CLIVE APRILIA RSV4 RF
THIS MONTH I HAVE MOSTLY BEEN… “Finding extra power.”
After all the bother I went to last month fitting the Power Commander V and Secondary Fuel Module, I thought I’d try and make the most of it by getting the thing fuelled properly. We decided to van it down to see the boys at JHS so we took along the standard exhaust and an Akrapovic secondary and end can that I’ve managed to get hold of. The idea was to have a little head to head power test with the Austin Racing exhaust that I’ve been using for the past few months.
It’s all well and good testing fancy exhaust pipes, but I’ve always thought that you can only blow stuff out as fast as you can suck it in so with that in mind I had a real good look at what trick air filters were on the market. I ordered myself one from DNA High Performance Filters and rammed it into the air box, in place of the standard one. Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy.
The first run we did was on a standard can with no fuelling at all. I was pretty pleased with 181bhp and a sensibly shaped graph as a starting point, but I was fairly optimistic about getting a few more ponies with the other exhausts.
Next on the agenda was to try the Austin Racing can. Without any work done to the fuel or ignition maps there were no great power gains with the Austin Racing exhaust but it didn’t half make the bike sound like it should be on a MotoGP grid. It was awesome. And it’s the better-looking of the two aftermarket items as well.
Hoping for a few more horses we fitted the Akrapovic. I had a good feeling about the Akra because it actually had Aprilia written on it. Straight away there was another four brake, taking us up to a grand total of 185bhp, still to have the fuelling done.
I was really interested in to find out how much more power, if any, the bike would make with the fuelling sorted. JHS’s dyno whiz-kid Wills spent a good two hours playing about with the fuel maps trying to get the very best out of the RSV4, the result being yet another 4bhp. Aprilia’s claimed power figure of 201bhp is taken from the crank, so I was dead happy with 189bhp at the back wheel and all the guys at JHS seemed really impressed too. Although we didn’t dyno run the DNA air filter on its own, the official word is that it can increase airflow by up to 50% on some models so I reckon it’s got to be part of the reason we got such a strong reading. I know it’s a fair bit of money to throw at what is already an expensive bike but to gain an eight brake on anything is a massive deal so I’m sure it’s worth the cash.
Now that the days are just starting to get ever so slightly longer and I’ve turned my rocket ship into even more of a rocket ship I’m keener than ever to get out and give it some. I’m hoping it’s not going to be long before the weather permits a sorely missed Sunday morning wheelie fest.
Until then I’m going to concentrate on throwing a few more little bits of bling into the mix. I’ve been desperate for some more carbon for ages so I was like a dog with two dicks on Christmas morning when I unwrapped a new carbon fibre mudguard that I found under our Christmas tree. I haven’t got round to fitting it yet but I think it’s going to really finish the Aprilia’s looks off.