Mv Agusta F4: Full Speed Ahead
MV AGUSTA F4: FULL SPEED AHEAD
CONTRARY TO OVERSEAS reports, Cagiva is proceeding full-steam with its much anticipated MV Agusta F4. In an interview published in England's Fast Bikes magazine, company boss Claudio Castiglioni said, "We are right on target. We are finishing the Serie Oro ("Gold Series" in Italian) and will commence producing the Strada series in April."
Cagiva USA has taken deliv ery of an early, hand-built ex ample for product development and testing. "The fit and finish is nicer than anything I've ever seen," vouches Larry Ferracci, director of U.S. operations. "Pictures do no justice to this motorcycle."
Although no one has ridden the bike, Ferracci has strapped it to a Dynojet dynamometer with promising results. "The horsepower at the rear wheel is about a buck twenty-three," he says of the liquid-cooled, dohc, 749cc inline Four. That's 4 or 5 more bhp than a Suzuki GSX-R750 tested on the same dyno. "At 7000 rpm, it's making 6 to 8 foot-pounds more torque than the Suzuki," Ferracci adds. This, without final-produc tion cylinder heads, which are due later this month.
That's good news for the re ported 700 U.S. enthusiasts who have deposits on F4s. Unfortu nately, Cagiva won't be able to satisfy the demand. Not in the first year, at least. "This year, we're looking at 200 bikes in the U.S., 1700 worldwide," ex plains Ferracci.
Costing upwards of $40,000, the extremely limited, carbon fiber-bodied F4 Gold Series will have magnesium engine mounting plates, swingarm and wheels, and carbon-fiber ex haust tips. Those components will be aluminum on the $18,900 F4 Strada.
Computer users can go online to wwwmvagusta.com and view two short clips, the first being the aforementioned dyno run ("It sounds like a Formula One car," enthuses Ferracci), the other a video walk around the bike.
Ferracci says Cagiva hopes to produce other models under the MV badge, but not before the turn of the century. "We haven't even set up an MV dealer net work yet," he says. "We're look ing for 50 to 100 high-quality dealers. That's only two to four bikes per dealer, but if every thing goes as planned, Cagiva and MV will branch out. In the future, customers will have three or four models from which to choos -Matthew Miles
