Sometimes, it seems like motorcycle manufacturers are intentionally tanking the supersport segment. For proof of this, I look at the electronics available, on this supposedly cutting-edge segment.
Something as ubiquitous as traction control is still slow to come to the supersport space, while it remains a standard feature on virtually every new street bike model. The concept is so foreign in this segment that less than half of the available supersports on the market have a traction control option.
One of those brands is MV Agusta, which was the first motorcycle marque to bring TC to the supersport class. Now, the Italian brand is ready to raise the bar another notch further, bringing the power of an inertial measurement unit (IMU) to supersport riders.
The MV Agusta F3 is set to get an update for the 2019 model year, according to our Bothan Spies, with the key piece being an electronics upgrade.
At the center of this upgrade will be an IMU, which will power both cornering ABS and slide-control enabled traction control.
Both of these technology pieces will be firsts in the supersport market, but that is nothing new for MV Agusta, which was the first brand to bring traction control to a supersport model, waaaay back in 2011.
When I hear enthusiasts talk about how the supersport market is dead, I think of how the motorcycle manufacturers are to blame for it.
If a boutique brand like MV Agusta can equip its supersport model with traction control in 2011, why are we still waiting for other Japanese brands to follow suit, seven years later? For instance, the “class leading” Yamaha YZF-R6 just got traction control in 2017.
How long will it now take for the Japanese brands to once again catch-up with MV Agusta, and follow suit with their own IMU-powered machines?
You see, it isn’t that the supersport market is dead, after all, MV Agusta’s three-cylinder F3 is a strong seller for the Italian brand. Instead, the issue is that the Japanese OEMs left the supersport market for dead, bleeding to death on the side of the road.
Hopefully in the coming model years, we will see a supersport revival, especially once Euro5 regulations have taken hold. Until then, MV Agusta will continue to rule the roost.
Source: Bothan Spies
