2005 Aprilia on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Piaggio Announces 2011-2014 Business Plan – More Hybrids and Electric Models In the Pipeline

The Piaggio Group revealed its business plans for the next three years with a focus on developing fuel efficient engines and introducing new electric motors and hybrid powertrains. Beginning in 2012, Piaggio plans to introduce a new generation of engines with lower emissions and improved fuel economy. Examples include the new 350cc engine introduced in the Piaggio Beverly SportTouring and the fuel-injected 125cc four-stroke, three-valve engine equipped in the Vespa Quarantasei concept (which the company has apparently, and quietly, renamed as the much easier-to-pronounce Vespa 946).

Bahrain track days

A few months ago, expat (and ex racer) John Beddall made contact to ask if I fancied doing some track day instruction out in Bahrain.  After thinking about it for two seconds, flights were booked and a plan was put in place to look after around forty riders for a day at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).  Young Taylor Mac was also recruited to look after any tasty riders that I couldn’t deal with   The Brits out there love their bikes, however, quite a few locals also turned up plus a few others from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.  Most were on high end Superbikes, like S1000s, Panigales and RSV4s but there was also a healthy number R6s and new 675Rs.   Although this fabulous Hermann Tilke designed circuit is around ten years old incredibly it has never hosted a bike race.  The highlight of the year there is F1 but being owned by the Bahrainian Royal family, there is no desperate need for the circuit to operate as a profitable business.  The track reminded me of Qatar but much more interesting as some great undulations have been built into its desert location. We shared the track with Supercars on the day (20mins on/20mins off) and as you might imagine it was betty swollocks for seven hours in the 30 plus temperatures.  As usual there was a few offs with poor old RS1000 Aprilia mounted Andy breaking his femur early in the day.  Two other buddies appeared to swap bikes mid air in another incident but fortunately escaped unhurt.In the evening everyone stayed for an al fresco dinner in the paddock with the craic going on for hours as the Fosters kept flowing.   All in all it was a brilliant trip and it has left me thinking there could be cost effective ways of getting Brits out there for track days next winter.  I'll keep you posted.Cape Town next to make my racing comeback at the Killarney 8 hour on a CBR150 Honda.  Hopefully I can manage the beast, I'll post a full report next week.

2021 Aprilia Tuono 660 - First Look

Official details on Aprilia's baby Tuono The obvious choice to follow-up the RS660 in Aprilia’s lineup, the Noale-based factory has now officially released details on the 2021 Tuono 660. Taking a page from the RSV4/Tuono V4 playbook, the smaller siblings share the same relation, as the Tuono 660 is essentially a “stripped down” version of its RS brother, meant first and foremost to be ridden on the street.Everything You Want To Know About The Aprilia RS660 (Except What It’s Like To Ride) We use quotes around stripped down because, just like the V4 Tuono, there’s still quite a bit of plastic to be found with the Tuono 660, including the double fairing up front with the hidden winglets. What’s interesting is that, during the RS660 press briefing, Aprilia downplayed the winglet’s downforce effect and played up rider comfort, saying the winglets were primarily to channel hot air from the engine away from the rider.