Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127563
eTEST A riliaAFI250V sion of Aprilia's telemetry system, which they were the first factory team in GP racing to use in public back in 1986, being joined by two more electronics engineers for the '93.season, when Aprilia may well race with the electronic powervalve they've tested on and off for the past three years without ever really being.able to justify the 6.6 lb. weight penalty fitting such a system ~ entails. Moreover, there's a chance this will be geared to the throttle position and ignition curve like on the Hondas, while the semi-active suspension will still require more development. But with the Reg and Rug double act of Reggiani and Ruggia aboard, Aprilia is poised to win the title with their 100% . Euro-bike, on which Witteveen is proud only the spark plugs and igni 'on rotor Alan Cathcart puts the Aprilia through its paces at Mugello in Italy, 34 ing unsuccessfully to adapt to it! - but Frankie's bike still had it fitted, and the result is magic, once you've brainwashed yourself not to move your right hand an iota as you change up, and to rev the bike to 13,500 in every gear, to ensure a smooth change as the black box cuts out the ignition for a predetermined nano-second (0.12 sec., actually) so you can snick-shift slickly. Loris used to thumb a manual cutout for the same reason, so he had no trouble adapting, but Chi1i had a 'gas costante' reminder taped to the triple clamp for some races, to indoctrinate him! Using the speed shifter is a habit you swiftly come to like, because it optimizes carburation, allows you to change gear more quickly, and lets you concentrate on steering and handling, without having to worry about twisting the wrist to change up. You wouldn't think this could be so beneficial, but I can only swear it somewhat improbably is, and riding both the 500 Cagiva and Schmid's TZ-M 250 Yamaha on which the system was developed, both fitted with the same system, only convinced me what a great idea it is. Takes time to reprogram your thought patterns, though! Equally impressive were both bikes under braking, fitted as each of them were with a Gardner cocktail of one carbon and one steel disc, the 'black' brake shrouded because of the cold and wet to help it to maintain somewhere near optimum operating temperature. This was the first time 1'd ridden a bike with a carbon brake in the wet, and I couldn't believe how well they worked on both machines, with lots of sensitivity from the steel brake at light lever pressures, but an impressive level of stopping power at the end of the main straight or into the slower turns from the carbon disc, which never showed any signs of heat retention failure, even at the end of that long front straight. Reggiani's bike felt slightly more progressive that Chili's, perhaps a function of pad choice or master cylinder used, but neither showed any sign of the servo lock-on effect I experienced when I rode Kevin Schwantz's AP carbon-braked Suzuki, or even the similarly-equipped RGV250, which also didn't have a constant lever pressure throughout the braking cycle. Brembo really seems to have cracked the black brake biz, and to have such fantastic stopping power even in the wet - where modem racing rain tires are well able to accept such a challenge to their grip potential - was particularly impressive. But it's the Aprilia's motor that impresses most of all, a potent package of high-revving tractability that unites two previously mutually contradictory notions - a rotary-valve motor, that has lots of midrange and torque. Witteveen's patient work in refining the twin-erank V-twin design to the sort of GP-winning level it's now arrived at has, he says, obtained the near-maximum potential from the motor in mechanical terms: future development will be electronics-based, with Aprilia's single computer technician Nino Bandiers, who looks after the latest ver- The Aprilia's instrument cluster is functional, yet rather plain. The high-revving V-twin produces plenty of midrange and torque. are made in Japan. It will take an exceptional effort by Japan Inc. to stop Aprilia from taking the 250cc World Championship title to Europe in 1993, to join the 12Sec crown already in their trophy cabinet. (N APRILIA AF12S0V EIlgine: Watereooled 9O-<1egree Vtwin totary-vaIve two-strolce with twin oontrarotating crankshafts and pneumaticalIy-eontrol1ed powervalve Dim_ioIw~ 54 x 54.5 mm Capacity: 249cc Output: 90 t 12,800 rpm (at gea C • 17:1 Catbumion; 2x39mm De11'0rt0 flats\ide ellipticak:hoke lpition: Rotax digital electronic COl with dry-ilelll2v batteJy Gearbox: 6-speed extractable Clutch: Multlplatedry (5 friction/6 steel) Chessis· Fabricated aluminium twin-spar frame Front s.pe.ioD: 40mm White Power inverted lIe1escopic forks R_ Susr-ion: Fabricated aluminium swingann with APS rising rate linkage and single White Power shock, with semi-active computerised relx)\md amtrol Head angle: 21 degrees TRil: 78mm Whee1balle: 1345mm Wei&bt: 209 lb. with oil/water, no fuel W~cfistributioa: 51/49% Front Brakes: 1 x 300 rom Brembo steel disc: + 1 x 373 rom Brembo catbon discwith four-pistoo Brembo calipers R_ Brakes: 1 X 184 mm Brembo steel floating disc with two-pistoo Brembo caliper FrontWbeelsJ'ti.ns: 3.10/4.80-17 . I,)unlQp radial on 3.50 in. Mardtesini wheel Rear wbeeWtires: 155/60-17 Dunlop radial 00. 5.00 in. M.arc:hesini wheel Top speed: 167 mph