2021 Tuono V4 Factory

Pleased you were “only” doing 40 and obviously stayed on !

Not wishing to mislead, it’s not my bike, a mates newly purchased, yes fortunately he hung on, the skid mark on the road is the only one visible 🤣
 
Haven't watched all the video (about half of it), but it looks like the difference between the two (new and mine) is fairly marginal. Whilst mine doesn't have a petrol gauge for example (that is a bit of a pain in the arse ... story there * .... !!) and things like the indicators are still quite 'blocky', headlight is still a bulb, I am more than happy living with the slightly dated design. As Lamb-chops says at the beginning, 'If it aint broke ...'.
The motor is just sublime. It reminds me of our work cars - my team before I left had three or four very nice cars, notably a focus ST and a BM 330 x-drive. The ST was fun to drive, very noisy, a bit anti social behaviour if you wanted to light up the front wheels on a roundabout, and of course if you put in a nice down change on a blipped throttle it sounded great. But ... the serene, quiet, under the radar, super smooth X-drive would actually leave the ST for dead. The way that car put down power and its low down torque was just amazing. Much, much quicker than the ST, but didn't actually feel it.

The Aprillia feels the same to me. Its so smooth that speed on it is deceptive. Like the X-drive it doesn't feel that fast (great suspension probably has a lot to do with that - wonderful float down the road), and you look down at the speedo thinking you're doing 90 and its actually 110! I really like that!

Ive mapped it (upMap) and it now makes a tad over 180bhp, but more importantly the low rev roll on is like pouring melted chocolate! Not a hint of a glitch or a snatch anywhere. Ive played with the different engine modes and 'Track' seems to suit me best. (Track is the middle mode out of three). Race still has a bit of a glitch at low revs and I prefer the engine braking of track.

You sit very much on this bike. You're quite perched on the top of it which whilst not an odd feeling, is certainly very different to what I'm used to on say GSXR's and of course very different from the Multi's and the XR1000's of the world. Steering lock is woeful !

For me, the biggest asset this bike has and the thing that I just adore, is (going back to that X-drive thing again) its wolf in sheep's clothing theme. Its not a 'Blade, its not a 1000RR, it doesn't shout 'I'M FAST' at everyone on the road. Its not the average power ranger bike. Its the assassins bike! Fly under the radar, go un-noticed, (relative with the amazing V4 sound!), slide down the road very smoothly but blisteringly quickly. It'll pootle! If you want to chug along (especially now its been mapped) it loves it. The work Focus ST couldn't do that. The X-drive could. Same thing ... turn it on? Chill out? Enjoy the scenery? Rip up the tarmac at incredible pace? It'll do it all. That for me is what I just love.





Petrol gauge!!! *

Not having a gauge means you need to reset the trip every time you fill and i sometimes forget! I was out in the cotswolds recently (coaching course) and the fuel light came on. I now know that you have 20 miles at BEST! and not a mile more! I ran out about 1/2 a mile from the garage!!

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loving the new locks Giles. Bet you waited nigh on x years to be able to grow it...
 
Ha! It’s even longer now !!!
 
Test rode the Aprilia v4 Tuono Factory today - Ludicrously fast. Fastest bike I’ve ever ridden for midrange grunt. Quite ridiculous in the way it delivers it’s power.

Comfortable though, sounds incredible and handles beautifully. The engine is the star of the show. Insanely quick.

Am I going to buy one? No. It’s snatchy at low speed and just wants to go at breakneck speed all the time. And a twist of the throttle to pass a car takes you over 90mph in the blink of an eye. I’d lose my licence.

The Streetfighter v4S is equally fast but smoother, feels like it’s looking after you more and looks as cool as ice. It is far more relaxed to ride but still has the capacity to go ballistic when required. If I buy, it will be this bike. Loved it. Am going to ride it again.
 
Test rode the Aprilia v4 Tuono Factory today - Ludicrously fast. Fastest bike I’ve ever ridden for midrange grunt. Quite ridiculous in the way it delivers it’s power.

Comfortable though, sounds incredible and handles beautifully. The engine is the star of the show. Insanely quick.

Am I going to buy one? No. It’s snatchy at low speed and just wants to go at breakneck speed all the time. And a twist of the throttle to pass a car takes you over 90mph in the blink of an eye. I’d lose my licence.

The Streetfighter v4S is equally fast but smoother, feels like it’s looking after you more and looks as cool as ice. It is far more relaxed to ride but still has the capacity to go ballistic when required. If I buy, it will be this bike. Loved it. Am going to ride it again.

Ha!

I've been on this track journey on the Tuono (work, Rapid, me signing up to becoming a track coach, Rapid saying OK then, but we need to coach you so you're half competent!), and so as a result Ive been doing one or two a month with some of our track coaches that are ex IOM TT racers. (Dave Hewson is one of them and has helped me a lot).
I have had two hurdles to try and overcome, one is altering my very Policey road riding corner entry style (float in) and to alter it to load and work the front much much harder than I'm used to, (thats been really interesting and I have learned soooo much), and the other hurdle has been this idea we mentioned earlier of Full Gas when you get on it out of a corner.
That has been so hard! It has taken session after session just to nibble at that experience and to get your brain used to this idea of Star Trek Warp Speed in your vision where it becomes comfortable and not alarming.
Been great fun, and a real leveller.
Jeez, can you imagine what its like trying to hit the throttle stop on a MotoGP bike !! :D
 
Thanks for the reply Giles. I have been really interested in reading all your posts about the throttle stop and it has provoked me to get my GS to this point when the conditions allow. It is an enlightening experience! I've enjoyed the rides where I have been experimenting with hitting the throttle stop and have had to recalibrate a little to ensure progress is safe and enjoyable! I also forced myself to hit the throttle stop on my Tuono test ride, not least so I could understand where you were coming from!!! Blimey that is a fast bike! I pinned it in 3rd on a straight in the Peak District and the world blurred a little! Really enjoyed riding it and a wonderful machine.
 
Thanks for the reply Giles. I have been really interested in reading all your posts about the throttle stop and it has provoked me to get my GS to this point when the conditions allow. It is an enlightening experience! I've enjoyed the rides where I have been experimenting with hitting the throttle stop and have had to recalibrate a little to ensure progress is safe and enjoyable! I also forced myself to hit the throttle stop on my Tuono test ride, not least so I could understand where you were coming from!!! Blimey that is a fast bike! I pinned it in 3rd on a straight in the Peak District and the world blurred a little! Really enjoyed riding it and a wonderful machine.

Ha! Excellent! All the very quick bikes (streetfighter, Tuono, 1000RR etc etc - even your GS!) take some getting used to to get to that point, but when you play with it and gently nibble at that experience and feel, it slowly becomes ...... well I was going to say normal, but that would be daft! It'll never be normal, but it might slowly become more comfortable and familiar!
If you could pick one thing and one thing only to improve the sparkle and va va voom in your road riding to make it spritely and interesting, (but still safe!!) it would be this 'exit drive'. Playing with this idea (so not necessarily throttle stop every exit!! just getting very comfortable with very brisk acceleration) makes for a very quick (safe) road rider. :thumb2
 
Test rode the Aprilia v4 Tuono Factory today - Ludicrously fast. Fastest bike I’ve ever ridden for midrange grunt. Quite ridiculous in the way it delivers it’s power.

Comfortable though, sounds incredible and handles beautifully. The engine is the star of the show. Insanely quick.

Am I going to buy one? No. It’s snatchy at low speed and just wants to go at breakneck speed all the time. And a twist of the throttle to pass a car takes you over 90mph in the blink of an eye. I’d lose my licence.

The Streetfighter v4S is equally fast but smoother, feels like it’s looking after you more and looks as cool as ice. It is far more relaxed to ride but still has the capacity to go ballistic when required. If I buy, it will be this bike. Loved it. Am going to ride it again.

Have you tried a new Superduke R ?
Lot of bike for the money ..
 
Ha! Excellent! All the very quick bikes (streetfighter, Tuono, 1000RR etc etc - even your GS!) take some getting used to to get to that point, but when you play with it and gently nibble at that experience and feel, it slowly becomes ...... well I was going to say normal, but that would be daft! It'll never be normal, but it might slowly become more comfortable and familiar!
If you could pick one thing and one thing only to improve the sparkle and va va voom in your road riding to make it spritely and interesting, (but still safe!!) it would be this 'exit drive'. Playing with this idea (so not necessarily throttle stop every exit!! just getting very comfortable with very brisk acceleration) makes for a very quick (safe) road rider. :thumb2

Absolutely agree. I got to this point on my GSA and it didn't take that long and feels totally 2nd nature to me now, road conditions allowing. That's the key thing...it is highly dependant upon road conditions so staying very alert to road and weather modulates riding style accordingly. I never really got full to this point on my older Edwrads Rep RSVR as the huge amount of low down stomp saw the front wheel go airborne rather too regularly (honest hofficer, I am only practicing safe roadcraft!) and where I was in a higher gear, it still threatened to rip the arms out of my shoulder blades. That was extensively tuned and made over 80ft-lbs of grunt in a package weighing in at around 185Kg. Whilst it didn't have the top end rush of today's 200bhp missiles, it is probably still as quick out of corners as anything this side of a V4 Tuono today. Riding any bike on a wave of pure torque where you ride in, keep the thing stable under braking and have the geometry for quick turn in, the skill for me was getting the feel of the suspension loading and knowing then to pin the throttle at the apex for missile like acceleration out of a corner. It taught me a lot about suspension set up!
 
Ha! Excellent! All the very quick bikes (streetfighter, Tuono, 1000RR etc etc - even your GS!) take some getting used to to get to that point, but when you play with it and gently nibble at that experience and feel, it slowly becomes ...... well I was going to say normal, but that would be daft! It'll never be normal, but it might slowly become more comfortable and familiar!
If you could pick one thing and one thing only to improve the sparkle and va va voom in your road riding to make it spritely and interesting, (but still safe!!) it would be this 'exit drive'. Playing with this idea (so not necessarily throttle stop every exit!! just getting very comfortable with very brisk acceleration) makes for a very quick (safe) road rider. :thumb2

That’s very interesting and I can completely understand what you are saying. I’m going to give that a try over the weekend if the road conditions allow and going forwards. Makes perfect sense as you tend to be in the right gear to pin it on the exit!
 
I have been practicing this very thing today

Float in to a 90deg bend on the incredible engine braking some body positioning to keep lean angle to minimum for the speed, get it stood upright and Ker pow get it on the throttle stop snick it up on the quick shifter and keep it there until bravery runs out

Fabulous
 
I notice when occasionally riding in groups just how many riders seem to ride into a corner on the brakes, upsetting suspension geometry and leave the gear change for the exit. Not only is this bad practice, it can be dangerous if you overcook the corner, especially in the wet. I always approach the bend using converging verges technique (some call it the "vanishing point" technique), select the exit gear before the corner, just rev matching the engine so that I float into the corner without over compressing the suspension, then pin the throttle at the apex. Makes for very rewarding and rapid progress! :beerjug:
 
I notice when occasionally riding in groups just how many riders seem to ride into a corner on the brakes, upsetting suspension geometry and leave the gear change for the exit. Not only is this bad practice, it can be dangerous if you overcook the corner, especially in the wet. I always approach the bend using converging verges technique (some call it the "vanishing point" technique), select the exit gear before the corner, just rev matching the engine so that I float into the corner without over compressing the suspension, then pin the throttle at the apex. Makes for very rewarding and rapid progress! :beerjug:

Hmmm each corner is different leaving gear changes aside the front tyre needs loading to work at its best and having the front brake on in many cases is or should be best practice but only really to the point of tipping in

On normal forks the perfect ambition should be to have 100mm of fork compression at turn in thats how the bike is designed to work at its best

Giles will be along shortly but as a rote "load the tyre before you work the tyre"

Tyres will take a huge constant load but not an abrupt one. if there 100 points of grip 50 points of lean angle only leaves 50 points of grip for braking or accelerating the more lean the less grip ( obviously) and the only thing that dictates corner radius on a bike is MPH thats physics so you can either lean more reducing the grip or slow down tightening the radius slowing down is shutting off or braking mid corner both of which will upset the bike so brakes on to tip in and throttle at the decision point where exit is seen

the geometry of the suspension is not upset just made to work better - all within reason of course
 
Yes, the front tyre needs some load to work, but the practice of smoothly in, in the right gear doesn't preclude braking to put the front under load. What it does is make you think well in advance of the corner about approach speed, and depending on the tightness of the corner, the appropriate exit gear and speed. It becomes automatic, 2nd nature after a while, to approach corners like this, so you're always in the right gear for the exit on hard or part throttle. The smoothest approach and way round will be just enough drive into the corner, maintained constantly all the way round until you accelerate out of the corner. Too many overload the front on the way in by hard, late braking. I've never found this the smoothest or swiftest way around as it upsets the loading too much and you get too radical a change of geometry.
 
Yes, the front tyre needs some load to work, but the practice of smoothly in, in the right gear doesn't preclude braking to put the front under load. What it does is make you think well in advance of the corner about approach speed, and depending on the tightness of the corner, the appropriate exit gear and speed. It becomes automatic, 2nd nature after a while, to approach corners like this, so you're always in the right gear for the exit on hard or part throttle. The smoothest approach and way round will be just enough drive into the corner, maintained constantly all the way round until you accelerate out of the corner. Too many overload the front on the way in by hard, late braking. I've never found this the smoothest or swiftest way around as it upsets the loading too much and you get too radical a change of geometry.

Agreed in part

Obviously the right gear is needed but to get the brakes on hard progressively and smoothly , turn in whilst letting the brake off a smoothly as it went on , lean as little as possible so that the power can go on as early as possible is the fastest, if its a long corner maintenance throttle is needed to counter centrifugal force taking the speed away

Neevsy ( MCN) reckons that anyone using all the tyre on the road is doing it wrong

Track riders will carry a huge amount more corner speed on entry than is wise on the road as they have the benefit of knowing exactly where that corner goes every lap and that a horse will not have shit in the middle since last time round
 
Agreed. It's the last point you make that some forget!

Neevsy is right if the aim is to go as fast as possible, as stably as possible but we're not always looking to race on the roads, so smooth progress doesn't make the same demands of the tyres as flat out. I aim to leave something in reserve when riding on the road.
 


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