Without a whole lot of fanfare, MV Agusta has slipped out their new F4R312 and made the rather bold claim it’s now the new world’s fastest production motorcycle. The 312 in the name represents 312 km/h, or 194 mph which beats all of the other speed limited machines, ZX-14 included. What does the big Kawasaki do without restrictions? There are varying accounts but since the bike in the showroom will not go that fast, MV Agusta may indeed have the crown, though I have not heard of any independent tests confirming those numbers.
What does it really mean? As I’ve noted before, various supercars routinely break 200mph in stock form, the Bugatti runs somewhere around 250 mph, so why motorcycles must be limited to the arbitrary 300km/h or 186 mph number makes little sense, especially when 186 is not a lot different in the realm of real or perceived danger than 196 or 206 or any other number plucked from the air. Yes, motorcycles are more dangerous at high speeds than cars but they’re a bit risky at low speeds, too, the differing treatment is bureaucracy at work. If MV Agusta sells an unrestricted bike will the other companies follow or ignore the challenge? I imagine it might depend on whether anyone can duplicate the claimed numbers on a stock F4R312. Time (and speed) will tell.
Link: MV Agusta
Hopkins says
Who cares how fast it is… people with STAT bikes never seem to use the power anyways. Bunch of bench racers that sit around talking about how much faster their bike is on paper.
The bike just looks bad ass. Kind of reminds me of the old 80’s ninjas with the black and red.
Sean says
Looks badass? No. SCREAMS badass. This is one hell of a good looking motorcycle. But Hopkins has a point. Who needs 300kph on the road? Unless you’re lucky enough to be in one of those magical no speed limit places, or you desperately want to go to jail, you don’t exactly need one. Sure, for an impromptu drag with a boy racer, having this motorcycle would be a help. But I’d rather a bike that got me up to maybe 200kph, but did so fast. I think we’re going to have another top speed war on our hands… Can’t wait.
chris says
well, in unrestricted form, the ZX-14 will purportedly go right about that fast. at least i think that’s what i remember reading in “Performance Bike” (can’t seem to find the issue) but who cares. unless you have the Autobahn and a large gasoline allowance lying around – that much speed is just useless. even on most racetracks there’s not enough room for all that. give me acceleration. give me torque. if it’s a streetbike – make it’s performance match it’s environment.
motoquest says
Ok, so Italy doesn’t care about Japan’s self-imposed 300kmh limit and builds faster bikes. Not long ago an F41000R made an official record-setting run in Bonneville pretty close to this 312kmh barrier.
motoquest says
By the way… anybody out there knows how fast can go the -awesome- $65K 200hp (w/racing exhaust) MotoGP replica Ducati DesmosediciRR?
So maybe Italy has another beyond-300 bike here… and probably faster.
kneeslider says
Winning a contest where everyone else agrees not to compete is probably why they didn’t make a big splash of their claim to top honors. As motoquest says, how about an unrestricted DesmosediciRR? Or how about just derestricting all of the rest of the current bikes? There are probably a few ready to beat that number right now. Will anyone take the bait?
Sean says
Derestricting cars is as simple as plugging it into a laptop. I can imagine, if car modifiers put their minds and computers to it, they could easily derestrict or bypass any restrictions put on any bikes. A fair few bikes are derestricted, for example that crazy Swedish dude the Ghostrider exceeds 300 fairly often. Not that we’re condoning speeding here, now are we….
Dodgy says
From memory an early production Hayabusa was tested at 313 Kmh, then they were restricted later. So what if this does 312 ten years later…
But they sure are pretty…
Shifty says
It’s all a little bit irrelevant, really. I know very few people who have topped out their car/bike in the maximum speed department; even those who frequent racetracks generally haven’t either.
300, 312, who cares… it’s all about acceleration. People who don’t know (or understand) talk in top speed, people who know & understand talk acceleration. Give me a 9-second quarter-mile timeslip and I’ll be impressed.
TOM says
WELL, I GUESS I’M ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES THAT WILL GET TO FIND OUT. I WILL PICK MINE UP AT PRO ITALIA IN MID APRIL. I TOLD THEM TO ADD 3 TO THE REAR SPROCKET BEFORE I EVEN GET IT. I’M TO CHICKEN TO RIDE A BIKE 196 MPH. I’VE BEEN FAST ENOUGH TO BE TO SCARED TO LOOK AT THE SPEEDO. THE ONES THAT ALWAYS ASK “HOW FAST” ARE NOT THE TYPE I EVEN LIKE TALKING TO. I HAVE ALSO ORDERED A PAIR OF CERAMIC BRAKE ROTORS FROM BRAKE TECH. THEY WEIGHT 1/3 OF THE STOCK ROTORS WITH MUCH GREATER STOPPING POWER. THEY CAN TAKE MUCH HIGHER TEMPATURES AND NOT FADE. PLUS THEY LOOK LIKE THE BRAKES A BIKE LIKE THIS SHOULD HAVE. I’LL SPEND THE FIRST 2 WEEKS TAKING IT APART AND REASSEMBLING IT WITH DRILLED TITANIUM BOLTS WITH SAFTEY WIRE. OIL FILTER AND DRAIN PLUG WILL BE SAFTEY WIRED AS WILL BANJO BOLTS, AXLE BOLTS AND EVERYTHING ELSE I FOR SURE DON’T WANT FALLING OFF. TIRES WILL BE FILLED WITH NITROGEN. ONLY AFTER I “KNOW” EVERY NUT AND BOLT CAN’T COME LOOSE, THEN I START RIDING IT. I WILL GLADLY GIVE UP TOP SPEED I’LL NEVER USE TO GET HARDER ACCELERATION AT 90 TO 130.
steve says
Hate to spoil the party for MV, but I have a Buddy that has a 312 MVA & I own a 2005 Busa. We regularly go for long rides (300k +) and almost always I can out hustle him on the hills, straights & where brute acceleration is required, also on the top speed thing, if theres a difference between his bike & my busa….it’s that he cant ride his at high speed as easily as it’s just not as comfortable. All up the busa is a faster bike & more practical in that you can use all the power it has better than the MVA. Finally, on the MVA he is always searching for a lower gear or higher revs to keep up with me when Im really humming. There you go, problem solved.
Clifford says
When will people ever learn? Its not about how fast you get there, its about the ride.
jack says
i think that bike wasn’t the fastest bike
BUT
THE WEAK PRODUCTION!!
how about ducati 1098ss(>32okmh)
or hayabusa(>340)
????
jack says
mv augusta tsb. sama sekali bukan motor yg tercepat,
coba bandingkan dengan ducati 1098rs
ataupun suzuki hayabusa
yg keduannya memiliki kecepatan lebih dari 320 kmh
var says
well gustas a nice bike a bit over priced and as i have found with alot of over priced toys they are not as good as they say they are and as with them give it a few years and you will be buying it on ebay because some one made some thing better as for ducs well i have been riding them for many years and i still ride an old one and it runs like the days of it was sold