P88
RIDE REVIEW I 2021 APRILIA RSV4/RSV4 FACTORY
I
'll never forget the first time I wound
the twist grip on an RSV4 all the way
to the stop. It was on a deserted
coastal road about half an hour south of
the Sydney CBD, the 999cc V4 roaring
one of the meanest, sweetest sounds
my ears had ever taken in.
That was in 2009, which, at the
time, meant the Aprilia was the only V4
superbike you could buy. It sounded
like nothing else on the road and went
faster than everything else, the sound
wrapped in this tiny chassis and sus-
pended by gold Ohlins front and rear.
The black and red beast was the ulti-
mate superbike vessel all those years
ago, and I can't help feel that history is
repeating itself in 2021.
The RSV4 and its higher spec RSV4
Factory have always been considered
gems of the superbike genre. It's fair
to say Aprilia has never made a bad
RSV4, that's because the motorcycle
is a continual evolution of that original
that blew my then 25-year-old eyes
wide open in the back roads of Sydney.
The 2021 duo are cut from the same
cloth, although this iteration is like
that 2009 RSV4 went to the gym for a
decade, ate perfectly and didn't drink.
BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LARRY CHEN, KIT PALMER
BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK
CROWNJEWELS
