Ever more power from Italy’s three-cylinder firebrand
I am not a fan of sport bikes. Actually, it would probably be accurate to say I am no longer a fan of sport bikes. Perhaps, it might be even more truthful to say I am no longer a fan of sport bikes because my aging corpus can no longer tolerate their extreme riding positions.
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But if I were a fan of two-wheeled super sports machinery, I’d be all over this, the new Competizione version of the MV’s now iconic F3. That’s because it hits all the high points of sportbike-dom, being lighter and more powerful than the base F3, not to mention infused with better suspension and brake hardware. Most of all, like all MVs, it is achingly beautiful.
In the power department, MV’s 800-cc triple now claims 160 horsepower which, not so long ago, would have been the purview of 1,000-cc four-cylinder superbike engines. Ditto its 13,500-rpm power peak. As middleweight sportsters go, the Competizione is the cream of the crop.
That is doubly so when you consider that it weighs but 185 kilograms. Fit the optional Akropovic titanium exhaust system and that number drops to 179 kilos which means the MV just about touches the mythical one-to-one power-to-weight ratio that makes 1,000-cc superbikes so diabolically fast.
Harnessing all that go-juice is a six-axis e-Novia inertial measurement unit that manages traction and the anti-lock braking system. And, unlike most ABS systems, the F3 offers a Race-only mode which disables the rear anti-lock functionality while still preventing lockups at the front. ABS can be fully deactivated when you add the Akropovic race pipe and its attendant mapping software.
As for the actual running gear, it’s a who’s who of premium motorcycle goodies. First off, the Competizione rides on Öhlins suspension at both ends. At the front, it’s a NIX 30 inverted fork with TiN-coated stanchions and full compression and rebound damping as well preload adjustments. In back, it’s a top-of-the-line TTX 36 single shock with the same level of adjustability. There’s also an Öhlins steering damper to quell any head-shaking at high speed and some now de rigeueur winglets on the front fairing adding eight kilograms of downforce at 240 kilolmetres an hour.
It all runs on some spectacularly beautiful BST carbon fibre wheels. As much as three kilograms lighter than comparable aluminum hoops, the BSTs also reduce gyroscopic precession which means the Competizione should be amongst the most precise steering motorcycle on the market today. Suspension performance, thanks to their reduced unsprung weight, should also be improved as well.
Only 300 editions of the Competizione will be available globally. On the other side of the pond, it will retail for 34,000 Euros. That makes our Canadian pricing of $39,548 an absolute steal. No word on how many will be allocated to the Great White Frozen North, but, if you’re interested, I’d suggest shopping sooner than later.
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