Italian marque MV Agusta throws its hat into the retro-tastic ring in 2020 with its Neo-Classic Racer model, the Superveloce 800. Clearly a modern machine, the factory managed to incorporate the flavor of the old café racers to deliver an interesting blend indeed. A high-compression triple delivers 148 horsepower with an electronics suite that gives the machine multiple personalities to match your own attitude and skillset. Make no mistake, this is a racebike through and through, but one built for the road rather than the racetrack, just like the original café racer bikes.

2020 MV Agusta Superveloce 800 Design

The café connection is admittedly rather tenuous on the Superveloce 800, but it's there nevertheless. Much of it is owed to the single round headlight and the conical bullet-fairing in which it is housed. Since many of the early CRs were homejobs, the heavily bobbed front fender also ties in with the custom culture of old that sought to pare down everything that wasn't absolutely essential to the operation of the machine.

The fairing comes with deep slots on each side to give the dead-short clip-on handlebars some relief so there is room for their full swing, and that adds to the CR look as well. A smoked bubble screen completes the coverage up top with an unusual horizontal mullion that seems to be more about aesthetics than any practical function.

On both sides just below the handlebar cutouts are ram-air intake ports that take advantage of the incoming air pressure to boost volumetric efficiency a bit, but in all honesty you have to get up to around 100 mph to garner any kind of boost from that feature, so it is of limited utility on public roads. Still, it makes a nice conversation piece, yeah?

TFT technology makes an appearance at the instrument screen that doubles as the interface for the ride-quality and safety electronics. A full sportbike cowling forms the typical scoop up front that forces cooling air through the radiator and then reintegrates it with the slipstream through the vents at the backside. Since it is extended somewhat at the leading edge, it combines with the narrow tail to give it an all-up-front look.

A chin fairing meets the cowl and extends into a full belly pan, but then the thermoplastic panels open up to reveal part of the Trellis frame and the blacked-out beating heart lurking beneath. The 4.36-gallon fuel tank sports broad flanges up top with a strong wane toward the rear to form the knee pockets that let you pull your legs in out of the wind and leave room for some lateral body English when you want to toss it around in the corners.

Out back the tail fairing mirrors the conical shape that dominates the front, as does the round taillight that finishes it off. Fold-up passenger footpegs come stock with a p-pad hidden beneath a tail cover that gives the bike its solo-streetfighter panache, so you can share the fun with a friend if you like, or go stag, the choice is yours.

LED emitters provide the lighting all around, and if I had to pick out a negative in the design, it's in the position of the front blinkers on the cowling; they're practically guaranteed to get wiped out as soon as you drop the bike the first time.

2020 MV Agusta Superveloce 800 Chassis

ALS-steel members are welded to form the Trellis frame on the Superveloce 800, what little there is. Since the engine is used as a stressed member, much of the frame is displaced in order to keep weight down to 381.4 pounds, dry. Yeah, I know we don't ride dry bikes, but that's what the factory gives us to work with. Aluminum is the material of choice for the single-side swingarm and its pivot plates for their light weight as well.

The front end floats on a pair of inverted Marzocchi forks with a Sachs monoshock to support and tame the rear end. Both ends come with adjustable spring preload alongside variable rebound damping, and compression damping for the full trinity of tweaks.

Cast aluminum shows up again in the 17-inch wheels. They mount Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa II hoops in a 120/70 and 180/55 on the front and rear respectively with a “Z” rating that'll handle any speed and maneuvers you can throw at it.

When it comes time to drop anchor, you can rely on the dual, four-piston Brembo binders and 320 mm discs to slow the front wheel and the twin-pot caliper and 220 mm disc out back, all of which comes under the protection of the Bosch 9-Plus ABS that sports a Race Mode and rear wheel-liftup prevention.

2020 MV Agusta Superveloce 800 Drivetrain

All of the above is just the setting for the gem that is the inline triple in the Superveloce 800. The liquid-cooled mill runs with four valves per cylinder, all of which comes made in tough, light titanium to reduce reciprocating mass and combat harmonic valve float for safe operation at high rpm. Oil and water each get their own separate radiator to eliminate waste heat and protect the engine. Bore and stroke measure at 79 mm and 54.3 mm respectively to give the engine its 798 cc displacement and sizzlin' hot, 13.3-to-1 compression ratio.

A slipper clutch couples engine power to the six-speed, cassette-style transmixxer with an electronically-assisted shifter that lets you work both up and down the range without ever touching the clutch or rolling the power off. That's not the end of the fandanglery, not by a long shot. The Motor & Vehicle Integrated Control System works with a ride-by-wire throttle and Eldor EM2.0 throttle bodies to deliver traction control and torque control wizardry to help you keep the thing dirty-side down.

Power flows through an O-ring chain final drive to the tune of 148 horsepower at 13,000 rpm (yikes, y'all!) with 65 pound-feet of grunt that develop fully at 10,600 rpm, so this is clearly an engine that likes the revs like almost nothing else in the world, almost an engine that likes the revs like almost nothing else in the world, almost}}. The overall drive ratio turns in a top speed of 149 mph at the redline in sixth gear.

2020 MV Agusta Superveloce 800 Pricing

It's unclear if any of these machines will make it over to our side of the pond, but for our European brothers and sisters, you can expect to shell out €19,990. You have a choice between Ago Red/Dark Metallic Matte Grey and Pearl White/Dark Metallic Grey/Ago Red. MV Agusta covers your Superveloce 800 with a new, three-year warranty.

2020 MV Agusta Superveloce 800 Competitors

With such a mean machine to find a competitor for, I had to reach for the upper shelves for sure, but I think Ducati has a worthy competitor in its Panigale V4.

Ducati Panigale V4

The Panigale is another bona fide street-legal Italian racebike that carries itself with more body paneling than the Superveloce and sports a pair of winglets up front that increases the downforce on the front wheel to increase traction and stability at speed. True, it doesn't exactly have that same café-tastic vibe that the Superveloce brings to the table, but CR models are hard to find at this level of badassedness, so here we are.

Like the MV Agusta ride, the Panigale relies on a stressed-engine frame design that limits the tubing to keep weight down with fully-adjustable suspension components all the way 'round to break even. Same with the brakes, as Brembo anchors take care of business across the board, but Ducati picks up small win here with a cornering-ABS feature that the Superveloce seems to lack.

Duc also picks up a minor win in the engine-control department with the addition of a Power Launch feature to which MV Agusta has no equivalent. The Desmosedici Stradale V4 engine is even hotter than the Superveloce's mill at 14-to-1 compression and 1,103 cc displacement that turns in an impressive 214 ponies and 91.5 pounds o' grunt against 148/65.

He Said

“There's just something about the CR look that really pushes my buttons, and I gotta' say MV Agusta hit just enough of the design high points to make this a very attractive bike to me. Do I have the skills for it? Not even close, but I'd ride it anyway, like I stole it and the police be damned, I'd like to see 'em catch me! Retro is in nowadays, and I expect that to hold the Superveloce 800 in good stead in the model-year to come.”

She Said

My wife and fellow motorcycle writer, Allyn Hinton, says, “Mad props to MV Agusta for this seriously retro look. It's not really a departure for them as much as it is a re-emergence of their heritage. I like the look, and I think the only thing that would really hurt them is lack of dealerships in the U.S. market.”

2020 MV Agusta Superveloce 800 Specifications

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