VOLUME 58 ISSUE 21 MAY 25, 2021 P91
crease from 5000 to 8000 rpm, right where
you'll spend most of your time on the street
and right where manufacturers like Honda
and BMW got so hurt with their Euro5
emissions performance block.
At Laguna Seca for our track version
of this test, the new motor absolutely wailed
along. It made America's most famous
racing venue feel a bit like a high-speed
carpark, and due to the tall street gearing I
didn't get the motor past about three-quar-
ters of its rev range in fourth gear.
There's so much power on tap (it has to
be a real-world 195-ish horsepower by my
finely tuned butt dyno), but rather than the
overall power number being impressive, it's
the silky-smooth delivery that grabs your
attention.
The revised motor utilizes new twin 48mm
throttle bodies, fuel injectors, new ECU and
revised throttle maps via the Aprilia Perfor-
mance Ride Control (APRC) suite to deliver
the power to the rider on a silver platter by a
butler with one arm behind his back. "Would
sir like a little more?" Why, yes. Yes I would.
The delivery of forward momentum is
impressive, but you must continue to remain
vigilant, because there's so much power on
Wings. If you got
a SBK in 2021,
you need them.
hand you get shoved into your near future with in-
credible force and clicking up through the gearbox
to keep the fun going on the sublime new quick-
shifter (Aprilia Quick Shift) is pure sex as you flash
under the bridge at Laguna Seca.
When you transition to the road, that smooth
delivery is, once again, evident. Running predomi-
nately in the Sport mode, the throttle is so gentle
on initial opening I actually stalled twice. You must
keep the revs up (the tall gearing wouldn't have
helped, either) leaving the lights, but once you're
flowing through roads like where we photographed
the bike in Big Bear, California, the RSV4 provides
Ohlins NIX fork fiddled
by Ohlins Smart EC2
suspension software.
On the road, it's damn-
near perfect.
