I am starting to get accustomed to riding V-Twins now. A weekend with a TL1000R and three days with the Aprilia RSV 1000 Mille have seen to that.

The Aprilia is one trick looking piece of kit, everywhere I parked it a crowd soon gathered around to check it out. A good poser bike indeed. I am not in love with the front end, but the rear is a work of art. The pics here will give you a good idea but the RSV has to be seen in the flesh for its full effect.

The headlight is excellent. I rode the RSV around 200 kilometres during the night and found the headlight to be unequalled in my experience, the high beam is wide and penetrating.

The bottom end power is awesome. I have dedicated a full page to the comparative engine characteristics for the Aprilia RSV & Suzuki TL1000R with a Kawasaki ZX-9R thrown in to wave the four cylinder flag. The page will take a little while to download so it is probably best to read it after you have finished this page. START OPENING DYNO PAGE .

If you are not much good at pulling wheelies but would like to look like you are good at doing wheelies, the RSV would be your weapon of choice. It will start lifting the front off the throttle from as little as 4000 rpm. The bottom end is HUGE.

Independent tests have seen the Aprilia manage to get to over 275 kph when undergoing radar speed testing. I feel that this would have been after a very long run up and would be due to the great aerodynamics of the RSV rather than the top end power.

The injection system is excellent, throttle action is a little heavy and not as direct as that of the VFR (the standard of injection I judge all bikes against,) but is much better than the TLR. Easy cold starts and no hunting on part throttle make for a fuss free ride.

Handling is excellent. Lines can be changed mid corner without too much effort and the bike is very easy to move about on, which was a bit surprising considering the comfortable riding position. The bars are lower than that of the ZX9R but don’t really seem to put any weight on your wrists somehow. This puzzled me a bit but nonetheless I never got uncomfortable during the three days I spent with the RSV. The lack of vibes also contribute to the lack of fatigue.

Coming out of first, second or third gear corners will see the front rise as you apply the power. I have no problems with this kind of thing when riding the TLR or ZX9R (Actually I provoke it on purpose) but it did seem very hard to keep the RSV pointing where you wanted it to go after the front was in the air. On the TLR and ZX9R a bit of hang off and authoritative shoulder work would still keep them going in the right direction but I couldn’t really get a handle on making the Aprilia respond in the same way. Maybe this is a reflection more on my riding rather than the RSV, more time on the bike and some fiddling with the infinitely adjustable suspension may have seen me work out a solution to this.

My biggest single problem with the RSV was the gearbox, I never got a handle on it during my whole time with the bike. It kept dropping out of second gear for some reason. Hit it hard in 1^st, bang her up into second and more often than not when pushing hard it would then drop out of 2^nd gear a second later. This annoyed me no end, especially when the front wheel was still in the air. Maybe this would improve as the RSV has covered more miles, it only had around 2000 kilometres under its belt when I got my greasy little paws on it. I have known some bikes to take around 15,000 kilometres for their gearboxes to become really sweet.

The only other let down was the brakes, the 4-pot Brembos look pretty trick in their red warpaint but don’t really seem up to the task on a bike of this caliber. They are better than those fitted to a VTR Honda but are no match for the 6-potters on the TLR or ZX9R.

The centre of the swept area of the disc had a rather strange heat mark on it after a good fang.  Maybe the pads weren't being clamped over the whole area of the disc?

In every other department the chassis was sure and sweet. The Pirelli Dragon Corsas fitted to the RSV seemed to suit the bike perfectly and provided great turn in and feel. The tight chassis also lets you change up gears while in a corner without giving the RSV a case of the wiggles.

The dash layout is complex enough to confuse a 747 pilot. A large digital speedo sits to the left of the conventional round tachometer which features a flashing shift light. I have never really got on with digital speedos but I grew to like the item on the RSV and missed it when climbing back aboard the ZX9. The RSV is the easiest sportsbike I have ever ridden to keep to the speed limit. I don’t know what it is, maybe it is the aid of the large LCD speedo, but in 60 and 70 zones I found myself doing pretty much the exact limit and sitting there quite happily. This in itself maybe a reflection on how pleasurable and comfortable the bike is to ride.

The dash records your highest top speed since you last pressed the reset button.  It also has the facility to store up to 40 laptimes that you set by pressing the headlight flash switch each time you go over your chosen race finish line.

A clock, fuel light, sidestand light and temperature gauge are also easily read. For some reason the bike always seemed to be running very cool, sitting between 60° and 68° on the digital gauge. It does rise quite rapidly when sitting still but never gets too hot. Even on the dyno, the hottest the bike got was around 95° .

The RSV has only been on the Aussie market for a matter of weeks but it has been on European roads for around a year now and has demonstrated excellent reliability in that time.

Superbike magazine has had a long term RSV on test for 10,000 kilometres now (including large amounts of abuse) and hasn’t managed to break anything which must be seen as a great sign.

The bike is impeccably built.  It makes me think that any bingle would have to be pretty major to render the RSV unrideable. The bracket that holds the gauges for example looks as though it has been lifted straight from a race bike. The swingarm is massive and beautifully finished. Everything on this bike just looks so bloody strong.

At $25,700 + ORC the Aprilia is a fair bit more expensive than the current Japanese opposition of V-Twins but with the VTR-SP1 rumored to be going on the Aussie market for around $23,000 + ORC it will have a Japanese rival that is in its price segment. The Ducati 996 is quite a bit more expensive at $29,990 + ORC and can’t match the RSV for everyday practicality, but the RSV can match the Duke on performance.

The RSV will not work out much cheaper to service than the Desmo’ 996 as valve clearances are to be checked every 7,500 kilometres. This along with 4 spark plugs compared to the Ducatis 2 would start putting the RSV up into the league of Ducati servicing costs.

The Ducatisti will buy the Ducati no matter what but I feel somebody coming from riding Japanese Sportsbikes would take quite kindly to riding the RSV.

If you put down a deposit on a coming VTR SP1 without riding the RSV I feel that you would be doing yourself a great disservice. At least wait until you can blag a test ride on the RSV before plonking down your hard earned on the SP1.

Specifications are below while the power & torque details are here.