Fine lines: MV Agusta F3 RC

Massimo Tamburini walked around the bike, lit up, and walked around it again. In front of him lay the MV Agusta F3, a bike he played no part in designing but seemed to have an immense influence on. It was a day before the EICMA in 2010 where the F3 would be revealed to the world, and this was the first time Tamburini laid eyes on the motorcycle. It was unmistakably an MV, the lines so similar to the ones he had penned on the F4 more than a decade earlier. He told Adrian Morton, the Brit designer who’d created the F3 that he’d have to start by saying something negative. But he didn’t. Probably because he couldn’t. He made a few technical comments about the swing-arm, and
was rather positive otherwise.

The F3, like the F4, is much more than just a motorcycle — it is a rolling work of art. It was no easy task for Morton to create something in the shadow of a man like Tamburini. But he’d had plenty of experience in dealing with the Italians — having spent seven years at Benelli. He’d worked with Tamburini after he made the shift to MV Agusta, updating the F4 Brutale and then the F4 as well, before he started work on the F3. When he was tasked with designing a smaller Supersport that would slot under the F4, he knew he had his work cut out for him.

The F3 is designed such that it is accessible to a wider audience, without losing the sensuality that MV Agustas are supposed to have. At first glance, you know it’s still oozing sex appeal — the lines on the nose are swept back in smooth, long strokes. The fairing has sharp angular edges, the tank and the tail pieces are sculpted to perfection. Unlike the F4 with its underseat exhaust, this one has got three arced pipes on the side, revealing the fact that a triple is nestled behind the fairing. Unlike most supersports, it has retained MV’s DNA with a single-sided swingarm. However tiny details mean it is more accessible — the seat is narrow to allow riders to control it more easily. It’s a smaller package, with a shorter tail and the side exhaust lower down makes it more manoeuvrable.

As if the F3 wasn’t desirable enough, MV Agusta has gone and launched a limited edition F3 Reparto Corse edition, with the one in the 800cc guise limited to just 250 units worldwide. Mechanically, this bike is identical to the standard one, but the racing livery makes it even more striking than it already is. Draped in the Italian tricolore, the bike stands as a tribute to the victories of Jules Cluzel and Lorenzo Zanetti in WSS competitions worldwide. And if the race replica liveries aren’t enough to catch your eye, the side panels of each bike bear the signatures of both riders. The F3 exudes so much more purpose in this RC edition, all liveried up in their motorsport colours. MV Agusta was born with racing in its veins and it shows.