Unlike Honda’s steadfast refusal to update the aging VFR, Italian manufacturer, Aprilia, is about to enter the market with a sports bike based on the V4 concept. Having made a name for itself marketing an excellent range of V-Twin engined, bikes, Aprilia decided a year ago that it would enter the WSBK ranks and that it would do so with a bike powered by a V4 engine. Since the WSBK regulations require that the bikes competing be based on production machines available in large quantities to the general public, Aprilia is therefore committed to making 2 models. A road model to sell and a race model to compete with the likes of Ducati and the Japanese manufacturers.
Of course the V4 configuration is well-known in MotoGp, powering the Ducati and the Honda variants, but the arrival of the Aprilia will represent the first new entry into the market with a production V4 engine since Honda introduced their V4 more years ago than most of us care to remember.
crash.net reports that Shinya Nakano has debuted the race version (complete in its race livery) at testing on the weekend, and it certainly looks the goods.
There are numerous sites on which details of the road bike can be found and even a couple of Youtube clips that allow you to listen to the delicious sound.
Allowing that the bike will be placed to compete with the likes of the 1098 Ducati et al, I can’t see my budget stretching to one any time soon. Might be worth a trip to PI in March to listen to one, though!
POSTSCRIPT: 250cc World Champion, Marco Simoncelli also tested the Aprilia, but will not be graduating to WSBK any time soon. The ride was a “one-off” ride, as a reward for Simoncelli’s winning of the 250cc World Championship for Aprilia. Word is that Marco loved the bike.