KTM’s new 1290 Super Duke R, BMW’s new S 1000 RR and Yamaha’s MT-10 SP takes on the new Aprilia Tuono V4 1100 – who’s the king?
Aprilia’s Tuono has been the king of naked bikes for years, but it has been updated for 2017, as have its closest rivals. So, has anyone stolen a march on the monarch?
Usually, when one machine keeps banging in the class wins, it becomes harder and harder to write about. It’s true, I cannot count the number of times, say, Triumph’s Street Triple won its respective test against its peers and I had to come up with exactly why, but without repeating myself. At the dozenth attempt, trust me, this becomes quite a tricky task. But when it comes to the big naked sports class, the second most important to Fast Bikes and its wonderful readers, the Aprilia Tuono has been a joy to describe.
First it was the litre version, then the previous iteration, which became an 1100cc scorcher, but both were a pleasure to wax lyrical about. Sure, perhaps a rival may be a teeny tiny bit better on the road, or a tad more comfortable, or come with a few more bells and whistles. But the Aprilia was always so close to those traits itself, a hair’s breadth away in most cases, and then so crushing when you threw a racetrack into the equation, that it came top each and every time.
Yes, it’s on the more expensive side, but that extra money buys you genuine racetrack pedigree, and let’s not forget that no matter how well another bike could stunt, or how it could squeeze the giggles from you, the Tuono could also do the same. And then, right when you needed it to show just why it is so special, it’ll display exactly why you pay those extra pennies, and to God’s own soundtrack. You could argue that, perhaps, the litre version was a little too race orientated, but the 1100 Factory version added usability without losing any sporting excellence. In short, it was, and still is, a masterpiece.
But Euro4 is in town, forcing manufacturers to play ball. As such, many chose 2017 to release new or updated models. We’ve already seen elsewhere how Euro4 regs can murder (because it really is a crime...) a bike’s performance. Has the same happened with the big nakeds? Most of the bikes we’ve gathered here claim identical or increased performance that, if true, is seriously impressive.
What would be seriously impressive, is if anyone has managed to beat the Aprilia in overall terms. It is also new, updated with new gizmos, but sometimes updates can force a bike off the path that made it so incredible in the first place. Therefore, trying to wrest the crown from Aprilia’s grasp are the new KTM 1290 Super Duke R, Yamaha’s tasty MT-10 SP and BMW’s tickled two-wheeled Exocet missile, the S 1000 RR. Ladies and germs, start your engines, this is going to get pretty serious...