Mv Agusta 600 Four
MV AGUSTA 600 FOUR
CYCLE WORLD ROAD TEST
A SMOOTH RUSTLING WHISTLE, the quick tearing of thick silk, announces arrival of Count Domenico Agusta's 600-cc Four. This fascinating sound, an exciting whisperpitched portent of power, comes as a surprise to those who recall the thunderous MV Agusta machines of the Grand Prix circuit, the championship roadburners of Hailwood, Agostini and Surtees.
The MV Agusta 600 Four is not a piece of highstrung racing machinery; it is a smoothly engineered, smoothly finished motorcycle expressly for the road.
The good Count's racing Super/Fours are the brutish forebears of the 600's powerplant, but in this machine the excessively peaky performance of the competition motorcycles has been replaced by broader, mid-range rpm flexibility that makes this MV perhaps the premier roadster of the world.
This statement is bold, indeed, but it is not made without careful consideration — and a great deal of very pleasurable riding.
In addition to that sound, first sight of the MV Four is impressive. Double disc brakes and massive rectangular headlight forward, hat-shaped ring and pinion gear
housing at the rear, and the broad, humped fuel tank and formidable engine in between present a truly massive appearance. Yet, sheer size is not present for the sake of size, as it is with some American automobiles, for example. The bulk of the MV Four is functional. What needs to be big is big.
Astride the MV, however, much of that awesome largeness falls away. The short-legged rider finds the soft saddle positioned at such low altitude that even his feet are flat on the ground when the bike is at rest. The long of arm and leg discover that footpegs, handlebars and control levers are in equitable positions. Both long and short agree the MV is very close to universal comfort in a motorcycle.
Once rolling, the last trace of massive demeanor disappears completely.
The air cooled four-cylinder engine, turbine smooth, is responsive from fast idle (after a 2to 3-min. warm-up period) to full throttle. In the lower gears, the Four quickly achieves maximum rpm and gears must be changed up quickly. Though gear spacing is excellent through the five speeds, wider ratios could have been employed, so wide
is the MV Four's useful power band. Clutch lever and gear change mechanism work together in smooth accord.
If the engine is to be faulted in any respect, it is for lack of flywheel effect. Test riders were forced to maintain an inordinate idle rpm when stopped for traffic lights. Even lacking marked flywheel action, however, the Fohr delivers adequate getaway power without undue clutch slippage or overly high rpm.
Technically speaking, the powerplant is of double overhead camshaft design. The intake and exhaust camshafts both are driven through a gear tower located between No. 2 and No. 3 cylinders of the Four. This particular engine layout is best known for minimization of reciprocating valve train inertia, and for free breathing, as pushrods do not protrude into the intake or exhaust gas streams.
Thus, the MV engine's designers weren't forced into parsimony for intake and exhaust port area. The ohc layout, with its straight-cut drive gears, numerous bearings, and lobe-to-stem cam contact areas, contributes that which is perhaps the MV's outstanding characteristic — the beautiful sound.
The valve equipment's audibility is directly attributable to the quietness of the remainder of the MV's power train. The primary gear drive (oil pump and distributor drives, too) also is between the middle cylinders. The constant mesh five-speed transmission delivers power, through the multiple-disc clutch, to a geared, slip-splined cardan shaft which turns the pinion gear, which turns the final drive ring gear. The drive shaft housing is employed as the right-hand swinging arm. The MV's shaft drive system showed no slack, or general jerky looseness, nor the characteristic sounds of chain drive motorcycles. Indeed,
the shaft drive was one of the major contributors to the MV's overall quality of smoothness.
A pair of 24-mm Dellorto carburetors, each fitted to a U-shaped manifold, serve the left and right pairs of cylinders.
The test machine's induction system was not fitted with any sort of air filtration device. Rather, conical velocity pipes adorned the carburetor inlet orifices. Lack of filtered air may be well and good in a region where streets and highways are regularly washed with rain, but filtration seems mandatory in areas where abrasive dust is an everpresent fact of life — in the western U. S., for example. Ample space is available under the MV's fuel tank or split level saddle for an air filter cannister. The Count's designers could well busy themselves in readying such a device for export models of the MV Agusta 600 Four. True, restriction of intake air would reduce power output of the Four. But what is 1 bhp of 50 when a magnificent and expensive Italian engine can be prevented from grinding itself to uselessness with ingested grit?
The MV Four's electricals functioned without fail — with one major exception. The battery (rated at 12 V, 18 ampere/hours) simply wasn't up to the task of spinning the 9.3:1 compression ratio four-cylinder engine while at the same time supplying electric spark required for ignition and sustained combustion. Frustrated is a less than adequate word to describe the feelings of those who were forced to bump-start the hefty tourer so carefully designed and equipped for effortless electrical pushbutton starting. A U. S.-made light aircraft battery would prove a replacement of adequate power output and suitable size.
The MV's 12-V, 135-W generator (which doubles as starter) proved adequate to meet demands of the 45-W
headlamp and the 25-W power requirement of tail and brake lights. The headlamp — the shape of which is prohibited in some unenlightened states among the 50 — provided a broad swath of brilliant illumination for nighttime operations.
The roadable motorcycle, the machine that is to be driven at top legal speeds wherever it goes, must be equipped with means to decelerate at the rider's chosen
rate, or stop smoothly, without incident, should the all-on panic situation arise. The MV's double-disc front and drum rear system accomplishes either chore with ease. The smoothness of the MV Four carries over into its braking equipment. Slowing for a bend is simply a gradual, lightly increasing pressure on foot and hand braking levers — accompanied by effortless downshifts. A full stop simply is greater lever pressure exerted more quickly — with care
being exercised to maintain maximum deceleration just short of wheel lockup. A number of braking runs, changing very high speed to low speed as quickly as possible, demonstrated that the double disc fronts tend to fade slightly as kinetic energy, converted into heat, is accumulated in the discs to the detriment of the entire system^.
Suspension, hydraulically damped telescopic fork in front, and swinging arms with telescopic shock absorbers and coil springs at the rear, contribute mightily to precise handling and comfortable ride, but functioned most admirably under hard braking, as the MV Four showed no inclination to dive excessively on application of the front discs. This is another example of the ground-up engineering that produced the MV Four roadster — no touchy harshness of the GP racer in this integrated piece of machinery for bearing driver and passenger along public streets and highways. Again, smoothness is the most fitting description for MV suspension.
Without equivocation, it can be said the MV Agusta 600 Four is the most exciting of the world's touring motorcycles. It may well prove to be the finest road machine ever built. It already has proven itself to be the smoothest.
What place does this most exciting, finest, smoothest tourer have among the motorcycles of the world, the machines that are regarded by the majority as first line road machinery? The answer to this question must wait a year or two or more.
The MV Agusta 600 Four is an expensive machine. Its domestic price is approximately 1,160,000 lira — or $2000 U. S. Import duty, shipping charges, federal and state taxes, and standard markup for dealer profit could raise the American price of this premier machine to $3000 or more, an amount exceeded in the two-wheel realm only by the Clymer-Munch Mammoth, certain one-off specials, racers, and absolutely full-dress Harley-Davidson machines.
Because there are those who will settle for less at lower price, a safe prediction is that the MV Agusta 600 Four will remain a limited production item. Only one, to date, has reached U. S. shores, brought in by Gilberto Cornacchia of Rome, son of Franco Cornacchia, who gained fame in Europe in the mid-1950s as a racing manager and Ferrari driver. The lone MV Agusta 600 Four on U. S. soil is advertised for sale elsewhere in this magazine.
Additional machines may be brought into the U. S. as Guillietta Imports of Jersey City, N. J., holds an option to import MVs, but cannot do so until the motorcycles have undergone minor modifications to meet lighting requirements of federal safety standards.
When CYCLE WORLD'S man in Italy, Carlo Perelli, reported (CW, Oct., '67) that the MV 600 Four is the "most fabulous roadster ever produced," editors were inclined to exchange knowing looks, say, "Ho hum," and write off the extravagance to the emotional nature of Italians. These selfsame editors now agree with the faithful Italian correspondent.
Thus, these editors are inclined to believe that high price, trade barriers, safety regulations, taxes and limited production will not altogether hamper import of the premier MV.
All considered, there are those who always buy the recognized best — Ferrari cars, Rolex watches, Nikon cameras, Russian caviar, and English china — hang the cost.
The MV Augusta 600 Four, the ultimate in motorcycling smoothness, no matter what price or difficulty, certainly is the machine that will be sought and bought by the motorcycle connoisseur. ■
MV AGUSTA
600 FOUR
$3500
SPECI FICATIONS
