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"We've been thinking about a naked bike in Aprilia for a long time," admits Nennewitz, "but after a few false starts we only began focusing on creating the Tuono right at the end of October last year, as a way of opening up a new market for such bikes, by building something nobody else offers. We already knew what the general layout should be, so it was just a styling issue to get the prototype ready for the Bologna Show five weeks later - and one of our in -house designers, Giuseppe Ricciuti, who produced the RSV Mille range as well as the RS250 and the Scarabeo, worked flat out to get the job done. When we looked at the finished bike, it was as if you could hear a clap of thunder - it just looked right, so that's why we gave it that name!" To create the Tuono, the team took the top-of-the-line RSV Mille R sportbike and stripped the bodywork off it, retaining the same essential engine and rolling chassis package, complete with top-spec 02 wheels, Brembo brakes and fully adjustable Ohlins suspension front and rear. This, incidentally, explains why the Tuono could be fast-forwarded into production so quickly, since unlike the Caponord-based Mana (coming next year, which made its debut at the same time but will not only require mass-production tooling which takes longer to gear up for than a handmade product like the Tuono, but also different suspension and chassis dynamics to convert what started out life as a dual-purpose street enduro into a harder-edge streetrod), the Tuono retains the essential chassis dynamics of the RSV-R - just with the aluminum twinspar frame and strutted swingarm painted gold to simulate an anodized finish, and a beefier, 70mm-wider, one-piece, MX-style handlebar tapered down to 22mm diameter to accept a standard RSV-R twistgrip. The handlebar is mounted on a 170mm-tall aluminum riser made from a solid billet of Ergal and bolted to the upper triple clamp, which though special to the Tuono retains the stock offset of the RSV-R, delivering 99mm of trail matched to a 25degree head angle. This smartened-up chassis package has been clothed by Ricciuti in bodywork styling which, says Klaus Nennewitz, was deliberately uncompromising. "We wanted to create a meanlooking, aggressive, streetfighting Superbike which still retained the Aprilia family look, but where the quality of the materials also shone through. I think we succeeded in that - but this is firstly why the bike is only available in one color, and has many unpainted carbon-fiber parts handmade here in Italy, each with the bike's individual build number molded into them - and also why we chose to mount a small fairing, which promotes improved stability at top speed. This bike will run to 155 mph on the same 17/42 gearing as the RSV-R, and without some protection the rider has to hold on too tight to optimize stability." So the small nose fairing incorporates Aprilia's trademark triple-headlamp light cluster and has a domed screen that is a little higher than the one on the RSV-R's full fairing. Together with the carefully angled flanks of the mini-fairing, this deflects quite a lot of air from your upper body, meaning that only above 125 mph do you start to worry about getting blown off the back. Matched to this are various bolt-on carbon parts such as a chin fairing which also, says Nennewitz, helps to extract hot air from the oil cooler which it embraces, a chain guard, and both water-radiator sideguards and extraction ducts. There are also two hefty-looking, endurance-style, plastic crash protectors on either side, to help protect all this costly stuff in the event of a get-off, says Klaus: "We wanted to save our customers money in case the bike slides on its side," he says. How thoughtful - but there again, Aprilia did make its projected parts profit up front, in the purchase price. This happy blend of Superbike engine performance and a top-line streetfighter handling package resulted in one of the most enjoyable days I've spent on a bike in the past year, carving turns in one of Italy's premier roads, the Passo del Muraglione running between Forli and Florence across the top of the country's central spine of Appenine mountains. Oneand-a-half fills of the Tuono's 4.7gallon fuel tank delivered a memorable appraisal of Aprilia's feat in producing a Naked sportbike like no other - one that's a satisfying thrill to ride along such a tight, twisty, It took a mere five weeks to design the Tuono - but It definitely doesn't look like a rush job. Many of the carbon·fiber parts are handmade. demanding road with switchback hairpin turns, interspersed with third and fourth gear zaps down the next short straight, before standing on the benchmark Brembo brakes (infinitely more usable and dynamically more predictable than the same company's snatchy all-or-nothing radial package mounted to the latest 998R Ducati sportbikes) to trailbrake into the next bend. It's all done with a degree of total control that seems at odds with the Tuono's upright riding position and "Captain Sensible" riding stance. A key factor in this, though, is the good leverage you get from the onepiece enduro-style handlebar, which together with the stock RSV-R footrests delivers a fantastic riding position, not overly upright but with the grips pulled back to deliver a sporting stance that in a 250-mile day proved extremely comfortable, even at speeds of up to 125 mph. Anything over that, you do get blown about a fair bit, as I said before - but one advantage of the higher bars is that you no longer have to wrap your arms around the stock Mille R fuel tank, which consequently seems a lot slimmer than on the repli-racer it came from, with your knees snuggled in nicely to the cutout flanks. This, in turn, makes the unfaired Tuono seem considerably slimmer and less porky than any RSV Mille, and indeed ground clearance with the higher RSV - R footrests is excellent. I tried pretty hard to use the great grip from the Pirelli Dragon Super Corsas to touch something down, but came up short even hanging off the Tuono in a cue I • way nobody is ever likely to ride it in real-world road use. The seat height is the same as the RSV-R, at 820mm, so you need to be fairly tall to sling a leg over easily, but the seat itself is all-new, with carbon-Kevlar pad covers which provide extra grip if you're riding in jeans, less so in leathers. According to some riders, this means you tend to have your precious bodily parts sliding downhill toward the back of the tank unless, like me, you tend to sit slightly to one side in anticipation of transferring body weight ready for the next turn. It's worth noting too that the kickstand is easy to pull out while sitting on the bike, and is exactly the right length, plus the mirrors don't vibrate and give a reasonable view behind you - though, even with the long stalks they're mounted on, it's not as good as if they were rectangular rather than round ... it's hard to see much past your shoulders. While on the subject of niggles, it's hard to read the red digits on the analog tachometer easily in sunlight, though since the infocenter dash is transplanted directly from the RSV Mille range, they've probably heard that before at Aprilia. Oh - and the hydraulic clutch is a little stiff, even if there's a smooth pickup through the adjustable lever as you drive out of a slow turn. And it's surprising you have to use a manual choke on a fuel-injected motorcycle - see, now we really are nit-picking. The Tuono's 998cc dry-sump engine offers the highest state of tune of any of Aprilia's longer-stroke 97 x 67.5mm, 60-degree V-twin, eightvalve motors (the short-stroke 100bore SP engine in Nori-chan's World Superbike racer is a homologation special), and has the exact same mechanical specification as the RSVR, so produces 130 hp at 9500 rpm, with peak torque of 10.3 kgm (101 Nm) at 7250 rpm. The Nippondenso EFI retains the same 51mm throttle bodies and dual ignition, but has been revamped to deliver more lowend and midrange torque, via a shorter intake length and corresponding remapping of the engine-management system. The result is a smoother pickup low down than on the Mille R, though with the performance camshafts which are installed you need to use the slick-shifting gearbox that just asks for clutch less upward changes to keep the Tuono revving above 4000 rpm, in order to produce impressive acceleration that will have the front wheel hovering above the ground as you gas it wide open exiting one of the Muraglioni's testing turns, then staying there all the way down the next short straight, before you think about turning in to the next hairpin bend. Above four grand, there's no undue transmission snatch or engine vibration, and the twin counterbalancers do a good job of smoothing things out at higher revs, while the balance weights mounted at either n • _ S • JUNE 19, 2002 39