Aprilia RSV4 range reveal in Melbourne
By Trevor Hedge
Aprilia Australia recently staged special reveal nights for dealers and invited customers in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
The new RSV4 RF, RSV4 RR, Tuono V4 100 Factory and Tuono V4 1100RR were unveilved to customers and dealers by Aprilia staff, who also gave presentations on the features of the new models.
One of the first to place an order for the new RSV4 RF was Manny Austin.
Manny is no stanger to Aprilia, his first road bike was an Aprilia RS250 when he was 18.
More recently the Victorian has been doing plenty of trackdays on his KTM RC8 and the 30-year-old builder is looking forward to sampling the 201 horsepower of Aprilia’s latest Superbike weapon.
So what are Manny’s plans for his new beast?
“Run in for 1000km then track days, then go racing!” stated the effusive 30-year-old.
“I’ve had a great run out of the RC8 but I am looking forward to the horsepower of the new RSV4, it should make it a little bit easier to run with the fast boys at the track.
“While I have never been racing, I hold my own in the fast group at trackdays so I will be getting accustomed to this machine, getting a good set-up for racing then I plan to join the Formula Xtreme Superbike ranks next season.”
We then spoke with John Buskes from A1 Motorcycles Ringwood, the number one Aprilia dealer in Australia.
Is this latest RSV4 and RSV4 RF, 1100cc Tuono range, the most anticipated models you can remember coming from Aprilia?
“I would liken it when to the first Mille came out in 1999. But post that, most definitley the most anticipated new models in recent history.”
Which model do you hold the most orders on?
“The Superpole edition RSV4, we have five deposits on those already and three of those guys are here tonight.”
What have Aprilia improved on of late, in regards to benefits for customers?
“Plenty has improved, the faster ability to act on warranty claims, spares and crash repairs, the improvements have been terrific, a huge step in the right direction.”
When did that start happening do you think?
“About 12 months ago.”
Pricing more aggressive of late?
“Definitely ,we anticipated the Superpole being at 35k rideaway, but we can do it for a thousand less. We anticipated the Tuono 1100 would be more than 25k but we can do it for $25,000 rideaway so for sure, the value equation is looking better for Aprilia now than it has done before, especially when you consider how much technoloy is in these models.”
We then spoke with the freshly appointed Aprilia service agent Race Dynamics. The Kensington based workshop is headed by well known Ohlins specialist and suspension tuner, Steve Mudford.
“We recently joined forces with Aprilia to offer standard scheduled servicing, upgrades and accessories for Aprilia and Moto Guzzi. Basically, we are everything a fully flight dealer is apart from the actual motorcycle sales side of the industry.
Tell us a little more about our background as the factory Ohlins technician for Australia?
“IÂ still do a lot of contract work on Ohlins products, and Race Dynamics is one of only a handful of authorised Ohlins service agents in Victoria. We have a lot of experience in modifying motorcycles for top level racing, on bikes such as the Ducati Panigale raced by Beau Beaton in FX Pro Twins and we do a lot of work with the Horner brothers developing the handling of the Irving Vincent. We also did some work with the Trinder brothers Aprilia team and I still do a lot of suspension work up around race paddocks.”
What advantages are there for people taking their motorcycle to you?
“Location really, we are fairly central to the city (Melbourne), while most of the other Aprilia/Guzzi service agents are in the outer suburbs, while we have our central location in Kensington. And I guess the other benefit is perhaps if you want to take your bike further, of course our expertise and experience combined with all the latest suspension servicing equipment, a shock dyno and access to all the latest suspension developments is primarily what we can offer over and above what a regular dealership might be able to provide.”
For the full run down on the new RSV4 Aprilia range check out the Aprilia Australia’s new website
