2012 Aprilia Tuono V4 - Manager's Special - Am0358 (denver) on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Old boys up front and where are the new 600 Gixers?

As I’ve been gagging for the new race season to kick off so it was almost a pleasure getting up at stupid 0 clock to watch the World Superbike Championship  opener at Phillip Island last weekend. I have to say Messrs Burnicle and Whitham were on form although I was disappointed there were none of the usual verbal attacks on each other that always add to the entertainment.    I’m sure they will put things right soon but the world superbike regulars must have been disheartened that Moto GP veterans nailed five of the six available rostrum slots.

Dall’Igna Out, Albesiano In At Aprilia

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s rumored defection of Luigi Dall’lgna‘s from Aprilia to Ducati comes this morning’s press release from Piaggio. “The Piaggio Group has accepted, with immediate effect, the resignation of Luigi Dall’Igna – wishing him of course all the best for the future.” Replacing Dall’lgna is Romano Albesiano. Albesiano joined the Piaggio Group in 2005 as Aprilia Product Development Manager and currently manages Piaggio’s Motorbike Technical Center.

Death of a sailsman

Former Apple head honcho Steve Jobs liked his bikes, so when he fancied a great big yacht, it's probably not too surprising he asked French design guru Philippe Starck to pen it. You may recall that Starck, who has designed everything from juicers to hotels, also drew up the Aprilia 6.5 Moto (pictured, right) back in the 90s - a motorcycle whose main achievement has been polarising opinion ever since. (You say minimalist icon, I say F650 wearing a blanket. An orange blanket.) Anyway, when Jobs met Starck, minimal, yacht-shaped sparks evidently flew and the result - after six years of hard work at Dutch builders Feadship and Mr Jobs' passing into the Great Docking Port in the Sky - is this sleek, 80-metre superyacht named Venus. The interiors that are all flat teak decks and walls of glass, with a bridge sporting an array of iMacs.