MV Agusta Hints Brutale, Dragster 800 Updates Ahead Of EICMA

If you’re MV Agusta, how do you improve on the Brutale or Dragster 800s? Both are exceedingly easy on the eyes, but they’re also well-regarded in terms of performance. Climbing to the top is one thing, but staying on top and not sliding back down the mountain is an entirely different challenge.

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Australia’s BikeReview.com.au gave the 2019 Dragster RR a 9.5 out of 10, officially designating it “wicked” and noting its exceptional rider-friendliness for the road. Cycle World already called the Brutale B3 800 RR “a very versatile mount with excellent riding manners” back in 2018. So really, where do you go from there, if you’re MV? 

The good news is, we’re still smack in the middle of the most wonderful time of the year, filled with all the glorious anticipation of what we can expect to see at EICMA. The lovely folks at Motociclismo recently spoke to MV R&D head Brian Gillen about MV’s immediate plans for the future. It’s a short but sweet interview, which you can read in its entirety here. 

While Gillen hinted that we can expect to see a new rear linkage, among other performance and cosmetic changes to both the Dragster and Brutale 800s, he also offered up some other interesting insight into MV’s current thinking. Instead of concentrating on designing bikes to mostly go well at high speeds, Gillen said that MV is now concentrating on making bikes that handle well at lower speeds, as well. 

Among other considerations, Gillen mentioned that MV’s new approach aims to make traction control work unobtrusively. It’s there and doing its job, but ideally, does it so smoothly and well that you barely even notice it. If it works as well as Gillen says, that can only be a positive move in the evolution of this tool on bikes in general, and for MV in specific. 

It’s also an important consideration to encourage both new and experienced rider development. Few first-time riders are probably heading to MV dealers and forking over the cash for a brand new Brutale or Dragster 800—but no matter your level of experience or expertise in the saddle, most of us are nearly always looking at bikes other than what we currently ride. 

As we do, we’re thinking about new paths we might travel—and how we might improve at this hobby we love. Effective, unobtrusive traction control can help with both rider safety and skills development, so individual riders can safely grow in skills and confidence. Plugging this evolution into a pretty, middleweight naked MV package is just a bonus. 

Sources: Motociclismo, BikeReview.com.au, Cycle World