BIKE REVIEWS
Aprilia RSV4: A lion on a leash
by Tony D'Augusta
There’s been much hype and anticipation surrounding the release of Aprilia’s new RSV4. Now that it’s here, I’m going to give you the scoop from my riding experience.
Aprilia has an already well established racing pedigree so it comes as no surprise that their re-entry into Superbike racing has produced something special.
If you were to sit around and think of the best characteristic from all the bikes you’ve ridden and combine them into one bike, you may well arrive at the RSV4.
- RS250 like handling
- Top shelf suspension components
- Slipper clutch
- Lethal race bred power plant
- State of the art electronics
- Stunning looks
Yeah, that pretty much covers it. The result is something greater than the sum of its parts.
Our demo bike is the R model with Showa forks and Sachs shock. It has
a slip on exhaust and is down one tooth on the counter shaft sprocket.
It is the white edition and looks clean, sleek and crisp really highlighting
the design aspects of the sculpted body work. The carbon Leo Vince slip-on
looks great and is clean and sano with the carbon making a nice contrast
to the white panels of the bike.
Light off the ignition and you are met with the wonderful and unique
sound of a race bred V4 power plant that is distinctive in tune. It makes
you think there is a small version of an AC Cobra power plant in the
frame. Listen carefully; it’s the lion in there! It’s the kind of sound
that will make you sit and wing the throttle at a stop just because it
sound so rhonchus and wicked.
My test day was less than optimal with conditions being cold and overcast.
The suspension was very responsive to changes and with full adjustability
front and rear; I arrived at a good setting in short order, only needing
to add a bit of rebound damping at the back shock later.
Clicking the bike into gear the transmission is light and crisp and
moved through the gears with buttery smoothness. So much so that some
times I had wondered if I had actually completed the shift. This is a
testament to the operation of the slipper clutch as well. It was seamless.
In fact you actually felt the click of the shift at the clutch lever
rather than the shift lever. When running into corner entries it kept
the bike perfectly controlled and at even revs.
The chassis has been the real standout according to the press and I have no contradiction to that. I found it neutral, stable, responsive and precise. It is probably equal to my race bike right off the showroom floor and I would have no hesitation taking it to Willow Springs and going quick right off the bat with it.
Now we come to the electronics. I’m used to racing and riding bikes with little or no electronic limiting devices so for me this took some getting used to. I found myself a little thrown off by this as you can feel it working. The bike has amazing power and you can feel it wanting to unleash it ferocity. The good part to all of this is that the electronics keeps you from getting in over your head for the most part, but not dealing with a system like that, I am used to using the traction control system I was issued with. This was making for some strange modulations as I would correct and then the bike would and we had this little dance going on that was maybe a quarter step off.
When I returned to “warmer” temps near the end of the ride I figured
out how to ride the electronics. I ran it down a tighter canyon being
fairly aggressive – guess what...It works! Seems once we agreed to trust
one another and stop second guessing, it was all good. I will have to
take it out in better weather to confirm this (work, work, work!). I’ll
also be curious to ride one with the upgraded ECU that comes with the
Aprilia systems.
It seems a common statement that there are really no bad bikes in this
day and age. By and large I agree, but many times it’s the ones you keep
thinking about after the ride that hold that special place in
us. This is one of those bikes.
Pros:
- Awesome Power and Sound
- Great Chassis
- Seamless transparent Slipper Clutch
- Linear Brakes
- Responsive Compliant Suspension
- Comfortable ergonomics
- Sexy
Cons:
- Storage? Not even for a phone.
Other:
- 2011 is supposed to see a Tuono version! (can you see the grin on my face?!)