after the surprising departure of agostini to yamaha (he felt with read in the team he was no longer the no 1 rider), gianfranco bonera joined phil read at mv. bonera, however, was primarily engaged to win the italian championship title. the four-cylinder was a now a considerable improvement on the three-cylinder, but in 1974 there was much more competition. yamaha now had the updated yzr 500 factory racer, but a whole fleet of tz 500 production racers also appeared. in addition, barry sheene, paul smart and jack findlay launched the new suzuki rg 500. agostini had switched to yamaha. both read and bonera were unhappy with the bike's chassis. a central rear suspension was tried along with new ceriani forks. a 4.50-18 rear wheel slick was experimented with. probably no other racing model by mv agusta has been modified so frequently. mv agusta stopped the 350cc class early in the season, allowing them to concentrate fully on the 500cc class. in the season opening french gp, for the first time in years, there was a battle between three brands, which was won by phil read after agostini dropped out. the top drivers boycott the grand prix of germany. in assen, three brands were on the first row: yamaha (teuvo länsivuori and giacomo agostini), mv agusta (phil read) and suzuki (barry sheene). agostini won this race, but in belgium he was again second behind read. there he drove the new yzr 500, but the mv agusta was also new and finally had a full 500cc engine. due to falls in sweden, agostini and sheene lost their chance for the world title. phil read came second there, but his win at the grand prix of finland clinched the world title for mv agusta again. bonera finished second in the final ranking of the world championship.