Aprilia Shiver 0 Motorcycles, page #20

Moto blog

Our Magnificent seven

Remember to dust your Union Jacks down if you happen to be visiting any Grand Prix this year as we have no less than seven youngsters to cheer on in the junior Moto GP classes. I don’t think we’ve ever had this many ‘yoofs’ in the GP paddock so let’s hope they can do the business and bring an end to our long drought of Grand Prix titles. And that could be soon as Scott Redding is already a hot favourite for the 2011 Moto 2 championship on his Marc VDS Suter machine.

Thumbs up for a chilly N.E.C.

Apart from the freaky weather I have to say last week’s Carole Nash Motorcycle Live N.E.C. show was the best Birmingham event I've attended in the ten years. I really appreciate the fact that manufacturers chose to ignore the recession giving us great stands to cater for every enthusiast young and old.  Aprilia made a welcome return and I don’t know anyone that didn’t enjoy admiring the WSB RSV4, surely the the most gorgeous bike on the planet? The Honda stand rarely disappoints and this year was no exception with banking bikes providing fun for all the family.

Rossi's Smart

The best piece of 2011 Rossi merchandise so far has to be this Smart car I spotted last week in the Jerez paddock. Maybe Vale himself will have one as it would easily fit into a corner of his humungous new motor home I posted on here a few weeks ago. I was down there with Taylor for the final round of the Spanish Championship (CEV) and just like BSB there was a great end of season atmosphere in the paddock.

Small steps to a bright future

A small but very significant addition to the BSB paddock in 2010 has been the Racing Steps Foundation GP125 team.  RSF is an organisation founded by wealthy businessman Graham Sharp, to help talented youngsters with no funding make their way up the motorsport ladder. As a boy, Sharpe wanted to become a racing driver but soon realised without a serious amount of cash, this was virtually impossible. He never forgot this dilemma so is now in the business of making dreams come true for young UK racers in Karting, GP2 and Motorcycle Racing.

Moto3. Recession racers?

I've sat through enough manufacturer' presentations recently to know that we're in trouble. Ignoring the still booming Asian markets, the rest of the motorcycle World is in free-fall. Even looking at the figures optimistically we're still only selling half the volumes we were in pre-crash 2006.

2011 Aprilia RSV4 Factory APRC: First Ride

UPDATE: Read the full on Motorcycle.com Motorcycle.com’s European correspondent, Tor Sagen, recently had a chance to run some laps on the brand new Aprilia RSVR Factory APRC. We’ll be getting a full review soon, but here’s a quick taste test. Wow!

RSVP from an RSV4

Aprilia’s RSV4 Factory has to be one of the most interesting and adrenaline-inducing literbikes around, and that’s just part of why we gave it an Honorable Mention in our Best of 2010 Sportbike category. We recently had opportunity to put on a poor but passing Max Biaggi imitation with one particularly fine example. This RSV comes courtesy of our friend Kaming Ko, who often helps us on test rides.

Mega-rare Aprilia RSV250 GP bike on eBay

THIS SUPER-RARE 1997 Aprilia RSV250 is for sale on eBay, offered for a gulp-inducing £25,000.The seller says bike was purchased in 1998 through Aprilia Racing by Moto Gold Racing and was campaigned in the 1997 European 250 GP championship series, consistently scoring "top high speeds. "It's claimed the machine was raced by Nobi Iso in AMA in 2002 and 2003. It's since undergone a full restoration and comes with a comprehensive spares package,  Don't confuse this with the road-going RS250 Aprilia; it's a proper GP250 machine, similar to the bikes raced by Biaggi and Rossi in the early part of their careers.

Back from the Ulster GP

Just rocked home after a really good cross-country blast home from Birkenhead docks. The VFR developed a weird hiccup this morning in Belfast on the way to the Norfolkline ferry terminal and occasionally feels like it’s suffering from fuel starvation – like a blocked fuel tank breather or something – but only around 2,000rpm and only now and again. It’s not consistent and the only way round it is to dip the clutch and give it a few blips and then it seems to clear its throat.

We're off to the Ulster Grand Prix

I was pretty excited about going to the TT in June and it didn’t disappoint – three days of ram-packed entertainment,  on all fronts. But the Ulster Gp is a different buzz. For starters I’m taking racing mad offspring no 2 for a lads and dads weekend away.