You can now get astride an MV Agusta without totally breaking the bank – well, at least not by a whole lot more than you'd spend for other middleweight naked motorcycles, anyway.
The updated Brutale 800, which has landed just ahead of the iconic streetfighter range's 25th anniversary, packs plenty of usable power and tech along with the brand's signature Italian maximalist styling, which looks fantastic for the cheapest Agusta you can buy.
Rather than being built purely for bleeding-edge performance, this promises to be fun for folks on their first Agusta. Its 798cc inline triple engine puts down 113hp and 53 lb.ft (85 Nm) of torque, which is good for a grin-inducing top speed of 147 mph (237 km/h) and a quick 0-60 mph (0-100 km/h) time of just 3.75 seconds.
In the promo video below, the Brutale 800 looks plenty agile, carving up hillside roads with aplomb. That's likely down to the relatively modest 428 lb (194 kg) weight, and the 6-axis IMU informing the comprehensive rider aid suite.
Speaking of rider aids, you get a whole lot on the 800: lean-sensitive traction control, cornering ABS, front lift control and rear lift mitigation, launch control, and cruise control. There's also a quickshifter, as well as four riding modes to choose from – including one you can customize to suit your preferences. This one sadly doesn't get the steering damper that came standard on the 2021 Brutale 800.
It otherwise resembles the 800 from four years ago, with its sloping teardrop LED headlight, trellis frame, a single-sided aluminum alloy swing arm, and signature triple-tip exhaust.
The entry-level Brutale gets proper adjustable suspension kit, with 43-mm upside-down Marzocchi front forks, and a Sachs monoshock. Four-pot radial calipers from Brembo at the front with 320-mm dual discs, and a two-piston Brembo caliper at the rear on a single 220-mm disc provide stopping power to Bridgestone S22 tires.
There's a good bit of tech on board: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity to pair the 5.5-inch color TFT display with your phone, and a GPS sensor to track your bike's location and power the anti-theft geolocation system, and send out emergency messages.
While this is a street naked through and through, the 800 gets a 4.36-gallon (16.5-liter) fuel tank, which is larger than a lot of others in this segment and should afford decent range if you care to get out of the city; I'm estimating about 220 miles (354 km) going by figures from similarly specced bikes.
The Brutale 800 is debuting in a single colorway: Matte Ago Red. The website mentions two options, but I couldn't spot it. It lands in Italy at €12,600 (about US$14,650). That's not cheap, but it's some $2,000 less than the 2021 model.
It's more expensive than Yamaha's MT-09 ($10,800), Kawasaki's retro-styled 900RS ($12,650), and Triumph's brand new Trident 800 ($9,995). So yeah, this isn't going to win out on paper, but it is a taste of MV's Italian engineering and superlative design in a full-fat package.
Check out the Brutale 800 on MV Agusta's site.
Source: MV Agusta
