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Thanks for asking Jim.
It's Italian so it's appearance is very pleasing to the eye. And of course it has to be painted red. This particular model was a bold move for MV as it is their first attempt at a touring bike. The saddlebags will carry a full face helmet and are easily removed. It has every extra known to man - some much of it being rather over the top for someone like me. Most of these extras are from the road racing part of the company but help to justify the premium price.
The engine rotates in reverse for instance - the idea being to keep the gyroscopic effects of the crankshaft moving to the centre of the bike " Mass Centralisation ".
Then the slipper clutch, quickshifter, ABS, traction control, electronic cruise control and so it goes on. The big selling point for me was it's exclusivity- I have never seen another MV anywhere- it only weighs 430 lb - that is about 200 lb lighter than these other monsters I have. At 120 hp , 3 cylinder engine is nice and smooth but there is a lot of engine noise / rattle. There has been a few customer complaints over this apparent lack of sophistication.
The down side- well there is always some of those. Like most vehicles made today , they are loaded with electronics. The only diagnostics computer is at the dealer ship. In Canada right now there is no dealership network. In mid 2016 -after I had owned the bike for about six months- MV Italy ceased production of motorcycles and went into bankruptcy protection. My relationship with the dealership where I purchased the bike deteriorated fairly quickly as there was 2 issues that the bike had since new- namely the cruise control doesn't work and nor does the quick shifter. I have never had these items on anything else I've owned , nevertheless, I paid for them , the bike had a 2 year warranty and I wanted them fixed. The parts supply from the factory stopped, and I had a new bike that didn't work right. I had the bike to the dealership about four or five times to no avail - and that entails a 9 hour round trip drive with the bike on a trailer to drop it off and then go back and get it a month later. as time went on the dealership got frustrated with both me and the factory to the point where last time the bike was there for these same two issues, they told me the bike wasn't fixed, that they couldn't fix it then and never wanted the bike or me back. I had exhausted their goodwill and our relationship was over.
Since all of this happening the factory has got back on its feet , is supporting its WSBK and WSS racing teams, is making and selling new bikes . But there is no dealer network or support in Canada right now ,so I'm kind of on my own. The bike runs perfectly fine except for the 2 outstanding issues so I continue to use it. Last summer , my brother and I did the 6000kms or so ride to California and back with no issues, so right now I'm a bit philosophical about the whole mess.
But parts are very expensive .eg the rear l.e.d turn signals have been replaced 3 times. They are nicely shaped but look like they cost about $2 to make. They retail for $250.00 each
I belong to the MV Agusta forum and read many stories similar to mine and some that were a lot worse.
On the brighter side , the bike still works very well and is a joy to ride. MV Agusta USA have promised they will take care of my issues and some how work out an extended warranty. But so far nothing has happened.
Many MV owners have had other Italian bikes and have had horror stories to tell, be it Aprilia, Ducati and so on. A few years ago , BMW GS had a failure on the rear shock mount - it was so bad that owners were told not to ride the bike until a solution was found. The problem was eventually fixed. And I read about recalls all the time in the automotive industry. The situation we have got ourselves into is that anything new has a huge amount of electronics - and every part is connected to every other part . So if one part fails, it influences several other parts. Because the clutch switch has failed and a small amount of electrical resistence passes thru that switch on its way to the quick shifter, the computer on the bike disengages the quick shifter and so it goes.
My wife has a BMW 330E hybrid - I hope nothing ever goes wrong with it because the amount of "stuff" put into that car is mind boogling and only the best technicians will be able to fix it.
We are a dying breed- a piece of machinery simple enough that the average guy, with a few simple tools, can do a major repair on it and give it new life and have fun doing it.

Thanks very much for the detailed response! The bike looks amazing - so many interesting shapes and attractive components. And, as you say, it is nice to own something rare. But what a sorry tale you tell of your dealership experience. I would have thought that dealers who take on low-volume franchises such as MV Agusta would strive to offer service standards of a higher level than those of the mass market brands.
I'm surprised to read your comment about mechanical noise from the engine. With modern manufacturing and close tolerances, there should be no rattles from a well designed engine. I work for a car dealer whose franchises include Ferrari. Now those engines - at least in the modern Ferraris - are mechanical perfection to me. No taps or rattles. Am I correct in saying that Ferrari have a hand in designing MV's engines? If so, I am even more dismayed to learn about the noises your engine makes.
You are quite right about the electronic complexity of modern bikes and cars, and the consequences whenever a fault develops. Certainly the Kawasaki 1300 has an attractive simplicity by comparison with today's offerings!
I hope you get the MV's faults rectified eventually. Thanks again.

Trying to get myself comfortable with the position I find myself in with this bike , I've read several interviews with the owners over the years. It's the usual problems in todays competitive environment. MV wanted to become more main stream and in 2015/2016 grossly overestimated the number of bikes they could sell- they built nearly 10,000 units that year and only sold just under 8000. For a little company like them that is a huge misjudgement. The dealership where I bought my bike had about 10 or 12 of their other models sitting on the floor not sold. By comparison , they also sell Norton. They have 2 examples. Most dealerships in this country don't own the bikes , finance companies do..
So they had 12 bikes -if they sell any of them and the bike has a problem and it's under warranty- but you can't get parts- dealership gets frustrated , owners get really annoyed. The dealership has 4 or 5 bikes left , some of them going on 3 years old.
Norton has been a much better story - yes in the early years there were a lot of frustrated owners waiting for their new bikes but that situation seems to be resolved . Cycle World did tests on the Norton a few years ago and they weren't impressed with it's engine noise either. There maybe an answer/ explanation for this that is reasonable .
The old MV's are still worth a lot of money. Last month we saw the sale of the prototype cb750 .-here's MV by comparison-


i.ebayimg.com/images/g/HoIAAOSw-ldZYxd5/s-l1600.jpg

This owner is looking for offers over a million.

I have not heard of Ferrari being involved with MV- Mercedes/AMG had a 25% share but they have since sold- hence Lewis Hamiltons involvement and ownership of a Dragster.

Sweet looking ride there Tackelhappy.

One thing I learned from my Control Techs at the plant was whenever there's a problem with an electronic system, it's never the computer. Either it's a missing input signal or a defective output device. I lost a ton of bets with my Control Techs. Every time our 7 million dollar semi-automatic robotic welding machine went down, my Control Techs told me it was a mechanical problem before even looking at the equipment. Sure enough every time it was a mechanical linkage or something mechanical that was causing a switch to not be made or failure to provide the input signal. Usually you can find the problem with an ohm meter if you know what to look for. The diagnostic computer the dealership has only plugs into the diagnostic port and then runs a series of input signals and then looks for an output signal to do its diagnosis. It's a dummies tool that any idiot can run to find a problem. A really good mechanic can do the same work with an ohm meter if he knows what to look for. There are times when the dealership diagnostic computer can't find the issue because it's just a program running a series of tests. Computers are stupid. They can only work with "if, then statements" They have no intelligence.
I’m sure your 2 issues could be figured out with some simple testing. I love working with problems like these (probably why I have a Porsche928). That car has 2 fuse panels and if I remember correctly 58 relays. Talk about a complicated electronic system. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention 2 computers.

The original 1998 750 F4 (work of art designed by Tamburini) had significant engine development work done by Ferrari: MV was owned by Cagiva who were big on 2 strokes at that time, so propbably "bought in" 4 stroke expertise.

Thank's Tonto for this. Good to know the Ferrari connection. Tamburini will probably go down in history , if not already, as one of the greatest motorcycle designers .

Kawboy, if you have the time, maybe you could work me thru the testing process of the clutch switch. On the MV forum, several owners have identified this switch as the culprit. I will see if I can find that thread and post it here- maybe you can make some sense of it.
However. IF we do find something, what am I going to do about it. The only thing I can think of at the present is to phone a dealer in Britain or the USA and see if they will order me the part. and then depending on what the cost is, go from there. I will look for the thread and get back here.