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/128624
Troy Corser's Aprilia RSV Mille SP effi ci ent in ord er to produc e so much p o w er w ith such a relati vel y small sing le r ad , though th e o il coo l er ben eath it is quit e big . Cha ssis-wise, the Mille SP fo ll ow s in the short -s troke engi ne 's pa th of being ta ilored for racing , bu t in do ing so b rea k s new grou nd bo th on th e street and fo r an y Sup erb ik e ra cer. Chassis guru Ga et ano Co c c o - th e man responsible for each of A prili a's title-winning GP bikes - ha s produced a heavily -rev ised v ersion of the RS V I000 ' s aluminu m twin-spa r frame, w ith the V-twin engine loc ated 5mm h igh er than in the stock Mille, to fu rther compa ct the ma ss and redu ce the po lar movement, for more sta bl e, yet resp onsive steering. But just as on Aprilia 's GP two -strokes , the position of th e engine wi th in the cha ssis c an be altered to optimize weig ht distri bu tio n and handling - 5mm up or down . 2m m forwa rd or back . Th is , fo r exa m ple, avoids the prob le m tha t Hon da ha d to grapple with throug ho ut th e life of the fou r-cyli n der RC4 5 , in havi ng t he e n g i ne esse ntia Ily i n t h e w ro ng p l a c e for ideal handling, wi thout be ing able t o alter it without building another batch of streetbikes to re - homologate th e a ltered g eo met ry . In addition , wh il e 20 % stiff er than the stock Mill e fram e for the sam e weight, th e RC5 1 Super b ike ch assis has an adjustable pivot at the r ea r for the h eav il y br ac ed tw in -sid ed sw ing a rm . This us es an Oh lins shock, while up front th e rein forced st eering head all ows the fork angle to be altered one degree either si de of th e stock 24 .2-degree rake . The adjustable triple clamps housing the 42mm Ohl ins rac ing fork also allow trail t o be varied 6mm either sid e of th e st oc k 95mm setti ng, whil e at 1405 mm the sto ck whee lbase is quite contai ned for a big V -tw in th ou gh Co rse r's p reference fo r di fferen t c hassis geometry co m pa red t o Godd ard meant the team had to basi ca ll y th r o w a w a y a ll th e sett ing s th e y ' d acq uire d in ' 99, an d sta rt again . "To beg in wit h, we made consta nt chang es in test ing: says Bern ic ch ia, 24 A U G U ST 2 . 200 0 ยท eye I " es p e c i a ll y t he s w i n garm p ivot po sitio n an d rea r link. But no w we alt er it v er y litt l e f r o m track to o ne another - T r o y li kes a m o r e b ala nce d setup com pared to before , wi th a longer s wingarm , slightly wi der hea d angle , less offset and l o w er r ea r r ide height. B u t after we go t th e ri g h t setting for h im in testing for Mis ano , we o nly fi ne t u ne it for eac h trac k ." W hat Co cco h e r e on th e SP i s t o b r in g th e m u lti -adjusta b le chassis geometry of his rac e -w inn ing GP b i ke s to th e Sup erb ike grid : none of Aprilia ' s rivals off ers such a wide opportunity t o d ial in altern ative ch assis setu p, and that' s been refl ect ed in Co rser 's recen t perform ances. Thanks to copious us e of ca rb on fi be r, th e Aprilia presently weig hs in at 3 65 .2 pounds ha lf-dry , nearly nine p ou nds ov er th e World Sup e rbi k e minim um weight lim it . " But w e'r e wo r ki n g o n ge tti ng there! " ins ists Bern ic ch ia. "We' d li ke to ha ve the benefit of fitting an elec tric starter, li ke Ho nd a - t hey must have worked very hard to ma ke their bike lig ht eno ugh to aff ord this luxu ry. In fact, I th ink this is th e future of Sup erbik e racing - it should be co m pu lsor y to carry one ." Weig ht distributio n is ex cellen t by -tw i n sta n da rds, with a 54 /46 % V fro nta l bi as th at helps g lue th e front 16 .5 - inch Du nl o p t ire to t he track . like o ther Du n l o p runners , April ia use the fatter 16 .5 -inch ru bb er exclusively at both ends , and hav e warm .. n e vv s words f o r th e ir An gl o J apanese tire supplier's S up e r b i k e W orl d efforts thi s seas on . " D u n lo p h a s transfo r med th eir op erat ion the a ft er prob lem s we had in the first part of 1999 , " sa y s B e r nic chia. " Wi n t e r testing was ve ry positive , and no w e v e r y race we have co ns ta n t imp r o v e m en ts in tire p erfo r m an c e f ro m them as ev i de nce th a t th e y ' r e w o r k in g ve ry ha rd - it ca n be no coinc i de nc e t h at D u n l o p te am s h av e won twice as m any races thi s season as those of the other tire manufacturer. And there's no em p has is on benefiting either tw in -cylinde r o r f o ur cyli n d e r m a chines m ore than the other - th ey have the proven capabili t y to develop tires for both t yp es of Superbike." F o r stopp ing power , t he Ap r il ia uses 320mm Brembo t w in d isc s up front, gr ipped by the Ita lian firm 's letesi r ad iall y-mounted four -p iston cali pe rs. w hich appear to ha ve been cured o f t he probl em they h ad of lock ing on last seas on . The A pril ia i s quite the most vo lu ptu o us- loo k ing m ac hin e on the Superbike grid , a fact reflected in the bik e 's aerod y na mi c qualities - t he sto ck M ill e SP is th e fi rst street pro d u c t i o n m ot o r c ycl e t o br e a k t he benc hm ar k 0.30 C x bar ri er in w ind tun nel test ing. " Peo p le say it look s porky , bu t it doesn' t fee l tha t way when yo u ride it , and in fact we 've got it stee ri ng a li t tl e better tha n th e narrower Du c at i." says Co rse r. " I re c k on it' s a visu al (Above left) The man behind the bike. Team manager Fabrizio Guidotti (cente" stands behind his baby. (Above) The Mille uses a 42mm Ohlins fork and 320mm Brembo twin discs with the latest radially-mounted fourpiston ca lipers. (Left) The powerplant features a rather short stroke and was developed In conjunction w ith Cosworth. In th e future the team hopes to make the bike so that internal ge ar ratios can be changed. d e c e pt i o n caused b y the colo r sc heme, which makes it look w ide r than it reall y is, especiall y at the front. And for sure you can tuck away better beh ind the screen than on the Duk e, which prob ab ly explains wh y our top speed isn' t so bad whe n you even tual ly get th ere. It's to p -end acceleration th at 's our problem . eve n on th e Evobik e - midra nge is fine, wh ich is wh y it works so good on tighter track s. Wi th th at in mi nd, we had our wo rst thr ee ci rcui ts all togeth er in the fir st ha lf of the season - Sugo , wit h th e long , fast cl im b up the hill to the fin ish , Monza and Ho ck enheim . But now th e run-in t o the title is ov er tracks we c an be co m pe titiv e o n , so - we're in with a sho ut of the titl e!" G i u s e pp e B ern icch ia agr e es : "We're pushing every da y in the race team and at th e Apr il ia factor y towards championsh ip suc c e ss , because T ro y Co rser is absol ute ly a real champion , and we owe it to him to support h is c h a llen ge . He i s the dream rider for any tea m - able to win races through brave and sk ilful ridi ng . bu t ve ry clea r a n d pre c is e i n h is d ema nds fo r improveme n t of the bike . wh ich we 've wo rk ed hard to mod ify accord ing to his need s. He 's ve ry sens iti ve to setup , and ca pa ble of d eli ver ing excellent feedback - so tha t t he successful develo p ment of th e Aprili a V - t w in in t o a c ha m pio ns hi p co nte nder is not o nly d ue to o u r engi neer s and race m ech an ic s, but also to T roy him self, as an integral part of o ur Rf, D t eam . He's been the r ight ma n at the r i g h t t im e fo r Aprilia , and I ho pe we ca n del iver the world t itl e wi t h t he M ill e Super bik e CN tha t he undoubtedl y deserv es."