Aprilia Tuono Launch
Boothy has been testing Aprilia’s new electro-suspended Tuono.
If you were lucky enough to read any of our big naked bike shoot-out last year (issue 347), you’ll know just how much love we have for the Aprilia Tuono. Since 2002, Aprilia have set the bar in the super naked sector, despite their current model not having had a proper design overhaul since way back in 2012, when it received a sexy new V4 motor and Aprilia’s APRC (Aprilia Performance Ride Control). In 2015 it was given another 79cc and now, for 2019, Aprilia have gone all techno on us and splashed out on some fancy Öhlins electronic suspension for their chart topping Tuono, the Tuono V4 1100 Factory.
They’ve opted to treat the ‘Factory’ to the most advanced semi-active electronic suspension system on the market, the Öhlins EC 2.0 system, the same as can be found on the likes of the Ducati Panigale V4S and the latest Yamaha YZF-R1M. It’s a really cool system that utilises the Öhlins OBTi (Objective Based Tuning Interphase) making setting the thing up exactly how you like it
tons easier. The idea behind this is simple; most people don’t know what adding compression damping to their forks, or taking rebound damping off their shock will do to their bike, so with the OBTi, you can ask for more (or less) support when braking, cornering or accelerating.
And before you ask, the answer is no. No, there is nothing else new about the 2019 Tuono Factory. But that didn’t stop us flying over to Italy for the international press launch... any excuse to ride a Tuono.
Thunder
A wise old man once said to me: “Don’t try to fix what isn’t broken.” Fair point. But he didn’t say anything about not trying to make it better. I have never heard anyone slagging Tuonos off – only a fool would do such a thing. But, when pushed, I think some would consider the Tuono’s set-up a little more sport focused than certain riders might like, want or need. It’s a first world problem, I know, and to say that is to be super-critical of
the Tuono, but be that as it may, Aprilia have recognised it as a potential issue and tried to do something about it.
My first ride on the Tuono was as I expected – familiar. The thunderous sound from the V4 engine (Tuono is Italian for ‘thunder’), the smoothly delivered but equally strong torque, and the pointy fuel tank that digs into the back of your legs a bit. It was great and I was as happy as a pig in pile of its own dirt.
I started off with the Tuono’s electronic pogos in A1 mode, the sportiest of the preset modes available which, granted, wasn’t the most sensible thing to do, considering the first part of our ride was through the speed bumped streets of the mountain town of Trento. But it wasn’t long before the traffic lights and T-junctions were a distant memory and the city streets turned into winding mountain passes – the perfect proving ground for a Tuono.
I was absolutely loving life with the AWC (Aprilia Wheelie Control) kicked into touch,
and the ABS dialled down to its least intrusive setting (1), skidding and stopping into, and wheelie-ing out of, every hairpin that I and the Tuono had the pleasure of encountering. I did not, in the slightest, get bored of this behaviour, and the bike seemed more than happy to oblige.
But I wasn’t only there to test the Tuono’s wheelie capabilities, so I decided to switch the suspension to the A2 mode, since I was, after all, riding on the road, rather than the more track-focused A1 mode. I didn’t have a problem with A1 and I liked how taut the bike felt, but it did tend to make a bit of a meal of any lumps and bumps in the road.
With the bike in A2, things instantly felt comfier. In fact, it made rather more a difference than I had expected it to. It wasn’t as sharp handling, but it was certainly sharp enough for the road, and the softer damping settings didn’t half seem to give the rear tyre an easier time – in A1, my ham-fisted wheelie attempts were occasionally met with a bit of wheelspin. This didn’t happen as much in A2.
After discovering how much I like A2, I decided to go the whole hog and stick the thing in A3, the most comfortable, least sporty pre-set mode that the Aprilia’s EC 2.0 has to offer. Again, it was a noticeable change, but I didn’t feel it accentuated the
Tuono’s good qualities quite like A2 had. It turned the bike into something that was probably a little bit too easy-going, slightly extinguishing some of the Tuono’s fire.
A2 was very nearly perfect for the roads we were tackling and it was hard to fault anything about the way the Tuono handled, but in an attempt to improve on near perfection, I had a go at adjusting the settings within A2. In A2, you can ask for more or less support when braking and accelerating, as well as adjusting the overall front and rear stiffness. Navigating to the menu on the dash using the little joystick on the left-hand switch gear, I asked for a bit more support when braking, and a bit less support when accelerating (in an attempt to improve the grip levels even further). The default settings are ‘0’ and I set the braking support and acceleration support to +2 and -2 respectively, the range being -5 to +5. In all honesty I couldn’t really feel much of a difference from this minor adjustment, but the bike was by no means worse.
Perhaps in a more controlled environment, like on track, this small adjustment might be a little more noticeable.
Rounding up
The previous Tuono 1100 Factory was as close to perfection as anything else in the hyper naked sector. It already had an awesome engine, full-to-bursting electronics suite and a chassis to die for, so it ought to come as no surprise that the new ‘Factory’ isn’t massively different to the old one.
I can’t think of many things that Aprilia could have done to make the Factory any better, and although I’m still not 100% convinced that electronic suspension is the way to go for out and out performance on a superbike, the Öhlins EC2 system certainly complemented the type of riding we did on the launch perfectly – most people aren’t going to get the screwdrivers out and start faffing with their pogos – getting the right suspension set-up is a dark art, but with the pre-set modes and the OBTi, it’s a piece of cake. The new Tuono 1100 Factory is just as fantastic a bike as its predecessor, but now it is even more user-friendly – if I had £16,999 to spend on a bike, this little puppy would definitely be on my shortlist.