MCN reader Tony Standsfield reviews his MV Agusta F4

Let's get the downsides out of the way first.

Insurance is beyond outrageous! I could only find one company in the entire country to insure me on the thing (I wrote off my GSX-R750 and some thieving scumbag stole my R1, so bang went my no claims). Other not quite so wonderful things are the FOBBs experienced after running it in. What's a FOBB you ask? It's a F**k-Off Big Backfire that's what it is, And I can tell you, they were BIG BACKFIRES!!! The first time it happened I nearly fell off the bugger with surprise.

Anyway, a couple of trips to the dealer & some arcane changes to the CO2 in the mix (whatever that means) and the backfires now only show themselves when I'm caning the thing - which I obviously never do. Oh no, not me officer. Another not so nice thing is the £330 I was charged for the 600-mile service. No simple oil and filter change for these bikes. No, they've got to have the engine stripped. A full day job no less - unless the dealer is ripping me off. And I can't believe that. Dealers are scrupulously honest and never act in such a manner. Do they?

What else is on the down side? The mirrors are beautiful but serve no purpose whatsoever other than to look wonderful (hmmm, sounds like some women I know) and to house the indicators. The seat is about 1mm thick and made of the very, very hardest hard stuff that ever came out of the Hard stuff factory in Hardsville, Arizona (well, it felt like that after 850-ish miles sitting on it over 2 days). The back brake failed completely on the way back from a trip to John O'Groats - that happened before and the dealer just bled the thing. Oh, and it could do with more power, but then again, every bike needs MORE POWER!!! One last thing, it's got one of those really stupid flip-up side stand thingies. Who on earth thinks they are a good thing? Weird Italians! But you really do have to forgive them though, because everything else is perfect. Yes, perfect.

I probably don't need to say anything about the looks of the bike. If you've seen it, you'll know just how gob-smackingly beautiful it is. Actually, that may be one of the downsides - you can guarantee that you get lots of attention whenever you are out on it.