Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

u.s. vs The World d emands of any rid er and an y circuit, but yo u need more than three 20-minute sessions on a bike yo u're sha ri ng w ith two o the r riders to be a ble to dial it in p ro perly. My Mu gell o rid e was th er efor e only a ta st e of w ha t might be. So rather than recount every d etail ed suspension change I mad e, let's just sa y that by the end of m y d a y o n o ne of Europe's finest GP tracks I was convinced that the Aprilia opens new horiz o ns for privateers and sa tellite race learns in terms of cha ssis setu p. . _ The Ohlins forks are very sensitive to ad justment, so you must onl y make small changes at a time, but these pa y .o ff just fine o n what is arguabl y th e fines t commercia lly available race fork of the present day. In street guise, trac tion out of tu rns and gri p in the middle of them was good - yo u can carry quite a lot of comer speed, thanks also to the Aprilia's Pire lli EVO Dragon tires, especially in th e new Corsa compound fitted as sta nd ard on the SP. The bike and th e tires compliment ea ch o ther very well , wh ich is more than I can say for the Brembo brakes fitted to th e SP . Th ese a re of th e same o vera ll packa ge as em p loyed o n th e RSVl OOO (cast s ta in less 320 m m discs a nd fourpiston ca li pers) , but in sp it e of using braid ed stee l hoses in their SP a p plicati on , just as o n th e M ille th ey didn ' t have the bite that I ex pected on a bi ke like this. The six- p iston Nissins o n th e M V Agusta ar e in a di ffer ent lea gue as far as~ ini tia l res ponse a nd overall stop pi ng p er formance a re co ncerned , and ditto fo r AP's six-pis to n brake packag e. Th e Brembos d idn't fade, but neither d id the y give the brak ing res po nse I'd have expect ed to b e e m p loyed on such a focu sed pa cka ge as the Mille SP - all of which m eant I end ed up u sing the Aprilia V-twcn's eng ine braking more th an I mi ght have ex pe cted . Thanks to the slip per clu tch, yo u can use quite a lot of rev s on th e over ru n to slow yo u down. H ow ever, you wo n' t get the back wheel .hopping if yo u do so . The inertia of tho se big pi stons' rev er se loads w ill send th e SP snaking into a turn if you . overdo it - probab ly a healthy reminder not to buzz the en gin e and flash the red sh ifter light too en th usiastica lly as yo u do so, be cause this is not a Desma (and nor has it got the pn eumatic valve con trol th an Piccini says would be needed for revs mu ch over 12 ,500 rpm o n a va lve-spri ng eng ine w it h p ist ons th is big ). Th us yo u need to w at ch th at yo u don' t ge t too eager on th e engine braking, and risk bending a va lve. , But at the end of the da y what matters her e is that Apri lia has confirmed th eir en try into m ot orcyclin g' s Ma jor Leagues by developing a bike w hich is a rg u ably th e m ost sophisticated, m ost ad justable su pe rbi ke currently avail able to th e public - in terms of it s multiad jus tability and pe rformance potential. Now, just as with th e R7 Yamaha, it'll be an interesting qu estion how many of the SP 's p lanned ISO-bik e production run (w hich Aprilia insists will no t be extend.i!d.) will end up on the str eet rather than the rac e track. We 'll ha ve to wait and see. . Sorry, but the answer has to be no. The SP Mi lle is a bike that will offe r mi nimal extra satisfaction for the sp ortbike s tree t custom er, com pa red to th e stock RSV, beyond the look-at-me fact~r. But w hat it will d o is give Joe Avera g e a chance to go s u p e r b ike racing com p etitively, in a w ay th at so far only Ducati has done and Yamaha P,T0mises to d o, once th ey g et the ·R7 sorted au t. CN f '. 'th Beirer Volland Vuillem in B rown Tortelli Hughes Bolley Albertyn Bervoets Everts Reynard Ward Pichon Roy Kolkeda GATES OPEN Thurs. 12 Noon SUNDAY Practice . . 9:30 Qualifiers . 10:30 Races . . . . 1:30 Adults - $20 Children - $5 (Advance Tickets) No Sellouts l UlIJ 1§:I,].#g.li!Uii WISECD ~YfflfJ rIB ~~'l!. 1 SAVE $5.00 ON ALL ADVANCE TICKETS FRI., SAT., &SUN. (AI Gate) . . Adults $50 • Children $25 SAT. & SUN. (AIGale) (At Gate) Adults $40 • Children $20 .. Adults $25 ·Children $10 NO ONE DA Y FRIDA Y OR SATURDA Y TICKETS. NO EXCEPTIONS For all advance tickets, subtract $5.00 for each ticket and please indicate which tickets you want! Include a self-address stamped envelope, all orders must be post-marked by Aug. 28th. (Please donot includecamp ingorpitpasslees.) - SUNDAY ONLY CHILDREN AGE 6 TO 12, AGE 5 AND UNDER FREE Mail Check or MoneyOrder & SASE Budds Creek Ticket Sales P. O. Box 156, Leonardtown, MD 20650 FULL AMATEUR WEEKEND PROGRAM - FRI. - Amateur & GP PracticeoFRI. - Nite MX oSAT.- Amateur Day on ProTrack oSAT.- Hare Scrambles & SAT. - Nite MX 1ream earnedHondapoints KurtisIn Erion rider Roberts the lead the Sunoco Formu la Xtreme series by riding smoothly and consistently In the heat of battle. He us es Ohlins Superbike Forks and a n Ohllns shock absorber to keep his motorcycle in control and a head of the pack. The superior performance of Ohllns helps Kurtis use his riding ta lent to stay ahead of the competition. Ohlins shocks have captured more than 60 World Championships. Their superior design gives the rider max imum traction, handling, comfort and safety. en en en TRACTION, HANDLING , COMFORT AND SAFm ~I ·" _ I O_ ~ n:CNOIOl..OQY 25

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