
Bikers are lucky. For the price of a low-spec 5-Series they can have the bike equivalent of a supercar
This is it, the big one. It's the current holy grail of high performance motorcycles; the two-wheeled answer to the Ferrari Enzo.
It's the £30,000 MV Agusta F4 1000 Tamburini. Elegantly designed by the legendry Massimo Tamburini - the same guy who penned the legendry Ducati 916 - it's got more power lurking beneath its smooth, clear-laquered carbon-fibre flanks than any production motorcycle you can buy.
The latest crop of Japanese superbikes, like Suzuki's GSX-R1000, have got nothing on this missile.
Its 998cc, in-line four-cylinder engine (originally developed by MV in conjunction with Ferrari) pumps out an amazing 173bhp - enough to get the Tamburini howling to 190mph, and reach 100mph in under five seconds.
What makes this bike really special, though - if you're able to ignore its gorgeous lines, Marchesini wheels, Ferrari F1-spec Sachs racing shocks and titanium nitride-coated Marzocchi 50mm forks - is its variable inlet system.
'Just twist the throttle and the MV assaults you with a severe bout of acceleration'
Perched on top of its fuelinjection throttle bodies is a bank of four inlet trumpets. These stay in position until 10,000rpm, at which point a pneumatic pump lifts them clear, effectively changing the airflow dynamics.
This tricks the engine into thinking it's tuned for low and mid-range power below 10,000rpm then goes 173bhp-beserk above. All this adds up to an engine that makes astonishing power everywhere.
Just twist the throttle and the MV assaults you with a severe bout of acceleration. And that's just the engine. Handling is as good as it gets for the road too.
The combination of top-level suspension, a rigid chassis and super-sticky tyres ensures ridiculous angles of lean, while you rack up corner speeds you thought were never possible.
Only 300 of these beauties are being built, and just a few will reach the UK, so even if you can afford the £30k asking price, you'll probably still have to dream like the rest of us.
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