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/128230
- - - - - - - _.. _ - - -._-- -_- - - - - - - - - - - _-. ._ _ - 2004 Aprilia RSV 10 0 0 R Factoryu nd er br a kin g , w hich was just amazing. Getting the b ike h a u le d down fo r turn o ne cou ld be a bit o f a h andfu l on a b ike with s ubpar suspension , bu t the RSV was excelle nt, le tt in g m e kn,?w e xactly w hat the fro nt t ire was doi ng . Mug e llo has plenty of fast sweep ers w he re yo u are lea ne d over for ex te n de d p eri o d s o f tim e . Th e C a sanova swee pi ng d ownhill rig h th ander th a t leads into th e Save lli lefth ander is p robably th e coo lest sectio n o n th e tra ck in m y o p inion, bu t it is probably the bumpie st sectio n as we ll. Th e RSV wasn ' t both e red mu ch at all, The RS V motor is bas ed on the previous bike 's powe rplant, but so m uch h a s bee n chang ed that it has to be ca lled all-new. The motor is ca lled the "V60 Ma gnes ium ," due to the magne sium val v e c overs a nd th e clutch cover . The cylinder heads have been co mpletely redesign ed for 2004 , Ther e is mor e sq uish betwe en the int a ke and ex ha ust val ve s, which has allowed the bike to obtain the bes t co mbus tion efficiency wit h a s ingle spark mainta ining its com posure a t all t im es , allow ing me t o get o n th e th r ottl e hard for the fast u p hill sequ ence of Arrabbia ta 1 and Arrab biata 2 . One th ing t h a t was intere sting is th a t the bike initiates the turn fairly quickly , a lot of wh ic h is enhanced by t he lightweig ht, fo rge d al u min u m wh e el s , whi ch re d uc e t he re ciprocating mass s u bsta ntia lly . But th en the b ike is a littl e reluctant to keep tig ht e nin g t he line mi dco rner; it' s not like it wa nts to ru n wid e or a ny t hi ng , but it ju st isn 't as re spons ive a s I want ed it t o b e in th e bases . The intak e ducts have been comp let ely redesig ne d to match t he new throttl e bodies, a llow_ing a stra ighter shot into the com bu stion c ha m be r fo r improved efficiency. On e o f th e key visual and performan ce -r elated featu res on the RSV is th e ne w ce nter-loc a ted intake air runner. Th e air runner is The dry su mp, 60degree, 997.62cc V-twin is lighter and more powerful for 2004. pl ug. The hea ds ha ve also a llowed the cooling passages arou nd the co mb ustion cham bers to be optimized to further improve cooling effi ciency. The V-60 m agn es ium dry s u m p motor fe a tu re s new camshafts and valve springs in th e cy linder heads , while the lu brica tio n pass a ge s in th e cy li nder heads have be en redesigned for impro ved re liabil ity a nd als o to redu c e power-robbing vis cou s drag . Driving the double ove rhe a d c a m s h a fts is a hybr id gea r/ cha in syst em , whi ch helps redu ce the space occ upied in the heads by placing two gears (one for ea ch hea d) The heads have been completely redesigned for 2004. 34 S EPTEMBER 3 . 2003 ' cue I e n e vv s locat ed in the middle , where the dynamic pressure is the greates t. Flow is controlled by a servo-controlled flap per valve , whic h opens at 700 0 rpm when the throttle is ope ned a bove 3 0 pe rce nt. The duct passes through the headstock of the fram e for a direct shot into the 10.3 -liter airbox. Air then passes through a flat pa nel, high -flow a ir fllte r and into the new 57mm throttle bodies. The throttle bodies feature a single injector each, and with the added pressure from the ram-air forced airbox, Aprilia claims a three -pe rcent increase in power at the top of its rev -range. Taking ca re of the electronics is a new 16 -bit Siem ens VDO ECU (electronic co ntrol unit), which rece ives informa tion from 15 different sensors via a CAN (control area network) line system, with se nso rs for water and air temperature. atmospheric, airbox and oil press ures , lambda se nso r, pos ition se nso rs for the drivesh aft, camshafts, throttle a nd rear wheel , and so on and so forth. The exhaust system is a llnew and featu res twin silencers for th e first time. The system features a two-int o -on e-into-two la yo ut m a d e fro m stai nless steel. Th e silencers themselves a re made from stainle ss stee l a nd house th e three-way cata lytic c on ve rt ers with la m bda sensors fitt ed meeting all cur- rent U.S . and European em issions standards. Putt ing th e pow e r to th e ground is the close ratio gearbox, allowing op tima l spacing between shifts for the best pos - The 10 .3-liter alrboll is now forc e -fe d by the new sible engi ne performan ce. a ir ru nne r ram-air Intake .