italian beauty

well i did the unthinkable and let go of my 03 gsxr 750 last weekend. i brought home this '05 aprilia rsv R in her place. mixed feelings for sure, but i think i'll survive. just didn't want 3 inline 4's anymore. i knew i needed a twin. wow, what a ride. takes some getting used to. i'm convinced that comfort and ergos are the lowest priority on the italian's lists when it comes to building their machines. Like i said, i think i'll survive

UPDATE:
After 2 days/nights of riding here's my analysis so far...

PROS:
she's beautiful
fit and finish and design are amazing. you can spend hours just staring at the details and still see soemthing new next time. the mid and upper range are dreamy. this bike really sings at 6000 and up. though it will complain at 6000rpm with a nasty red light. gotta put the required 1000km on before she stops that i'm told. Cornering is like nothing i've ridden. dives in and changes up on s curves with NO EFFORT. i was riding munns, kangaroo and glen forest with a big smile on my face last night. and ya she has torque almost everywhere. wants to wheelie. this machine might actually convince me to take up wheelie'ing. meh, who knows. she was purring along the sookahala last night easily in 3rd and 4th, less than 6k rpm of course. the guages are sweet and they really paid attention to getting the colors matched up. no BLUE preload dials or bs like that, it all looks thought out. the seat is actually fine, not as bad as it looks. she produces alot of heat at your legs and ass which is great for this time of year. heated grips along with my vest and i've got my choice for the fall rides. the signals are bright and look wicked, though you can get clear lenses which will look better than yellow. Headlights are awesome, actually work. breaking is nice. they work , o yes they work. some lady doing makeup and smoking on hillside locked them up and than so did I! almost a tank slapper but i recovered. whoa that woulda been bad.


CONS:
no steering damper i found out! but maybe i dont need it. to be determined still. the friggin windscreen cuts the gauge cluster in half, so for casual riding its kind of annoying. the horn and signal switch are reversed from my gixxers so i was honking at every corner for a while. also the signal switch is badly placed too far from the thumb so no more clutch and signal at same time, gotta move your whole hand to switch it off. she is a tank at low rpms and low speeds and i dont quite flat foot at the lights. that extra 40 lbs over my other bikes combined with the height makes me HATE riding in the city. NO TRUNK space whatsoever though you can get a kit to remove a big canister which is in the trunk taking up all the space. cannot find neutral at a stop light for the life of me, though Jamie from SG says bleeding the line might alleviate that. I'm not liking the sound of the stock pipes at all. will be looking at fixing that. perhaps some italian pipes.

All in all, i'm having a blast with her! i hope that SG gives my other baby to a good owner. she's amazing too and i don't wanna hear she ended up in a ditch.

4 stars out of 5