~ Auto Buzz ~: 2015 Magni Filorosso – FIRST RIDE “The Magni Filorosso is the most emotional and purest bike money can buy.”

In English, “Filo Rosso” means Red Line, which calls to mind the one connecting all the great MV Agusta creations of yore to this fascinating creation of Giovanni Magni, who is the son of legendary MV Agusta Team Manager Arturo Magni (the man who keeps the legend alive by preserving the unique racing and production bikes at the MV Agusta Museum). The Magni Filorosso was the most emotional bike on display at EICMA 2014; it added an abundant dose of old-style passion to the show. The historical link its name suggests loops from the MV Agusta 500/3 GP racer to the…MV Agusta 500/3 GP racer. This same loop has been attempted before, by Ezio and Maurizio Mascheroni under the suggestion of Mino Agostini himself. In that case, a batch of replicas was made from the original blueprints, and machining from billet every single component to make it exactly as it was in the days Mino stormed the sport. These were machined pieces of art, ridden only a few miles each year by a few lucky owners before being put back on display.

With his beautifully tailored replica, Giovanni Magni has taken a step toward real, practical enjoyment. His red line indeed starts with the MV Agusta 500/3 GP racer, but it takes a detour through the experience that the Magnis (Arturo and his sons Giovanni and Carlo) gathered from the late 1970s to date, first tuning and updating the MV Agusta 750 Sport to get the best out of those good-looking but not especially good-performing bikes. Then there was a limited production run of specials that duplicated the look (and some basic technical solutions from the MV Agusta sportbikes), but used non MV Agusta engines, mainly Moto Guzzi 1000cc V twins. An air-cooled Suzuki GSX1200 four powered a very pleasant replica of the first edition of the MV Agusta 750 Sport, the one that featured a red-white-blue “Disco Volante” style tank, a graphic theme that Magni brought up again on the Storia, a completely restyled MV Agusta Brutale 1090 Four unveiled at EICMA 2013. All the Magni creativity kept orbiting around what MV Agusta had been and what it no longer was, and Giovanni’s red line connects all these experiences. When MV boss Giovanni Castiglioni granted access to the present crop of MV Agusta three-cylinder engines, the loop came full circle because Giovanni Magni, with the full blessing of his father, immediately thought of a Special that would finally be powered by an MV Agusta engine.

The Filorosso looks exactly like Mino’s all conquering bike, but with a modern, powerful, fully reliable and serviceable MV Agusta 800cc triple harnessed by a classic-looking frame. I had the privilege of riding the Filorosso and I must say that I went through a storm of emotions just looking at it and then sitting on it. My emotions ran from “the great old days are back” to “Oh, Lord, I’m gonna crash right at the first corner.” The bike is small, low slung, and light. Above all, it is beautifully made and detailed, dressed with the race-style fairing or in undressed café-racer style. Tank, seat, fairing, three individual megaphone-style exhausts and 18-in. wheels are exactly as they were (although the six-spoke cast magnesium wheels came with the 350-500/4 GP racers). What’s more, the portion of the frame not hidden by the fairing is like it should be. Giovanni Magni brought the Filorosso to the Pirelli Test Track in Italy in its dressed form, complete with a number plate covering the headlight. He was ready to remove the fairing, but I felt the bike needed to look the way it should, dressed, with numbers and all.

The tank is the visually dominant element, defining the style of the bike. It’s a perfect replica of the original.

Sitting on this bike, feelings lost in time rush back. The handmade aluminum fuel tank is narrow, measuring 25.2 inches from steering head to its rear end, at the connection with the tiny seat. It follows that the seat is pushed way back, just about on top of the upper rear shock mounts, for a stretched-out riding posture like I had not experienced since the days of the “bevel gear” Ducati 750SS. I felt like I was going to crash all that beauty in the first corner because the riding posture felt “frozen” by the position of the pegs: high and forward in relation to the rearset seat, which is only 30.3 in. above the ground. There was no way to adopt any modern “body-lean” riding style to make this experience with the Magni Filorosso any easier. The chassis has a compact 54.0-in. wheelbase, and Giovanni Magni was able to bias to the front wheel with a very good 50 percent of the Filorosso’s claimed curb weight of 353 lb. That is a static measurement, but, with the rearset riding position, things would change a lot under dynamic conditions, and the body weight of the rider becomes a major variable in the equation.

Velocity stack atop the throttle bodies. The screen is all that prevents foreign objects from being inhaled, just as it was back then.

Giovanni was given access to the 125-horsepower Brutale version of the 798cc MV Agusta triple, which provides more than adequate performance for a bike this light and streamlined. Giacomo never had more than 94 horsepower on tap with the MV Agusta 500/4 GP racer. Giovanni removed the factory airbox (there is no room for it under the tank) and replaced it with three open-mouth velocity stacks at the top of the throttle bodies, with only a wire net screen at the top to prevent pebbles from being inhaled, just as they used to do with the old racing Dell’Orto carburetors. The exhaust is a work of art, a perfect replica of the one that generated the unmistakable leitmotif that accompanied the winning career of Giacomo Agostini. The individual headers are made with 42mm steel tubing, and the megaphones expand to a final diameter of 90mm. It’s all finished in matte-black, like the real thing, and with a only a modest amount of muffling.

The Filorosso engine starts promptly and settles into the crackling staccato of an even idle. Blip the throttle and the raspy note from the open-mouth velocity stacks mixes with the high pitched thunderous roar from the three megaphones. A shiver runs up and down my spine. Aboard the Filorosso, the bike feels light and very well balanced. All controls are rationally located, inspiring confidence. I carefully approached the track gate and then accelerated toward the first corner while trying to find the most ergonomically correct posture. Images of the riding postures assumed by those who rode and mastered these bikes quickly reeled back into my mind. Mino was far shorter than I, and his MV 350-500/3 racers were tailored to him, so he wore them like a dinner jacket. Mike Hailwood would be a better choice, because he was about my height. He spread his knees while riding his Honda 250 Six, and by riding the Filorosso this way I immediately felt good on the bike.

Going around that first corner, I opened the throttle carefully, expecting that the acceleration would trigger the usual weight transfer to the rear, making the front end light and the bike to go wide. Not so. The classic rear suspension, with twin Girling shocks, is non-progressive, and wheel travel is limited. The Filorosso stayed flat under acceleration and easily kept the plotted line. This increased my confidence in the bike, which felt precise. I increased revs and the engine responded, screaming beautifully up through the gears so rapidly that I found myself blasting in sixth around a very long left-hand sweeper, which is followed by an off camber (and blind!) right of decreasing radius. Around the sweeper, the Filorosso felt precise, with the rock-steady front having a reassuring level of feedback. The Magni Filorosso felt stable and neutral, a nice surprise. I expected my 200-plus pounds, biased to the rear, to upset the perfect static balance of the bike. Not so. And the fast right corner that followed only helped to confirm the bike’s agility. The steering geometry plotted by Giovanni is a mix of old and new chassis philosophies: The steering rake is a state-of-the-art 25 degrees, down at least 2 degrees from the 27-28 of the original MV Agusta 500/3 GP racer. As for the fork (made by a small firm that acquired the Forcelle Italia shop and tooling), it’s a traditional arrangement with 43mm stanchions but with triple-clamps that have the same 60mm offset as the old racer. With the 18-in. front wheel, trail amounts to 85mm (3.3 in.), way below any standard of today or yesterday.

The upper structure of the frame is directly inspired by that of the MV Agusta 350-500/3 racers.

Again, the Filorosso frame smartly mixes past and present. The engine sounds terrific as the bike blasts down the straight and approaches a sequence of tighter corners. Again, good high-speed stability is complemented by excellent agility and neutral steering response; it takes very little effort to get the bike onto the right line. Response is surgically sharp, and though I kept a bit of a safety margin for about 10 laps, the bike kept inviting me to increase the pace and lean angles. The Filorosso rolls on a Metzeler Roadtec Z8 Interact radials, size 110/80ZR-18 front and 160/60ZR-18 rear. That was my idea because originally the bike was shod with a pair of old and rather unknown Dunlop radials out of Japan. The added confidence in the rubber unfroze my riding posture, letting me swing across the seat a bit and lean that Jack Findlay-inspired chest to the inside of the corner. It all worked well. Grinding the non-folding footpegs came as a pleasant surprise; I guess I never realized how much I was using those Metzelers. In fact, the rear was used all the way to its edges, a rewarding surprise at the end of the day.

Bruno talking to Giovanni Magni at the end of an emotionally filled test.

Although the Magni Filorosso may not be an everyday bike, it’s an emotional trip back into the greatest moments in motorcycling history. Moroever, it boasts all the mechanical and safety qualities ensured by a modern and perfectly calibrated chassis that features Brembo disc brakes, excellent suspension, and a three-cylinder MV Agusta engine that pulls hard from 3,000 rpm all the way past 11,000. The bike is capable of a top speed in the region of 155 mph. While I could go on and on about how the Filorosso blends modern practicality with the emotions of a classic look, sound and layout, I’d much rather make this declaration: The Magni Filorosso is the most emotional and purest bike money can buy. Each bike will be tailor-made to the requests of individual customers, explaining why the price starts at a hefty 30,000 euros. But with its look and its sounds, plus the feelings it triggers in our hearts, it will be seen by many as being worth much more.

SPECIFICATIONS
	2015 Magni Filorosso
ENGINE	liquid-cooled 798cc DOHC MV Agusta triple
COMPRESSION RATIO	13.3:1
FUEL DELIVERY	(3) 50mm Mikuni injectors
CLAIMED HORSEPOWER	125 hp @ 11,600 rpm
CLAIMED TORQUE	60 lb.-ft. @ 8,600 rpm
TRANSMISSION	Six-speed with quickshifter
CHASSIS	Double-cradle steel frame
WHEELBASE	54.0 in.
SEAT HEIGHT	30.3 in.
FOOTPEG HEIGHT	15.7 in.
OVERALL LENGTH	79.0 in.
CLAIMED CURB WEIGHT	352 lb.
CLAIMED WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION	49.5/50.5
RAKE	25°
TRAIL	3.3 in.
FRONT SUSPENSION	43mm conventional fork
REAR SUSPENSION	Twin Girling shock absorbers, swingarm
FRONT BRAKES	Twin 320mm rotors, four-piston calipers (Brembo)
REAR BRAKE	Single 230mm rotor, floating two piston caliper (Brembo)
WHEELS	Six-spoke, cast magnesium 18 x 2.5 front, 18 x 4.5 rear
TIRES	Metzeler Roadtec Z8, 110/80-18 front, 160/60-18 rear