2023 MV Agusta Dragster RR SCS America Review

Jul 17, 2023

MV Agusta is back. Well, almost. Flush with cash and a new, focused direction after seceding 25 percent of the company to the Pierer Mobility Group (owners of KTM, Husqvarna, GasGas, and probably a bunch of others I don’t remember), MV Agusta now has its best chance in a generation to really make an impact in the ultra-lux performance market.

Here’s hoping they make the most of it.

Photography by Kevin Wing

With the company’s U.S headquarters relocated to Murrieta, California, MV Agusta has celebrated this by releasing the brand-new, $28,247 Dragster RR SCS America. Limited to 300 examples, the America draws extensively from the Dragster RR SCS, which costs roughly four grand less. So, you’re essentially paying for a fancy paintjob, as well as a bike cover and your bike’s series number engraved on the top triple clamp.

America and MV Agusta have a long and storied history, dating back to the legendary 750S of 1973. It would be 32 years before another model bearing the Stars and Stripes would arrive, this one being the 2005 Brutale 750 America. From there, they came faster. 2012 saw the arrival of the Brutale 1090 RR America, then the 2017 Brutale RR America, and a year later, the Dragster 800 RR America, so it’s fair to say the Italian love affair with this wide, vast land is genuine.

Interestingly, MV Agusta admits up to 15 percent of the motorcycles that come off the Varese production line never get started and remain in private collections, either gathering dust or being shined on the daily. Each to their own, I guess, but if I’m buying one, you better believe it’s getting ridden.

Let’s take the paintjob out of the equation and just focus on what the America really is, which is a Dragster RR SCS. You’ve got a splendid 140 horsepower three-cylinder, fully adjustable Marzocchi suspension, Brembo brakes, most—not all—of the electronics you’d expect for a bike of this price and styling that’d make a blind man blush. It seems only MV could make a carbon rear wheel cover look this good.

There are nice little touches like the foldable rear passenger pegs, instantly turning this into a one-seater; the three slash-cut mufflers exiting out the right rear of the chassis; “America” stitching on the seat; a beautiful open clutch cover so you can see plates spinning in a counter rotating direction that hints at the crankshaft; and one of the best looking rear lights in any form of transportation today.

There are also annoying touches like those ugly, thankfully foldable handlebar-mounted rear-view mirrors, and the fact that despite being as costly as it is, there’s no electronic suspension adjustment. And the Brembo M4.32 brakes are from a decade ago. But I digress.

Those SCS letters in the name also highlight a technical feature that shouldn’t be missed. Short for Smart Clutch System, moto riders will be familiar with this: it’s a Rekluse clutch adapted for road use. MV Agusta is thus the only dedicated street bike company to use an auto-clutch system on a production motorcycle and it works by automatically engaging and disengaging based on engine rpm. You can still modulate the clutch via the lever if you want, but you no longer need to pull the lever in to select first gear while at a stop or while taking off. With the help of a lock-out switch, you can take the auto-clutch aspect away from the Rekluse if you so desire, and once you’re underway, the Dragster’s MV EAS 3.0 up-and-down quickshifter takes over so there’s really no need for the clutch lever at all.

It’s surprising how quickly you get used to such a system. At really low revs in traffic, however, the disengagement is a little abrupt. You need to keep the revs a bit higher than normal to ensure smooth drive, but the fact the Rekluse makes it almost impossible to stall is a good point.

Rekluse clutch or not, the main star of the Dragster America show is the engine. One hundred forty ponies is hot sauce in anyone’s language—put the Akrapovic muffler on there and you can bump it up to 148 horsepower—especially with a claimed 385 pounds dry (why can’t we just have wet weights?). You’ve got a six-axis IMU at your disposal as well as four maps for the engine, eight traction control maps and wheelie control, so you can dial in the ride how you like, but there’s no hiding the fact that this is a raucous little powerplant that hates traffic and much prefers to stretch its legs up Angeles Crest.

There’s a good spread of torque on offer—par for the course being a three-cylinder—but this is predominantly a supersport engine adapted for Dragster use and should be treated as such. There’s plenty of power in the higher rev ranges and that’s where life is at its rosiest on a Dragster. That six-speed gearbox has a smooth action to it via the up-and-down quickshifter, although it still lacks the refinement that something like a Triumph Street Triple possesses.

Switching to the chassis, you sit very much on top of it, rather than in it, like on the company’s F3 800 supersport weapon. The ride position is designed for street cruising, almost at odds with the engine’s racetrack heritage and focus. Running 43mm Marzocchi fork and a Sachs monoshock that are both fully adjustable, the ride quality leaves a little to be desired as it’s quite harsh at the initial part of the stroke, both front and rear. Here’s a sore point with the America—for a bike of this price, it should come with electronically adjustable suspension. At least it should come with the current spec Brembo brakes, not the M4.32 units from 10 years ago. They work well enough but have a wooden feeling at the lever thanks to a very aged master-cylinder. Whether you care enough about that stuff or not is up to you, but if it were my money, I would. But then, mine wouldn’t be an art piece in my living room.

The Dragster America is doubtless a stunning machine. It’s by far the best looking of the middleweight naked bikes out there, but for the price, I’d have expected more in the spec sheet. Again, I approach this review from a performance aspect, not an artistry one, and if that were the case, the America has very few, if any, peers.

One thing’s for sure, if you want something exclusive, you’ll be hard pressed to find something better than a Dragster RR SCS America. CN