Electric problems

Electric problems eh? Caponord has the same problems as any other brand, some caused by the owners fiddling, others by assembly errors in the 2013 era, but I have 34,000kms on my 2014 model and have only just now had the exhaust valve servo motor fail after having new cables fitted.......no word yet as to why it failed, but the new cables fitted by the service technician were a lot longer than the oem cables, so they may, or may not have been part of the problem........

If the used bike you are looking at has any problems or does not run well, then same advice applies (as for any brand secondhand).......look away...... Caponord is relatively hi tech and will cost a lot more to service as you cannot plug in to the Aprilia system to do stuff that your Honda didn't need anyone to do ( I know this because I still have my PGMFI Blackbird 1100XX.....it tunes itself and I can do all it's maintenance without the need of a laptop and "PADS" software).

Cheers.

Electric problems eh? Caponord has the same problems as any other brand, some caused by the owners fiddling, others by assembly errors in the 2013 era, but I have 34,000kms on my 2014 model and have only just now had the exhaust valve servo motor fail after having new cables fitted.......no word yet as to why it failed, but the new cables fitted by the service technician were a lot longer than the oem cables, so they may, or may not have been part of the problem........

If the used bike you are looking at has any problems or does not run well, then same advice applies (as for any brand secondhand).......look away...... Caponord is relatively hi tech and will cost a lot more to service as you cannot plug in to the Aprilia system to do stuff that your Honda didn't need anyone to do ( I know this because I still have my PGMFI Blackbird 1100XX.....it tunes itself and I can do all it's maintenance without the need of a laptop and "PADS" software).

Must also say that I absolutely love owning my Caponord, and the few days it has been in the workshop has left me feeling quite lost......
Cheers.

G'day amosws.......I don't know why my post apppeared twice (I only edited to add the last sentence.....and it re-posted the entire story......).

Anyway, I have received word from my Aprilia dealer and my servo motor has been replaced under warranty with new cables - all at no cost to me.....so I will soon have my magic Caponord back in the garage where it is very welcome.

I realised after I had posted the above, that the Capo12 you are looking at was probably traded in because the owner was unaware that the "jerky" throttle, that afflicts brand new Caponord's, settles down considerably by 10,000kms and almost disappears by 12/15k kms. (or it has been run in on full synthetic oil and is now an oil guzzler??).

My throttle has been fine from around 15k to now,and I have never bothered to add any expensive mods to "cure" the symptoms - I just rode around them until the engine fully loosened up after 15,000kms.

The latest download the dealer installed, seemed to take a little bit of power/urge away from the low rev zone, but has given me an almost perfectly smooth throttle from idle - it was great before but it is 100% smooth now......errr, it was up until the exhaust servo quit, so I still have to collect the bike and go for a decent ride to confirm all is as it was a couple of weeks ago!

So, if you have a good Aprilia dealer close by, you won't be bothered by the odd visit, but I'd say the Caponord has had some harsh judgement by critics who may or may not have understood the issues they were complaining about...or, their dealer support was bad. It is the first of type, so there will always be some unforseen issues to deal with......though my experience has been a happy one over 34,000kms.

In any case, you must make up your own mind after a good test ride, and if you feel unsuited to life aboard a Caponord 12......there are plenty of fabulous bikes competing for your dollar......Versey1000, Vstrom1000, S1000XR, MT10 Yamaha.....and heaps more.....all great bikes! ....cheers from Aus.

Ps - have a look at the 2014-2016 forum (this forum was started as the 2013 model's forum and isn't a real hot spot for info like the main forum).

Cheers mate, got my Capo back c/w new servo motor and correct length new cables and all is wonderful again.....

I was dreaming when I posted the throttle was even smoother again than my quite normal 34,400km old Caponord throttle......so I'm starting to think the jerky throttle rider's complain about on low km/mileage bikes is related to the exhaust valve fluttering about in a confused way at low rpm's.......so just ride it around 4,000rpms and wear that engine into submission like I did and Capo will smooth out over time (or get a Gabro ECU re-flash).

As for the original query on known model electrical problems, there have only been a handful of reports rather than a flood of complaints. Just like any new model of any brand, there will be some problems caused by assembly or bad pre-delivery or lack of technical knowledge at dealer or even owner tampering (there is a Can-bus system behind the instrument pod)......but my only failure has been the servo motor (and that might have been due to long cables and extra friction???).

However, as the US owners report......some owners live 4 hrs away from a dealer, so always take distance to dealer support into the buying process.

Cheers

I should also mention (and this is just what I've read....and may not be factual), that the Caponord 1200 engine won't be updated to comply with Euro4.
This could mean the demise of the Capo12, or it might mean a new V4 version....nobody knows.....but whatever happens, it's still a great bike to ride in my experience (ie one Caponord, now 35,000kms old).......others on the forums are not so happy.......