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/127759
·RAcERtEsr. Aprilia RSV400· t:le - DIaD you've passed that basic threshold of competence, the control factor doesn't come into it. You're the boss. But now there's Reggiani's 250-onsteroids - and that's a different plate of spaghetti. On Aprilia's jumbo twin, there's the same compact build and easy handling as the Mad Maxmobile - only with added power. Result: thrills to go. This is the perfect Grand Prix motorcycle if your name isn't Mick Doohan: enough power to get you into trouble, but just enough controllability to make sure you're still the boss - well, most of the time, at least. Okay, so it's not as powerful or as fast as Mick-san's 500cc World Champion V-four - but then, so what? Here in the real world populated by us mere mortals, including a majority of the privateers who race ROC/ Harris four-cylinder Yarnahas to make up the numbers on 500cc GP grids, the control factor means that we can ride the Aprilia much harder, more enjoyably, and almost certainly faster than any fourcylinder. It's a formula for fun. It's also incredibly hard to start. With two big pistons firing together and a 16:1 compression ratio, the approved method is for two mechanics who ob'vi- By Alan Cathcart Photos by Emilio Jimenez F If) 0\ 0\ ~ cr) ~ l-< (!) ~ u (!) a 16 antastic. There's no other word to describe the thrill of riding Loris Reggiani's works Aprilia 400 - Grand Prix racing's Mighty Mouse, compared to the four-cylinder Power Rangers of Might is Right Incorporated. Riding Reggiani's (now Doriano Romboni's) mega-twin micro-500 around Mugello in Italy for eight laps was the most exciting and most frustrating twowheeled test trip I've enjoyed in many years. Frustrating because, even though by volunteering to be the one to scrub in fresh tires and dial in the carburetion on the RSV400 I got to enjoy twice as many laps as the other three journalists invited to test it, this was only enough to get me hooked big time on riding the Aprilia, without being nearly long enough to give me a proper fix. This motorcycle is seriously addictive: It should have a government heal th warning taped to the seat. It is also the most thrilling motorcycle I've ridden for a very long time. What? More of a thrill than an ultimate racer like Mick Doohan's Honda NSR500? Every time. Max Biaggi's 250cc World Champion, the 400 Aprilia's kid sister? Bigger is better. Carl Fogarty'S Ducati 955 desmo, the ultimate superbike? Well, yes, even that. It's all about the control factor. With a works fourcylinder 500, there aren't more than half a dozen men in the world capable of riding such a bike to its limits, so when (Above) The Aprllla RSV400 Is the Italian firm's bid for laurels In the 500cc world championship. (Right) With the weight limit for lour-cylinder GP bikes set at 286 pounds, the Aprilia enjoys a weight advantage 01 some 63 pounds. someone with even a reasonable level of competence steps on board who isn't on that select list, it's the bike which is in charge - a fact you ignore at your periL Doohan may dominate his NSR, Beattie browbeat his RGV - me, I'm happy to remember who's the boss and hold on tight for the ride. A superbike like Foggy's desmo isn't exactly a pussycat, but it's a lot more forgiving and easier to ride hard than a 500cc V-four. Still, even a V-twin four- stroke needs some serious mu~cre to make it do what you want, and there's still plenty of power available to unhook the back wheel and send you over. the top. A lOO-hp, works 250, on the other hand, is loads of fun: small, agile, fast yet controllable. Riding one of these is something you look forward to because you're in charge, not the bike. The only things that stop you lapping as fast as Max Biaggi are: a) he really is mad! and b) he's a lot better rider. But assuming ously work out pumping iron and running the marathon in their spare time to stick it in second gear, pull back on compression as with a four-stroke single, say a brief Ave Maria and run like hell. After that fails and it locks the back wheel, you start to wonder why they don't use rollers as we supermonisti do but eventually it works, and there are smiles of relief all round, as the Aprilia chimes into action with a butch, bass bark from its twin exhausts that is total-