2020 APRILIA RSV4 1100 FACTORY

Year after year, Aprilia keep wheeling virtually the same RSV4 out and astonishing us all with just how good it is. One year it will have a new colour scheme, another it’ll have a pair of wings, and another it will have a few more cubic centimetres of capacity, and so on and so forth. This year, the RSV4’s headline upgrade is electronic suspension. They’ve opted to kit the Factory out with Öhlins EC.2, the trickest electronic pogos from the Swedish firm, to match the R1M, the V4S and the Fireblade SP. You also get a bit more colour on the new model, but only a little bit more colour; it’s still very black.

The seating position on the RSV4 feels almost identical to how it’s always felt; brilliantly roomy while maintaining a sporty riding position, although it’s not a bike for a short-legged person. You feel as though you are sitting ‘in’ the Aprilia rather than ‘on’ it which, if you ask me, gives you a real feeling of being ‘at one’ with the bike.

The dash hasn’t changed in a few years either and is fairly pretty on the RSV4 but figuring out how to scroll through the settings and alter any of the electronics took a bit of remembering. I found your best bet was to open up the main menu and do it all that way. There are a few too many buttons really but the little joystick does help when it comes to scrolling through the menus and settings. While we are talking about buttons and switches, the ignition buttons on the right-hand switchgear felt a bit cheap and the indicator switch was a bit of a cause for annoyance too. It feels a bit vague with no positive click, so you don’t always know whether you’ve actuated the switch or not; I ended up looking down at the dash every time, just to make sure the blinkers were doing their thing. It didn’t spoil the riding experience, but it did feel a bit pants on a £22,399 bike.

If the buttons do upset you, though, it won’t be long before the engine puts a smile back on your face. First of all because of the sound that it makes; on song, the V4 boom that comes out the Aprilia’s Akrapovi end can made every molecule in my body reverberate to the 1100’s tune, and I loved it.

And if the sound doesn’t impress you, then the thing’s performance will. The initial throttle pickup is a bit fluffy, but once you get the motor spinning, there is no stopping the RSV4. After not very long in the Aprilia’s saddle, it’s crystal clear just why it outclassed everything on our dyno. Not only did it have the most peak power (206bhp) and the most peak torque (120Nm) of all nine bikes tested, but from 8000rpm and up, the RSV4 was head and shoulders more powerful and more torquey than anything else. It also had the smoothest power and torque curves too. Class act.

On the road, the engine really is the gift that keeps on giving. Wherever you are in the rev range, you are treated to insatiable power all the way to the rev limit, and that fluffiness at tickover translated to a really usable throttle that, in all fairness, probably helps you get the most out of the 206bhp on tap. I really can’t speak highly enough of that engine, it truly is in a class of its own.

And that chassis’s no slouch either. Whether you’re scratching round your local A-roads or flat out on your Sunday morning blast, the ‘Factory’ will take anything you can throw at it in its stride. You need to be on a race track to even start to get the Aprilia flustered. Especially now the Factory has been treated to the latest Öhlins lecky suspension, which means you can dial in more or less of what you want, at the touch of a button.

The rest of the electronics all work reasonably well too, in particular the shifter and blipper combo. The blipper conveniently lets you perform full throttle downshifts, which might not be very good for the gearbox, but it’s handy when you suddenly decide to open the throttle, drop it down a cog or two and overtake that line of cars that’s been holding you up all the way to the chip shop.

If I’m going to be super critical about the RSV4, although the seating position is generally quite nice, the rear of the fuel tank gets on my nerves a bit.

The corners of it are quite sharp so when you hang off the side of the bike to throw it round the bends, the edges of it dig into your legs rather uncomfortably.

And the same thing happens when you try to do stand-up wheelies, too; I imagine – I don’t know for certain as we wouldn’t dream of doing that on the road. With a motor like the RSV4’s, pulling wheelies is probably a piece of piss, though.

Stoppies are also easy thanks to the Aprilia’s Brembo Stylema calipers, which have been painted black, presumably to set them apart from all the other bikes running Brembo’s top-spec stoppers. With ABS set to level one, you can brake as hard as you’ll ever need to, safe in the knowledge that the system has got your back, should things go Pete Tong.

The new RSV4 1100 Factory is just the same as the old one really, but with the added benefit of being able to adjust the suspension without getting your spanners out. It might be a heck of a lot of money, but it’s a heck of a lot of motorbike. The few faults that it has are very minor and fairly arbitrary anyway, so it remains one of the most difficult bikes in the world to criticise. If I was a rich man, there is simply no question about it; I would have to have one of these in my garage.

STOPPIES ARE EASY THANKS TO THE BREMBO STYLEMAS

I REALLY CAN’T SPEAK HIGHLY ENOUGH OF THAT ENGINE, IT TRULY IS IN A CLASS OF ITS OWN