Joined Dec 2011
18 Posts | 0+
Southampton
So here is my story about how I got hooked on the Priller. Bear with me, this is a long story but you WILL like this one.
I bought my 2007 RSVR Factory in Nov 2011 from Kings Two Wheel Centre in Kidlington, Oxford.It was a freezing day and I was looking forward to the way back to Southampton on my new bike. I got kitted up and my virgin ride on the A34 went well. The rear Ohlins suspension was a bit hard, especially considering my weight of 16 stone (~ 100 kg). After a while I reached the M3 and could finally open it up (of course not exceeding 70 mph….). I was sitting comfortably in the outside lane when suddenly with no warning whatsoever the back end collapsed. It felt like doing a wheely, or that the rear wheel had sunk 2 feet into the tarmac. I saw parts falling off in my mirrors and a continues very load scraping sound. I manoeuvred the bike to the inside lanes and on to the hard shoulder where I came to a stop. The rear wheel was sitting on the seat and the bottom of the fairing was on the tarmac.
I called Kings and they came with a van to pick up the bike. I got a day or so later a brand new full fairing Suzuki GSF1250 to get through the winter. Actually to be honest this is the better bike for winter driving: sitting straight up with wide handle bars having more control at low speed.
Kings to some pictures from some of the parts of the bike:
View attachment 4325
This shows the undertray. The hole is where the rear wheel went through.
View attachment 4326
The impact bent the Ohlins rear shock
View attachment 4327
Rear tyre pushed into the battery. Nice little detail: an alan key / hex spanner is stuck inside the battery. The rear wheel picked up the toolkit and pushed it inside the battery 2 feet away!
View attachment 4328
This is a brand new rear type done only 50 miles (Oxford to M3). The continues line is all the way through the canvas. Another 50 yards or so and the tyre would have split in two.
And now for the root cause:
View attachment 4329
You see here the link arm between the bottom of the Ohlins rear shock and the Alu arm to the frame and swinger.
Suppliers visiting Kings were all asking when seeing this if the rider was still alive….. The moment it happened I was pretty happy that I did a lot of endures and some motor cross combined with over 30 years of road riding leading to sufficient experience to stay ‘cool’ and make the best of a bad situation. I got off without a scratch ( I did not drop the bike).
Kings felt very guilty and they spent a lot of efforts doing their CSI. As you can see from the link arm there are wear marks. This indicates that it was not an instant failure. It has been wearing before. The MOT tester was questioned and even checked if there was a grease nipple but there isn’t. Further questioning revealed that this has happened at least twice before to RSVR’s. Aprilia does not acknowledge this and there is no recall.
I’m writing this up, because you have to be at least aware of this potential catastrophic failure on your RSVR which will destroy your bike and possible you.
I have been very lucky but things could easily have been a lot worse. My advice to you is to check once a year your entire rear suspension, take it apart and check for wear marks and grease it up.
I bought my 2007 RSVR Factory in Nov 2011 from Kings Two Wheel Centre in Kidlington, Oxford.It was a freezing day and I was looking forward to the way back to Southampton on my new bike. I got kitted up and my virgin ride on the A34 went well. The rear Ohlins suspension was a bit hard, especially considering my weight of 16 stone (~ 100 kg). After a while I reached the M3 and could finally open it up (of course not exceeding 70 mph….). I was sitting comfortably in the outside lane when suddenly with no warning whatsoever the back end collapsed. It felt like doing a wheely, or that the rear wheel had sunk 2 feet into the tarmac. I saw parts falling off in my mirrors and a continues very load scraping sound. I manoeuvred the bike to the inside lanes and on to the hard shoulder where I came to a stop. The rear wheel was sitting on the seat and the bottom of the fairing was on the tarmac.
I called Kings and they came with a van to pick up the bike. I got a day or so later a brand new full fairing Suzuki GSF1250 to get through the winter. Actually to be honest this is the better bike for winter driving: sitting straight up with wide handle bars having more control at low speed.
Kings to some pictures from some of the parts of the bike:
View attachment 4325
This shows the undertray. The hole is where the rear wheel went through.
View attachment 4326
The impact bent the Ohlins rear shock
View attachment 4327
Rear tyre pushed into the battery. Nice little detail: an alan key / hex spanner is stuck inside the battery. The rear wheel picked up the toolkit and pushed it inside the battery 2 feet away!
View attachment 4328
This is a brand new rear type done only 50 miles (Oxford to M3). The continues line is all the way through the canvas. Another 50 yards or so and the tyre would have split in two.
And now for the root cause:
View attachment 4329
You see here the link arm between the bottom of the Ohlins rear shock and the Alu arm to the frame and swinger.
Suppliers visiting Kings were all asking when seeing this if the rider was still alive….. The moment it happened I was pretty happy that I did a lot of endures and some motor cross combined with over 30 years of road riding leading to sufficient experience to stay ‘cool’ and make the best of a bad situation. I got off without a scratch ( I did not drop the bike).
Kings felt very guilty and they spent a lot of efforts doing their CSI. As you can see from the link arm there are wear marks. This indicates that it was not an instant failure. It has been wearing before. The MOT tester was questioned and even checked if there was a grease nipple but there isn’t. Further questioning revealed that this has happened at least twice before to RSVR’s. Aprilia does not acknowledge this and there is no recall.
I’m writing this up, because you have to be at least aware of this potential catastrophic failure on your RSVR which will destroy your bike and possible you.
I have been very lucky but things could easily have been a lot worse. My advice to you is to check once a year your entire rear suspension, take it apart and check for wear marks and grease it up.
