Retro litre superbike released in £61,000 limited-edition form
MV Agusta has been put on a more stable financial footing in recent years, with the KTM owner, Pierer Group, taking on a majority stake.
So we’re expecting more in the way of new machines from the exotic Italian manufacturer over the next year or so. And the Varese firm has kicked things off with this, the new MV Agusta Superveloce 1000 Serie Oro retro-designed superbike, which has been around in concept form for a while now, and is finally in production.
It takes the firm’s litre-class superbike engine, puts it in a premium sports chassis, dresses it in a swooping full fairing, complete with aerodynamic wings, then adds some trick components to make the first limited edition model on sale. Serie Oro is Italian for ‘Gold Series’, and it marks this bike out as an initial limited edition variant (‘up to’ 500 will be built), with some posher chassis kit and even finer finish.
The firm has been making Gold Series bikes since the beginning of its modern era, from the very first 750 F4 back in 1999, and they let the firm make a bit of extra cash, while satisfying early adopters and collectors, before launching a cheaper, less-fancy standard version for the rest of us.
Starting with the engine, you get the latest version of MV’s own inline-four 16v DOHC water-cooled 998cc unit, with radially-arranged titanium valves, titanium conrods and forged pistons plus DLC-coated cams and valve gear. Compression ratio is 13.4:1, bore and stroke is 79 x 50.9mm, it has a balancer countershaft for smoother running, and makes 208 HP (153 kW) at 13,000rpm with 116.5 Nm of torque at 11,000rpm – not outrageous numbers but in the ballpark for a 2024 litre sportsbike.
That hand-built powerplant is fuelled and controlled by the firm’s MVICS 2.1 engine management setup, which has 50mm Mikuni ride-by-wire throttle bodies and eight injectors, and incorporates the usual state-of-the-art riding aids. That includes IMU-assisted traction control, wheelie control, launch control, engine brake control and an up/down quickshift system as well as cruise control and four rider power modes.
Add in a sweet titanium Akrapovic exhaust system, with the trademark underseat four-outlet ‘organ pipe’ silencer and a carbon fibre heat shield, and you have a very tasty drivetrain package.
The chassis also follows the familiar MV Agusta format: the frame has a combination of steel tube trellis sections and cast swingarm pivot plates, with a single-sided aluminium swingarm and adjustable swingarm pivot point. The Serie Oro F4 models used to come with lighter magnesium pivot plates and rear swingarm, but nowadays we get less-fancy aluminium, even on this top-end machine.
The suspension is from Öhlins, and features the firm’s latest electronic semi-active adjustment, operating on an NIX front USD fork, with TiN coating, and a TTX EC rear monoshock. There’s also an electronically-controlled Öhlins steering damper. Controlling all the electronics, including the Bluetooth phone link, rider aids, suspension settings, GPS and the rest is a luscious 5.5” TFT colour LCD dashboard.
When we come to the wheels, we get some proper pieces of moto-art. The rims have a combination cast/spoked design, which looks superb (but will be a bugger to clean…) The main body of the wheel has a star-shaped cast part, with striking red bolt-in spokes adding stiffness to each arm of the star, giving a really stunning design.
Those posh rims wear specially-designed Pirelli Supercorsa SP V4 tyres in 120/70 front and 200/55 17 rear sizes, and carry Brembo 320mm brake discs. These are clamped by Stylema four-piston monobloc calipers up front, and have a neat carbon fibre disc cover/air duct design which has the look of an old classic drum brake installation.
There’s a full cornering ABS system too of course, and Agusta has added a ‘Race’ mode for the ABS, which turns off the rear channel, allows more rear wheel lift on braking, and reduces the intervention on the front, while cancelling the cornering function – intense. Quite who’ll be pushing that hard on track with their £61,000 limited-edition Serie Oro is an interesting question…
The most striking part of the Superveloce 1000 is of course the bodywork though. The firm has taken some of the elements from the current Superveloce 800 supersports model, but added a new aerodynamic package, with elements inspired by a 1972 MV Agusta 500GP race bike. That bike actually used wings on its front fairing to improve handling, showing that aero design is by no means new.
The Serie Oro bike has full carbon fibre bodywork, and Agusta is very proud that its aerodynamic wings, fins and vents are all carefully designed into the overall panel shape, rather than just being ‘bolted on’ winglets added to existing fairing designs, as seen on some first-generation setups. The front mudguard, chain guard, dashboard support bracket, clutch cover, rear light surround, and more are all made in full carbon fibre too.
An impressive setup then – and the cherry on top is all the extra Serie Oro goodness: that full carbon bodywork, leather/Alcantara seat and a leather belt which runs across the fuel tank’s length, starting from the laser-engraved plate at the base and continuing towards the “Superveloce 1000 Serie Oro” logo.
The rear wheel hub features the MV logo, with a design that mirrors the headlight, a unique detail in the world of two wheels, there’s a numbered limited-edition plaque, and titanium fasteners sprinkled liberally around.
There’s also an exclusive Serie Oro owner’s kit which includes a certificate of authenticity and origin of the motorcycle, with the same numbering as the vehicle, and a dedicated motorcycle cover to protect this motorcycle artwork when it rests in the garage.
Adding further value, the dedicated kit includes a pillion seat in leather and Alcantara, pillion footpegs and supports, carbon passenger heel guards CNC-machined brake and clutch levers and height adjustment plates for the swingarm pivot point.
More info on the £61,000 Superveloce 1000 Serie Oro, limited to 500 bikes maximum, at www.mvagusta.com