bu m py off-ca m be r co rne r . It k eep s
yo ur sen ses sharp, to say th e least.
Th e bi k e that we ro de was the RSV
10 0 0 R Fa c t o r y , which essen ti a lly
repl ac es the "R " and "SP " ver sions of
the bike . T he normal version is now
called the RSV 1000 R. The diffe r ences betw een the two bikes are fair ly significant in terms of co m pone nts ,
but th e m ot or s are exactly the sam e.
The biggest difference is the use of
O b li n s forks . shock a n d stee ring
dam per, but also key is th e use of the
rad ial -m o u nted Brembo m onobl ock
ca lipe rs, and lots of ca rbon fiber.
Th e Mu g e l l o t r ac k isn 't the
sm ooth est tra ck th at I' v e ev er been
o n, but it's a gre at tra ck no netheless,
better tha n almost anyth ing else in
Ame rica . T he Ohlins su spe nsion o n
the RSV is absolutely wo nde rf ul , deal in g with all of th e ripples and bumps
w i th e a s e . I wa s part icular l y
imp r esse d w ith the
bike's co m pos u r e
fro nt turn in di c at o rs, w hic h ar e inte g ra te d in t o t h e m ir r o r s. All of t h is
allowe d th e desig ne rs to kee p t he
sides of the fairin g to tally devoid o f
clutter. I'll say it now, so that I don't
get accused of ig nori ng th e fact, but
the fron t o f th e fa ir in g lo o k s rea ll y
familiar, l ik e , say, so mething tha t
Kurtis Rob erts , Miguel DuHamel an d
Ben Bostro m pilot around o ur A rnerican racet rack s...
MUG ELLO,
TH E MILLE ANO ME
Ok ay , so I never hit any thing close to
206 mph - li ke I need ed to tell yo u
th at. But t he Mug ell o t r ack is an
absol ute bl ast t o ride o n. The track
has a bit of eve ry thing from the afore m e n ti o n e d bli ndi ng ly fas t fron t
str aightaway t o the sec on d -gear hair pin turn o ne . Th ere' s nothing q uite
li ke sitti ng up from th e t o p o f fifth
g ear, banging three back sh ifts and
se ttling d o wn into a
(Ab ove) The a ll-new 2 004
Apri lia RSV 10 0 0 R Factory
on t he Muge llo pit la ne.
(Right) The new M ille offers
unparalleled stabili ty in th e
fast stuff.
cue
I
EO
n
EO
vv
S
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S EP T EM B ER 3 ,
2003
33
