Not the prettiest
dash but it does the
job just fine.
P94
RIDE REVIEW I 2021 APRILIA RSV4/RSV4 FACTORY
Not the prettiest
dash but it does the
job just fine.
RIDE REVIEW RIDE REVIEW RIDE REVIEW I 2021 APRILIA RSV4/RSV4 FACTORY
the base RSV4 was beautifully composed
at Laguna and more predicable over the
course of a lap. Light, nimble and oh-so-
stable, the base RSV4 made for a com-
pelling argument when you consider the
$7000 price difference between the two if
all you were doing was racing/track days.
Once we switched the Factory into
Manual mode on the suspension, where
the semi-active element has been re-
moved and the suspension behaves like
traditional units, the Factory's performance
then shone through over the base. The
Factory comes with lighter wheels—the
single best performance upgrade you can
make in my book—and its increased side-
to-side agility over the base model came to
the fore. Initial turn- in took less effort, as
it did when plunging down the Corkscrew,
and when it came to riding the Factory
on the street, that's when the real value
shined through.
The Ohlins Smart EC2 electronic sus-
pension, when used on the street, is
brilliant in its application. The inconsisten-
cies encountered on the road surfaces
give the sparky Ohlins a distinct advantage
over conventional suspension, in much
the same way as the conventional suspen-
sion does over its electronic brethren on
the street. Being able to change modes on
the RSV4 Factory is easy thanks to a well
thought out user experience design. The
dash isn't the prettiest but Aprilia's done a
good job of getting all the required informa-
tion in there in an easy-to-read manner.
This is especially important on the road,
as you're more likely to require mode and
Even though the
rider triangle has
been opened up
and the screen
widened, Rennie's
shoulders still
couldn't fit
entirely behind
the bubble.
