2012 MV Agusta F4RR Corsacorta - Radial Revolution | First Ride

But that noticeable front-end bias seemed more extreme than the 52/48 percent claimed by MV, not only by the way the front wheel felt so totally planted in corners from the usual great feedback from the Öhlins fork, but also by the way the back wheel lifted under the superlative braking delivered from high speed by the Brembo radial monobloc front brakes. Squeezing the adjustable lever to access this brings an immediate response — I’m not sure how easy it would be to gauge this on a wet road surface in the absence of ABS — and totally effective stopping power, to the point that I can’t think of another streetbike that stops as well as the F4RR with its brake package worthy of a Superbike racer. The very effective and sweetly set-up slipper clutch, whose presence is confirmed by the trademark click on the clutch lever when you work it to shift down the gearbox, has a little vestigial engine braking left dialed in. And although its usage of course means you don’t have to blip the throttle on downshifts, it’s hard to resist doing so on the F4RR just to revel in the music from the quartet of square-section exit pipes under the seat, from what has to be the best-sounding engine in the Superbike showroom. Let the music play; this could only be an Italian bike!

That front-end weight bias gives confidence entering a turn, although you soon learn to enhance stability under braking by using the rear brake first, in order to settle the rear and reduce the weight transfer delivered by the aggressive front brake package. Otherwise the MV can become very nervous when hard on the brakes (maybe that’s why the MV surprisingly has a four-piston caliper grabbing the rear disc, whereas most other sportbikes have just a twin- or single-piston caliper). Get it settled down nicely so that the back wheel isn’t waving around, and the F4RR steers beautifully into the apex of a turn on the brakes, although it’s harder work lifting it up again for the exit, and it definitely takes some physical effort to flip it from side to side in a second- or third-gear chicane. This isn’t helped by the fact that those adjustable footrests are rather slippery, with smooth ends that need to be better corrugated for grip.

Build quality on the new MV Agusta seemed pretty good, at least as well finished off as you’d expect for a bike of this price level, although except for the quad exhaust and the new dash, there are no longer the numerous detail features you’d only ever find on an MV Agusta. It’s more mainstream than it used to be — or maybe we just got used to all the quirky stuff like the single-sided swingarm. The new LCD dash uses italic numerals and script, which look distinctly different in their own way, but frankly the dash is hard to read on the go at any sort of speed because the contrast isn’t high enough, especially in bright daytime conditions; you have to spend too long peering at it even to check what level you’ve got the traction control set at. As on other such streetbike systems from Magneti Marelli, there’s a choice of eight different levels (with 8 the most intrusive and 1 the least, plus you can switch it off), accessed via the twin thumb buttons on the left clip-on. The system is pretty overpowering in the higher numbers (I suppose that’s your solution for riding the MV in the rain) and I ended up using Level 3, and couldn’t feel any telltale hesitation accelerating out of turns, nor any loss of grip.

But the real star feature of the F4RR is that stellar new Corsacorta engine’s appetite for revs, which only the class-leading BMW S 1000 RR can really hold a candle to. Having spent half a day lapping Monza on an almost box-stock version of the German bike just three weeks earlier, I had the basis for comparison, and while I’d say the MV certainly feels just as powerful as the much less costly BMW, it isn’t quite as well-rounded an electronic package, and certainly seems less well equipped from that standpoint than the same-priced Aprilia. The MV has no anti-wheelie program, no rain map, no ride-by-wire throttle, and no powershifter, all of which the Aprilia has. The F4RR has better low-end performance and midrange grunt than the Kawasaki ZX-10R against which it seems likely to have comparable top-end performance, but the MV definitely isn’t as agile and nimble in changing direction as the KTM RC8R or Aprilia. But it is indeed undisputedly thrilling to ride, has the best brakes in the business, and possesses that ever so slightly rough-edged appeal that’s one of the characteristic traits of an old-style Italian superbike or supercar, which inevitably always came with stellar styling. And it’s got the MV Agusta badge on the fuel tank — even if they unaccountably forgot to add the tricolore Italian flag alongside it!