MV AGUSTA

Cinque Cilindri: MV Agusta's new engine capable of revving to 16,000 rpm and delivering 240 hp

While five-cylinder engines have never been common in the automotive world, in the two-wheeled universe they are a rarity. That's precisely why MV Agusta decided to take a risk, revealing at EICMA — the largest motorcycle show — a new five-cylinder engine, already under development by the Italian manufacturer in Schiranna, Italy.

It's simply called Cinque Cilindri and, as if that weren't enough, it's not a five-cylinder like the others: it's not an inline engine, like in the Audi RS 3, nor is it a V5 or VR5, like those that equipped multiple Volkswagen Group models. The architecture of this engine is truly unique.

MV Agusta opted for a U-shaped configuration, which uses two crankshafts instead of one, as one might expect: one at the front, serving three cylinders, and another at the rear, dedicated to the remaining two cylinders. Technically, it's like having a three-cylinder in-line engine and a two-cylinder in-line engine operating in parallel, connected to the same output shaft.

It's an unusual and practically nonexistent configuration, but it's not unprecedented. In the past, similar solutions appeared in motorcycles like the Ariel Square Four or the Suzuki RG500 Gamma, as well as in cars, such as the Bugatti Type 45 and the Type 47 — true "monsters" with 16 cylinders in a U configuration.

Automobile combustion engines are considerably different from those used in motorcycles, as the latter need to be lighter and more compact to fit inside the smaller frames of two-wheeled vehicles. However, the rules governing both remain the same, revolving around the best way to extract power, which places capacity and the number of cylinders (on which rotation depends) at the top of the list of requirements. Hence, MV Agusta designed the Cinque Cilindri, a five-cylinder in-line engine capable of revving to 16,000 rpm and delivering 240 hp.

The Italian company MV Agusta is a renowned manufacturer of two-wheeled vehicles, with a great tradition among street models and an enviable number of world championship titles in racing. With Giacomo Agostini at the helm, the team amassed seven consecutive titles between 1966 and 1972, but the Italian team's successes were reinforced by the four championships won by John Surtees (from 1956 to 1960), three by Mike Hailwood (from 1962 to 1964), two by Phil Read (1973 and 1974), and the solitary title of Gary Hocking in 1961. This makes MV Agusta the brand with the most championship titles in the premier category, behind Honda, but ahead of Yamaha, Ducati, and Suzuki, despite being absent from the competition since the 1970s.

What are the advantages of this U-shaped five-cylinder engine?...First of all, it allows for a very compact engine. The Italian brand says that its Cinque Cilindri is a narrower unit than an inline four-cylinder and shorter than a V4 — two of the most common formats in current superbikes.

In addition, MV Agusta says that the specific firing order of the five-cylinder engine allows for a particularly linear torque delivery and superior smoothness, dispensing with more complex solutions such as variable valve timing.

Let's look at the numbers, and although it's still early for concrete specifications, MV Agusta makes it clear that we will see several versions of this exotic five-cylinder engine, with clear ambitions to reach various segments, from Supersport to Touring.

The Cinque Cilindri was designed to be modular with displacements expected between 850 cm3 and 1150 cm3. MV Agusta announced maximum values ​​for this engine, and they are surprising: it promises more than 240 hp at over 16,000 rpm and up to 135 Nm of torque at 8,500 rpm. Numbers that place it above most current superbikes.

All this with a weight of less than 60 kg, thanks also to solutions such as electric water and oil pumps, designed to improve engine efficiency and response.

MV Agusta has now surprised the two-wheeled world by presenting the Cinque Cilindri, still a prototype with five cylinders in line, but with the guarantee of soon becoming the engine that will equip its top-of-the-line models. The main arguments for this new engine, which distributes the five pistons across two crankshafts, are essentially two: the fact that it delivers 240 hp in the sportiest and largest displacement version, and then manages to reach 16,000 rpm, a regime only on par with the best units of supersport motorcycles. According to the manufacturer, the Cinque Cilindri will give rise to several engines, with capacities ranging from 850 cc to 1150 cc, and maximum output reaching 240 hp and 135 Nm at 8500 rpm, which suggests a very generous margin of use.

With the Cinque Cilindri, MV Agusta will face Ducati's supersport motorcycles, notably the Panigale V4 R, considered the most "spirited" on the market, delivering 218 hp. This pair of luxury bikes must be compared with the BMW M1000 RR, with 218 hp, the Honda CBR1000 RR-R Fireblade SP (217 hp), the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR (203 hp) and the Yamaha YZF-R1M (200 hp). These figures clearly demonstrate the advantage of the new MV Agusta, if and when it arrives on the market. Announcing a weight of only 60 kg for the Cinque Cilindri engine, in addition to being more compact than a unit with the same displacement and four cylinders—due to the 3+2 cylinder arrangement—the Italian machine should also have an advantage in terms of agility, courtesy of its more compact mechanics.

For now, MV Agusta hasn't confirmed which model will debut the Cinque Cilindri, only stating that it will be a "highly anticipated" motorcycle returning to the brand's range in the coming years.

One thing is certain: in the current landscape of high-performance motorcycles, there's hardly anything more exotic or ambitious than this Italian five-cylinder. At least on paper, the Cinque Cilindri represents exactly what MV Agusta promises: "a new level of performance, innovation and Italian engineering."

Mundoquatrorodas