The Rush is a super-extreme naked bike as well as being an exclusive motorcycle, since only 300 units have been produced. In terms of performance levels, it reaches the limits of physics: the four 1,000 cc in-line cylinders deliver 208 HP at 13,000 rpm; the declared top speed is more than 300 km/h.
The engine has been made using the latest mechanical technologies, with titanium connecting rods and valves, lightened gears and treatments to reduce friction. It features the most sophisticated electronic technologies, which control injection, delivery and gearbox.
An inertial platform allows the electronics that manage the dynamics to offer the most state-of-the-art control systems, including traction and wheelies; it also includes Launch Control for extreme starts and ABS with cornering function. Everything is managed on the 5.5 inch TFT colour dashboard that can be connected to the MV Ride App.
Born from the imagination
The history of the MV Agusta is linked to aviation (the brand was established as Costruzioni Aeronautiche Giovanni Agusta in 1919), which is why the Rush features certain distinguishing traits of military fighters, not only aesthetic but also related to the concepts of power, handling and extreme performance. There are other influences too. Brian Gillen, R&D director of MV Agusta and CRC, reveals them to us, recalling how this hypernaked came to be: “We were in a meeting with Timur Sardarov, CEO of MV Agusta, the engineer Massimo Borderi, who was vice President at the time, and we began to fantasize: ‘If we had no limits, what kind of motorbike would we like to make?'. It was a dream, we didn't have a specific project in mind. We were looking at the Brutale 1.000 thinking about what more we could do. One of my passions are drag fuel bikes, American dragsters with giant tyres at the back and thin tyres at the front, and I was thinking of a naked that would convey the same emotions. We allowed our imagination to get the best of us and said to ourselves: ‘Why don't we just see where this leads us?'. At that time, Adrian Morton, the Design Director, created a sketch that was very similar to the Rush you see today: it was exactly what we had in mind.”
Between jets and dragsters
This is why the Rush has a front spoked wheel and a rear forged wheel with the lenticular aerodynamic rim and a 200 mm Pirelli DIABLO Supercorsa SP tyre. It also features the racing exhaust with two blowpipes, developed with SC Project, and the design of the tail which is even more extreme. The one on the Brutale is already extremely compact and in the case of Rush we went one step further. Then there are the finishes: every element of the bodywork is made from carbon, the saddle is in leather and Alcantara, the military colouring recalls the typical hues of aircraft fuselage, while the air intakes and outlets carry the yellow warning messages you find near an aircraft turbine. Last but not least come the Öhlins electronic suspension and steering damper, the full LED lights, the Brembo braking system with Stylema monoblock calipers. The Rush takes your breath away even before you climb on.
How do you drive a naked at 300 km/h?
300 km/h is a very difficult speed to maintain on a faired bike, let alone a naked bike. We have two questions: how can a naked bike be stable at that speed? How does the rider hold onto the handlebar?
The first question is easier to answer: when you ‘undress' a faired motorbike and widen the handlebars (even slightly, as in the case of the Rush), the main problem is making it stable in strong accelerations and at high speed, since the position of the rider who is further back discharges the front axle and the body of the rider acts as a “sail”; the combination of these two effects makes the bike unstable. In addition to designing a more robust chassis with the right dimensions, MV Agusta engineers worked on the chain drive.
In short: by choosing the position of the pinion and of the fulcrum of the swingarm, the rear of the motorbike can be forced to be compressed down or lift up when accelerating. In this case, an alignment has been chosen which, when accelerating, raises the rear slightly, thus loading the front wheel to ensure stability.
As for the other question: first of all it takes an expert rider to reach 300 km/h, one who knows what position to keep on the saddle, with their body as close as possible to the bike. So they need to be almost crouching, with their elbows close to their sides and their legs held tightly around the tank. Moreover, the rider also needs to be physically fit, since at that speed the air force is extremely high: the aerodynamic calculation provides a result of more than 50 kg. The rider therefore needs to be able to hold a heavy gym barbell, without considering the effort required by their neck to counteract the thrust on their helmet, which is about 12 kg. It is clearly a situation that can only be sustained for a few seconds.
Powerful at low revs, explosive at the top
The delivery of the Rush is outstanding: at the medium to low end of revs, the torque curve is linear, like that of a high performance road bike. But when approximately 7,000 rpm are reached, there is a significant change in personality, with a significant torque delivery. The goal is to make it manageable in everyday riding, when travelling at low revs, but also capable of transmitting strong emotions. This is why the Rush has these two faces: “good” in the first part of the rev counter, terrible in the high part. The switch is obvious but not abrupt, to avoid creating difficulties for the rider, and even if the change in personality is remarkable, the rider does not lose focus, because if they have reached such high revs, that means they are looking for performance, for thrills. It means the rider is ready, and at that moment the Rush will under no circumstances back down.
