BIKETEST APRILIA TUONO:Aprilia got it right with the Tuono - now Geoff Hill wants to know if they could send some sunshine this way, too.
DEAR MR Aprilia,
I just wanted to say that I’m really sorry for writing a few weeks ago that your RSV 1000R Mille was suitable only for Italian dwarves, since anyone else riding it couldn’t see ahead because they were so hunched over the handlebars, couldn’t see anything in the rear view mirrors except their elbows and, after an hour on it, I climbed off looking like Quasimodo and had to go and lie down in a darkened room for a while.
In my defence, you might remember that I actually liked the bike – a miracle in the circumstances, since my wrists were so knackered after riding it that I couldn’t write a cheque for three days (probably a blessing).
Thank God I could still drink.
Well, if you’re still speaking to me, can you do me a favour first thing tomorrow when you do your daily tour of the factory at Noale?
When you get to the design room, go straight over to the man who had the idea of taking the RSV superbike, throwing the bodywork in the bin and bolting on a pair of higher bars, and shake his hand for me.
And while you’re at it, tell him he’s turned a superb but limited motorbike into one that’s just plain superb and, in the process, nailed the myth that naked streetbikes are lame, detuned versions of the superbikes from whence they came.
And if he’s the same guy who named it the Tuono which, as you know, is the Italian for “thunder”, tell him he got it right, especially with the aftermarket Akrapovic pipes fitted to the bike I tested.
But however glorious the feral growl that V-twin poured through them was, it was nothing compared to the huge difference those high bars made, compared to the RSV Mille.
With a slightly more upright seating position, improved all-round visibility and mirrors you can actually use for more than admiring the cut of your elbows, you feel that this is a bike you could actually own and enjoy, day after day.
Particularly when you twist the throttle and are seized by a giant hand and flung towards the horizon, with the added benefit that with the Tuono you can actually see where you’re going.
Not only that, but the view in the mirrors makes overtaking both faster and safer, and cornering is, if anything, sweeter on the Tuono than on the RSV Mille from whence it came.
Both bikes share those superb front forks, fine-tuned by the boffins at the Aprilia plant in Noale from a string of world championship wins, which mean that you can fling them into corners as hard as you like without fear. Both the Mille and the Tuono are up there with the Fireblade for cornering confidence – and there is no higher praise than that.
The engine, as is common in superbike to naked streetfighter conversions, has been detuned, in this case from a maximum power of 143bhp at 10,000rpm to 119bhp at 9,600rpm, but that power is so much more manageable because of the more comfortable riding position that I was actually quicker on the Tuono, added to the fact that a leisurely 4,500rpm at 70mph makes for a less tiring riding experience on long journeys.
And if you need any more convincing, the Tuono is over €1,000 cheaper.
So I don’t know about you, Mr Aprilia, but I know which of the two I’d pick.
Oh, and by the way, I love the way you Italians all sit around rough wooden tables on sunlit patios eating pasta, drinking wine and talking about life, love, cars, football and motorbikes.
I wish we could do it in Ireland, but the last sighting of a sunlit patio here was just after the Famine.
Ciao,
Geoff.
Factfile Aprilia Tuono
Engine:liquid-cooled DOHC eight-valve 60-degree 998cc V-twin
Performance:top speed 150mph
Power and torque:119bhp @ 9,600rpm, 72ft/lbs @ 7,200rpm
Gears and drive:six-speed, chain final drive
Suspension:front 43mm USD forks, fully adjustable, rear rising-rate monoshock, fully adjustable
Brakes:front dual 320mm discs, four piston calipers, rear 220mm disc, single-piston caliper
Dimensions:rake/trail 25°/99mm, wheelbase 1,415mm, dry weight 183kg
Price:from €12,250. Moto Guzzi Dublin, Oak Road Business Park, Dublin 12, 01-460 3168, motopoint.ie.
(Test bike £7,599 from RR Motorcycles, Northern Ireland, 028 92 666 033)