RSV4 Factory – Should you watch Aprilia’s short promo video for the RSV4 Factory, it suggests the bike may have come from outer space. Judging from the 217hp Aprilia has crammed into the 199kg (curb weight) chassis and the carbon fibre winglets that mimic those found on track machines and the H2, the company wants to be able to get the RSV4 back there. To keep everything under control while remaining earth bound, the RSV4 Factory comes with a complete suite of rider aids including on-the-fly traction control, launch control, wheelie control, quick shift, cornering ABS, and oddly for such a track specific machine, cruise control.
Aprilia needs to keep the momentum going as the company continues to compete in MotoGP against much larger competitors including Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Ducati. The advantage, of course, is that none of those bikes arrived from outer space.
Aprilia RSV4 1100 Factory
In the enthusiastic words of the press release:
The RSV4 project has always pursued a stated goal: to be the absolute best and fastest uncompromising superbike, the one that comes the closest to Aprilia racing bikes in terms of performance and effectiveness. A premium product at the top of its category dedicated to extremely demanding customers who want top shelf performance and refined technical equipment, provided thanks in part to the use of prestigious materials like aluminum, titanium and carbon.
In line with the exclusivity of this model, the Aprilia Style Centre has worked hard to make the RSV4 1100 Factory unique and recognizable even by its colors and attention to detail. The color combinations aim to enhance the exclusive nature of prestigious materials such as carbon (on the front mudguard, the side panels, the exhaust terminal guard and the aerodynamic winglets), in contrast with the titanium finish of the street-legal Akrapovic exhaust terminal, the same color as the forged aluminum wheels. For the graphics of the superstructure, an attractive total matt black look was chosen that enhances all the beauty of the sculpture-like twin-spar frame and swingarm made of aluminum. Given the incredible performance achieved by RSV4 1100 Factory, for the first time on a factory superbike, Aprilia introduces aerodynamic winglets on the fairing, thanks to the developments made by Aprilia Racing on the RS-GP prototype from which they are derived. The particular shape designed in the wind tunnel and the inclination at which they are mounted take advantage of the downforce of the channeled air to let the winglets increase stability at high speeds, contributing to decreasing the tendency for wheelies coming out of turns and at the same time increasing stability in hard braking.
