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/717711
2016 APRILIA RSV4 RR TRACK TEST P94 Such a beautifully balanced chassis makes the Aprilia a demon on the brakes, and it's graced with some good ones. The front Brembo M430 radial Monobloc calipers have bucket loads of bite and feel. These aren't even the highest spec Brembos available, far from it, and I can't say I wanted for more around Laguna Seca. The Aprilia is a bike that doesn't like to be slid on corner entry, which is at odds with many of the current crop of 1000cc fours. The RR likes its wheels kept in line with not a lot of rear brake and you just letting that su- perb slipper clutch do its thing. Back the RR into a corner and the little chassis can begin to get away from you. You can feel the 250GP heritage line in the RR, and perhaps this is of little surprise given the man this bike was originally intended for, Max Biaggi, is a four-time 250GP World Champion. The linear feel of the chassis is complimented superbly by the engine and electronics, although the electronics game has moved on slightly with the advent of the Bosch Inertial Measurement Unit found in bikes like the Yamaha YZF-R1, Ducati 1299 Panigale, Kawasaki ZX-10R and for next year, the Honda CBR1000RR. The Aprilia's traction control, even at its lowest setting of interven- tion, cuts in a touch too much for my liking, however this is only on maximum acceleration out of corners like the final left hander leading onto Laguna Seca's short straight. However, the adjustability of the Aprilia's TC system, via the little left hand thumb switches, is still the class leader – so much so that Ducati copied the design for the 1299 Panigale's TC. The wheelie control function works very well, with only a slight dumbing down of the power to bring the front wheel back to terra firma on big time throttle openings. Maximizing drive is the name of the game, and Aprilia had the wheelie control game down long before anyone else when they debuted the APRC system way back in 2011. PURE CORRUPTION Take the electronics out of it and soon you'll realize the Aprilia's V4 is one of the finest motor- cycle motors you will ever ride. It doesn't have the banshee top- GET DIGITAL When Steve Jobs created the iPhone, I bet even he couldn't foresee you'd be able to program a motor- cycle's electronics with it. But thanks to the Aprilia V4-MP software and app, you can turn your standard RSV4 RR/RF/RFW into a track missile with features that were solely restricted to factory MotoGP teams only a few years ago. Like the app you can get for the Yamaha YZF-R1M, the V4-MP allows you to program an incredible amount of information into your machine, as well as log virtually every perfor- mance parameter to help you go faster. Using this app is some- thing many riders will find hugely useful. You can record every square inch of your run, where you were on the track, your lean angle, throttle and gear position, revs and traction control, download it to your phone or tablet and replay it to find pre- cious tenths. One thing I really love is the fact you can program the traction control and anti-wheelie system to specific corners on the track. The app has a relatively small list of FIM- certified tracks (for us in the States it's Laguna Seca and Circuit Of The Americas), so it may not help you at Road Atlanta, but the GPS tracking of your run certainly will. Plus if you and your buddy are riding the same bikes around La- guna and you really want to beat him, you can secretly program his TC to full for the entire run as he watches you ride into the distance. But I didn't tell you that. Check out the video on page 36 for a detailed look at what the app can do. Want MotoGP telemetry? Now you've got it!