VOL. 56 ISSUE 21 MAY 28, 2019 P107
BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK
PHOTOGRAPHY BY APRILIA, CALI
PHOTOGRAPHY
I
t's been full steam ahead for
Project Thunder ahead of
Pikes Peak 2019. In the past
two weeks, we've been on the
bike twice, first up at incredible
facility of The Ridge Motors-
ports Park in Washington (if you
haven't ridden this track, you
really should) and this week at
our old stomping ground of But-
tonwillow in California.
Our time at The Ridge coin-
cided with the first opportunity
to try out the Brembo thumb
brake, which is something I've
been busting to use for years.
Not being a massive rear brake
user, it wouldn't be a huge loss
if I didn't like the system, but
after three laps I was absolutely
thrilled with how the brake per-
forms.
The thumb system doesn't
have the same level of feel you
get with a foot brake, but being
able to use the rear brake while
cranked over in right-handers
is a big bonus. We have essen-
tially bypassed the ABS system
with this unit, running a line
straight from the master cylinder
to the caliper. If we go deleting
the ABS system entirely, we'll
likely throw up a vast array of
fault codes in the ECU that we
really don't have the time to sort
out. Plus, the ABS system on
the Aprilia is extremely light, so
we've decided just to leave it
there and save the angst.
Testing,Testing…
TWO NEW CIRCUITS IN A WEEK HAVE THE
APRILIA HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
The Ridge
Motorsports Park
in Washington
is a gem of a
racetrack, and the
Aprilia loved it.
