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/128108
2 0 0 1 Aprilia ETV1000 Caponord (Left) The Caponord's forgedaluminum rims are made by Be hr in Germany and are lace d to the hub by a patented externalnipple de sign. Metzeler Tourance t ires offer good grip on or off the road. (Right) Twin pipes exit high up below the rear seat an d luggage- attachm ent point - Aprilla offers a w ide variety of optional lugga ge for the Ca po nord . those sticky Metzeler Tou ra nce tires, sa ys proj e ct le a d e r Albe rto Alberti , though it is available as an option : the long he ro ta bs on the com paratively well-set-back footpegs already ground out fairly eas ily a s a n early warn ing system . Th e we ll-padded seat has a small but pron ounced bu mpad to the ope rato r' s p o rt io n th at a dds to th e comfort, while the passenger section is detachab le BMW-st yle - to a llow lug ga ge to be st rapped abo a rd us ing any of th e sev eral clip -o n poin ts . And ' that's witho ut fitting a ny o f the wide ran ge of option al luggage, from tan k bag to top bo x , a va ilab le fro m t h e Aprilia a fterm a rket c ata log . Th e widespre a d ha ndle bars giv e good lev era ge for tight turn s - and are pull ed ba c k jus t enoug h to d elive r a c om forta ble stance , which is uprig ht enough not to be fat igu ing on a lon g run , ye t slightly inc lined fo rwa rd for reasonabl e a erodynam ic s , aboard a bike yo u get the impression of s itt ing in rather than on . And to help m a ke it feel slim as well as low (ish) , the twin chass is spa rs of the Caponor d's a lloy, frame are waisted inwar d at the rear to deliv e r an impress ion of na rrowness which belies the broad sweep of that wide- nosed , protective fa iring, surmounted by the ta ll, s haped sc reen. Not qu ite tall e no ug h for me, tho ugh : at the 87 mph cruis ing s peed which is the Ca pon ord 's re la xed free wa y c ruisi ng ga it, the wind noise fro m m y hel met wa s q uite pro n o unce d until I s lum ped a couple of inches furth er down in m y s e at - when it sto p ped. That may have lost me one whole m ile per ho u r in to p speed (see The fro nt ri m measures 19 Inch es In diameter and ha s a 110/80-19 M etzeler Tourance tire. The Caponord won't be mistaken for anything other th an an Apri lla, with a strong family resemblence to the RST 1000 Futura and SL 1000 Falco. 14 JUN E 13, 200 1 • cue I e ne""s Alberti interview), but doing 13 5 mph in st ead of 13 6 mil e p er hour is a penal ty worth pa ying fo r a qu ieter rid e with less wind bu ffeting . Aprilia ne eds to allo w its cu stomers to speci fy a two-in ch ta lle r sc re en option at de live ry. Do tha t, a nd I bet th e m ajor ity of thei r ETV cl ients in north ern Euro pe a nd the USA will all select it. Bu t a t le a s t the Caponord is c o m plete ly sta ble a t high tou ring s peeds , with not a we av e or a wiggle from th e high -s et h andlebars even at to n -u p speeds, and wit h a 19-i n c h fro n t wheel. Sorted. Pausing onl y to note tha t Aprilia 's c hosen m us ical a c c ompanim ent for the Ca pono rd press la unch wa s Lou Reed 's cros s -dressing a nthe m 'Take a Walk on th e Wild Side,' the ETVI000 re ally do e s de live r th e best o f both wor lds in re a l-world ridi ng . Cru is inq do wn the Autostra da at ton -up sp eeds, it fee ls sta ble a nd plan ted , yet ge t to the twisty stuff a nd it' s de ba ta ble that a more pote nt RSV Mille is a ny qu icke r a ride a long a winding country road than t h e Caponord , tha nks t o the grea t le ve ra g e from tho se wid e ' ba rs, th e st a ble s us pens ion res ponse from th e non-adjustable forks , and the ease with which wha t is after all qu ite a big bike with c o nservative ste e ring ge ometry can be flicked from s ide to side practi cally as e asily as a Supersp ort 600. And the Aprilia is sta ble when you brake hard into a turn with the bike lea ne d over - th ere 's no tendenc y to sit up an d un de rsteer s trai ght a head . It's controllab le a nd respons ive , with great grip fro m th e Touran ce tires . But th en when yo u spo t an inviting looking dirt track lead ing up to an old worl d vil lage lo ok in g o u t ov er th e cone -s haped E u ga ne i h ill s , the Caponord ca n be po inted along it with im punity - especially after yo u take a couple of seconds to soften up the re ar shoc k via the c o nve nie nt hyd raulic pre lo ad adjuster kno b. The key to this is not on ly th e ETV's all-around ca pe'b il ity , but a lso Apr ilia's choice of tires : unlike, for example, the sportbike Met zeler MEZ4 rubber fitted as stock to the Cagi va Navigator, th e Caponor d's Tou rance cove rs from the same m an ufacturer are infinitely better suited to loose surfaces and rough terrain. This makes even an occasional dirt rider feel in charge of things, and gives him the confidence to go off-road on the Ap rilia wh ere he m ight think twice about doing so on another bik e . It's tru ly a 'm oto totale' - not 'jus t' a tarmac trailie. The only com promise this off-road as suredn ess seems to inflict on the Caponord's pavement pot enti al is the lack of se rious bite fro m th e Brembo brak es. The 3 00 m m twin front d isc s are probably good eno ugh, but they're onl y gripped by a pa ir of two -p iston calipers - a mistake for highw ay use, as far as I'm con cerned. Ev en riding solo , I had t o us e th e la rg is h re a r brake qu ite hard to obta in meaningful stopping pow er , a nd I'm not su re that, two-up with lu g g a g e , the re ar e the rese rves of braking needed to allow you to sto p hard enough to avoid yet another instance of the Balkan States Rollerball derby now being played out daily on Italian freeway s as a postscript to former Yugosl av ia, when a Macedonian truc k pulls out without signals to pass an even heavier loaded Croatian one en route to the next hard currency drop off. With a speed differential of what seems even less than 1 mph , it usually takes several m iles before one East European tru c k passes the other (fortunately, it's pretty flat ar ou nd Venice, so no hills to knock ba ck momentum!) - but then the time has come for you to c rack open the Caponord 's light, precise th rottl e, notch back a c ouple of ge a rs on the fa ultless ge ar sh ift, and let 'er rip . Th e re ' s' a muted murmu r fro m th e tw in ex hausts · th e ETV's e ngine n o t e is qu iet e no ug h to b e ano n y mo us , so th e Gree ns will be happy - as th e Capon ord settles slightly on its rear Sachs shock (which even solo, without luggage, needed qu ite a lot of spring preload for be st co m plia nce ) and tak es off. The sa m e all sing ing dash package as the Futura is fitted here, and in no tim e the speedo nee dle is b a c k w here it seems to belong on freeways , around th e 85 -