way back down the gears with-
out so much as a thought, as I
was spurred on by the RSV4's
brand new auto-blip clutchless
down-shift feature, which works
brilliantly.
The Sachs suspension
worked very well and the overall
balance and side-to-side direc-
tion changes of the RR were
spot on. For me at 5'11," it was
good on the rider ergonomics
as well and the aerodynamics
from the latest generation wind-
tunneled bodywork, which was
better than I remember from my
2013 RSV4 race bikes.
The new M50 Brembo
calipers with their larger 330mm
rotors and upgraded brake pads
worked very well all afternoon
at track-day pace, but when
pushed hard towards more ludi-
crous speeds, the street-comp
nature of the braking system
exposed some mass-production
shortcomings. I was consistently
able get the system grumpy
enough to where the revised
front brake lever would fade to
the handlebar and not slow me
down, then settle back down
and equalize a few corners later.
If this was caused by the Corner-
ing ABS system (even when set
on Level 1), I can't approve.
But the brakes were simply
overheating, which is what it felt
like from my experience, swap-
ping out the stock brake fluid for
some stupidly expensive fully-
synthetic racing fluid could help
2017 APRILIA RSV4 RR & RSV4 RF
FIRST TEST
P118
THE FIRST COUPLE OF
LAPS RIDING ABOARD
THE NEW RR
REVEALED THE BIKE'S
MOST UNDENIABLE
CHARACTERISTIC—
ITS STABILITY.
Sachs fork for the
RR has been a
staple of the base
model RSV4 since
the beginning.
