The 2014 Aprillia RSV4 is the most advanced motorcycle I’ve ever thrown a leg over. While many of it’s competitors get by on just brute power, and fine tuning, this thing has a brain! The RSV4 has more in common with half million dollar super-cars than with most bikes on the road. The brains in this machine control several rider aids including launch control, wheelie control, reaction control, ABS, and more. Each of these settings can be individually adjusted based on the riders preference. The rider can opt to use the available presets such as street mode, track mode, Sport Mode, and even Rain mode! The dash board is very well designed and can show you tons of information including telemetry, lap times, split times and more. The info on the dash also changes depending on what mode you are in. Unfortunately, to do anything more that switch between the modes may be a little bit complicated. When they handed me the keys, i asked how to turn on the wheelie control and traction control, just to see how hard i could really thrash it, the associate started looking for the instruction manual, so i just told him “never mind”. All this space age technology in a bike, and i didn’t even get to test it out, did i really care? NOPE! I took off! First off, i have to say, the seat is very stiff, and the seating position is very aggressive, i felt like my hands were below my knees! Needless to say, this bio is not for touring. The RSV4 has a 184hp “V4” motor (hence the name). The RSV4 tested had an Acrapovic exhaust, it has a throaty rumble, similar to the cross plane Yamaha R1 with pipes, but not quite as deep, and not quite as loud. With a nice pipe on it, this thing would sound like what dreams are made of!. I’ve grown accustomed to the instant power delivery of a V twin bike, it’s van revving the 4 cylinders forever, but they just don’t get it done for me these days. With the V4, you get the best of both worlds. If you need to take off, just twist the throttle, any speed, any gear, it’s going to pull, and you can still rev it sky high, the RSV4 redlines just under 14,000 rpm. Keeping in mind that i was on over $20,000 worth of bike, i dove semi aggressively into a few corners, My speed was a bit excessive for public roads, but I’m sure the bike was yawning to it’s self, i could easily have cornered going twice as fast. I decided to do a high speed brake test and simulate an emergency stop, so i jammed on the brake lever, not too aggressively, after all it was my first time on this bike, I came almost instantly to a stop!! It stopped so fast, i could feel my eyes wanting to pop out. In reality i went easy on it trying not to flip the bike over, i think i could have stopped in half the distance it actually took me. These are the best brakes I’ve ever felt on a bike. Let’s talk about looks. The RSV4 isn’t your cookie cutter “plastic fantastic” sport bike. There are a few design elements that are really eye catching. The short tail section complete with fighter jet fins is something you won’t see anywhere else. It’s compact size saves weight and gives the whole bike an aggressive profile. the “A” shaped LED tail light integrates seamlessly into the tail there’s no need for aftermarket mods there. There’s nothing like the finish on a piece of Italian Machinery. Enjoy the photos in part 1 of the RSV4 on PremiumFuelMag.com.
Premium Fuel Magazine would like to give a huge thanks to South East Motorcycles in Savannah Georgia for providing a test bike. Southeast has all the latest models on the showroom floor, If you are looking for a New or used motorcycle, and great customer service, come see Adam Gati at South East Moorcycles.
The sound of the RSV4
