V4 spypics

Aprilia WSBK rumors

Lately there has been some gossip about who will ride the RSV4 in the WSBK championship next year. Max Biaggi has been seen chatting with the aprilia racing bosses last week and now there are rumours floating around that Haga has been talking to Aprilia. And what about Alex Hoffman? He should know the V4 inside out by now after many testlaps. So imo it should be a very suitable rider for the job. But nothing is certain yet...who will ride for Aprilia in 2009? Time will tell...

Aprilia wins the 86th pikes peak race

An Italian bike won the 2008 edition of America’s most famous, toughest and most spectacular hill climb, the Pikes Peak in the Colorado mountains. The Aprilia SXV 5.5 recorded the best time of any motorcycle, and left even the winner of the 1200 cc class trailing in the distance (a full 23 seconds behind).

The Aprilia SXV 5.5, the twin cylinder supermotard that revolutionised the world of off-road motorcycling, and American rider Davey Durelle left all everyone eating their dust to win the class for motorcycles up to 750 cc. Durelle rode the 550 cc V-twin Aprilia to victory in front of machines with far bigger engines. The victory of Durelle and Aprilia was made even more extraordinary by an official time of 11 minutes, 42.9 seconds, the fastest recorded by any motorcycle in any class. An amazing 23 seconds gap separated Durelle and the second placed bike, the winner of the class for machines up to 1200 cc.

This historic win for Aprilia was supplemented by an impressive fifth place for Italian rider Andrea Padovani on a strictly standard Aprilia Dorsoduro. The latest addition to the Aprilia range had no qualms at all about taking on all comers, including specialist hill climb machines, over a course that can only be described as massacring for a bike designed for everyday roads and normal life. The result was unexpected and spectacular: the Dorsoduro supermotard, with its advanced chassis and futuristic electronic engine management system, roared ahead of many bikes designed and specially prepared for high speed off-road riding.

Cristian Lancellotti, riding another Aprilia SXV 5.5, collected an excellent eighth place to underline Aprilia’s superiority over a course that has no equals elsewhere in the world.
The Pikes Peak hill climb is a unique test for men and machines. The course rises from 2,835 to over 4,300 metres above sea level, in 20 kilometres of incredible slopes.

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Aprilia of the week

• Please introduce yourself first. Who are you and where are you from?

Hi, my name is Jan, I live in Belgium. Online you can find me on Motorzwijn.be.

Which Aprilia model do you own?

I own a 2002 RSV Mille R (the most beautifull model they made ;) )

• Did you add any mods to your bike?

As you can see, the bike is not in it's original state; It has new fairings, top, bottom, side, straight handle bars, evo exhaust.

• Why did you buy an Aprilia and what do you like so much about it?

I bought it because my friend who owned this bike before me let me drive it, and since then I fell in love with it, and eventually he sold it to me (poor bastard :p ).

• And what don’t you like about your bike?

Erm.... the extreme riding position, which I fixed by modding it.

• If you could ask Aprilia to design a new model what would it be?

They are already building it... the Dorsoduro 1200, I tested the 750 and it was a bit underpowered for me, but for the rest beautifull and very nice riding experience.

• And finally do you have any motorcycling tips for the readers of Aprilia News?

Ride hard, ride safe, and keep the rubber down ;)

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A little bit of RSV-4 news

Alex Hoffman posted a little bit of news about the testing progress of the new RSV-4 superbike.

Better notices from Brno. We had a test there last week and made a good step forward with the all new Aprilia RSV-4. We improved the feeling on the bike and found some better set up for all the new parts. Lap times improved too but I won't give any numbers here and now. Everyone in the team was pleased with the work we got done and I hope we can keep going in that good direction.

He also posted a small video of a stoppie on the RSV-4 in the valencia pitlane.

Stoppie video