MV-AGUSTA F3 675 (2012 - 2021) Review

Tubular steel trellis frame, with varying thickness tubes for rigidity and flex and an aluminium alloy single-sided swingarm. The wheelbase is just 1380mm, the Daytona 675’s is 1395mm. Dry weight is 173kg – the Triumph’s wet weight is 185kg. 43mm Marzocchi forks and a Sachs rear shock are both fully adjustable.

Forged aluminium alloy wheels are shod with Pirelli Dialo Rosso Corsa rubber: 120/70 x 70 front, 180/55 x 17 rear. It's Pirelli’s top-level road tyre giving good grip, feel and warm-up times in all conditions. The rear tyre has a slick edge for increased grip and a sticky SC2 compound.

The treaded centre is a harder compound for durability. The F3 is very light and feels every inch a proper racing machine. It’s stable in fast corners, the brakes are some of the best in the business and it’s comfortable for such a petite-looking bike. The faster the terrain, the more the F3 likes it, but like the engine, the chassis isn’t suited to normal riding. It has a very harsh set-up, which crashes and kicks its bars over bumps. A supersport bike like this doesn’t need traction control, so it’s best to just turn the system off.

Inline-three-cylinder 675cc, with counter-rotating crankshaft, titanium inlet and exhaust valves and a ride-by-wire throttle system. The engine has the smallest overall dimensions of any of its supersports rivals. Breathing through Mikuni 50mm throttle bodies, it’s the most powerful too, producing 128bhp at the crank and 118bhp at the rear wheel, at a heady 14,400rpm.

The engine weighs just 52kg and has an 'over-square' 79 x 45.9mm bore and stroke. The Triumph Daytona 675’s is 74mm x 52.3mm. The F3 has Sport, Normal, Rain and Custom riding modes. Within each of the first three modes there are predetermined levels of throttle sensitively, engine torque, engine braking, engine responsiveness and an rpm limit. The custom mode lets you dial in these parameters specifically to suit you.

Ride the F3 at high revs on-track or a super-fast road and it’s glorious – it has lots of power and a good throttle connection, but at normal speeds the fuelling and throttle response is terrible. You have to slip the clutch and dial in big revs through town to keep it running, like an old two-stroke and the power doesn’t come in predictably accelerating out of corners. On top of all that, the electronic engine braking control opens the throttle butterflies into corners to stop the F3 backing-in, but in reality it makes the bike accelerate alarmingly when you’ve got the throttle shut.

There’s no question it’s beautifully-built and well-finished. Many current MV owners complain of spare parts supply, let’s hope it will be different for the F3.

If it wasn’t for the poor running issues, which we’ve experienced on a number of different F3s, MV’s new creation would be fantastic value for money – there’s definitely a great bike lurking in there, beneath the problems. As it is, it would need work from a specialist to get running properly, which isn’t what you’d expect from a new bike. 

During the F3's lifespan it faced plenty of four-cylinder 600cc super sport rivals, however there was only one other three-cylinder option - the Triumph Daytona 675. 

This is the most highly-spec’d supersports bike you can buy, with its electronics, fully-adjustable suspension and Brembo brakes. It’s true exotica, without the over-the-top price tag.