1998-2004 APRILIA RSV MILLE
This is perhaps the epitome of the cheap-butgood classic bike market: for some reason, the Aprilia RSV Mille has evolved into a really cheap, high-performance used superbike. Supply has clearly kept pace with demand, and you can pick up an early one with an MoT and 170mph for a sniff over £2k. Get lucky and pay a few hundred quid more, and you might swing a fancy ‘R’ version with Öhlins suspension and forged OZ wheels.
This would have been a bit of a surprise to me back in 2000, when this bike was beating the opposition in loads of superbike twin and Italian exotica group tests. It was the most ‘Japanese’ of the Italian exotic superbikes, giving much of the style and class of a Ducati, a Benelli or an MV Agusta, but in a more reliable, easier to live with form. The engine was a corker, made by Rotax and putting out loads of peak power, and plenty of grunt too, and the chassis was just as capable.
Nowadays, there are plenty of well established problems with the RSVs, from starter motors, solenoids, charging systems, rear brake calipers and the like, but there’s also a huge cottage industry keeping them going. People like Griff Wooley at Aprilia Performance (www. apriliaperformance.co.uk) helps a thriving online community sort these issues out, and keep the bikes on the road. Buy sensibly, and you’ll have a fine-performing 130bhp superbike, with slick handling and definite exotic styling, plus some intriguing investment potential.