The MV Agusta Brutale 675 - Triumph Street Triple Compared
The MV Agusta Brutale 675, to tell you more about this motorcycle let's start with the seat height – trust me, this is one easy way to see if this is a motorcycle which will sell good in Asia or one built to look good and little else – and at 805mm the MV Agusta Brutale 675 seat height has been well judged. It's only 5mm higher than a Triumph Street Triple.The compact, innovative DOHC 12-valve three-cylinder engine powering the Brutale 675 is almost identical mechanically to that in the MV Agusta F3 675, and weighs just 54 kilograms, which the company claims is 3kg less than the comparable Triumph Street Triple engine, and it's also 80mm narrower.
The MV Agusta Brutale 675 is very far from being an MV F3 675 with the bodywork stripped off.
With its slant-block cylinders inclined forward at 35 degrees – much steeper than the more upright Triumph engine – the MV Brutale 675 engine measures 79 x 45.9mm for exactly 675cc in capacity, against its English rival's much longer-stroke 74 x 52.3mm format, and delivers a homologated 108.5 horsepower at 12,500rpm, as compared with the sportier MV Agusta F3 675's 128 horsepower at 14,400rpm, both horsepower measurements are at the crank. This compared with a quoted 105 horsepower at 11,700rpm for the Triumph Street Triple.
The MV Agusta Brutale 675 is exquisite-looking wet-sump 675cc engine is built entirely within the MV Agusta factory, not by an outside supplier such as Rotax or Weber, and features gravity die-cast crankcases within which the 120-degree plain-bearing crankshaft runs backwards – an unusual feature borrowed from MotoGP winning motorcycles, aimed at improving handing on turn-in to a corner, as well as at holding a tighter line by reducing its influence in terms of rotational inertia on the front wheel by as much as 10 percent. This is made possible on the MV Agusta by the use of a counterbalancing shaft driven directly off the crank, and weighing 1.88 kilograms.
The specially developed Eldor ECU equipping the MV Augsta F3 675 is also used on the Brutale 675, but with just a single injector inserted below the butterfly of each of the three 47mm Mikuni throttle bodies, as the second top-mounted injector on the MV F3 675 has been removed on the Brutale 675. These are controlled via a full ride-by-wire digital throttle offering a choice of three preset maps – Sport, Normal and Rain – as well as a fourth Custom map which the rider can tune personally. There's an eight-level traction control program included as standard, too, and Bosch ABS will be available as an option.The MV Agusta Brutale 675 exhaust system retains the same trademark triple exit pipes as the MV F3 675, but has been redesigned to help produce the less powerful, more torque Brutale 675 engine's revised state of tune, via altered header pipes – and freer-flowing aftermarket exhaust pipes are also widely available.
The MV Agusta has the same claimed 167 kilogram dry weight as the Triumph Street Triple – six kilos less than the fully faired MV F3 675 – with a 52/48% static frontal weight bias, but a slightly shorter 1380mm wheelbase. The 17-liter fuel load lies partly under the seat, thanks to a hidden extension to the beautifully shape fuel tank.
Sliding on the MV Agusta Brutale 675 well-shaped seat reveals this to be a totally accessible motorcycle, one that a rider of almost any size, shape, gender or skill level is going to feel comfortable with – it's a true user friendly motorcycle. Although you do have the impression of sitting quite far forward, so that your body weight helps load up the front wheel in pursuit of extra grip. It's also comfortable apart from the seemingly rather thin seat padding which, combined with the quite stiff, with only pre-load adjustable rear suspension, means ride quality isn't the greatest.
The MV Agusta Brutale 675's steering is still as pin-perfect and precise as its F3 675 sister equipped with more compliant suspension at both ends.
