Aprilia RSV4 R from £6500
Savage depreciation from new makes Aprilia’s brilliant sportsbike a genuine used bike bargain
THE RSV4’S STATS are a fizzing potion of potential: 201bhp, 85 lb.ft of torque, 180kg kilos dry, 180mph-plus top speed. Those figures put this Aprilia at the sharp end of modern superbike performance. But, for all their pomp and hyperbole, they’re not this V4’s most enticing number. This is: 66%. That’s how much you could save on the price of the latest RSV4 RF – yet still pig-out on the same manic Aprilia V4 experience – if you buy a used example instead.
We could hardly believe it ourselves, but it’s true. A couple of minutes search on the ’net unearthed a 2011 RSV4 Factory showing just 13,000 miles, up for £6500. Today I’ve got the key to a mint 6000-mile 2014 RSV-R that could be in your garage for just £8981. Compare that with £19,995 for a new RSV4 RF. Surely, when it comes to bang for your buck, there can be just one choice. The RSV4 hasn’t changed significantly during the latter part of its ten-year model run, mainly because its significance as a race bike has waned; Aprilia’s race budget is now gobbled up by its still uncompetitive RS-GP Motogp machine. Yes, there’s now an 1100cc variant, but any gains are small and mostly academic to your average road rider. Let’s be honest, only a seasoned national-level racer will a) really notice the difference between early and current models and, b) be able to exploit those minor changes to full effect. So, what you’re getting with a used RSV4 is near as damn-it the same intense, head-melting superbike experience, but for a third of the price.
And what an experience. This thing means business right from the off. A prod on the starter button sparks the 65° V4 motor into life with a sudden, jolting bark – an explosion of sound that shatters the still air like an angry drill sergeant spitting orders. Its stance is just as business-like: short; squat and muscular, with most of its form in the front two-thirds. A pitbull made metal.
For what is essentially a race machine that wears lights, winkers and mirrors merely to satisfy homologation rules, the RSV4 can be surprisingly civilized. It’ll buzz through town (provided it’s not forced to drive from below 3000rpm in third or higher, at which point it struggles to match piston and wheel speed) and hold a steady, sedate cruise when camera-lined routes require. However,
its malevolent streak is never more than a twist of the right grip away from revealing itself.
Riding across Derbyshire’s snaking A-roads, the Aprilia devours every straight like a bull shark in a feeding frenzy, and even then the tacho needle rarely gets a sniff of its 14,000rpm redline. Only a race-track would allow full exploitation of this rabid Italian’s full potential, but even under those circumstances I’d have to recalibrate my brain to make sense of such explosive speed. Predatory performance like this requires brakes to match and the Aprilia’s Brembo monobloc set-up chomps on the front end like a vice. Braking stability is impressive, even on gnarly road surfaces. After half-an-hour of repeated hard hairpin deceleration, the palms of my hands ache where they’ve been smeared in to the ’bars as I brace my arms against the sheer force of the brakes. Having been developed to conquer billiard-table smooth tracks, the Aprilia is far from its comfort zone on the moorland roads of central England. Öhlins suspension can’t save the ride. Not today, at least. I’d need time to fine-tune the forks and shock to the conditions. So, I grit my teeth and hang on. At speed the ride is choppy – one road-wide bump just down from the old Cat and Fiddle pub launches me clean out of the seat. Given how quickly this thing builds speed, I’d want to personalize the set up before attacking new roads. Just in case…
There are other niggles: the mirrors are token gestures; ignore the pillion ’pegs, only a sadist would suggest riding two-up; that enormous 200-section rear boot won’t be cheap to replace, plus regular and meticulous servicing is a must. Skimping maintenance on a bike like this is inviting trouble.
Aprilia didn’t build this bike to potter down to the shops or cruise to work, they built it to win championship titles, specifically World Superbikes. It met that brief three times, in 2010 and 2012 with Max Biaggi, then with Frenchman Sylvian Guintoli in 2014. As a super-trick, built-to-race, title-winning V4, the RSV4 ranks alongside Honda’s epic RC30.
I still can’t quite believe how much the RSV4-R delivers, and for how little. But they won’t be that cheap for long. Me? I’ve already started looking…
‘Aprilia didn’t build this bike to potter to the shops or work…’