After a long time of absolutely no interesting news in the world of Aprilia there is finally big news worth mentioning. Aprilia is competing in the Dakar 2008 rally! This time its Dutch enduro driver Henk Knuiman who's riding the Aprilia RXV450. Last year Patrick van Lee had a great result finishing the rally in 75th place overall on his Aprilia RXV450.
Just like the van den Bosch replica for the SXV Aprilia also showed its Stefan Merriman replica of the RXV at the EICMA in Milan. No details available yet.
The november issue of the free Motocrossdigital magazine ( download it at http://www.motocrossdigital.com ) has a feature about this seasons factory mx bikes including the Aprilia MXV. Very interesting read and I advise you to download the magazine and read it for yourself. Some interesting news. The bike has 10% more power than its japanese counterparts,it currently has a honda swingwarm,it weighs 108kg's. The new big bang configuration seems to be very succesful. The reporter found Chiodi's bike the most powerful bike he has ever ridden but it's too heavy in the front. The report says that the production bike will be there at the end 2008/beginning 2009. For 2008 their will be a lot of changes including changes to the engine block,frame and reducing of overall weight. Also the old style swingarm is coming back. In short a complete overhaul of the MXV.
Morongo casino (California, USA) was the venue for the final 2 rounds of the AMA Supermoto Championship. Benny Carlson rode to a conservative 5th place in Saturdays final, clinching his 2nd AMA Supermoto Unlimited Championship and his 1st for the team.
EVO II homologated cans now available in Factory and GP-style for the new Noale naked version. A winning Italian duo LeoVince and Aprilia, characterized by high-tech features and a winning personality: the protagonists being the homologated SBK Factory and GP-style cans named EVO II and the new Aprilia SL Shiver 750.
The Italian website Motoblog visited the EICMA and shot some pics of the bikes at the Aprilia stand. Go check them out here
2007 was the twentieth anniversary of Aprilia’s first GP win and a year in which another four world championships were won. This extraordinary achievement is a repeat of Aprilia’s 2006 success story and takes the total of Aprilia’s world championship titles to an amazing 31. What better technical and sporting heritage could there be behind the Aprilia FV2 1200 concept bike? The FV2 1200 embodies the latest Aprilia technology and reveals the direction likely to be taken by technical and stylistic development at Aprilia in the near future. The heart of the FV2 1200 is Aprilia’s mighty, 1200 cc, 90° V twin, a power plant that confirms Aprilia’s determination to develop high capacity, high technology engines using in-house skills and competence.
The minimalist bodywork of the FV2 1200 creates a stunning preponderance of volume towards the front of the bike. The result is a revolutionary, courageous and futuristic look that is destined to form the solid basis for the evolution of Aprilia motorcycle styling.
The engine also fulfils a structural role, and acts as the starting point for the backbone of the motorcycle, a carbon fibre, load bearing frame with integrated filter box. The seat is supported by an aluminium beam and by two carbon fibre struts that extend into the tail and around the rear light cluster. The parallelogram front suspension is based on the system already tried and tested on Aprilia’s 250 cc GP racers.
These futuristic solutions have led to an amazing weight reduction (the FV2 1200 weighs under 160 kg) and an extremely compact size. The extraordinary agility that has always typified Aprilia motorcycles therefore finds its utmost expression in the FV2 1200.
The 1200 cc V twin engine is liquid cooled and boast a ride-by-wire control system. Traction control, a latest generation ABS system and electronic suspension management are also provided to let you ride at your performance peak while maintaining complete control over the bike.
The Aprilia FV2 1200’s dashboard incorporates a multi-functional instrument cluster that can be interfaced not only with the bike’s own CAN line but with a PC too, making it possible to download telemetric data for personal performance evaluations, reconfigure the information shown on the matrix display, load new mappings from the internet, display itineraries, and integrate GPRS and GSM modules for mobile phone connectivity.
Let’s look at the features of the Aprilia SMV 750 DORSODURO in greater detail:
All the changes:
*edit the first reports where that the bike comes with marzocchi forks but this information was incorrect. Fault of Aprilia germany.
Jorge Lorenzo wrapped up his second consecutive 250cc title, one round early, by finishing third in a thrilling Malaysian Grand Prix - won by Hiroshi Aoyama.
At the start of Race 1, Chiodi didn't have a great start, taking the first curve in the middle group. In a couple of laps, he was able to rid himself of the adversaries he had been following and made his way up to 2nd place, aiming for Philippaerts in the lead. This last adversary, however, was able to successfully keep the lead and went on to win the heat. For Chiodi, also the winner of the fastest lap during the race, it was a well-deserved 2nd place, especially knowing that victory was within reach.
This undertaking was simply pushed back to the second heat when Chiodi, second at the start behind Philippaerts, passed his rival during the first lap and gained the lead. Both riders immediately stepped up the rythm of the race (Salvini, who finished 3rd, was about 30 seconds behind the top two finishers) but Chiodi was able to contain Philippaerts' attacks, ultimately forcing his rival to settle for 2nd. The checkered flag thus awarded the heat victory (and that of the day) to Chicco Chiodi's Aprilia twin.
Thus the year of Aprilia's official reentry into the motocross world closes out with a brilliant, national affirmation of the evident progress made by the MXV 4.5.
