My God!
I'm not sure if there exists any worldly object that looks as gorgeous as..
THIS!
Can you believe that it is an 18 year old
motorcycle design.
By someone who couldn't afford
University education.
By someone who was almost entirely
self-taught into the world of automotive design.
They call this piece of art-
MV AGUSTA F4!
In short, world's most beautiful motorcycle.
The F4 is a motorcycle that draws you towards it.
One that puts you in a different space,
in different time.
In a moment which has nothing else in it.
Just you and the F4!
One that will force you to think even at
standstill of these seven years and
sixty thousand hours of blood sweat
and tears that went into the making of it!
The F4, it's a bike that beyond a point
of mysterious complexity
just comes ALIVE!
Tamburini made every single component in search
of its soul.
Learned how music organs were made, so that he could create the-
Perfect Automotive Symphony!
This, is also the symphony that resurrected and
brought back the brand MV Agusta.
While most other manufacturers assembled a
motorcycle in one hour,
the engineers at Agusta assembled one single engine in
11 hours!
Art at MV Agusta could not be hurried!
While the F4 may not be an ultra evolved
modern rendition of a watch that shows
you not just time but also Facebook notifications,
it is and appeals to all those
wanting to indulge themselves
in an exotic time piece.
Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me the
pleasure to take you for a spin on the
most exotic superbike that I have laid my hands on.
Welcome to PowerDrift!
Although the design has gone pretty much
unchanged for close to two decades now,
there have been about 20 different
iterations of the F4 since its inception.
Each upgrade boasting more power and better equipment.
The F4 R, which I'm riding
today comes equipped with fully
adjustable 50mm Marzocchi forks
A TTX Ohlins shock at the back
320mm twin disc at the front mated to
M4 Brembo monoblock caliper.
A slipper clutch to carry more speed into corners,
and a fat 200 section Pirelli Supercorsa rear tire
to catapult out of there.
The first model dished out 124 horses from its 749cc mill,
and made its debut in 1998.
This bike right here the F4 R, is essentially a 2013 variant
of the F4 1000 which made its debut in 2005.
Equipped with the steel trellis frame, the short stroke high revving 998cc motor,
which now pumps out 195 horses and 110 Nm of torque.
So yeah, you can ofcourse showcase this in your living room as a work of art,
but the F4 was built to set the track on fire.
The MV Agusta F4 R feels old school
because it is!
It doesn't adhere to the modern-day race bike
principles of mass centralization.
That coupled with its high seat and
lower in short clip ons means it takes a lot more
effort to turn this 210 kg bike especially
when you're leaning it from one side to the other.
The power is also rather sluggish at the
bottom and when it comes in at 10,000 rpm,
it's like water gushing out of flood gates!
Power that even the electronics find difficult to civilize,
as the ride by wire throttle is rather sensitive and
the fueling inconsistent which doesn't
help to put the peaky power down in a smooth
linear fashion.
Even the traction control and wheelie control
function more as micromanagers and
forcing safety rather than rider aids
that should help you go faster.
All this,
because the F4 has not been upgraded for
three years when all its competition
has taken the electronic warfare to a whole
new level in terms of refinement and transparency.
But, having said that if you
look at how well Leon Camier has done
this year in world super bike,
there's a very good chance that the new F4 will take
this fight back to the competition!
Whenever that new F4 comes, that is.
Because as of today the F4 is an
18-year-old design, a 10-year-old
bike and the world's most beautiful
motorcycle, yes.
But in the wake of modern superbikes you shall agree it is playing
catch-up, and so in year 2016 you would
have to be completely out of your mind
to go for the F4.
Yes,
and that's exactly why you should!
In all honesty and across the 9 planets
of our solar system
there is no design so pure.
No feeling it evokes so true.
Quite simply, there is no other bike..
like the Agusta F4!