Modern-retro sport bikes rarely get it right. Often times the mix of old and new results in a cool vintage looking machine with poor performance. Though this is far from your regular modern-retro, the Magni MV Agusta Filo Rosso gets it right, and then some. The beautiful Italian triples are handmade by Giovanni Magni in the Moto Magni factory just north of Milan in small numbers, primarily on a made to order basis. Giovanni is the youngest son of Arturo Magni who led MV’s GP team, funded by Count Agusta via the profits from the Count’s helicopter factory.
The Filo Rosso – which means “red thread” in Italian – is designed and produced with a meticulous attention to detail that’s seldom seen today. The street-legal racer is powered by an unmodified modern MV triple while boasting the aesthetics of bikes similar to those legend’s like Giacomo Agostini piloted for MV back in its racing prime. The Filo Rosso uses a water-cooled DOHC 798cc transverse inline-three with an Eldor EFI and engine management system, inhaling through three 50mm Mikuni throttle bodies, making 125hp at 11,600rpm and 62 ft-lbs of torque at 8,600rpm. Married to the engine is a six-speed cassette-style transmission with multiplate oil bath slipper clutch.
Wrapped around the MV triple – which is the same engine the 800 Brutale F3 utilizes – is a TiG-welded open-cradle chrome-moly tubular steel frame which uses the power-plant as a fully stressed component, a technique that harkens back to Agostini’s World title-winning triple’s twin-loop chassis. Giovanni’s older brother Carlo Magni runs EPM Wheels, who produces the six-spoke cast magnesium rims, similar to the units found on MV’s later 350/500 four-cylinder GP machines. The suspension up front is a fully-adjustable 43mm Forcella Italia telescopic fork and a handmade chrome-moly steel swingarm dampened by twin Girling shocks in back. The Filo Rosso is equipped with dual Brembo in front (320mm, four-piston) and a single (230mm two-piston) unit in the rear.
Giovanni and his brother managed to finish a non-running early prototype less than 72-hours before EICMA 2014. After posting a couple photos of the bike on their websites, the brothers awoke the following morning to find they already had a dozen orders, despite them not having yet listed a price (funnily enough, for the simple reason they hadn’t decided on one yet). A year later they had made refinements and tweaks to the homage-paying two-wheeler which they displayed at the 2015 EICMA, with the year giving them time to thoroughly road-test the bike and iron out the kinks as they arose.
The Filo Rosso is said to handle remarkably similarly to the Evoluzione bikes produced by Claudio Castiglioni and that isn’t a coincidence, they’re very much engineered to be that way. Mani wanted to create a bike that was worthy of properly paying respects to the legendary work his father and Castiglioni did in their respective times. MV simply is two-wheeled exotica and as a result attracts an elite customer base who have very high expectations. Fortunately, Giovanni was able to deliver on a project he had long aspired to take on. “I always dreamed of making a modern Magni MV, in the same way as my father did 40 years ago when he started our company,” says Giovanni Magni.
Interestingly Giovanni opted to use a stock modern MV display, instead of a Veglia tach or the like that you may have been anticipating, and though he kept the modern display, he jettisoned the traction control and anti-wheelie control programs by cleverly not installing the requisite sensors. There’s also no ABS, although the Filo Rosso does retain the F3’s powershifter on the six-speed gearbox. The exotic weighs in at 368lbs (dry), and boasts a 49.5/50.5% front/rear distribution.
The stock airbox on the Brutale was chucked out, with the job now being performed by the trio of 50mm Mikuni throttle bodies with mesh-covered velocity stacks. Rhizome – who happens to be located a stone’s throw from Magni HQ – supplied many of the turn-signals and other minor components that make up the full street-legal bike. Albeit it’s not road-legal in Italy despite its full lighting. While bespoke parts would have been more interesting, (same with the display), this is an absurdly awesome machine that just exudes everything about vintage Italian race bikes that enthusiasts love. I personally am crazy about inline-triples but the Filo Rosso seriously takes it to the next level and has somehow managed to be a historically significant modern machine.
This particular example was ordered by Brent Lenehan who officially unveiled this bike at the fourth edition of the Quail Motorcycle Gathering where it won the Spirit of the Quail Award. It reportedly has zero miles on it.
You can find this Magni MV Agusta Filo Rosso for sale here at VIA THEMA – a high-end auto dealership in Geneva, Switzerland – with a price of $44,300.