MV Agusta Rivale 800 first ride - MOTOR GERR

MV Agusta's new £10,499, supermoto-fashion rival to Ducati's Hypermotard, the Rivale 800, is presently being positioned via its paces for the primary time by way of MCN Senior Road Tester Michael Neeves inside the south of France. Here are his first impressions:

"A departure from the company's bread and butter sports activities and splendid naked bikes, this supermoto-styled machine is based totally closely at the Brutale 800 and has a 125bhp three-cylinder engine, housed in a metal trellis body and single-sided aluminium swingarm.

"Although it looks like a massive supermoto, it rides like a super-bare – it’s solid, neutral-handling, fast and has that distinctive, superb three-cylinder growl at complete throttle.

"MV has struggled to get their journey-by means of-cord throttle systems operating properly ever because the launch of the F3 675 at the start of 2012 and we lately tested a Bruate 800 with a totally poor throttle response.

"But the Rivale 800 has a brand new generation electronics map and I’m thrilled to say it really works. It’s smooth, predictable and acts just like a normal bike, that's all you may ask for.

"I’d say the throttle response is on par with a Street Triple’s and better than the new Yamaha MT-09. Let’s hope the motorcycles headed for the UK are simply as correct.

"The highlight for me is the quickshifter, which thanks to the experience-by using-wire is one of the smoothest I’ve used and adds to the satisfaction of riding.

"Due to moist roads we didn’t have the danger to actually push the Rivale 800, but in a way riding it inside the damp became the last take a look at of its usability and it passed with flying colors."

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