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MV Agusta Brutale 1090

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As promised, here is the second part of our trip down to Fontana, California to meet with MV Agusta USA, go over the company’s new business plan for not only America, but also worldwide, and to ride the current crop of their 2015 machinery.

I should preface right out of the gate that this is not a review in regards as to what you’ve come to expect from Asphalt & Rubber. I am not-so-cleverly calling this a “not-a-review” assessment of MV Agusta’s 2015 models. I say this because we had a very limited amount of time on each bike, as there was roughly 10 machines to divide our attention amongst.

Our course was the infield section of AutoClub Speedway, which is very tight and short. And to add to the mix, we had intermittent light rain, which made half of the course fairly slippery.

Think of this article as not far from someone test riding a bunch of motorcycles at a dealership, with similar duration and limits put in place…except that this someone rides motorcycles for a living.

MV Agusta USA has released the pricing info for its 2015 model year motorcycles, after the Italian company had re-evaluated its pricing strategy in the USA. Accordingly, MV Agusta has gotten very aggressive with its US pricing, with several models seeing a modest price decrease, or ABS added for free.

The biggest price drop is the MV Agusta Rivale, which has been made more affordable and to give room for the touring-oriented MV Agusta Stradale. The MV Agusta Turismo Veloce has been added to the 2015 model year list, as expected.

But, perhaps most surprising is the announcement of the MV Agusta F4 RC — a motorcycle that was leaked ahead of the EICMA show, but was not shown at the Italian motorcycle fair. No details on the machine exist on MV Agusta’s public or press sites, but we can expect a 200+hp superbike that’s ready for racing homologation.

It hasn’t even been two months since MV Agusta debuted it line-up of motorcycles for the 2013 model year, but the Italian company is already revising its European pricing ahead of the 2013 bikes’ debut in the coming spring. With most models getting a €200 to €300 boost in MSRP, the only MV’s unaffected by this strange price increase are the base model MV Agusta Brutale 1090 and base model MV Agusta F4.

The three-cylinder MV Agusta F3 and MV Agusta Brutale 675 machines get a €200 kick across the board, while the four-cylinder machines get the €300 price increase. No word as to why MV Agusta is increasing the price (though we can guess that the Varese brand is looking for some more euros on its bottom line).

The price change is an especially strange move after releasing its 2013 line so recently, and shows MV Agusta second-guessing itself on one of the company’s more important decisions. It is not clear at this time how this news will affect pricing in North America, if at all (we suggest contacting your dealer). A full breakdown of the price changes is after the jump.

We have already showed you MV Agusta’s teaser video of its four-cylinder Brutale line-up for 2013, which featured only 1078cc machines, and seemingly dropped the MV Agusta Brutale 920  from the company’s repertoire (its entry-level position taken by the 2013 MV Agusta Brutale 675). Teasing three versions of its MV Agusta Brutale 1090 street-naked, MV Agusta has confirmed the three models today: the MV Agusta Brutale 1090, MV Agusta Brutale 1090 R, & MV Agusta Brutale 1090 RR.

Spreading three models over this narrow niche, the 203 MV Agusta Brutale 1090 & 2013 MV Agusta Brutale 1090 R feature a 142 hp / 82 lbs•ft 1078cc package, while the peppier MV Agusta Brutale 1090 RR get a power boost to 156 hp, though is down to 73.74 lbs•ft of torque according to MV Agusta’s typotastic website. All three machines appear to be very peaky with their power, and come with MV Agusta’s traction control system that first debuted on the MV Agusta F3.