Am about to take ownership of 2000 F4S...am fond of Ferracci goodies, and am interested in any insight on their slip-on carbon system ($850) versus the often mentioned and hailed RG3 system. How much is the RG3? What are the performance and (yes) sound differences? The Ferracci system looks awesome and I really trust them..all comments are helpful and appreciated...plus any advice for a novice MV'er.

-- mark carter (shoecool@aol.com), April 13, 2003

Answers

Just a thought, does the Ferracci system come with an eprom as the RG3 does. In the UK the RG3 is about £810 but we normally get ripped off for everything. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder etc, but I wouldn't mess with the looks of the F4, and the RG3 looks standard. I've a 2000 model F4S and I was warned that they were recalled to have the brakes modified and some models have one radiator and later ones two. Might be worth a look, especially if you live somewhere hot. Congrats on your bike, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do mine.

-- Sean Astley (Astleyjunk@aol.com), April 14, 2003.

FWIW, if you go the MV-SP route and splurge for the RG3s, make sure you find the proper chip (eprom). There were/are at least seven different MV-SP eproms for the F4. Four of them are for the various pre-EVO2 engines. Check with your dealer or importer to get the proper eprom reference designation for your bike, engine and exhaust system (i.e. stock or SPR header), etc. I know of two MVs running around with RG3 silencers and the wrong chip. They both ran crummy and both installed and set-up by the dealer (different ones, actually). It pays to double-check them on it.

-- dm (i8foie@msn.com), April 14, 2003.

I have an '00 F4S with an RG3 pipe and chip which i actually bought on consignment from Eraldo. his shop is a few miles from my house. it was used, but with only 1,400 miles on it. the original exhaust was not supplied to me.

i really can't comment on the differences between his exhaust and the RG3, or even the differences between the stock system and the RG3, but i can tell you this: i've been very happy with it. it is fairly loud, but not outrageously so. i also like the fact that it still looks completely stock, and even has USEPA "approved" stampings on the pipes, which is clearly a mistake that the factory allowed/overlooked, which i think is pretty cool. don't know if they still do this any more (i.e., still stamp them like the actual [quieter] factory pipes).

-- Frank Tavani (ftav4444@yahoo.com), April 16, 2003.