Enticing MV Agusta collection goes up for sale
Historic bikes built by MV designer Tamburini to be auctioned off this weekend
‘This is the show bike MV unveiled to the world’
Ahoard of rare MV Agustas including some of the finest works of designer Massimo Tamburini has gone on sale. The late, great Italian, having penned 1994’s Ducati 916 (which would be reason enough for most designers to retire) went on to create 1999’s MV Agusta F4. Then, in 2005, MV created a very special edition of the bike limited to just 300 units, the F4 ‘Tamburini’. Now, the very first of those bikes has gone up for sale.
The F4 Tamburini was as exotic as production motorcycles could be. The entire bike (bar the tank) was wrapped in carbon fibre; it had an F1-derived Sachs shock, 50mm Marzocchi USD forks, lightweight Nissin brakes and forged Marchesini wheels. This, along with lashings of magnesium including the top yoke and swingarm, resulted in it tipping the scales at just 183kg dry. The Tamburini also featured pioneering technology: it was the first bike to feature variable length intake tracts to improve bottom end torque without sacrificing outright power. The result was 170bhp and a top speed in excess of 190mph and a fitting tribute to one of motorcycling’s keenest eyes. This particular example was the show bike MV used to unveil the idea to the world. As such the fork crown is engraved ‘Tamburini - Claudio Castiglioni - n°001’ whereas final production models were numbered XXX/300. With a guide price of £30,000£50,000 it’s an ultimate slice of exotica, but another 2005 F4 1000 is a little more affordable. Designed to fix the F4 750s biggest flaw, a lack of power compared to its Japanese rivals, the increase in capacity also brought an extra 30 bhp. This F4 1000 has a more modest guide price of £13,000-£22,000. And there’s another Tamburini machine up for grabs; one of the greatest minimotos ever made. Working with Paventa pocket bikes, Tamburini began to design a mini-F4 and went as far as making this prototype before his death in 2014 brought the project to a premature end. This true one-ofa-kind machine has a guide price of £4300-£7000.
For more information on this incredible auction, which begins on Saturday in Paris, visit www.retromobile.com.