2010–2011 · Hyper Naked · A variant of the Brutale 1090
Differences between the standard Brutale 1090 and the RR
Italian Fire, Race-Bred Soul
MV built the Brutale 1090 around a 1078 cc inline-four making 147 hp and 85 lb-ft, hung in a steel trellis frame and wrapped in bodywork that still stops people in parking lots. It is the rare hyper naked where the styling carries as much of the product as the output does. Traction control is standard, the fork and shock are both adjustable, and a steering damper is fitted from the factory, so there is real hardware under the drama. What you don't get is a soft layer between you and the engine. This bike was built to be felt.
On the road it pulls from low revs and keeps hardening all the way to a serious top end, which is precisely what this class is supposed to deliver, and the chassis rewards a rider who already knows what they are doing. It suits someone buying with their heart and their ears, who wants a weekend machine with genuine presence and accepts a temperament in exchange. The caveats are real. There is no ABS, hot restarts can sulk, and the isolated cases of bottom-end bearing trouble are ruinous when they land. Buy on service records and budget properly for upkeep.
Spec sheets don't ride bikes, but they set the baseline.
| Power | 147 hp (108 kW) |
|---|---|
| Torque | 85 lb-ft (115 Nm) |
| Displacement | 1078 cc |
| Engine | Inline-four |
| Cooling | Liquid-cooled |
| Gearbox | 6-speed |
| Front tire | 120/70-17 |
| Rear tire | 190/55-17 |
| Fuel capacity | 6.1 gal (23 L) |
| Fuel economy | 41 mpg (US) |
Equipment check
Chassis
Safety
I have collected this the slow way over the years: talking with owners in paddocks and parking lots, listening to what gets said on club nights, and reading the emails and messages riders send me about the bikes they actually live with. On the Brutale the pattern is consistent, and it splits cleanly. The praise lands on how it is made and how it runs once the revs are up, and the complaints gather almost entirely around slow-speed work and long days in the saddle.
Ask an owner what they like and the answer tends to arrive in parts rather than paragraphs. The single-sided swingarm comes up first, then the shape of the tank, then the exposed trellis framework and the standard of the finish across the whole machine. Riders talk about Italian craftsmanship rather than styling, and the phrase that keeps coming back is that this thing sits closer to sculpture than to product. Owners make a point of the fact that it reads that way from every angle, with no bad side to walk around. Head-turning is the word used most often, and it comes from people who have had the bike long enough for the novelty to have worn off.
Riders describe the engine in two stages and they agree on both. From around 4,000 rpm it pulls cleanly and hard, enough that owners talk about leaving it in gear and letting the midrange carry the pace instead of hunting through the box. Then comes the part everyone remembers, the rush from 8,000 rpm to the redline, which owners describe as ferocious and bordering on anti-social. The chassis draws consistent marks as well, with one condition attached. Owners say the geometry is sharp and takes some adapting to, and that once it clicks the bike carves and holds a line with real precision on a winding road. The adjustable suspension comes up as part of that story, and the riders who spend their time on twisty roads are the ones most attached to the bike.
The complaints are consistent in their own way: they concern the slow stuff and the long stuff, not the fast stuff. Snatchy fueling at low rpm is the gripe raised most, joined by a hydraulic clutch that several owners describe as heavy enough to wear you down in stop-and-go traffic. Over distance the seat takes criticism for thin padding and a forward slant that presses you into the tank under acceleration, and some riders mention high-frequency vibration at sustained highway speeds blurring the mirrors. The instrument cluster collects its own small pile of complaints for burying information in menus that follow no obvious logic. Against all of that, a handful of owners make the opposite case about city riding, saying the upright position and the breadth of the torque leave it more manageable in traffic than its reputation suggests.
Engine connecting rod bearing failure
Isolated cases report bottom-end bearing wear or failure, with metallic debris in the oil and engine knock; rebuilds are extremely costly.
Snatchy on-off throttle fuelling
The electronic fuel injection delivers a very abrupt transition between closed and open throttle at low rpm, making smooth low-speed riding difficult and potentially dangerous in tight corners.
Intermittent no-crank after hot restart / fueling
Some owners report that after a hot stop (especially after refueling), the starter does not engage; the bike powers up but fails to crank. The issue often resolves after cooling down for 15-20 minutes.
Intermittent starting difficulty
Some bikes suffer from hard starting when hot or after short stops, often traced to fuel pump relay or clogged injectors.
Where this MV Agusta Brutale 1090 pulls ahead of — or falls behind — its rivals on the numbers, and the typical bike in its class on character.
Power
Torque
Displacement
Forget spec-sheet bragging. Here's who the Brutale 1090 is actually built for.
Those canyon roads are exactly what this bike is for: serious power, a chassis that keeps you informed, and a soundtrack bouncing off the rock faces. The crawl through LA traffic to get there is the tax you pay.
Made for Angeles Crest Highway · Coronado Trail / US 191 · Highway 1 / Big Sur
You'll love the sound and the ground clearance, and traction control plus adjustable suspension give you room to set it up. Go in knowing it's a road exotic you take to track days, not a purpose-built track tool.
Made for Barber Motorsports Park · WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca · Circuit of the Americas
If you're cross-shopping the older generation, here's what changed.
Previous generation · 2008–2009
Italian Thunder With a Voice
Compare to the previous model →If this one isn't quite the fit, these are the bikes worth riding back-to-back against it.
Any price note compares both bikes at the same age — the youngest age both have on the used market — against this MV Agusta Brutale 1090. “cheaper/pricier” is what that bike costs second-hand, not how worn it is.
Competitor · 2012–2015
Race Precision With A Plate
Same Platform · 2008–2009
194 mph, No Apologies
Similar Character · 2010–2011
Italian Sound, Street Muscle
Roughly $2,600 cheaper used than this bike at 15 yr