MV AGUSTA CELEBRATES ITS SAVIOUR WITH LIMITED EDITION F4 1000

WOW. Just look at it. This is a limited edition, celebratory version of the legendary MV Agusta F4, named for the firm’s saviour, Claudio Castiglioni. Claudio died in 2011, after a lifetime in the Italian bike business, running Cagiva, Ducati, Husqvarna and, famously, MV Agusta.

The Castigioni name is inextricably linked with the marque, after Claudio brought the Ducati 916 designer, Massimo Tamburini, in to design the MV Agusta F4 750. That superbike, launched in 1998, revived the firm’s fortunes, and with Claudio’s son, Giovanni, now running the company, that link is stronger than ever.

This will be final edition of the F4’s current incarnation – emissions rules mean the firm needs to give its full-bore superbike a proper makeover, and there’ll be an all-new bike coming soon from the Agusta factory at Varese near Milan. Based on the RC version of the F4 1000 superbike, the F4 Claudio really is a work of art. It’s dripping in proper carbon fibre, with a beautiful black and gold colour scheme and the very best in chassis jewellery.

It’s powered by a 212bhp 1,000cc inline-four motor, so it should go like utter stink. That engine has been upgraded, with titanium conrods and a lightened, balanced crankshaft, plus hand-ported cylinder head, diamond-like-coated valve train, and special low-friction pistons and rings.

It puts out a claimed 212bhp @ 13,450rpm with the supplied SC Projects titanium race pipe, and even makes 205bhp in road trim – still pretty

solid power, especially considering how light it is (175kg dry mass with the SC Projects exhaust). Much of the weight loss is done the expensive way too – with lashings of titanium fasteners all over the place.

Wheels are BST carbon fibre, wearing Supercorsa rubber, and the suspension is full-on Öhlins kit – NIX30 forks and TTX36 shock. The Claudio also comes with the very latest Brembo Stylema calipers, which have been exclusive to Ducati’s Panigale V4 until now. The bodywork is all carbon fibre, with Claudio Castiglioni’s signature picked out in silver, and with goldplated copper trims on the panels.

The F4 Claudio has a bumper electronics package too, with full track-spec traction control, ABS and power modes. It also comes with an AIM dash (woo!) and sweet WSB-type set of buttons, allowing quick and easy access to adjust the modes, pitlane limiter, and all that other good stuff that you would expect to see on a special motorcycle like this.

There’s only one downside that we can see – the Claudio is so gorgeous that the majority of these weapons will end up whiling away their time reposing under dust sheets in collectors’ climate-controlled garages. Booooo!

It’s also limited to just 200 units, so you’re unlikely to see many schlepping round the North Circular. If you do pick one up though, we’ll be happy to come round and make sure it goes properly for you…