Mille 4th in Fast Bikes test

Who cares where it finished in the comparison.

I sold my 07 GSXR-750 to buy the 08 RSVR I have now.

Sure the GSXR was faster in top end but it just doesn't have the appeal of the RSVR.

I didn't buy it for anything other than I wanted one, I love the look, the sound, the way it handles and the fact that not everyone has one. :inlove

I have given IL4 owners a ride and the love the power delivery and handling.

Owning a bike is a personnel thing, if I liked (heaven forbid) a Harley, I would own one.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Cheers :cheers

sgw

I had a few 2V Dukes (plus the odd other thing: VFR, ZZR11) but after having borrowed a Mille for a weekend, I always had a soft spot for the Aprilia.

Now I finally own a RSV-R, I'm stoked :inlove. It IS a truly awesome thing.

I still have my Duke (a seriously hotted up 900SS) but they are completely different. The Duke is like tuned big-cube old-school yank V8, the Aprilia like a fast revving small capacity German V8. They are both super characterful and SUPER LOUD! :biggrin

The Duke (with its carbon supermono fairing) is super light, steers super quick and wheelies everywhere, the Aprilia IS much heavier (I'm fast wearing out the front tyre) but REALLY handles. Choosing between then would be like choosing between my children.

I have decided that from now on I WILL have an Aprilia in the garage though, no matter what! And if I had enough $ for a third bike, I'd buy a 675 Daytona.

Jap bikes are fine, but are like appliances in comparison.

jwer said:

"money cant buy you style, you have to be born with it"

:thumbup

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that's me fecked then! :0)

Having a bad day, Jon? :dunno

Kiwihame said:

Jap bikes are fine, but are like appliances in comparison.

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Utter rubbish IMO, its amazing how many people still damn ALL Jap bikes. Is it some kind of snobbery thing to do with owners of Italian bikes? Because most Aprilias and some Ducati's have Japanese parts, or should that be Chinese parts

A Z1 has ****** sheds loads of character, believe me. I have Italian and Japanese, the thing about Japanese IL4s is that they go on making usable power close to the red line. Trying do that on certain Italian bikes of a certain vintage on a regular basis and it'll be in bits, like your bank account.

I like (some) jap bikes too, hell ahv had a few me self,
but I'm happy to redline the rsv, 62.5kk and still going strong!!
ck

lets face it, every bike out there has its fan's and 99% of them are great, Italian / Jap / Russian (now that's a rare bike) any other not mentioned....

personally I am a big fan of the Blade (all flavours) not been keen on the 600's but that again is choice.

I now have the RSV 1000R and love it not for any other reason than looks, the way it rides (after you get used to it) the sound etc etc; its not the same as a Jap bike but still a lump of metal plastic / carbon and rubber arranged in a nice way lol!
I never brought it for reliability I got it to ride "when it starts lol" and because it had every thing done I wanted, Ohlin's light wheels etc etc saved me money and time on doing them and even better it was cheap!

I read once the RSV is a bit like a super model (expensive, temperamental but look great "I was going to say a fantastic ride" but that can be misconstrued ;-))
and thought so true.

and just one more thing I can add is it's helping me get fit for the summer! F*cker did not start so had to use another piece of exotic machinery "my push bike" which I would be lost with out hahahahaha

I really like most aspects of most bikes to be honest. I will never be able to ride a sportsbike to its full potential, so make my decisions purely on feeling - and a bit of research! I didnt even take my Factory for a test ride, and had never ridden a V2 before, but just knew how much I'd always liked the look of RSVs and could finally afford to insure one! Dont regret the decision at all, but also very much enjoyed my GSXR, just in a different way.

IanG said:

Not my description obviously. However due to one members well documented problems with his Falco and anothers with his Bennelli Tornado they are all lumped together under the heading of HOIS.....Heap Of Italian ***** !

So of course I pop over now and again to stir the pot a bit :devil

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too bad bennelli is owned by the chinese now..:jack

"Inline 4 or V-twin.... You decide!"

Subjective or objective?

I will agree with a past post. the new r1 with akros sounds insane. very nice.

My last bike was a blade it was my dream bike and on paper perfect for me as I only weigh 7.5 stone but I never geled with it my speed dropped a hell of a lot due to the hole bike feeling numb I played with every suspention setup I could but it was never right then my now ex partner bought an rsv which I rode and suddenly everything slotted into place so I traded in my blade and I got my mille it may well be heavier but the weight is better balenced the suspention is superb it may well lack the top end but the power is way more useable which means that when i'm out with the boys all on inline 4's most of then can't get near, theres no way I would ever go back to a jap machine.

Millemille said:

theres no way I would ever go back to a jap machine

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see that's the kind of statement I just dont understand. As a biker how can you rule out forever the possibility of a bike coming along in the future from Japan that would be even better for ya? I dont give a toss where they are made as long as they are right for me. In fact the thought of always excluding Japanese machines would worry me.

You may not have been, but plenty of people are very quick on blades, believe me. I was on an 08 Blade for a while last summer and it was very fast. And it handled.

I'm not saying its not a fast bike we all no it is but it wasn't for me, i've worked in the trade for over 10 years and as some of you no i'm an instructer this has given me the oppatunity to ride a lot of bikes and nothing has come close to my mille I will continue to ride the new bikes as they come out but so far its aprilia all the way imo.

...Well said

SATAN

saint nick said:

see that's the kind of statement I just dont understand. As a biker how can you rule out forever the possibility of a bike coming along in the future from Japan that would be even better for ya? I dont give a toss where they are made as long as they are right for me. In fact the thought of always excluding Japanese machines would worry me.

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Nick, I think a lot of us ape owners are so into the v twin ness that we say 'never jap again' when we often actually mean 'never il4 again' due to associating the japs with il4s and no v twins. However the former phrase is probably very justified.... can you see any of 'the big four' ever releasing another big twin sportsbike?

Exactly my point only you fraised it much better.

twintorque said:

Nick, I think a lot of us ape owners are so into the v twin ness that we say 'never jap again' when we often actually mean 'never il4 again' due to associating the japs with il4s and no v twins. However the former phrase is probably very justified.... can you see any of 'the big four' ever releasing another big twin sportsbike?

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Interesting. Two separate points I guess.

1) Japanese V twins

2) V twin owners relationships with other bikes.

In the first instance, the best Jap twin was the little SV 650 IMO. It proved they can get it right, but I agree, its very hard to see any of them returning to V2 technology, not least because il4s have moved the game on a fair bit. I don't think many would have predicted the current domination of il4s at Moto GP and WSB etc a few years ago, when short stroke V2 was all the rage and V formats looked a good bet at the highest level.

The second point is subjective. When I first moved from an il4 to a V2 some years ago I was fairly certain that I wouldn't go back. However, as time passed I realised that I liked 4s just as much, but for different reasons. I also realised that there were basically two completely different types of V2 (never mind triples and so on). Long stroke air cooled V2s (for example) are an utterly different type of twin-ness. The point I'm trying to make is that I never felt the RSV was a kind of definitive motor, it was just another enjoyable means to an end. Which is riding I'm in the minority on that one, I know, I'm just reluctant to say 'this will always be better than that'. (I've just added a twenty year old DR350 single to the stable, another different type of fun. A dirty type of fun lol.)