Taking on all other engine configurations, Italian-Style.

Twins, goes traditional lore, are torque monsters of motorcycling. Four-cylinder bikes, meanwhile, rev to the moon. Never mind that many a Ducati Desmo twin and Yamaha’s long-gone and much-missed FJ1200 made a mockery of such broad-based assumptions, the choice between two and four pistons has been, with rare exception, the duality that most motorcyclists must choose from.

The middle-ground, triples, has never made much of an impression. Oh, Triumph’s original Trident — and its slightly-modified sister, BSA’s Rocket III — briefly challenged Honda’s seminal CB750 for superbike relevance. And, for a (very) brief time, Laverda’s 1000-cc Jota was the fastest two-wheeler on the planet. Nevertheless, the triple has worked largely in obscurity. Triumph’s latest Rocket III, a fatuous beast of a cruiser, sells but in the dozens and, while Yamaha’s MT-09 is appealing, it feels like yet another anonymous UJM; it could be powered by a twin, a four or even a single for all the personality the engine adds to the equation. Triumph makes an excellent effort with its Speed Triple, but truth be told, it’s been a long time since it felt truly British.

Triple Excellence

Then there’s MV Agusta. Unmistakeably Italian, MV’s triples rip, snort and, raise all sorts of hell. More importantly, if my sampling of the latest version is any indication — that powering the all-new Enduro Veloce — the Italian inline three makes an excellent argument for two-wheeled perfection. Essentially a bored and stroked — 81.0 mm by 60.2 mm — version of the Turismo’s 798-cc triple, this, the largest version of the Varese triple, displaces a meaty 931 cc. Maximum urge is a likewise healthy 124-horsepower at 10,000 rpm backed up by 75 pound-feet of torque at 7,000 and it’s all redlined at 11 grand. 

A few thoughts on those numbers. First, 124 horses are always impressive, even more so when they only have to move the Enduro Veloce’s 235 kilograms. In the real world, in other words, there’s plenty of “giddy” to the MV’s “up.” You will not be left behind no matter how “super” your riding partner’s bike may be, and even litre-plus adventure tourers won’t leave you in their wake. More top-end power the Enduro Veloce does not need. 

Peak torque, meanwhile, is at 7,000 rpm. Along with max. horsepower at 10,000, it suggests a peaky powerband. Nothing could be further from the truth. MV’s 931-triple is, in fact, one of the most “linear” engines in motorcycling, twisting the throttle akin to turning a perfectly calibrated rheostat.

Torque Down Low

Though it’s not quite as torquey as a big-inch twin down low, it does start pulling decently around 3,000 — when, MV claims, it’s producing 85 per cent of its maximum torque — and is perfectly happy to spin until it hits the rev limiter, which means that you can hold third gear on pretty much any twisty road and fourth will take you from an urban crawl all the way to jail in pretty much any country not…