TIMMY ON TRACK…

I’d not laid eyes on an MV Agusta F4 RR before, probably because they’re so rare with only 300 ever made, but I was instantly drawn to it with its bold curves and striking appearance.

If looks were anything to go by, it was going to be a dream to ride...but for me it didn’t quite cut it, especially on the road.

For starters, the riding position didn’t float my boat from the moment I sat on it; being high in the saddle combined with the footpeg placement made for a jacked-up and cramped riding position and put the weight into my arms and wrists while riding. That said, it wasn’t as noticeable when I took the bike to Cadwell Park, because it’s so ballistically fast that I didn’t have time to think about anything else, least of all comfort... but we’ll get to that later.

Thankfully, the nose-heavy rider and chassis balance was more suited to the circuit, and made for a super-fast steering bike which was especially handy through the Halls Bends section of Cadwell and it felt noticeably lighter in the change of direction than the other two machines. It may have been steering quickly through the tighter and slower corners of the track, but the tall set-up made me feel disconnected to the tyres and tarmac, and that became even more of a problem in the faster changes of direction as the bike became nervous and felt somewhat unhinged in the middle.

Out on the road, I thought the F4 felt pretty tame with a rather flat bottom end, almost like it had a 600 rather than litre engine; if I wasn’t in the correct gear and wringing its neck, then it wasn’t really going anywhere. On the track however, it was a different story.

The gearing was more revvy than the other two machines, and with a clear track ahead I was able to stretch the cables and give the old girl a thrashing – and I was simply blown away with how ballistic it felt. The motor spins up super-fast when you have it in the right gear, and when you wind the throttle back it gives an intense rush of speed and acceleration which is all well and good, but I actually found it quite a handful over the mountain section and into the twisty wooded part of the circuit, which is exactly where you need a smoother and less peaky power delivery. But it was far more engaging on the track than on the road.

A super-fast bike needs very good brakes and a clutch set-up that can take the back shifts. Thankfully the brakes were up to the task, but going from fifth into second gear for the right-hander after Park Straight was a nightmare. There wasn’t enough slip from the clutch so it backed in quite aggressively, which meant I had to start braking earlier and really space the down shifts apart to help keep the bike stable and in line… far from ideal and a hindrance if you wanted to crack on or make a last minute pass.

The front suspension felt too soft and under sprung, so when I hit the brakes hard, I would get a lot of weight transfer onto the front end of the bike which made it even harder to stop and exaggerated the backing in during the backshifts. It was something I soon got my head around but meant I couldn’t attack the corners with confidence like I wanted too.

We’re spoilt these days with silky smooth modern day quick shifters and blippers, and even though I’m fully aware we’re dealing with bikes over a decade old, I can’t help but criticise them, even if they were the pioneers of electronic aids on production motorcycles.

The system on the MV felt very basic and if I wasn’t on point and precise with my footwork in the gear changes, then it wouldn’t work at all, or it would find itself a false neutral. It didn’t have a blipper so I had to downshift with the clutch manually the old school way, but with a hydraulic clutch and a biting point set as soon as the lever moved, I could literally feel the gears engaging (or should I say ‘crunching’) through the lever, which is not a nice feeling I can assure you.

I did try to blip the throttle for the backshift, but the first bit of the throttle didn’t seem to pick up the rpm while the bike was in motion, so that technique didn’t exactly work… it was quite bizarre that it needed a big twist to get a blip.

It’s clear to me that this isn’t the bike you’d want for your Sunday cruise or track day weapon, but if you were looking for some fast fun that’ll turn the heads of anyone who’s into the two wheeled world, and a bike with a heap load of nostalgia and rareness, then you could do a lot worse than MV Agusta’s F4 RR.