2024 MV Agusta Enduro Veloce Review – First Ride

Things are different now. More than 16 major motorcycle manufacturers are competing for a slice of the piping hot, deeply nuanced ADV pie. Displacements for these machines range from light-footed 250cc Singles to monstrous tech-laden Twins with pancake-sized pistons suckin’, squeezin’, bangin’ and blowin’. Oh! And Pierer Mobility, parent company of KTM, Husqvarna, and Gas Gas, is now also the majority shareholder of the Italian marque, MV Agusta. Considering the slew of adventure bikes to its name already, and the murky waters that the Lucky Explorer – or Enduro Veloce as it’s now known – has waded through up to this point, we weren’t sure an MV ADV would ever grace dealership floors. We were even less sure when Pierer Mobility CEO, Stefan Pierer was quoted in our recent interview as saying, “Nobody is waiting for such a model from MV Agusta.”

But, as it would turn out, the MV Agusta Enduro Veloce has now hit the scene in production guise for the 2024 model year. MV reps say this bike is what the Cagiva Elefant would have naturally evolved into had its production not ceased in the ’90’s. With the promise of an entirely new Triple powering MV’s (re)introduction to the adventure market, a solid spec sheet, and more than a few years of marketing hype, we were as curious as anyone else paying attention to see how MV Agusta delivered on its promises. So we jet off to Sardinia to find out.

If you asked a young, blue-haired Ryan clad in plaid pants if he ever thought he’d have been to the Mediterranean island of Sardinia multiple times by his thirties, he’d probably respond with, “Where’s that?” Lucky us, it turns out plenty of manufacturers have realized Sardinia is an excellent place to test motorcycles – and that’s not just because of the serpentine asphalt, endless variety of trails, and jaw-dropping beauty. It’s also because when you roll up behind a police officer on a curvaceous stretch of tarmac eight motorcycles deep, they pull over and wave you past with enthusiasm. To which we let these Italian Triplets respond with equal fervor.

Now that Italian triplets have been mentioned, we might as well jump right into the new engine powering the Enduro Veloce. More than eight years in the making, the 931cc Triple is said to share only two components with its 800cc predecessors – the valves and valve caps. This is the first model to utilize the new mill and features a “high torque” tune specifically designed for adventure use, so expect a “high power” tune for sportier models to come. MV Agusta claims 124 hp at 10,000 rpm and 75 lb-ft of torque at 7,000 rpm, though we’re told 85% of the overall torque is available at 3,000 rpm. The engine also utilizes a counter balancer to smooth vibes and a counter-rotating crankshaft (previously utilized in MV’s Triples) which helps to counteract the gyroscopic forces of the front wheel – a 21-inch hoop in this setting.

Putting the rubber to the road, the result is exciting. The new mill is a thrilling partner to dance with and only gets more scintillating through the most sinuous stretches of pavement as you let the motor lull into the apex and then wind it back up quickly without much movement from your left foot. The 9.5 pulls smoothly from nearly 1,000 rpm with nary a shudder, and truly comes to life after 3k as it rockets toward its redline – which you can set as soft at 10,200 rpm or hard at 10,500. It’s really an all-out attack on the senses, as you’re not only feeling the G-forces pulling at you as your wrist rolls back, but also the crescendo of the impending eargasm as the revs climb. A siren song, it is.

Really. Because once you venture into the loose stuff, that engine is just as sporty as ever. During our very short off-road section, I found the traction control was a bit more intrusive than I would like, even at the lowest of its eight settings, so I turned it off (while moving, mind you). Without it, once the engine made it north of 3,000 rpm, it didn’t seem like there was much hope of ever gaining traction again with the way the MV’s engine excitedly builds through the revs. This despite the bike being equipped with the beefier Bridgestone AX41 rubber (streetier A41s were used for the rest of our ride).

The Enduro Veloce uses a “perimetral structure with a closed double cradle design” for its frame which consists of three parts: the main portion, bolt-on downtubes, and a bolt-on subframe. It’s somewhat unfortunate to see the downtubes don’t actually end up underneath the engine, but rather near the bottom on each side. This means the MV is missing out on the significant protective aspect that bikes like the Yamaha Ténéré and Triumph Scrambler 1200 employ by having downtubes under the engine. These act as protection on their own, and also a solid place to bolt a skid plate. The swingarm is made from aluminum.

Sachs provides suspenders for the Enduro Veloce with its 48mm fully-adjustable fork and equally adjustable linkage-style shock delivering 8.3 inches of travel. The fork uses a separate function setup with all of the damping taking place in one leg while the spring and preload adjustment is handled with the other. The stock seat height sits at 34.3 inches, but can be lowered to 33.5. Nothing but the best will do, so Brembo Stylemas grip two 320mm rotors up front with a 265mm disc out back. The 21/18-inch wheel combo is spoked and tubeless.

Back on Sardinia’s mountain roads, the feeling of stability and control are at the forefront of the experience. For 5-foot 8-inch me, ergos while standing or sitting were perfectly neutral. There was a lot of talk about managing engine heat to ensure a comfortable riding experience, and while it was slightly warm during our ride, I never noticed oppressive heat wafting towards me, but we also never rode in stop and go traffic. Maybe MV’s strategy worked out? Maybe we’ll have to continue testing at a later date. Perhaps it is indeed the counter-rotating crankshaft’s effect on the front wheel, but I never felt myself wanting for a 19-incher. Of course when also considering the added performance off-road, no matter how much you plan to do, the 21/18-inch wheel combo does little to inhibit one from fully cranking the Enduro Veloce’s wonderful soundtrack.

Line changes were easily done mid-corner to avoid rocks and debris, and no matter how quick one had to maneuver, the bike remained completely stable. This was the same experience off-road – which is good considering how much of my time was spent in controlled drifts. The suspension obviously plays a huge role here, in addition to the chassis geometry, but the damping felt very well controlled over stutter bumps on-road whether it be under accel or decel. Likewise, during our short low-ish speed off-road jaunt, the suspenders only succumbed when I plowed into a water g-out at speed and bottomed the skid plate. The only adjustment I made from stock was adding a bit of preload to the shock to get more weight on the front wheel. Which brings me to one of the few nits I have to pick when it comes to the bike’s performance – despite the stability and how easy the bike was to control, the front end feedback felt pretty vague – on-road and off. On the pavement, I also managed to get into the ABS at the front wheel a handful of times when I didn’t feel it was necessary. Again, I never felt out of control, I just didn’t get a lot of sensory feedback at the bars.

The best ADV electronics yet?

They’re not perfect, but they offer riders functionality not yet seen on other adventure bikes on the market. Before we get too far into it, let’s discuss what the Enduro Veloce offers. A six-axis IMU enables lean sensitive electronics which are utilized by a variety of systems including traction control (eight levels), ABS (two levels), and front and rear wheel lift mitigation. Other adjustment includes two levels of engine braking, throttle response, engine response, and max engine torque, and the aforementioned adjustable redline. Four ride modes consist of Urban, Touring, Off-road, and Custom – all of which can be adjusted independently. You also get cruise control and two features that have been missing on every other adventure bike – launch control and a speed limiter. Okay, it sounds a little odd to be included, but launch control is actually pretty fun. MV says the Enduro Veloce is capable of 3.72 second 0-100 kph times (it also tells you how fast you went after the launch control process finishes once you’ve passed 100 kph).

What really makes the MV’s electronics standout is the ability to adjust and simply turn things off on the fly such as ABS and TC – and they stay off whether you key the bike off or use the kill switch. I know there are plenty of adventure riders out there that will offer a slow clap to MV Agusta for biting the bullet and offering this to its customers. As I mentioned though, even TC on level one was more intervention than I would like, so for off-road, I think they could use some dialing in.

It’s how much?!

Really, $23,000 is a lot, but it’s not out of the ballpark these days when it comes to these tall technologically advanced machines. The level of specification, performance, and technology is all on part to compete at a global level with any other manufacturer. What surprised me however, was the fit and finish of this newest MV Agusta. The switchgears and buttons feel, well, chintzy. The paint had some almost orange peel-esque texturing visible in certain light, and the back or undersides of things like the plastic rear rack were sharp rather than smooth and rounded. We also had a handful of bikes showing ABS and IMU alerts during the beginning of our ride. They never resulted in any issues that we were aware of. MV mentioned that there were still some electronic updates to roll out before the software was in full production form, so hopefully these issues will be handled. Simply put, the Enduro Veloce didn’t seem to have the same quality in these areas as what I’ve come to expect from MV Agusta – and what one should expect from a $23,000 motorcycle.

What will the future hold?

I’m still not entirely convinced what the long-term outlook will be for the Enduro Veloce. With Pierer’s comments, the bike’s slow roll out in different iterations and names, and the prospect of an MV adventure bike in general, who knows what the future will hold for Varese in this segment. While there were a handful of nice Austrian folks in MV attire cruising through the crowd at the press event, we were assured that this bike, and all other MV Agustas for the foreseeable future will be built and developed in Varese by Italians. Pierer Mobility offered their relationship with Gas Gas trials bikes as an example of what we can expect between PM and MV Agusta. Simply put, PM lets the Spaniards handle the production and development of the trials segment of the company while PM is (obviously) more involved in the rest of the line. Who knows what will develop over time, but that’s the current situation.

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