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- Live your dream
- How the MV Agusta Target came about
- Surprisingly heavy and high
- Interview with Hans-Georg Kasten and Harald Thurner
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MV Agusta Target.
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Harry doesn’t want to let me drive. I notice that. If something happens. Three years of work…
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A feast for the eyes: radially ribbed axle housing, embellished IKON shock absorbers, polished hub.
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Train games: The double duplex brake is operated with two trains, the setting of which is a game of patience.
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… but also a regular MOTORRAD issue when driving.
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Title hero: The design study not only graced the title of the 1980s MOTORRAD revue, …
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There it was the right contrast to the workshop test and a new Yamaha.
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Nice to see how close the MV Agusta Target from Harald Thurner comes to the original. And that with current street legal.
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Made with love: Harry also lend a hand with the carburetor battery.
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Design that has never been shown until 1980: for many it was a real provocation.
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The Motogadget instrument shows the most important things.
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Designer Hans-Georg Kasten …
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… and MV enthusiast Harald Thurner on the Target MV Agusta project.
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MV Agusta Target.
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MV Agusta Target.
On the move with the MV Agusta Target
Live your dream
Content of
MV Agusta enthusiast Harald Thurner had a dream: to bring the legendary design draft by Target and the title character of the 1980 MOTORRAD Revue onto the road. He has more than succeeded in doing this with the MV Agusta Target.
I’ve known Harry for over 30 years. While I was still studying and getting around with a Honda XL 250, Harry already had the big bikes under his bum and was trading in machines and clothes. He was at least as pissed off with the motorcycle topic as I was. Which actually couldn’t be. I never would have thought before that we would one day produce a story together. I was still a mechanical engineering student and wanted to build motorcycles, but writing about it never even occurred to me. And Harry was from the first M.V Agusta Target is still as far away as Pluto from our central star.
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On the move with the MV Agusta Target
Live your dream
Harry is bursting with pride and I’m exhausted
Harry can’t be said to tell stories. And in the meantime he has turned his former spontaneous trade into a posh company near Ochsenfurt. He proudly places the MV Agusta Target in his showroom on shiny aluminum sheets and illuminates it with headlights. The putty falls out of my glasses. “Now you’re looking!” Harry is bursting with pride and I’m exhausted. I wouldn’t have thought my old ex-anarcho-moped buddy would do that. A perfectly constructed, brand new MV Agusta in a flawless target design. As it was never really realized. Street legal. Highly polished. In this wonderful red. With these wonderful red valve covers. The open funnels, the radially ribbed rear axle drive, the Fontana double duplex brake, the ultra-short rear. I have to sit down.
“Want a beer?” Harry, who doesn’t look like he’s the most empathetic of the day, feels sorry for him. He knows that it must be a shock for me to see him again, who used to store his goods in a pumped-out swimming pool. On the top, just. At the top of Olympus. With a sinfully expensive one-off, self-built, together with a legendary design company. He leaves me alone with Mr. Hans-Georg Kasten, Lucas Lorch, Wolfgang Fuchs and the graceful Ms. Thurner. I am grateful to her, because she serves a hearty veal sausage breakfast and has Harry – “I’m driving!” – as much under control as his mighty paw controls the clutch lever of the MV Agusta Target. He pulls it, starts and roars away in the noble vehicle to take pictures.
How the MV Agusta Target came about
We’re talking. Hans-Georg Kasten, the head of Target Design, has wonderful stories to tell about how things went back then. With his then partners Jan Fellstrom and Hans A. Muth, with the Suzuki Katana, the time before at BMW and why everything went as it went. The time frame of 14 days from the go of the project to the editorial deadline, which my predecessor at MOTORRAD, Helmut Luckner, told him, also gives a deep insight. Hoarse hissing indicates that Harry is coming back. “Who made the exhaust for you?” “I hammered myself.” “And the shock absorbers?” “Those were IKONS, I turned the parts under the spring plate myself.” “Fuel cap?” “Yourselves!” Harry almost did done everything on the MV Agusta Target myself. “Sometimes I thought I couldn’t do it now. I completely dismantled and rebuilt the engine. And first the brakes! You have to adjust, assemble, try, disassemble and readjust them x times. You’re going crazy! “
Harry doesn’t want to let me drive. I notice that. He never really wants to let anyone ride his motorcycles. Why me now? If something happens now. Three years of work. All his money. His wife looks at him: “Harry, you are too big for the motorcycle!” Harry lets me drive. “You operate the Dynastarter on the left with the ignition lock, just like on a car, just keep turning it. And the funnels are still too short, the 3000 tours are a bit too fat. And just watch out for the brakes, they tweak like hell, and … “I can’t hear Harry anymore because the MV foursome is now capturing me. I’ve never driven an original MV. Premiere! Don’t do anything wrong now. The brutal clutch of the MV Agusta Target engages, the open Dellortos deliver something like a mixture, I creep out of the yard with a gasp.
Surprisingly heavy and high
The MV Agusta Target is surprisingly heavy and high. The seat is far back and the handlebars rather far forward. So you stretch out over the design icon, which is pleasantly sporty. Thanks to the new Bridgestones, the MV is splendid in curves. The extremely short swing arm makes the drive effects of the cardan noticeable. You have to let the MV go. Mechanically, an MV four-cylinder with the gear-driven camshafts makes a real spectacle. Something is moving there too. But otherwise the power delivery of the 750 is easy to drive and revs up without major vibrations. If the speed is right, the gearbox can also be shifted well, otherwise it looks pretty bony, and idling is hardly found.
The double duplex in the front wheel is really something for two fingers at most. Initially not very effective, it becomes incredibly progressive when heated or with increased hand strength. Harry is right. You have to be careful. After a few kilometers I bring the MV Agusta Target back safely. My respect for Harry is limitless. He made his dream come true. Yes, his life focused entirely on this project. Now he wants to put on a small series. Wolfgang Fuchs should get him the customers. He has already procured the basic MVs. Next he wants to exhibit in Italy. The way I know Harry, he’ll do that too.
Interview with Hans-Georg Kasten and Harald Thurner
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The Motogadget instrument shows the most important things.
Mr. Kasten, under what circumstances was the design of the MV Agusta created Target?
The annual MOTORRAD-Revue wanted to include “Star designers and their dream motorcycles” as the cover story in the 1980 edition. Target Design was founded six months earlier by Hans A. Muth, Jan Fellstrom and me. At that time, Muth was a well-known and well-connected designer whose job it was to acquire orders and do public relations work. The then MOTORRAD editor-in-chief Helmut Luckner called him if he wanted to take part.
Wasn’t that a bit presumptuous, the other two design teams were Porsche Design and Italdesign?
Of course it was presumptuous. We were young and Ferdinand Alexander Porsche and Giorgetto Giugiaro were already world-famous designers. In addition, we didn’t have any time, we were in the middle of the Katana 1100 project. The 650 was already finished and the 1100 was enthusiastically accepted by Suzuki. But this opportunity was unique and we wanted to do it.
Luckner called quite late, too, right??
It was exactly 14 days until the editorial deadline when we were able to start. During this time, the concept should be created, the motorcycle should be represented at least roughly as a 1: 1 tape and implemented in a clay model. Actually impossible.
How did you still manage to create a finished model in such a short time??
I took three measures: In contrast to the katanas, Muth wanted to have a say in the MV. I said to him, “If you want us to be finished in 14 days, you stay home,” which he accepted. We got reinforcements for the three-dimensional implementation. Karl Heinz Abe, who later made a name for himself as a BMW designer, and Alfred Boschl, now a well-known sculptor, helped us. And we worked 20 hours a day, almost around the clock for the last three days. The editor came the evening before the photo session. He was horrified because he only saw chaos and wanted to cancel the photo session. But Luckner told him to wait until the next morning. There she was ready.
The MV Agusta Target could only come about because Jan and I had very clear ideas about our dream motorcycle. An uncompromisingly sporty MV. Uncovered, a small frame-mounted cockpit, a new concept at the time to guarantee high-speed stability.
The design language was revolutionary at the time. The design language with the short stern was different from anything that was known before. Motorcycles have looked different since then. The MV influenced motorcycle design worldwide.
Mr. Thurner, how did you come up with the idea of reviving the MV Agusta Target?
Motorcycles are the linchpin in my life. It started when I was young, and I started my own business in the industry 35 years ago. I have always had a special affinity for Italian motorcycles, and one of my specialties is the manufacturer MV Agusta.
I came into contact with Target Design at a party. My friend Hartmut Huhn realized the Sachs Beast together with Target Design. Of course, I knew from literature that there had been a project in connection with MV Agusta. People started talking and slowly the idea of building a ready-to-drive MV Agusta Target developed. This design language paired with MV, what a dream! Of course, it was immediately clear to me that this would be extremely time-consuming and expensive. But I’m happy that my wife pulled in the same direction with me from day one and supported me.
How did it go on and what are your plans now?
First I dealt with the whole project in theory and sought contact with Hans-Georg Kasten. The first important step was for Target Design to listen to me and ultimately agree to support. That was more than I expected. I procured a suitable basic machine and off I went. Target Design recorded the data and digitized the chassis and frame. Based on the old original documents, Lucas Lorch, one of the top performers of the Sachs Beast, then modeled the MV Agusta Target on the computer with the highest precision. Not an easy thing, but it worked perfectly.
Of course, not everything went like clockwork. This project challenged me to the full, I can say that without exaggerating. I couldn’t have done it without the help of Target Design. But Ducati specialist Jurgen Fischer and Hannes Stiegelmeier from Huber Kunststofftechnik also helped me with their specialist knowledge and craftsmanship.
The response to the first ready-to-drive prototypes was overwhelming. I even have a street legal for it. We managed to create an icon. An icon that you can also drive. A small series is now planned. My partner Wolfgang Fuchs will take care of sales. Motorrad-Fuchs from Osnabruck is a well-known and renowned address in the scene.
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