2001 Aprilia ETV1000 Caponord
B y ALAN CATH CART
»s:
P HOTOS BY K YOI CHI N AKAM URA
has stepped up the pace in
expa nd ing its fast -growing street
range of one-liter. 60-degree V-twins, a
line up that now encompasses four dis tinctly different chassis designs - each
s pecifically tailored to the needs of its
target market. The latest to join the
fra y is the ETVIOOO Caponord ,
designed as a multi -purpose motorcycle with genuine off-road credentials.
As t hey near completion of their
1000c c twin -cylinder fam ily (s urprising ly, only the Monster-esque naked
bike still re m ains, before they start out
on the 750cc kid s iste r spin-offs , with
th e RSV750 Supe rsport contende r first
up ). there 's a case for say ing that
Aprilia 's engi neers have ke pt the best
until last. That's the inescapable co nclusion after my long day (a nd part of
the nightl) a boa rd the Ca ponord in all
kinds of conditio ns from a downpour
to spring su ns hin e, ove r e very type of
road fro m Auto s trada to a mounta in
pass, as well as a good few mile s on
d irt trails runni ng thro ugh the vine -
12
..JUNE 13.2001 •
cue
I
..
n
eVIl'
s
ya rds of the Colli Eug a nei hill country
so uthwest of Venice .
It takes only a few fast miles of free wa y tra vel , bra c ke te d by a d um bed down d awdlin g along traffic -choked
single-lane highways to get to the tollgate e ntra nce, and a s inuous s p rint
along wind ing hills ide roads at the
other end . to realize that Aprilia has
gotten it right. They've resolved every
single criticism I could dredge up to
le ve l at the ETV 's already pretty
damned competent RSTIOOO Futura
sister. let alone prev ious models more
openly flawed , like the SLI 000 Falco.
The Caponord is that motojoumal ist's nightmare: a bike that's so we ll
co nceived a nd even better ex ecute d
th at it's p ra ct ic a lly beyo nd criticis m
with in the co nte xt of th e m a rket it's
tailored to - especially in d irect compa rison t o its s everal c o m pet ito rs,
wheth e r from Ho n da a nd J apa n , o r
BMW. Triumph, Cag iva , Moto Guzzi or
e ven Voxan from the Eu ro -Ieague s .
Okay, the re ar e s ubjective e lem e nt s
like the sty ling, which may not a ppeal
to everyone ' s taste {although, I ha p-
