MV Agusta Rush 1000 motorcycle test

Menus

• 0 to 100 km / h in 2.9 seconds! All in excess !
• 4 cylinders in line, 998 cm3, 212 hp and 116.5 Nm, 186 kg dry, 300 copies, 34,000 euros
• Discovery
• 1 G at acceleration
• In the saddle
• On the road
• On circuit
• Cycle part
• Braking
• Conclusion

0 to 100 km / h in 2.9 seconds! All in excess !

4 cylinders in line, 998 cm3, 212 hp and 116.5 Nm, 186 kg dry, 300 copies, 34,000 euros

The success of the limited-series MV Agusta Rush 1000 super-streetfighter shows once again that nothing works as well as excess, except maybe even more excess…

The MV Agusta Rush 1000 is only 300 units, all produced in recent months in the Varese factory as key elements of the strategy of its Russian owner Timur Sardarov to focus on unique high-end machines that no one else could or would do.

MV Agusta Rush 1000 review

Discovery

If one thinks that this is essentially a radically redesigned Brutale 1000 RR roadster, it is actually an even more extreme version of a model that has already stood out for its stylistic extravagance. A style that we owe to the famous progettista Adrian Morton who has just left the company after having spent 16 years there.

Sold from 34,000 euros and available in a single anthracite and red color, resolutely sinister but very distinctive, it costs € 4,000 more than the already very exclusive Brutale. This makes it the most expensive road motorcycle currently available on the market. Filled with carbon fiber, a titanium exhaust, plenty of magnesium castings and unmistakable looks, the Rush looks set to live up to its name on any drag strip, transforming every traffic light in the starting grid. She not only has a massive presence, she also has the attitude.

The Rush is derived from the Brutale 1000 RR

The Rush got its name from a meeting held in Varese eight weeks before the 2019 EICMA Milan show where it made its debut. But at that point she was still not on the agenda.

Brian gillen, MV R&D director:

The Rush was created on a whim. This happened during a meeting I had with Massimo Bordi and Adrian Morton. We were doing a design review of the brutal RR with the new four-cylinder engine and looking at the pictures of the bike, I started to think to myself, "What if?" I’ve always been a huge Dragster fan and watching the Brutale in front of us put a photo on the screen of a Don Garlits dragster, with its spoked front wheels, huge exhaust pipes jutting out over sides and rear wheels wrapped. I said, "Hey, Massimo, this bike would look really cool with a Top Fuel Dragster pattern", he replied, "Yeah, but I really like round headlights, you have to put one!". And then it was this, that and something else. So Adrian Morton got into the discussion and very quickly what was supposed to be a Brutale advancement project meeting escalated into something else, a discussion of how we could customize that same bike the way we did. a dragster.

The MV Agusta team does not set limits when it comes to design

Morton apparently returned the next day with some sketches of what this Brutale EVO might look like. Everyone involved, including their boss Timur Sardarov when he was shown the pictures, liked the result so much that they decided to build it. So from there, getting the prototype ready for the show, eight weeks later, was done in the greatest rush (in the rush or … Rush in English). Capiche ?

Thus, under the radical style of the Rush hides the platform of the Brutale 1000 RR now produced in series. The Rush therefore takes the same 998cc short-stroke inline-four engine with eight radial valve injectors (four lower Mikuni and four Magnetti Marelli with increased flow) introduced a year earlier and designed with the goal of reducing friction and improve lubrication to develop 208 horsepower at 13,000 rpm and 116.5 Nm at 11,000 rpm.

We find the 4 cylinders of 998 cm3 of 208 hp

These values ​​are those obtained with the Arrow series exhaust approved for the road, but equipped with the SC-Project silencer set still Euro4 certified, the engine of the Rush achieves 212 horsepower at 13,600 rpm while turning up to 14,200 rpm / min, with 3% additional torque. The 300 motorcycles were produced in 2020 and are therefore not Euro5 certified as all machines from 2021 must be..

At a time when other manufacturers are increasing the capacity of their engines (Aprilia and Ducati are the most obvious examples) to address regulatory obstacles such as EU4 and EU5 standards, MV Agusta is moving in the opposite direction, compared to the displacement of 1,078 cm3 of its previous Brutale 1090 RR range.

The Rush gets a double SC Project silencer with the race kit

You can get more power in two ways: either with more displacement or with additional revs. But with the displacement, we should have gone even further than 1.078cc if we really wanted to get what we were looking for from a performance standpoint. We therefore chose a smaller displacement, but with higher revs and the result is a considerably higher power..

Thus, the engine of the Rush 1000 uses the same 79 mm bore as before, but with a stroke shortened from 55 mm to 50.9 mm to reach this capacity of 998 cm3. From there to see the basis of the engine of the future generation of F4 … Add to that a dry weight of 186 kg obtained thanks to magnesium housings, titanium bolts, screws and mounts as well as a fairing in carbon fibers (well, for the little dressing that there is) and we get on paper a Rush 1000 which makes your mouth water.

The rush claims 186 kg dry

1 G at acceleration

The Rush’s four-cylinder retains the same crankcases as before, but machined differently to accommodate the improved lubrication system designed to counter the movement of the oil under the effect of excess acceleration. Because with the right button of the launch control engaged, the Rush delivers 1G at acceleration, according to Gillen, which translates more concretely into a 0-100 km / h achieved in 2.9 seconds, all with the headlights, the horn and its homologation for the road !

The round headlight claimed by Massimo Bordi is present, but there is little chance that he imagined a model similar to this one, in a carbon shell and with a curved lighting function thanks to a strip of LED all around. When the ignition is switched on, they flash successively then light up one by one as the motorcycle tilts, as indicated by the six-axis inertial unit which also communicates the data for the ABS when cornering and the control. traction in curves.

The famous round headlight also offers cornering lighting

The minimalist styling of the bottle-bottom-looking tail light is accompanied by vestigial MotoGP-style fins meant to provide additional downforce, while the forged aluminum rear wheel held by a simple CNC-machined nut dresses up. a carbon fiber fairing that improves aerodynamics, but does not seem to affect stability in crosswinds.

The rear wheel is covered with a perforated carbon cover

Under this very flashy trim which can only arouse a reaction (love it or hate it), the Rush retains exactly the same chassis as the Brutale 1000 RR, starting with the tubular composite steel trellis frame and the pretty single-sided swingarm in aluminum to which the optional Ohlins semi-active shock absorber is grafted. There are also Pirelli Super Corsa SP tires with a huge 200 / 55-17 at the rear, Brembo Stylema monobloc calipers associated with two 320mm discs and a radial master cylinder. These are mated to a Bosch 9 Plus ABS with Race Mode and RLM built into the entire electronics package provided by the Eldor EM2.0 ECU. The latter also provides four driving modes via the ECU (Race, Sport, Rain and Custom), traction control adjustable on 8 levels, launch control, anti wheeling or even cruise control. The set also includes a standard up & down shifter and a connected color TFT screen that allows you to adjust your settings via your smartphone, record your runs and share them or even skip your navigation via the dashboard..

It is via a color TFT screen that we configure all the assistance

In the saddle

The short-butted style of the Rush envisioned by Adrian Morton also includes a pair of strap handlebars that help carry its own weight on the beautiful Kineo spoked front rim to ensure more grip when cornering, with a large double saddle. padding in Alcantara culminating at 845 mm and leaving just enough room for a passenger who should ideally be small, light and very courageous (or unconscious) !

The 845mm high Alcantara saddle is quite wide

But as aggressive the design may be, well underlined by the howl of its Euro4 homologated exhaust, the Rush perfectly suits the cliche of the Jekyll and Hide, capable of playing apartment cats or man-eating tigers according to desires and circumstances.

I had the opportunity to test one of the 300 copies produced on the roads at the foot of the Alps north of Varese, after having had to fight in urban traffic, before taking it the next day on the Vairano track. , south of Milan, where Italian government agencies have vehicles approved. So I was able to let the Rush express itself fully, after heating the gums as I had been recommended….

Better to heat the tires before hitting the road

On the road

But before arriving there, we had to cross the streets of the city in Rain mode or the lines of cars crossing the Alpine foothills towards the Swiss border in Sport. The opportunity to discover that the Rush is finally also suitable for everyday driving thanks to a position of surprising comfort.

The Rush is surprisingly suited to the city, for a streetfighter

As on the Brutale, you sit "in" the bike, not on it as you would expect on this type of machine. The straps are not too tilted and the mirrors at the end of the handles, in addition to being stylish, offer good visibility.

The forward position is not too extreme

Supple and forgiving in low revs, the engine is accompanied by a very light clutch for such a powerful block. The Rush is thus able to shift gears from 7,000 rpm without batting an eyelid and to be a perfect tool for every day..

The engine resumes well as soon as 7,000 revolutions for a peaceful driving

But as soon as a stretch of straight presents itself, the Rush is ready to catapult you. You just have to be prepared to go down a gear or two before you fully open the throttle, because there is not enough torque at mid-range (relatively speaking) and driving in last gear is not the best choice under the 9,000 rpm. But by dropping the speeds so that the exhaust screams louder on the scale of the revs, it is then necessary to grip firmly in preparation for takeoff. Timur Sardarov’s goal of delivering a high level of "exciting, but not scary" performance has been achieved. But is it really exceptional? Well, this is a naked motorcycle that can be driven every day and has a top speed homologated to over 300 km / h…

When it comes to picking up the pace, the Rush is always ready

On circuit

Obviously, it is impossible to use more than a fraction of this performance in the real world. But the next day, in Vairano, I got a better idea of ​​what she was capable of. The power of the Rush is such that, coupled with long gears, I must admit that I have never been able to push the fifth full without running out of room, even on the drag strip. So top speed is only for the German Autobahn or Isle of Man Mountain Course when it’s one-way and you can fully exploit its potential. This does not mean that we lack sensation on the lower gears, far from it.

It is only on the track that you can take full advantage of the Rush’s capabilities.

The bidirectional shifter is perfectly configured, as on the Brutale 1000 RR, without too much sensitivity. The arrival of power is much higher from 9,500 rpm, when you feel that the acceleration is intensifying, all with a minimum of vibrations. The friction has been perfectly erased on the engine, as has the inertia of the mechanics which results in an intoxicating acceleration that pushes you to slow down to ask for more, again and again..

The power of acceleration is truly addictive

Cycle part

Thanks to the 8-level traction control, I gradually discovered that you can fully open the throttle at relatively high bank angles. And this tilt angle can be followed on the dashboard display. I started at TC4 at Vairano (8 being the max and 1 being the mini) and ended up at 2, which twice allowed the rear Pirelli to be felt when I shifted too low on a curve, but with a lot of feedback to easily correct errors.

Цhlins suspensions adapt perfectly to different situations

At the other end of the bike, the Rush keeps its trajectory perfectly when exiting a curve, without pushing the front wheel when you accelerate hard. The Rush’s steering is very direct and responsive after toughening up the Ohlins suspensions compared to my previous day of driving where they were very forgiving of road imperfections in Sport and Rain. But even with Race Mode, the suspensions smooth out the few bumps on the Vairano track quite well..

Braking

Finally, nothing to complain about the Brembo brakes whose Stylema monobloc calipers are still excellent for slowing down and stopping the bike from the highest speeds, all with great precision and progressiveness..

As always, Brembo Stylema calipers are excellent

Conclusion

After two days riding the Rush, I got used to the ride and gained the extra confidence to improve my cornering speed. While I was reluctant to end my riding on this motorcycle which is much more than a "did you see me", they decided to park the fire truck on the track for me. bring out ! The Rush is really something special, expensive for sure, but the 300 lucky guys who have one in their garage (please don’t put it on display in your house, it needs to be driven fast and often!) to consider lucky, but also insightful.

Dripping with desire, the Rush 1000 is an alluring combination of unmatched performance for a naked roadster combined with unparalleled handling and striking aesthetics stamped with the MV Agusta brand. It’s a fitting farewell to Adrian Morton’s exceptional sixteen years in the company.

The 300 copies of the Rush were all sold before it even went into production….

But that’s not the end of the story for the Rush, according to Brian Gillen:

The Rush is part of MV Austa’s legacy as a motorcycle that goes beyond extremes in styling, but one that our customers can actually ride and enjoy on the road. It is not a racing bike, although it does have the performance. So, in the future, we may well see other iterations of the Rush, still using the Brutale 1000RR platform, but with a different style while maintaining that personality. It won’t be subtle changes, but radical changes: the Rush only goes in the extreme !

Strong points

• Extreme look…
• Motor
• Braking
• Cycle part

Weak points

• … that we can hate
• Rate

The technical sheet of the MV Agusta Rush 1000

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