Love affair over... Tuono dead and needing recovery.

Well as you may have gathered from the title of the mail the Tuono is dead and abandoned at the side of the road.

I'm not sure if you're aware but Tuonos/Milles and Falcos are notoriously bad for 'charging' problems.

This seems to arise itself in the fact that over 4000rpm the bike is only making 11.5-11.8v. This sadly seems to be happening on the one i've bought.

You can notice this either using a multimeter or using the dash display. Also the fact that the clocks were in KPH and the shift light was set to the default of 6000rpm should have put me onto this when i recieved the bike (However i wasn't aware of all this at that stage).

The clocks being in 'reset/default' mode does make me wonder if the problem had been seen previously though ?

There are a number of potential fixes.
1. New Odessey Battery. Slightly different YT15 instead of a YT14. (£90)
2. Replacement improved rectifier/regulator from the USA. ($140)
3. Wiring modifications (£20 of bits but more knowledge of electrics needed than i have).
4. Bike sent back to seller/dealer and refunded.


So i've got the battery on charge and will head out later to get it running and back to work.

Hmmmmmm, what to do as my next step... LOL

Blimey. Crap when a new bike gives you grief.
Probably something and nothing.
Big fook off alarm draining ?
Sure the lads on here will help.

My 03 Mille was exactly the same - ended up with the bigger yuasa battery and kept it permanently on an optimate when I wasnt using it - if its under warrenty - take the bugger back ! Not had any bother with my tuono so far but thats probably the kiss of death on it now ! Hope you get it sorted

Can't have on the Optimate and to be honest i don't see why i should.

No alarm on bike so it's simply the dreaded under charging issue that Tuono/Milles and Falcos seem infamous for.

Spoke to the dealer and he said "Order the new reg/rec and i'll send you a cheque ASAP for the $140"

Now... am i being a bit cynical or was that all really easy ?

Could be he's just a really good bloke ?

Bad news mate, so sorry to hear about the bike.
Fingers crossed you get it sorted.

The stator went on ANdiamo, never had an issue with the batterys staying charged though, and when I have checked she seems to be charging at at least 12 +. That being said, they still owe me for the battery.

I can't believe the dealer's not treating this as an in-house warrantee claim. Can't you get it back to them for them to fix Weeksy?

This really sucks. Great advertising for Aprilia - not.

FWIW I have had no charging probs (touch wood) on my '08 model. I have recharged the battery a couple of times following short periods of storage (I'm talking only a couple of weeks here), just to top it up so as not to put too much strain on the charging system.

Plus, it seems charging issues are not the sole preserve of the Italians. My early 750, 1000 and 1100cc Suzukis all suffered charging problems; and I hear some modern Hondas also have these probs.

Chunkylad said:

I can't believe the dealer's not treating this as an in-house warrantee claim. Can't you get it back to them for them to fix Weeksy?

This really sucks. Great advertising for Aprilia - not.

FWIW I have had no charging probs (touch wood) on my '08 model. I have recharged the battery a couple of times following short periods of storage (I'm talking only a couple of weeks here), just to top it up so as not to put too much strain on the charging system.

Plus, it seems charging issues are not the sole preserve of the Italians. My early 750, 1000 and 1100cc Suzukis all suffered charging problems; and I hear some modern Hondas also have these probs.

Click to expand...

Guy isn't an Aprilia dealer as such, but just a 'bike dealer'. As it's an 03, there's obviously no Aprilia warranty.

I've had issues on my old Ducati's too so i'm not unfamilliar with bikes having charging/running issues. So i'm hoenstly only kidding about the love affair being over, from the small number of miles i've done on the Tuono i've been most impressed with it.

Is there no statutory warrantee mate? 30 days or something? Sounds like a white line warrantee jobbie to me. Maybe that offer of a cheque isn't looking too bad at the moment. Why can't he order it for you (and fit it while he's at it)? Or am I being a bit thick and missing something?:dunno

A beaut example of an '03 she is too. Love those wave discs Weeksy.:thumbup

Chunkylad said:

Is there no statutory warrantee mate? 30 days or something? Sounds like a white line warrantee jobbie to me. Maybe that offer of a cheque isn't looking too bad at the moment. Why can't he order it for you (and fit it while he's at it)? Or am I being a bit thick and missing something?:dunno

A beaut example of an '03 she is too. Love those wave discs Weeksy.:thumbup

Click to expand...

Not really sure on the statuatory rules over here. I think the bloke is being straight and won't be a problem for sorting it.

The reg/rec is from a 3rd party company in the US.
The starter relay is a Yamaha part
The battery could be sourced from anywhere i guess.

The tricky part is working out fully which of the components is the offending part.

I'm thinking that Andiamo would look good a leetle tarted up with those horny lil' Waveys!! We'll see. Exhaust first, then a rear shock. I'll see if I can find another front end of the *golden* variety to show off the Galfers.

Well for anyone still reading the Tuono exploits.

I've got a new starter relay on the way to Yamaha (the theory is it draws less current to start).
I've got a new Odyssey on it's way
I've removed all connectors, plugs, leads, earths etc and cleaned. Bike is now putting out 14.01v at 4000rpm and 14.37v at idle. (still find it weird they're the reverse to expected on Aprilias).

The best i was getting yesterday was 13.96v and this morning was 13.93v as i've been stopping and starting this battery without running it.

The v with the bike switched off is quite a bit down on the 'charged' settings, but i think it's had 5 starts and only a few mins ilde each time.

Amazingly the clocks are still in MPH so it's not drained and pissed it's pants yet as it's not done the clock re-set.

I'm hopefull that with a bit of solder on the Brown connector pins/wires we'll actually get 14.3v or so which will mean we don't have to remove the brown connector.

Good work Weeksy. I hope it is "problem solved"

I hope all that hard work is rewarded laddie buck. Keep us apprised. And go and enjoy a rip.

Battery was showing 12.74 when i put it on the bike with ignition on, and was showing 13.04 when i got it home. So i'm happy with that indeed.

I've also fitted the Yamaha relay and that's working well.

Can't honestly say i've got any confidence in the bike currently but that can be changed with time.

The good news is the riding of it though... Bloody hell it's a good machine. Handling is getting better with minor tweaks and the power i really like lots. Tries to pick up the front over any sort of a ridge in 3rd/4th and when you crack it up to the powerband, it's quite insane

Currently i've had another date with the Tuono and it wore sexy underwear... i'll decide tomorrow if the love affair is back on

The thong will do it...

Weeksy in a thong.........Aaaarrghh my eyes, my eyes:scared:scared:scared

You'll be back in love before you know it. The lure of the gorgeous Italian is impossible to ignore:love

Slightly weird one..

Had the clock re-set again when i went for fuel today. Bike still started and worked and ran fine for the day. Did about 100 miles.

Got back and battery showing 12.96v (same as Friday) which is all good. Showing good voltage when charging etc still.

Bit confused why i had the clock reset when all seems to be working OK.

Any thoughts ?

I've had the service light keep coming on for a couple of weeks now. Some times its on a couple of hundred miles, other times 30. Strange

I have heard of this sort of thing before. Some have seen problems with their earth wires under the seat, others have had poor connections elsewhere.