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Cycle World Show.. New Aprilia, Long



Well I went with the Wife and Son to the Cycle World show tonight in 
Philly and I've got to say the new Aprilia RST 1000 Futura is 
STUNNING.. Apart from the lame seat which is being changed ( they had 
pictures of the new design) the bike is totally fabulous. The 
attention to detail is tremendous, the metal work, frame welds, 
fasteners, just the over all fit and finish was exemplary (and these 
were pre production models! ) The styling is very angular and modern, 
not over the top, but very much in a form follows function sort of 
way. The gorgeous triple H7 beam headlight that flows into the 
windscreen is just one example. The bike has numerous very nice 
touches like the seat lock being located on the dash, the fuel cap 
off set to the right so the bike can be fully fueled while on the 
side stand,( it comes with a center stand) the hard bag mounts ( I 
didn't get to see the actual bags, they didn't have a set) which when 
the bags are not mounted are almost totally invisible but are VERY 
robust. What else, the under seat exhaust is beautiful as are the 
wheels ( ten spokes that blend together to look like five) and the 
single sided swing arm. Nice thing with Aprilia's arrangement is that 
with the bags off the rear wheel can be taken right off (unlike the 
ST that requires removal of several pieces if the bike has bag 
mounts) The dash is super cool as are the side view mirrors, no elbow 
views, and have the directional signals mounted in the fronts of 
them. The suspension is really nice, fully adjustable Sachs rear with 
remote pre load adjustment and a Showa inverted Cartridge type fork. 
I was a little disappointed that the front fork only offers rebound 
and pre load adjustments.. no compression adjustment. But the Aprilia 
factory rep did mention that the Ohlins forks from the Mille R would 
slip right in :-)  Other nice touches, Brembo gold series four piston 
brake calipers, with both the hydraulic clutch (nice light pull) and 
front brake lever adjustable for 4 positions of reach, and dual side 
mounted radiator fans that are designed to pull engine heat AWAY from 
the rider. As for as ergonomics the bike seems to have a bit more leg 
room than the ST and the bars might be a schooch taller than the ST's 
even with the Gen Mar's, overall very comfy. Colors are a very nice 
silver, a dark blue which changes at different angles, from a dark 
royal blue to almost a purple ( very cool) and an orange red that is 
almost like the RS's Lucifer Orange. The Aprilia rep said they may 
change this to a more reddish color.. but I hope they don't. Engine 
spec's are 113 hp and I believe 72ft lbs of torque with a six speed 
gear box. It uses the same 60 degree V twin Rotax built motor with 
dual plugs, twin counter balancers, shim under bucket valve's and 
Nicacel (sp) plated cylinders as the Mille, except tuned for mid 
range punch rather than the Mille's top end rush. Sort of like the ST 
as compared to a Daytona. Interestingly the bike uses SAGEM Fi just 
like our ST's and RS's !  The rep wasn't sure though if it's an open 
loop or closed loop system. I sure hope it's the former so that it 
will be tweakable like Triumphs. BMW's Fi is closed loop and lacks 
adjustability which sucks. For those that don't know, BMW has had 
mucho problems with their Fi which surges due to a lean setup which 
CAN"T be adjusted out! The Futura also features a catalytic converter 
so all bikes will be CA emissions certified. The rep I spoke with 
wouldn't say if these can be removed for better power but I'll bet 
that Aprilia offers a performance pipe setup that eliminates these so 
that the bike makes the same power as the Falco. Things that I didn't 
like? Well not too many. Currently there is no accessory outlet for 
electrics but that'll be easy to add, and at least for now no heated 
grips option. Also something kind of weird is that there is at 
present no way to ADD oil to the bike with out removing a side 
panel!! ( you can visually check the level)  The Aprilia rep did say 
that Aprilia is re-designing this ( these were running pre production 
models) so the production models will address this ( along with the 
re-designed seat) The only thing of course ( and the most important) 
that remains to be seen is how the bike rides. The Triumph triple is 
a fantastic motor for it's combination of torque and smoothness I 
don't know if the Aprilia's V twin will be smooth enough for a real 
long distance mount but I'm looking to forward to trying one! 
Availability is slated for March-April with the initial shipment to 
the USA of 500 units. Although the Aprilia rep did say if( and when) 
these sell out Aprilia has a 60-90 day turn time to the US for more 
product. Retail price is $12,999.00 with bags.


Triumph was of course there with the big black truck. On display was 
the ) 01 RS in black Looks really nice. They had a BRG ST I really 
like the Green , prolly would have bought the BRG instead of my black 
ST if it was available in 99. The new Bonnie is really cool, small 
light, I'll bet it is a hoot to ride. The 01 Daytona is really nice 
in the new blue and I've gotta tell ya I think the "pink" Speed T is 
a real head turner. All in all a lot of traffic all around the 
Triumph display. I did get a chance to meet with the factory tech guy 
" Shell Barr" I thinks his name is. Asked about the sender problems, 
in a nice way, and believe me, they REALLY wish Triumph can get this 
sorted. He did mention that "so far" the newest senders aren't 
leaking and hopes that apart from a few that don't read correctly ( 
seems that some are just bad and either work right or just don't read 
right) that the leaking dilemma is solved. As for the rest of the 
show well I didn't have as much time to look at the other stuff as 
I'd have liked. BMW had their usual big, classy display.. nothing new 
really. The Asian makes had all of their toys. A couple of stand 
outs: The new Yamaha FZ-R1 looks really slick, very muscular and 
trick. I asked the Yamaha rep about the FZR 1300 sport tourer and 
when, and if it'll make it to the US,  he hopes as a 02 model. The 
new Suzuki GSXR 1000 seems to be a monster, size of a 750 more punch 
and lighter than a Yamaha R1. I also cornered the Honda rep about a 
new ST 1100 and got the same old shrug, but he did say that since the 
new Wing ( which had lots of people all over it) is done, and Honda 
is finished with it's 2nd year of it's three year new model plan that 
well.. ahh ,  maybe...

So all in all a great show, saw a lot of friends, wife even had fun, 
she thought the Aprilia scooters were really neat.. and gave me 
permission for a Honda XR-50 for the kid ( there may be hope for her 
yet :-)    Bryan my 7 yr old got to play MX video games to his hearts 
content, and generally stayed out of trouble. All in all a great show 
and a great way to end the day, especially since it started out at 
the dentist's in the morning, getting a root canal!

Erik

Hot Dawg

99ST "Shadow"





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