SuperBike Magazine November / December 2020

31
APRILIARSV4
By Clinton Pienaar
Pics by Beam Productions
FACTORY 1100
It’s been 11 years in the making, but this is the best RSV4 yet and a direct
connection from the race teams WSBK and MotoGP to the factory and
put into a package which is faster on the track and more comfortable on
the road
WSBK rules
are all up to
a 1000cc, but
what Aprilia
have done
(and Ducati)
is add in 10%
more capacity in the same chassis.
The result is simply astounding
as in a claimed 217 Hp @ 13200
rpm, astounding. Jonathan Isherwood
from IMI (Italian Motorcycle
Importers) brought the latest bike
through to Red Star for me to
test, his words to me were
“You have got to ride this
bike to understand what
they have done to it”.
Being in the industry
for as long as I have
been, I meet praise
like that with a little
trepidation from
the importers, I mean what is he
supposed to say?
Well, he was not lying, sometimes
they just get it right and this
bike is absolutely just insanely
100% right. I stand to be corrected
but this could be the best superbike
I have ever ridden bar none,
OK maybe the HP4 Race but that
was R1.3 mil and it’s not road legal
so technically can’t be classed in
this competition. I’ve always been
on about how a bike if it’s just right
talks to you, well this Aprilia from
the moment I threw a leg over was
just like what I try and explain. For
a long time, I have been outspoken
on what an amazing sounding
motor this Aprilia V4’s is. And now
it gets fitted standard with the full
Evo Titanium exhaust, and it comes
with an auto tune that needs to be
unlocked by the service center with