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/128159
Aprilia Tuana By ALAN CATHCART PHOTOS BY ALESSIO BARBANTI AND MATTEO CAVADINI rrom concept to customer in just T six months is a pretty steep development path for any new streetbike. But that's just how little time it has taken Aprilia to get their longawaited V-twin contender in the flourishing Naked-streetrod class into production. Launched at the Bologna Motor Show last December, just five weeks after project leader Klaus Nennewitz and his team were given the goahead by company management to come up with the new model, the ApriUa Tuono ("thunder" in ItaUan) began hand-built production on May 15 in the company's Scorze factory. To begin with, the run will consist of just a single, limited-edition batch of 200 high-end, individually numbered bikes, each replete with carbon-fiber, titanium and Kevlar components, and costing the not inconsiderable sum of Euro 15,000 ($14,000) worldwide plus appropriate local taxes (and shipping, in the case of anywhere outside Europe). But that does include a titanium racing exhaust can ('for track use only' - yeah, yeah ... I) and the EPROM chip to retune the Nippondenso EFI to suit, but given that a desmoquattro S4 Ducati Monster the bike Aprilia is most apparently targeting with its new RSV Mille Rbased streetrod - comes in at Euro 11,750 ($11,000) in Italy, you might conclude this is a hefty premium to pay to have Aprilia strip all the bodywork off its highest-performance V-twin sportbike, then bolt on a lot of handmade hyperparts to pretty up the result and make it look exclusive. Less cannot surely be more right? Well, not until you sling a leg over Tuono #007 and blat away Bond-like down the switchback mountain road leading away from the magnificent period manor house perched on a Tuscan hillside in whose stables Nennewitz & Co. have been fettling the handful of Tuonos they've arranged for a small number of journalists to ride before commencing deliveries. After the first half a mile, you're already smiling - but double that distance and now you're laughing out loud inside your helmet: this is an immediately addictive motorcycle which is hugely pleasurable to ride, and undoubtedly sets new dynamic standards in the streetrod class. 38 JUNE 19, 2002' cue • • (Above) Sir Alan In the twlstles: The author thought that the Aprilla Tuono's combination of a 130-hp powerplant and motocross-type 'bars makes shooting canyons a lot of fun. There will only be 200 Individually numbered models made. (Left) Even If S 14,000 seems a bit stiff for a Naked sportblke, consider the fact that It's basically a stripped RSV Mille R Superblke - complete with adjustable Ohlins suspenders, Brembo brakes and a claimed dry weight under 400 pounds. The new Aprilia delivers Superbike lighter than the RSV - R it' 5 derived performance in streetfighter guise, so from). That's a lot of extra perfor- it is undoubtedly a more potent pack- mance, making for a more focused as age than the Ducati S4 Monster, itself essentially a stripped-down ST4 well as a more exciting bike to ride a fact which sets the Tuono apart sports tourer producing 101 hp and also from the more style-conscious scaling 425 pounds, against the Aprilia's 130 hp from a 398-pound 105-hp Cagiva Raptor, let alone the low-go Yamaha Bulldog and wacky- motorcycle (almost five pounds racer Buell S 1. n • ..., lIS Really, the only Naked-bike competitor the Tuono relates to is the latest Triumph Speed Triple with the 955i Daytona engine, because the one-liter members of the Honda Hornet (919) and Yamaha Fazer (FZ-1) clans are much bulkier, less potent and altogether more low-rent than the Aprilia - and the Triumph doesn't match up in terms of quality of suspension or braking. The project leader of the R&D team that worked wide open to produce the Tuono in such a short time span is 35-year-old, German-born development engineer and committed everyday biker Klaus Nennewitz, who before obtaining his degree in Bologna, worked for 18 months for ATK in the U.S. as both a rider and mechanic. Since joining Aprilia in 1995, he's headed up development of first the Pegaso single, then the Falco and now Tuono V-twin models.