Tamburini

MV to me 02/2025

Ahhh the MV Agusta F4 platform, how beautiful are the....

I remember the very first time I saw one of these bikes was at the Guggenheim Mudeum in New York (1998), the show was called The Art of the motorcycle. The bike was on a platform at the base of the spiral in the building, essentially showing people that the F4 was the culmination of all that came before it. This was the first time the F4 was seen publicly before becoming a production platform.

Here you can see the bike as I remember laying eyes on it 1998 (bottom, middle / right).

The bike was a 750 version of the F4 which would later be more popular as a 1000, all under the Cagiva group which was responsible for saving Ducati, Doing the very same thing for MV Agusta. What many don't know is that the designer of the F4 was the same man that designed the ducati 916, making the F4 the final Superbike design by Massimo Tamburini before his death. The F4 is very very much a 916, other than the glaring difference of an inline four over the Ducati V-Twin. Even today when I work on these bikes, the sharing of design is shocking.

During the 2000s I worked for two brothers that owned a telephone company and who liked to have fun. The younger of the two liked bikes and he went to race school with me to learn the track. I later had a base model F4 1000 (ask me about the deathrun videos sometime) and he ended up getting an F4 1000 Tamburini. I sold my Mv because I loved Ducati too much to be on an inline 4, He kept his MV and converted it be all black (carbon). I remember him telling me that everytime he rode the bike all he saw was Red, which was a color he hated. A year later he passed away very suddenly and I rode this bike to his service as homage to him, it was the last time the bike was ridden. His brother stored the bike for the 19 years and I finally talked him into selling me the bike (March 2025).

I owe these two guys a lot of credit for my bike issues and to have this bike means the world to me. While it is not a Ducati, it is an amazing machine and has a serious personal connection with me. On top of it all, it is very very pretty (and fast as shit)!

The Tamburini is special 02/2025

MV made a lot of F4s, most special editions in 300 unit runs. The F4 1000 made amazing power (166bhp) but it was not enough so they released the Tamburini in a run of 300 which had adjustable velocity stacks giving variable torque to the bike (173bhp). Additionally the bike had upgraded brakes, front and rear suspension and Ti exhaust/ECU.

More on the Tamburini can be found here.

First evaluation of the bike 02/2025

I picked up this bike at the end of March 2025, it was stored in a container which is not good. Additionally the bike has a carbon tank and we all know what Ethanol does to Carbon / Resin.

Here you can see the bike before cleaning it.

Little mold spots here and there. A "container" find!

I slapped a battery in the thing to get the milage so that I can get working on the paperwork. Just over 1000miles. Original tires.

Fuel tank failure 03/2025

Looking the bike over more closely it became clear that my fears were correct, the tank totally failed! Amazing to see what fuel can do to carbon when left sitting.

The good news is the bike came with all the original parts so I will be working to reinstall all the OEM parts. I will also be working to repair the tank, why not..

One hell of a clean break!

So now I need to take a lot of this bike apart and clean up the mess this gas made and inspect all the bits on the bike that likely dried out in the cold over the last few decades..

The Red goes back on 03/2025

As mentioned previously, my friend hated red so he swapped it all out for carbon. With the tank failing, I opted to re-install the red OEM nose, Mirrors, airbox, tank and seat. Personally I have always loved the look of this bike with red but I hated all the gold mesh so I have left the black in place.

Here is Ryder helping me pull this thing apart

After we installed the main parts, we went ahead and got her running!