Zagato’s MV Agusta F4Z is a coachbuilt curio on two wheels

After almost a century of producing striking coachwork to clothe four-wheel vehicles, Zagato has turned its collective hand to motorcycles in a joint project with MV Agusta. The resulting one-off machine, the F4Z, adopts principles from the golden era of automotive coachbuilding…

Unlike the majority of modern ‘café racer’ style custom motorcycles, the F4V is the first motorcycle re-clothed by one of the traditional, established coachbuilders, with full support from MV Agusta, on whose F4 production superbike the unique Zagato bike is based. Making extensive use of aluminium and carbonfibre, the F4Z sports entirely new bodywork, with some parts adapted and re-engineered, and others completely replaced by specially made components, such as the fuel tank, exhaust system and, of course, body panels. It made its debut at last weekend’s Chantilly Arts & Elegance.

A bold expression

Zagato believes a motorbike expresses its owner’s lifestyle a lot more than a car, therefore the design was finalised in close consultation with the commissioning owner, a young Japanese enthusiast whose love for motorcycles started in the 1980s when he bought his first bike, which he customised himself. His brief to Zagato was to create a bike ‘that wasn’t comparable to any other, that was classic, but always up to date and with a timeless design’. One thing’s for sure, it’s certainly polarised opinion – just as any Zagato design should.