Aprilia Thundersport racer!

[Berlin]

I saw on of these in the flesh at East fortune last week and went weak at the knees!

It comes in 450 and 550cc V Twin versions and comes ready to race with a spare set of Marchesini wheels with discs. It also comes with two sets of race tyres.

Yours for £8000 plus VAT!

Dribbling!

http://www.speedzilla.com/forums/attachments/street-track/11417d1188950126-i-really-really-want-one-these-450-super-single-race-bikes-attachment-1.php.jpg

http://www.speedzilla.com/forums/attachments/street-track/11418d1188950182-i-really-really-want-one-these-450-super-single-race-bikes-aprilia-20rsx-20550.jpg

http://www.speedzilla.com/forums/attachments/street-track/11419d1188950189-i-really-really-want-one-these-450-super-single-race-bikes-attachment-2.php.jpg

http://www.speedzilla.com/forums/attachments/street-track/11420d1188950195-i-really-really-want-one-these-450-super-single-race-bikes-attachment-3.php.jpg


The 450 is putting out 62bhp and was leaving the minitwin for dead on the straights!

I don't think I have to tell you how much corner speed it was carrying!
C

[fastdruid]

I want one!

Druid

[andreis]

Oi! I'm not into racing, but that makes me wanna be :D

[rictus01]

under 2000 miles between services, I'll just watch thanks.

[Berlin]

Erm most race bikes get serviced every 2 meetings which is about 100 miles (depending on track).

So that means you don't need to service it for a full season! Nice!

[rictus01]

indeed, in the racebike world! but there is a world of difference to the road, and the service intervals put the power figures into a more realistic perspective.

Cheers Mark.

[Spikenipple]

indeed, in the racebike world! but there is a world of difference to the road, and the service intervals put the power figures into a more realistic perspective.

Cheers Mark.

Umm yeah....which is why it's a racebike...

[RichT]

I like it.

[ThEGr33k]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Wonder how much power the 550 puts down then!?

[ThEGr33k]

Ian Newton, Jeremy McWilliams and seven
former Aprilia Superteens (well actually six
ex-teenies plus “Will Simoncelli”) took a pair
of the new RRV450s to the Spanish circuit of
Almeria with one mission in mind; to destroy
as many tyres in the allocated time as
possible. Tyre consumption is one of the
biggest costs involved in modern racing and
the ability to keep some sort of lid on the
number of tyres used in the course of a
season could make the difference between
being able to finish a championship and
having to quit your championship assault early.
Of course, the other point of the exercise for the 7 young hopefuls (Will Hodgson, Ben Gautrey, Connor Tagg, Liam Shellcock, Acea Webb, Phil Canessa and Danny Murphy) was to see just how good this stunning little bike really was. Everyone who has seen it in the flesh agrees that it is an absolutely gorgeous piece of kit, but unless it could actually cut the mustard on track it would be no more than a beautiful ornament.

With just two bikes and seven riders, an “Open Pit Lane” policy was adopted exclusively for the RRVs. As soon as one rider pulled into pit lane another was ready to jump aboard and resume testing. Quick tyre, fuel and safety checks took less than 3 minutes and the, still hot, bikes shot out of pit lane to carry on taking whatever punishment was being dished out to them.
By mid-afternoon on the first day Ian was getting concerned “The tyres just aren’t wearing like we should be expecting them to” he said to me on the phone from the circuit. The whole project had been going so well right since we first started it a year ago that we’d been waiting for something bad to crop up and I feared the worst. Was this going to be that problem?
Well no actually. “There just isn’t any sign of wear on them at all and the bikes have already done over 100 laps each!” my surprise must have been evident from my silence, as we’d been warned by Pat Walsh & Phil Plater at Dunlop that Almeria just eats tyres. Maybe they just aren’t going fast enough, I thought. However, it transpired that 4 of the riders were lapping faster than a very well known motorcycle journalist/racer (name deleted to protect the guilty!) on a top notch Superstock specification Fireblade at the same test! At the end of day one, the bikes had done 128 & 124 laps respectively and still not worn out their first set of tyres.

Thinking that it was best not to push his luck too much, Ian put new tyres on for day 2 anyway and testing resumed. Tyre wear was just as good as on day 1 with all riders improving their times and getting quicker with each session. Then, late on in the day, the inevitable happened. Young Liam Shellcock was following Eugene Laverty and had just gone 0.8 seconds under his own personal best time and was really pushing on, when he missed his braking point and down he went. The damage looked to be just cosmetic at first, but upon re-starting the engine it became clear that there was something amiss. Not being able to discover anything physically wrong, Ben took the bike out again to test it. After 20 minutes or so (mechanical sympathy anyone?) it became obvious that the bike was losing power. Further investigation revealed that an oil seal had gone and allowed the engine and gearbox oils to mix. With no spares available at the track it was game over for bike #1 on this test. On the bright side, they’d clocked up another 119 laps for one bike and 93 (and a half) for the other and still the tyres weren’t really due for change.

Day 3 was going to be a tough day for the remaining bike, a straight 8 hours of abuse was heading swiftly in its direction and with Jeremy McWilliams, Gino Rea and Scott Redding all queuing up to give it a thrashing, it was in for a really hard time. Given that the donor bike for this machine already had over 4,000 miles on the clock, the chances of it making it to sunset were looking slim. The boys were difficult to prise off the bike though and our star riders were all hanging around waiting for their chance to sneak a ride on it, like a bunch of college lads lurking outside the local nurses dormitory.
Eventually Jeremy got to try it and (when Newt had eventually managed to get him off the track and back into the pit lane) everyone gathered around for his verdict….. “That, is the best handling bike I’ve ridden in the whole test and that includes all of the new Moto 2 GP bikes. It’s absolutely awesome, can you sort me out with a race on one?” was his breathless comment. So, £100,000.- Moto2-GP bike or converted ‘motard at less than 8% of that?
Does the concept work………… Nuff said?

http://www.apriliachallenge.moonfruit.com/#/aprilia-rrv450gp/4538882001

I suppose all that 125/250 knowledge had to go somewhere!!! Wow, I got a feeling this is what the Moto2 class "should" have been? Maybe the 125 replacement?

[Berlin]

Its looking like that. KTM have a 450 single racer to compete with the Aprilia in just such a series.

http://www.ktm.com/typo3temp/pics/e0d2271f44.jpg

[rictus01]

Umm yeah....which is why it's a racebike...

Had it been posted in the racing and paddock chat section rather than general biking , I wouldn't have bothered :smt102

[carternd]

Had it been posted in the racing and paddock chat section rather than general biking , I wouldn't have bothered :smt102

Who cares, it's porn right! I never go in there, not being a racer, so I'm glad for a small slip of protocol. Those bikes are just glorious!

[Red Herring]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Wonder how much power the 550 puts down then!?

About 70 odd at the wheel. In a straight drag race between a 550 and my SV there's nothing in it, despite the Aprilia being some 60kg lighter!
When it comes to a bumpy lane my SV leaves the Aprilia for dead, it's just to nervous, however on a smooth tight circuit the Aprilia is far more agile and just disappears over the horizon..... I guess it depends on what you want to do with it.

[liamshellcock]

Im the one racing this bike at eastfortune :) its an incredible bike to ride and there has been so much work put into it to get it off the ground, ( thanks to Ian Newton ) I race at the thundersport series down south where there are currently 8 aprilias and many other custom 450 bikes, Ian has also built 2 more bikes which are being rented out over the weekend for the remaining thundersport rounds, its £500 pounds for 2 days racing and your tyres! Bargain! But there is a large waiting list so if you want a go get in touch with him, his number is 01704894431 there are also many more pictures of me riding the bike on my facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=531630645&ref=mf (amongst other pictures :P )

[yorkie_chris]

indeed, in the racebike world! but there is a world of difference to the road, and the service intervals put the power figures into a more realistic perspective.

Cheers Mark.

So you're using it less eagerly, which means you can get away with stretching the services out a bit :)

[barwel1992]

that frame and the engine sizes make me think its just a lower sxv with fairing ... nice though

[Red Herring]

Just about, different forks though I believe.

[barwel1992]

^ yup, the sxv ones would be way to long id rather the sxv supermoto than that though much more fun

[ThEGr33k]

Im the one racing this bike at eastfortune :) its an incredible bike to ride and there has been so much work put into it to get it off the ground, ( thanks to Ian Newton ) I race at the thundersport series down south where there are currently 8 aprilias and many other custom 450 bikes, Ian has also built 2 more bikes which are being rented out over the weekend for the remaining thundersport rounds, its £500 pounds for 2 days racing and your tyres! Bargain! But there is a large waiting list so if you want a go get in touch with him, his number is 01704894431 there are also many more pictures of me riding the bike on my facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=531630645&ref=mf (amongst other pictures :P )


Cool. Your profile pic is interesting!

[Amplimator]

i luvs the super singles, particularily the * CRF 450 (http://form450.com/2009/12/danny-lloyds-crf-moto-450/) conversions!

mmmmmmmmmmmm nom nom nom





*bit cheaper than the prilla + KTM's i reckon

[STRAMASHER]

Dribbling!

http://www.speedzilla.com/forums/attachments/street-track/11417d1188950126-i-really-really-want-one-these-450-super-single-race-bikes-attachment-1.php.jpg

http://www.speedzilla.com/forums/attachments/street-track/11418d1188950182-i-really-really-want-one-these-450-super-single-race-bikes-aprilia-20rsx-20550.jpg

http://www.speedzilla.com/forums/attachments/street-track/11419d1188950189-i-really-really-want-one-these-450-super-single-race-bikes-attachment-2.php.jpg

http://www.speedzilla.com/forums/attachments/street-track/11420d1188950195-i-really-really-want-one-these-450-super-single-race-bikes-attachment-3.php.jpg




So. Fecking. Horny.

Luckily there is no adult present in the pic, so my thought that its the size of a Pollini can be put to the back of my mind.

Super-size it, legalize it and bung the long, long awaited 1200 Shiver engine in it.......COR!:)

[punyXpress]

Note to Carl:
Gerrit bought before VAT goes up in a couple of weeks!
You know it makes sense.

[Berlin]

Now on Video..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq6VzADMUuY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAKNd1XoKWc

DRRRRROOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL!

Look out for Sideshow Bob in the vid! :)

C

[andrewsmith]

thats what moto 3 should be

[lukemillar]

Now on Video..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq6VzADMUuY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAKNd1XoKWc

DRRRRROOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL!

Look out for Sideshow Bob in the vid! :)

C

WTF!? You guys get grid girls??

I want grid girls! :p

[Berlin]

The yellow and blue Suzuki single in the vid was in Stianos motorcycles in Harrogate for a while. I had a good drool over that one too.

If I wasn't built like a Walruss I'd be into racing singles and small V twins in an instant.

oh, wait... I am :)

C