clearly they are not the “Ferrari” of motorcycles. 😜
The most amazing thing is how modern it still looks. This bike is nearly 30 years old, and while the other bikes from that era DO look like that old, the MV could well be a modern day bike
My dad owns the 750 and the tamburini. Has always told me that the 750 is horrible to ride because it jams his thumbs when he turns lol. Apparently the tamburini fixed that. What it didn’t fix was being able to see the mirrors. Beautiful bikes though I want to own one.
MV Agusta was a helicopter manufacturer.
It's the Pagani of bike world
In my opinion, the best looking Italian motorcycle to date is the Benelli Tornado TRE 900. The beautiful green and silver is so unique, as is the sound and looks - with twin underseat fans looking incredibly aggressive. This bike was also designed by Adrian Morton. I have one in the WSBK race team colour scheme and it looks gorgeous. 👍
whaaat thats nuts.
Ever since it came out when i was a kid, I've loved the F4. If you remember that this came out in the 90's is was far ahead of the competition in regards to design. Many of the Japanese bikes where going to take styling cues from it for years to come. Would love to own one one day!