By AlAN
CATHCART
PHOTOS BY
MILAGRO/STEFANO GADDA
he benefits of Aprilia's integration less than a year ago
into the Piaggio two-wheeled
empire are already being felt,
with the introduction at the
Paris Show of a range of new models
rivaled only by Yamaha in terms of quantity and by nobody else in the kind of sporting charisma that has become the stock in
T
trade of the Italian manufacturer.
"Bike Me!" says the new Aprilia slogan.
launched at Gay Paree - and just three days
later, I was happy to oblige, as I became the
first person outside the Noale factory to
ride the new, considerably uprated Tuono
IOOOR (which had just been launched at
Paris) around the Dolomite Mountains
northwest of Aprilia's Veneto base. This is
the first member of the forthcoming newgeneration RSV Mille family to hit the
streets, after Aprilia engineers were given
the green light in January to fast-forward
the project by incoming CEO Leo
Mercanti, who identifies the Tuono as "the
product which most typifies
Aprilia."
At Euro 11,790 in Italy,
the new model is competitively priced for
the stripped-down Superbike it undoubtedly represents, complete with delete
option bodywork in a choice of three different color schemes - red, silver or black
- and with optional dual seat thrown in
free of charge. Moreover, the launch of
the new Tuono also underlines Aprilia's
commitment to the RSV Mille 60-degree
