2008 MV Agusta 1000cc F4 Factory-prepared Bonneville Racer

One of the great names in motorcycling, MV Agusta was founded in war-torn Italy in 1945 and was steeped in racing tradition from day one. From opening the business to 1976, the company would win some 270 GP road races and 27 world titles with the likes of John Surtees, Mike Hailwood, Giacomo Agostini, and Phil Read aboard.

Introduced in 1998, the 750cc F4 was met with the very highest acclaim. Cagiva acquired the MV Agusta name as far back as 1991, but it simply took that long to reintroduce the name to the awaiting public with a bike worthy of the name. From the design table of Massimo Tamburini, who also penned the seminal Ducati 916, the F4 was a high-revving 750cc four-cylinder, painted red and silver just like the old racer winners, and with a trademark quad array of high-mounted exhaust tips, known as the pipe organ. The bike was upped to 1000cc for the power-hungry audience.

The motorbike offered

In 2006, MV Agusta decided to take on the Bonneville Salt Flats and attempt to capture the speed record for the 1000cc Production Class record. At a speed of over 185mph they succeeded. Not too shabby for a showroom stock bike! They returned for the next two years to continue to build on that success and this is one of the two bikes that was used during that time. It still has the race numbers from those years on the sides of the bike and the signatures of the factory staff at the Varese, Italy factory, who assembled this bike for the record attempts.

Robb Talbott purchased this F4 in 2014 for display in the MotoTalbott Museum in Carmel, California. It was bought and displayed in “as-raced” condition complete with salt deposits and abrasions.  Having been on static display for some time, the bike will need to be re-commissioned before returning it to the Salt Flats.