Zonko’s attack on the MV Agusta F3 800 Ago

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Zonko’s attack on the MV Agusta F3 800 Ago

Ago greets Aunt Rosi

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In Misano I briefly met the noble Giacomo Agostini. I had to tell Aunt Rosi that. With a worthy device: the MV Agusta F3 800 Ago. Beautiful! But the aunt lied to me for decades!

I.I was in a state of emergency, waved my arms frantically and shouted: “Don’t drive over it! Don’t drive over it! Under no circumstances drive over it! ”The huge, green, ten-ton iron pile with the 390 hp 7.7-liter six-cylinder diesel engine under the hood rolled with an estimated 60 directly towards the bouquet that it was coming out of my teeth had torn. The GAU threatened!

Zonko’s attack on the MV Agusta F3 800 Ago

Ago greets Aunt Rosi

Ago was friendly as always

I had met Giacomo Agostini briefly in Misano – and he had been friendly as always. To real sir. 15-time world champion, 10-time Isle of Man TT winner, MV superhero. I will never forget the crazy sound of its 500 cc three-cylinder MV. The racing machine, which was unrivaled until the early 70s, developed 85 hp at 12,000 rpm and was good for 280 km / h (!). The winner was more or less always: Giacomo Agostini. For my aunt Rosi, who at the time had murderous sex appeal and was not a food lover, he had always been the greatest anyway. Giacomo! When she told me about him, her eyes had that special shine and her voice had a mysterious color that I couldn’t really explain as a boy at the time. 

I now took heart at the “Circuito di San Marco” and spoke to the now white-haired Eminence: “Mister Agostini, I’m a journalist from Austria, riding at the moment a MV Agusta F3 800 Ago. Does it make you proud, that some MVs in limited edition still have your name? "He answered friendly with the accent of a seducer:" Of course. I had a really great time with MV Agusta. And I still love these bikes. MV will always be something very special. "I nodded, overcame my inner resistance and added:" Sorry, Mister Agostini, my aunt Rosi is such an enthusiastic fan of you. You put her in the early seventies in Monza. Do you remember her? ”A sensitive question. I really wouldn’t have offended him if he had sent me to the devil now. After all, Ago is still a world star who is constantly holding microphones under his nose, but he raised his eyebrows, thought for a moment, smiled charmingly and said: “Rosi! The craziest chick from Austria! I hope she is doing fine. Please send her best regards. “Then suddenly he had to move on.

Automatic switch was very helpful

And so I was now on my way to Aunt Rosi’s with the MV Agusta F3 800 Ago with a bouquet of flowers. Wasn’t that easy. The windshield fitted the extremely smart fairing – MVs are simply beautiful! – so good that I was able to drive at serious speeds despite the jet helmet, but holding the flowers was complicated. 

Since I do not assume that there are many people who would like to know everything about the perfect transport of an ostrich on a super sports car, three insights in brief:

1.) Clamping under the arm is not a good idea, because the ostrich says goodbye as soon as you leave the high-speed position – for example when braking into a curve or simply when you stick your head out of the disguise to have a better overview. Happened to me. 

2.) Biting the flower stalks with your teeth works very well for a while, but leads to a terribly stale taste on the tongue and roof of the mouth. Depending on what kind of stalk you put between the chewing strips, there is even a risk of poisoning! In addition, the stems soon break, and then you have to stop again and pick the bouquet off the street. If a Fendt is rolling, you either need a lot of luck or the inner calm of a full elephant. 

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With a worthy device on the way to Aunt Rosi.

3.) You grasp the bouquet with the clutch hand. On the MV Agusta F3 800 Ago it was great at first because of the automatic switchgear. So I was able to tear through the corridors briskly and comfortably. However, downshifting was tedious because the blipper function is missing and the ostrich is a hindrance when coupling. Still, that was the best solution. No drop.

From this point of view I have developed an important driving technique tip: “If you drive with flowers, take the bouquet in the clutch hand. If you have decided on fresh gerberas, you can go for 200 plus with confidence. The petals stay on at least until 220. "

What violence!

Well, the farmer at the Fendt had some understanding and didn’t roll over the flowers. Thank you! So I could pick them up and continue my Sunday drive. Of course, the MV Agusta F3 800 Ago got terribly bored. Even with the unleashed firing at the Pannoniaring the day before, it stayed pretty cool. Although I can say that the limits of the F3 are not far from my limits. I can extend the nominally 148 hp three-cylinder without panic attacks. That was not the case with the 195 hp F4, which was also available to me in Pannonia. 

Hell, the superbike’s four-cylinder cracked so badly that I struggled to take a look at the tachometer every now and then. There was an inferno over 9000 rpm. Simply killer. What violence! I have to admit that the crazy engine lobe of the 1000 in-line four-wheeler put me in a tight spot. MV has now managed to make the throttle response in the top much smoother than a few years ago (the sudden surge was a mean drama there), but when the engine got into the right range, I tended to become a passenger who had to hold we. The MV Agusta F4 drove with me, not me with her. That was of course world class and great in terms of horror, because the overwhelmed synapses gasped, but it had little to do with a relaxed and controlled fast drive.

With the MV Agusta F3 800 Ago faster than with the F4

It is not easy for me – because the F4 is so good for me on an emotional level – to admit that I was not only much more relaxed with the F3, but also faster. The three-cylinder, which works very well over the entire rev range and beats well over 13,000 rpm, shot me firmly through the world, but there was nothing terrible about it that blocked me. I could fire the F3 at will and didn’t have to worry about full throttle. From 0 to 100 km / h in 3.6 seconds, from 0 to 200 km / h in 9.1 seconds and 269 km / h top speed are impressive values, but they make it clear that – contrary to opinion, sometimes is expressed at regulars’ tables – the 800 is far from a 1000. It’s a different league. I would say the MV Agusta F3 800 Ago is a grueling super athlete, but it is not allowed to compete in the superbikes. An angry F4 is a completely different caliber.  

The talented young racer Julian Mayer proved to me in Pannonia that the MV Agusta extremely F4 can also be handled in a completely playful way. Yes, heaven, the 19-year-old fired the F4 so freely that I felt like the biggest egg bear on this planet. Crazy, like the young wild boar, who only seldom tears it off the buck ("It all costs a lot of money. I’ll get a few slaps!"), Let it rip! His answer to my question, what his greatest strength would be, may not be very meaningful at first glance, but actually it is the all-encompassing explanation of the fast world: “I don’t know. I’m just fine. Tense up is always bad, you have to stay relaxed. ”A dream!

Stay relaxed on the ago

I will still practice staying relaxed on a grenade like the F4, but on the F3 800 Ago I managed it without any problems – apart from a late dropping of the anchor. The seating position is super sporty, but the knee angle is relatively comfortable and the posture is generally not as extremely front-wheel-oriented as on the F4. The three-cylinder of the MV Agusta F3 800 Ago, which according to the PS test bench has 129 PS on the rear wheel, is easy to turn and strong, but even over 10,000 rpm, when it unfolds its full power, it did not overwhelm me. The soft and full response at the top was great. If you accelerate in a deep lean angle, you don’t need an abrupt surge, but a jolt-free, perfectly controllable use of power. Well done, MV Agusta! 

However, the transmission and the automatic gearshift gave me embarrassing moments. When switching from one to two, I sometimes had the idle speed, which meant that the engine of the MV Agusta F3 800 Ago howled into the limiter and the propulsion failed. This is probably due to the somewhat long shift travel of the six-speed gearbox, especially over idling. Of course it was totally unworthy. In a later episode, however, that didn’t happen to me because I made sure to pull the gear lever long enough when changing gear. This required some attention at first because it was unusual, but it quickly automated.

Marzocchi fork and the Sachs shock absorber at a high level

The MV Agusta F3 800 Ago was not radical, despite the tight wheelbase of 1380 mm and the low caster of 99 mm. Agile and precise, but not nervous. The Marzocchi fork and the Sachs shock absorber never gave cause for complaint, but worked at a high level with sufficient transparency. This created a lot of trust. I could see how well I got along with the F3 from the fact that the electronics almost never had to intervene. This is precisely what gave and continues to give us PS testers the tricky question of whether, in case of doubt, they really throw the rescue ring over. In the past, security electronics did that more than capriciously. There was only one hot ear and a heart pounding into the limiter when I threw the anchor with the Brembo monoblocks too late and too abruptly, which worked very well in terms of both bite and controllability. 

With the Race ABS function activated, the short MV Agusta F3 800 Ago briskly lifted the rear and lurched tight. There was also restlessness in the fork, as the electronics modulated the brake pressure. And because the apex of a curve is unfortunately not a compassionate being, it stubbornly stayed in its original place while I fought fully focused against the total loss of control. A clear thought burned in me: “Don’t scrap the noble Ago! ”A throwaway is never great, but an MV limited to 300 pieces with carbon fenders, forged rims (minus two kilos compared to the conventional F3 800) and Ago paintwork Bedding in the gravel or rubbing it in the asphalt would be an act of brutal barbarism. So I released the brake – and just turned it over completely. It’s almost always a sensitive measure when things get tight in the curve. And so it was this time too. I stayed in the saddle. 

Rosi whispers, MV whispers – and so do I.

Aunt Rosi was very happy with the MV, the gerberas and me. And while we were throwing in an excellent apple strudel, I naturally told her about my meeting with her Ago, about the F3 800 and MV in general. There was also something that bothered me: “You still give the dry weight. So the weight of the machine without liquids. That’s wrong, nobody can check that. They give the MV Agusta F3 800 Ago at 173 kilos dry, then there are 193 on the PS scale with a full tank. And they must have whispered about the performance. They indicate 148 HP, but the HP test bench only measured 129.3 HP on the rear wheel. If you include the power loss, at most 140 to 142 HP remain on the crankshaft. Don’t get me wrong, that‘s a proud figure and the three-cylinder is great, but if I were MV, I wouldn’t be fooling around. "

Aunt Rosi nodded, paused for a moment, put a hand on mine and said: “I just have to tell you now, even if it is difficult for me that I made everything up back then. Personally, I never got to know my ago. But when I told you about him, your eyes shone so brightly. ”Unbelievable – a small world broke up. Well, I didn’t want to hold back with the truth either: “Ago still looks very good and is very friendly and charming in conversation. But I just couldn’t bring myself to ask whether he remembers you. That was pure poetry. ”The aunt smiled and said:“ But it was believable. I’m sure he had at least one Rosi. He was really incredibly smart and fast. "

Technical data MV Agusta F3 800 Ago

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MV Agusta F3 800 Ago.

Drive: Three-cylinder in-line engine, four valves / cylinder, 109 kW (148 PS) at 13,000 rpm *, 88 Nm at 10,600 rpm *, 798 cm³, bore / stroke: 79.0 / 54.3 mm, compression ratio: 13.3: 1, ignition / injection system, 50 mm throttle valves, mechanically operated multi-disc oil bath anti-hopping clutch, six-speed gearbox, G-Kat, chain, TC

Landing gear: B Steel tubular space frame, steering head angle: 66.0 degrees, caster: 99 mm, wheelbase: 1380 mm, upside-down fork, Ø fork inner tube: 43 mm, adjustable in spring base, rebound and compression. Central spring strut with deflection, adjustable in spring base, rebound and compression. Spring travel front / rear: 125/130 mm, forged alloy wheels, 3.50 x 17 / 5.50 x 17, front tires: 120/70 ZR 17, rear: 180/55 ZR 17, test tires: Pirelli Supercorsa SP, 320 mm double disc brakes with radially hinged four-piston fixed calipers at the front, 220 mm single disc with two-piston fixed calipers at the rear, ABS

Maximum rear wheel performance**: 95 kW (129 PS) at 244 km / h 

acceleration**: 0-100 km / h: 3.6 s 
0–150 km / h: 5.9 s 
0-200 km / h: 9.1 s

Draft**: 50-100 km / h: 4.6 s; 100–150 km / h: 4.6 s

Top speed*: 269 ​​km / h

Weight: 193 kg with a full tank, v./h .: 51.7 / 48.3%, 

Tank capacity: 16.0 liters

Setup fork: stat.neg. Spring travel: 25 mm, compression: 2.5 U open, rebound: 3 U open, level: standard

Setup shock absorber: stat.neg. Spring travel: 10 mm, compression: 1.5 U open, rebound: 2 U open, level: standard

Base price: 24,265 euros plus utilities

Readings

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Power on the crankshaft, measurements on Dynojet roller dynamometer 250.

Of the promised 148 hp, 142 remain on the test bench. With the beautiful torque you can get over that.

Conclusion

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Zonko on the MV Agusta F3 800 Ago.

When I think about the MV Agusta F3 800 Ago, I think it’s great that MV Agusta produces strictly limited special series that cost a fixed amount of money. If you want exclusivity and something very special, you get it. MVs are visually amazing anyway, and the brand charisma hits me deeply. Not only because of Giacomo Agostini, but also because of Massimo Tamburini, who after the 916 Ducati for MV Agusta created another icon of design with the F4 Oro.

The MV Agusta F3 800 Ago is – as long as you pull the gearshift lever cleanly – a fantastic super sports car that works wonderfully on the racetrack as well as on the country road, but if the money didn’t matter, I would still use the F4. Because the huge engine lobe of the four-cylinder completely kills me. In any case, I am pleased that this traditional brand is so present again and that it also offers a lot of different motorcycles. The beneficial cruisers from the Swabian region are likely to contribute even more to this in the future.

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