Aprilia RSV4R Test Ride Review and Photos by Conan Soranno Jan.19.2010 The morning was quiet. Contemplative. This was the morning I was going to put the new Aprilia RSVR through its paces. We were allowed to have Aprilia’s new V4 for three days, the last day was my turn to ride it. I made peace with my bill collectors. I called my mom and confessed to the broken lamp when I was 10. While I made a cup of coffee I sent a few emails to Angelina Jolie informing her that, regrettably, our love would never be. Everyone has to die someday, but not everyone gets to die with an obituary that reads, “he died as he wished he had lived, with 400lbs of Italian muscle hanging between his legs.” All kidding aside, I was really looking forward to riding the bike at speed. I suited up, I then kissed my woman goodbye and said, “I have a 180hp stairway to heaven, remember to tell people how dangerously handsome and full of limbs I used to be.” When I first saw the bike in person I was shocked by how deceptively small the bike is. It’s lean and predatory. The 65° V4 hides in a sleek twin spar frame. Its sharp nose and air intakes demand teeth painted on them like the old p-40 flying tiger, perfectly matched to the grunts and berserker screams you will be tempted to issue as you strafe past your foes at mind bending speeds. The wide seat is unbelievably comfortable. The finned tail section juts high in the air and evokes images of a hawk diving down from the sun to prey on all things slow. Stunning, beautiful, sleek and beastlike are suitable descriptions of this machine. You turn it on and the first thing that hits you in the base of the spine is the guttural roar that emanates from the stock exhaust. It makes your heart race, that sound, the growl of a dog about to eat your face...even the stock pipe sounds awesome. The rundown I was given consisted mainly of, “fuel goes here, this is how you change the engine mapping, and for the love of god don’t hurt the bike. We know people. Bad people.” The engine mapping is selectable on the fly and has three settings; (R)oad, (S)port, and (T)rack but they could aptly be renamed to; (P)ansy, (G)row a pair, and (H)oly mother of God this thing is fast. Riding away on the bike the first thing I notice is how manageable this thing is on city streets, and how superbly comfortable it is. Bikes this fast aren’t supposed to be this comfortable. It’s just wrong. Aprilia also managed to get an insane amount of torque into a 4 cylinder. Someone needs to tell Aprilia that torque is supposed to be the realm of big twins. I’m sending them hate mail for challenging my 2-cylinder dogmas. The minute I hit the road I opened the bike up, and it let me know; I’m easy to ride, but show me some respect. Put on notice, I followed the bike’s advice. I took it to my super secret test site for a top speed check. Within milliseconds shift lights flashed almost faster than my foot could cycle through the gearbox, the exhaust detonated with the sound of the heavens splitting, reality blurred past me and before I knew it I was hitting 160mph and the horizon, which had previously been a good horizon-like distance away, was suddenly inches from my face. The Aprilia was asking for more, a lot more. But, the winds were working against me and I wanted to remain within a margin of safety. The bike felt so planted during the run, that I thought I was doing about 120 not 160. Einstein would have called this bike a time-space displacement device. Back in the age of steam locomotives engineers postulated that if one traveled faster that 50mph the air would get sucked out of your body and you would asphyxiate. It’s a good thing theory proved false, because at speed this thing would suck your skeleton out of you and after few minutes on this machine, you defy the laws nature. It is that fast. You are evolution perverted through the eyes of twisted Italian mad scientists. I started daydreaming of flying the bike off the top of a mountain, punching God in the face, landing, and giving science a big high-five. I took the exit for the Marin headlands near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. The bike hungered for corners, and those tight twisty cliff-side roads are a perfect feeding ground. Every turn was devoured as the bike crabbed claw full after claw full of asphalt and spit it out behind us. I cut apexes so tight I was getting hit in the face with road weeds and the bike just pushed me to go faster. Usually when we conduct these tests we are obligated to keep the margin of error reasonably high and play it safe when exploring the limits. Adhering to the rules, I got nowhere near this motorcycle’s limits, that is best left for the racetrack. The throttle by wire and computer controlled 8 bank injectors were sublime. Screw what the analogue people say; I for one welcome our eventual robot overlords. The twisties turned into long high speed sweepers, where I blasted past signposts and little houses and was able to get a little wobble out of the front end, but I tack that up to the fact that the suspension wasn’t set up for me, and I am about 50lbs heavier that most riders. Entering the long, downhill, radar proof straightaway of the bunker road tunnel I gave the bike one last chance to kill me, but it’s so user friendly, the Aprilia passed on the offer. However, make no mistake, this is a motorcycle designed to be used by experts. Now I’m questioning even owning my Ducati. I want this Aprilila. Had I conquered the Aprilia, or had it conquered me? I am now a fan, a big fan. Walking away if you listened carefully you could almost hear the clanking of the big brass balls I had just grown from riding the most beautiful and powerful machine I’ve been on in a very long time. Quite the privilege. SPECS 2010 Aprilia RSV4R Price $15,999 Engine Liquid cooled, four stroke, longitudinal 65° V four , DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder Capacity 998,9 Bore x Stroke 78 x 52,3 mm Compression Ratio 12.8:1 Induction Variable height intake trumpets. Airbox with aerodynamic side intakes. 4 throttle bodes, 8 injectors, ride-by-wire fuel management. Multimapping Ignition/Starting?Electronic digital ignition integrated in the fuel management system Exhaust 4 into 2 into 1. Lambda probe oxygen sensor. Single lateral silencer. Integrated exhaust valve and catalytic converter. (Euro 3.) Lubrication Wet sump. Two pumps (lubrication and cooling). Oil cooler. Front Tyre 120/70 ZR17 Rear Tyre 190/55 ZR17 Seat Height 28.14 inches (at handlebars) Dry-Weight 395 pounds Fuel Capacity (res) 4.5 Gallons Standing ¼ Mile 10.6 sec Top Speed 180.14 MPH Clutch Cassette type. Max Power 180 hp 132 KW @ 12500 rpm Max Torque 115 Nm @ 10000 rpm Transmission/Drive 6 Speed / chain Frame Multi-plate wet clutch with slipper device. Twin beam aluminium frame with mixed cast and pressed sheet sections. Adjustments for: headstock position and angle, engine height, swingarm pivot height. Front Suspension Fully Adjustable Showa 50 mm Rear Suspension Fully Adjustable Sachs. Adjustments for compression, rebound, spring preload and length. APS rising rate linkages. Front Brakes 2x 320mm lightweight stainless steel floating discs, Brembo monobloc radial calipers with 4 opposed pistons. Sintered pads. Radial master cylinder. Metal braided brake line. Rear Brakes Single 220 mm disc. Brembo floating caliper with 2 insulated pistons. Sintered pads. Master cylinder with integral reservoir. Metal braided brake line. Shout Out: I would like to give MotoMarin huge thanks for letting us test ride the new Aprilia RSV4 R. We featured their shop in an article by Karryll Nason last year. The dealership is located about 15 miles from San Francisco, in San Rafael, California. It’s an easy place to get to and unlike bike shops in the city they are fairly close to the Marin headlands and other great Marin County roads, so demo rides are a nice treat and not just stop and go city traffic. They are an official and authorized Aprilia dealer and repair shop with a huge garage that just gleams. Apparently they are starting to get pretty popular amongst Aprilia loyalists. Definitely a place I’d feel comfortable taking my bike. The showroom is gorgeous, with plenty of room to walk around and feel the Aprilias, BMWs, and Guzzis out…it’s not nearly as cramped as most of the showrooms I’m used to in Europe or even some here, where the bikes are stacked side by side. The owner Cary is awesome. He and staff are very accommodating. You can tell he is an avid rider because when we were talking about taking the new BMW to the track next month he said, “Ooh! I wanna come!” and so it is done, Cary. UM track day soon and I hope you are ready to keep up with staffers Wade Boyd and Lance Williams! The place is cool and the staff has the kind of attitude I like in people who are going to sell me a bike or work on one of my bikes. · Moto Marin