MV Agusta Motorcycles

How do you sum up a company like MV Agusta in just a few sentences? Well, just like trying to explain what their motorcycles feel like in writing, it’s nearly impossible. Between 1952 and 1974, MV Agusta riders – John Surtees, Gary Hocking, Mike Hailwood, Giacomo Agostini and Phil Read to name a few – won 37 world championships, but those racing victories never quite translated to success in the showroom. That, and the resulting changes in ownership over the years, didn’t stop this passionate Italian company producing some of the most jaw-droppingly exquisite road machines ever created though; the F3 and F4, the Brutale and Dragstar naked roadsters, the sublime Superveloce 800 Serie Oro, and their latest creation: the Rush 1000. As if the bikes themselves weren’t enough, even where and how they are created is something to behold: the MV Agusta factory – perched on the shores of Lake Varese and overlooked by the Lugano mountains, is a sight in itself. Inside it’s a joy watching their glorious engines being hand assembled, but even better hearing them being ‘hot tested’ – fired up and run on a test bed – and then, after the build is complete, tested again on a rolling road. It’s not something you forget!