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 1000 R Factory RS VJ Tburin~ Tlte Aprilia'. hometown. E irtltptJt~e The coo lest th in g abou t our trip to Italy was th at we were give n th e opportunity to visit the Aprilia factory in Noa le and see RSVs being built. Okay. tha t's a li e - it wasn 't as cool as rid ing at Mugello, but it was defi ni tely the second-coolest thing we did . Touring the factory tells a lot about Ivano Beggio and his com pany Aprili a. Not only was I very impressed by th e facility in No ale, just a few hours from Mug ello, but I was impressed by the aura aro und the place. It is quite obv ious when you walk behind th e gates tha t the people working at the fa ctory hav e the sam e passion for the products th ey produce as does Begg io himself. Th ere is an inte nse sense of pride in the air. The first pl ace that we had th e opportunity to visit was th e assembly line for the RSV 1000 R, wh ile on adj oin ing assem bly lines everything from scooters to 50 cc T uanos were being assem bled. Aprilia prod uc es 1000 two wheelers a day, 800 of which are scooters , with th e rest being m otorcy cl es. Pretty im pressive nu mbers, bu t it shou ldn 't come as a surprise, as Ap ril ia is Europ e's second-largest m otorcycl e ma nufacturer beh ind Piaggio . Th e motors for the RSV are designed by Aprilia but built by an outside co ntracto r. They co m e crated and ready to dro p into the frame. The bikes roll down an assem bly line and are built by hu mans, not robots . As a matter of fact, I'm sure tha t you guys out th ere would lo ve to know th at at least three or four bab es were assembling RSVs as we to ured the pl ace . Whic h go t a couple of us thinking abo ut doing th e "Girls of the Aprilia Assembly Line" calendar. What do you th ink ? From th ere the bikes go to quality con trol where the bikes not onl y hav e to be inspected for a long list of requirements, but they also do a couple of pulls on the dyno to make sure the m otors are up to par. Then they are sent up an elevator and across a conveyor belt that is enclosed in a transparent tub e on the roof (visible from the road) and moved to the building next doo r where th ey are pac ka ged and crated for shi pping . The next buil ding that we toured was th e factory race shop a few miles down the roa d and adj ace nt to A pri lia's design center. The Factory MotoG P team as well as all of the 250 and 125cc Grand Prix bikes are built and operated out of this shop. Th e hig hlight in the race shop was gett ing to see Colin Ed wards' MotoGP bik e being work ed on rig ht in front of us . The race team is in -house, th e motors are bu ilt, tested, and run on the dy no on the premises, and the chass is, bodywork, and pretty much everythi ng else is m ad e right there . It's really im pressive. The next stop , just adj acent to the race sho p, was th e testing facility for the pro ductio n bikes. Everything from hydraulic pr esses try ing to break frame s to ro lling road simulators that put a bike through hell for 40 ,000 kilometers nonstop were in the amazingly clea n test areas. Our final stop of th e tour was in the A prili a design cent er, where future products of Aprilia , Moto Guzzi and Lav erd a are pen ned. Th is was the one pl ace tha t we weren 't met with ope n arms, at least by th e design ers, who seeme d qu it e nervous by our pre senc e. Luck y for us, our chaper one was non e oth er tha n An drea Strassera, Aprilia's styling [. innovation pr od uct director (read, big wig). Photos weren 't allowed in this area, and a lot of th e bik es in the model shop were covered for our visit, but it loo ks like there is a lo t in the wo rks fro m th e co mpany over the next cou ple of years . When the tour was over, I left No ale wi th a keen understand ing of Ap ri lia. It' s not j ust a com pany doing busi ness to make hordes of m oney , but more a company pas siona tely makin g m otorcycl es. Th e town of Noale lives and breath es motorcycles, and those are j ust the kind of peo p le I wou ld like building m y bike. She probably bu ilt the bike you 're go ing to buy. How hot i. that? - 36 S EPTEMBER 3 . 2003 ' C II c I e nuvvs (Above) Grand Prix bike. in t he ra ce department lobby. CCeft) A Pegaso going through 40,000 kil omet ers of testing on the rolling-road dyno. (Right) RSV bodywork waiting to be fitted.