EICMA..new Aprilia RSV4 RF | Page 3 | GTAMotorcycle.com

EICMA..new Aprilia RSV4 RF

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CafeRay said:
This thing is pretty much a gimmick. .
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Not at all, Racers normally race in 1 or 2 circuits (club Racing) being able to setup your traction for each corner is very useful. For example, if it rains during a race weekend, I am stock at TC+7 everywhere just because at GB there are 2 left corners that are really slippery. If I was able to set those two corners at TC+7 and all the other ones lets say TC5 ot TC+3, you could improve your lap times. Would most people take advantage of it? probably not but club racers could for sure.

It also has anti-wheelie control, at a track like Shannonville, coming off the hairpin to the back straight you could set your anti-wheelie to a higher set, you lose a lot of time backing off the throttle in there (hard for me to use the rear brake coming off a right hander) because the wheel on a liter bike always comes up.

This can be really useful. Not sure how well it works but it is interesting.
 
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Some riders are data junkies and like to know what's happening beyond what they can feel.
To me, the use of data in this way, along with the e-controls is taking away from the sport at the amateur level.
 
ZX600 said:
It also has anti-wheelie control, at a track like Shannonville, coming off the hairpin to the back straight you could set your anti-wheelie to a higher set, you lose a lot of time backing off the throttle in there (hard for me to use the rear brake coming off a right hander) because the wheel on a liter bike always comes up.
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I use a lot of rear brake on the 1000. On the RSV4, I point, shoot and go, full throttle in 1st. No fear of highside or wheelie, it just drives off the corner.

To me, the use of data in this way, along with the e-controls is taking away from the sport at the amateur level.
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Watching riders get taken off the track on stretchers and dealing with nagging injuries, or ruinous repair costs, doesn't?
 
Shaman said:
Watching riders get taken off the track on stretchers and dealing with nagging injuries, or ruinous repair costs, doesn't?
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This was dealt with in the past by not putting 200hp bikes in the hands of club amateurs, and racing cheaper bikes. Some people like the idea of buying success in racing, and this seems to now define success in racing.

The days of a Miles Baldwin winning everything on both sides of the border on a customer Yamaha TZ 750 and a van, with zero budget are long gone, I guess.
 
I count at least six production bikes with 200hp+ and the rest have 180hp+ ... time marches on and right now the rider dealing with that kind of power output is really the primary challenge. What are orgs to do, outlaw half the production bikes on the market?
 
Shaman said:
I use a lot of rear brake on the 1000. On the RSV4, I point, shoot and go, full throttle in 1st. No fear of highside or wheelie, it just drives off the corner.



Watching riders get taken off the track on stretchers and dealing with nagging injuries, or ruinous repair costs, doesn't?
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You need to watch BSB more often ... works quite well there and everyone seems to be happy. Teams spend less and spectators are liking more as well, because it becomes fractionally more about riders and their wrist control.
 
CafeRay said:
This was dealt with in the past by not putting 200hp bikes in the hands of club amateurs, and racing cheaper bikes. Some people like the idea of buying success in racing, and this seems to now define success in racing.

The days of a Miles Baldwin winning everything on both sides of the border on a customer Yamaha TZ 750 and a van, with zero budget are long gone, I guess.
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mmmkkaaayyyy
 
Yeah the 750 needs an update and so does the dorsoduro.
 
First of all, there's no reason to take 200hp bikes away from amatures because 95% of them are on 600's anyway. Why the heck can't I race a 1000 if I want to? I'll spend just as much making a 600 competitive but I'll save a bit on tires. I'll also need to loose 70lbs to compete with the teenagers.

As an amature data is extremely valuable. I've had an issue with bottoming forks all season, where is it bottoming? is it just that spot on the track? I still don't know.

I wish I could turn my TC off everywhere except 2 corners but my bike doesn't have the technology. I purposely bought my bike because it's a competitive package with a few affordable upgrades. I could have bought a GSXR/R1/CBR but it would have cost me a lot more money.

Racers aren't the ones who buy most of these bikes but that's what they're intended purpose is and the better the stock package the more bikes you'll sell to your intended customer.

This bike looks amazing but the complexity of them and the fact that they're a pain to work on keep me away.
 
The only pain to work on is checking the valves, but there is a trick to that... otherwise its a bike like any other... i ought to know, 8 bikes in the garage right now.
 
Shaman said:
The only pain to work on is checking the valves, but there is a trick to that... otherwise its a bike like any other... i ought to know, 8 bikes in the garage right now.
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I've seen under the skin/tank, no thanks.
 
Try and put a full exhaust on it, it almost installs itself while you hang yourself from the rafters.
 
I've talked a lot to Dave about his ape track bike. He said it's a beautiful bike, engine feels amazing, however crashing it and fixing it took forever and you have to take it back to the dealer to program/ sync the parts you took off and changed.
 
That one is true, it is very compact and so getting at things under the tank/airbox is a bit painful - this is going to be true of almost any newer bike, though, as they do so much to mass-centralize and keep the bikes small. It's also true that if you want to sync the throttle bodies and the throttle actuation, you need a computer - as far as I know this is the same deal with any of the throttle-by-wire bikes which includes the 1199, current R1, S1000RR and probably others. This has come up as one of the issues racers have with the throttle-by-wire in general, as they may wish to do all the maintenance, but don't have / can't afford the factory computer systems to make it so. Either they'll iron this issue out ... or more likely the manuf. will use it as a way to force people into the dealership for maintenance. :/

FYI, the 2015 bike has had a *lot* of evolution of every part of the bike compared to Dave's older model. There are not very many parts that are interchangable between that year of RSV4 and the current one, much less the new one coming to North America in June/July timeline.
 
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Oh don't get me wrong, I'd love to have the bike. I was almost ready to sell my r1 for it but to be honest the price of crashing it made me rethink things
 
Shaman said:
Yeah the 750 needs an update and so does the dorsoduro.
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Can you let Aprilia know ... somehow? .... LOL ... customers have been telling them for years that it's too heavy and underpowered with crap stock suspension. They have only added ABS in 6 years ... to make it even heavier ... LOL2
 
They also detuned the 750 quite a bit. With some work, it makes 10+hp more than stock. I think they planned to make a bike that appealed to a relative beginner. Either way, I think it's a neat looking bike and the buck stops there... it definitely needs updating and de-neutering.

If I had a contact in Aprilia that had some clout, I would have told them 4 years ago to give us the full-fat RSV4 engine. The prototype made 220hp in testing and they detuned it to below 180hp. Mild head porting on the RSV4 nets 20hp+ and that's likely the route I'll take with my bike rather than trading it in, as I'll have to take a fair bath on it (although that won't stop me from pricing it all out).
 
Shaman said:
They also detuned the 750 quite a bit. With some work, it makes 10+hp more than stock. I think they planned to make a bike that appealed to a relative beginner. Either way, I think it's a neat looking bike and the buck stops there... it definitely needs updating and de-neutering.
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I will agree with you that they are neat looking bikes, both DD and Shiver .... but that's as far as I am willing to go. LOL

They are 460lbs wet!!! and make lower output (both HP and Torque) than what would one expect from a given displacement, thus making power to weight ratio crap, plus the extra weight is kind of up there, instead of low there. You can put another 1500$ and make it lighter, but to do anything with the top end .... almost impossible without spending another 2K (parts are not even readily available, so it would be moreless a project with uncertain reliability consequences). Most sensible people will buy a different bike, if they lust for more ooomph.

Electronically, the bikes are very complicated. All is good and fancy when it works, but not so good when the dash throws a wrench at you and the only way to find out what it means is to get hold of Axone equivalent reader, or pray it will disappear and work again .... not good.

Anyway, this thread is about a different bike ...
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