Ultra-premium adventurer | Former R&D boss for MV Agusta discusses limited-edition £30k tourer

Having first appeared as the Lucky Explorer 9.5 adventure bike concept in 2021, MV Agusta’s long-anticipated LXP Orioli adventure machine will finally be ready for the roads this year.

The bike will debut as a 500-run Limited Edition featuring a 931cc triple, complete with a backwards-spinning crank, and a price expected in the region of €30,000.

Although retaining the same luxury approach to motorcycling as the rest of the MV Agusta range, the LXP represents a radical departure for the firm, who have previously been known for their high-performance sportsbike, naked, and touring machinery.

“It’s been a long road, but at the same time, a really fulfilling one because it’s the first all-new MV since the F3 675 supersport back in 2011,” MV Agusta’s former Director of Research and Development, Brian Gillen told MCN. “It’s a brand new engine, a brand new frame, brand new styling, a new electronics platform, so it’s an exciting bike.”

Gillen spent more than 15 years with MV Agusta but has now moved to Solihull-based Norton as Chief Technology Officer.

Speaking to MCN before the job change, he added: “[The adventure bike is] a different market, different segment, and a different type of use, so we had to do a lot of analysis and studying of the market and competitors’ bikes to understand where we wanted to be positioned and what we wanted to be able to do better than the competition.”

In total, 173,000 development miles went into the LXP platform, with MV Agusta using KTM’s range of 890 parallel twins as a benchmark to compare themselves against. This was prior to KTM’s parent company buying a 25.1% stake in MV – a move announced in November 2022 and one that benefitted the LXP’s development.

“When the collaboration with KTM started it was really fortunate for us, because KTM is a leader in this segment, so it gave us an opportunity to work with their test riders,” Gillen continued. “They have the experience to address issues in that market.

“So, it gave us a good opportunity to test with them in America with their adventure test team, located in Murrieta in the desert outside of San Diego, and we’ve been doing durability testing there.”

Alongside this, a new starter system with a different starter motor, and stronger starter clutch has also been developed, with Gillen acknowledging previous issues with their early 798cc triple platform between 2014 and 2017.