Just spoken to my local dealer COBB&JAGGER in Shipley North Yorkshire the parts dept tell me they are having great trouble getting parts now,due to the current arrangement at MV,even parts such as oil filters.Has anyone else experienced this?Is this just the start?Is there a parts problem in the US ?Are there any parts out there that will fit ?What about the bikes under warrenty?.Is this the price of exclusivity?

-- Robert Stevenson (the.stevensons@btinternet.com), September 17, 2002

Answers

This was perhaps my biggest fear about buying the bike. I don't have a problem with a tempermental Italian bike (even though mine has been very good), and I don't mind expensive parts (within reason anyway). But not being able to get parts is bad. I won't ride the bike if I know it can't be fixed...

I still have yet to try to order a clutch which I've been meaning to do, just to see if it's possible. If anyone (especially dealers) can comment on this, it would be nice. This kind of thing is going to hurt future sales pretty badly unless someone can dispell it.

-- Andy Ruhl (quadreverb@yahoo.com), September 17, 2002.

Andy, have you tried talking to Steve at Renaissance motorcycles? Maybe he could check into the parts availability for items like brakes, clutches, body paneling, and entire engines.

There are too many rumors of 1) either factory shut down or 2) large inventory or parts at the factory going around. I’m not sure what to believe. In the worst case scenario, if the factory shuts down and parts are no longer available, I figure it will be a year or two (at the latest) until someone steps in, buys MV Agusta, and gets production rolling again. In that time, we may have to make do with the existing parts! I would say “stock up like nuclear winter is coming,” but that would only start a panic, and that would mean less parts for me! : )

I don’t think MV Agusta will fade away. It’s to high profile and beautiful for that. My guess is that potential investors are waiting to see how low the price will go before stepping in. Hmm. I wonder if TPC would be willing to buy MV Agusta, once it sells Ducati. That would be nice, but if they did, they would flood the market with F4S’ and Brutales like they did with the 996 and 748.

Going back to my original thought of my rambling post, perhaps we should check in with our dealerships to see how available are parts.

-- Allan Gibbs (Phoenix, Arizona) (Agibbs996@aol.com), September 17, 2002.