Aprillia RSV 450

[ApriliaRs125]

In the run up to the Milan show Aprilia were teasing us by telling us they were launching a "45.v2". We were expecting a motocross bike with a development of Yamaha's 450cc single. Aprilia's boss Ivano Beggio has been hinting for some time that a return to off-road and dual purpose bikes was dear to his heart.

What we got was not the bike, but the just the engine. And what a brave and significant move that engine is. V-twins aren't exactly common in motocross.

Developed entirely in house, the 77° V-twin is amazingly compact. It's clearly smaller than many of it's single cylinder competitors. Whilst not actually revealing it's weight, Aprilia claim it's lighter too. With use of light weight materials such as magnesium for the covers and titanium for the eight valves, who are we to argue. The cylinders have a chain driven single cam, which for compactness is mounted over the inlet valves. A forked rocker on a third cam lobe operates the exhaust valves (explaining the unusually shaped red rocker cover). The alternator is big enough to drive an electronic fuel injection system, as well things like electric start. It's been reliably up to 14,000 rpm on the bench. It is also suitable for boring out to larger capacities, with a 550cc version known to be on the cards.

Aprilia say that the v-twin's lighter drive shaft and smaller bore and stroke reduces the inertia and gyroscopic effects, improving responsiveness and handling.

There are no power figures available, but we think it could reach 70 bhp in some variants.

They also say that this engine configuration is well positioned to stay ahead of future tightening noise and emission legislation. Something that could kill off some of the competition perhaps.

The bike itself should be revealed in early 2004 for use in the FIM World Championship Motocross Series, and expect this engine to be used in a variety of off-road, dual purpose and even road bikes. The engine would allegedly fit in a RS250 frame to make a RSV450 as temporary fill for the current gap between the RS125 and RSVR 1000. Although Aprilia's R&D department is already running at capacity, we're sure they'd prefer to build an all new RSV 45, or will they call it a RS450?

The fact that this was an in-house project is significant, and shows that Aprilia have moved on from their Rotax days, and now have the capability to develop a complete range of engines of different configurations. Rumours that engineers have started work on triples have been doing the rounds of late, and with Laverda's triple heritage, at least one variant will be going there, with Aprilia holding onto others for their own models.

Now howsabout putting two 45.v2 engines together to make a 900cc v-four in a "big bang" firing configuration.......Mmmmmm.


This is from a Web Site, I did'nt want to Spam.

What do you guys think of it?


Scott >0<
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*aprilia rs125 2005 UKRS https://www.theukrsclub.com
*peugeot speedfight 100 1999 Aprilia Forum https://www.apriliaforum.com

[Keen]

it looks cool.... but I find it hard to believe a road bike with that engine would be produced. I mean I bet it would be an awesome bike, but I can't see it being much cheaper than a sports 600, so I wouldn't expect many people to buy them.

I hope I'm wrong though.
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"he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man"- Dr. Johnson

[instigator]

The rumour has been circulating for YEARS

[kaillum]

yup.. old as the hills...

the mx bike is out.. but they've been saying there gonna build the RSV450 for many many moons...

will believe it when I put the deposit down for one!

[G]

As has beeen said everytime, the story is 'weight of a 250, power of a (errr, bigger bike, don't think they're claiming 600cc power)'. I suspect the reality may actually be weight of a bigger bike, power of a 250, minus the top end rush that the 2 stroke has. Yawn.

It's a nice idea which I hope is good, but I'm a tad sceptical at the moment.

[Slickfish]

I've heard this so many times before, would be cool if it was actually made, and worked like these claims say.

[ash t]

We wont see it for a while!
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When You're Starting To Choke, Take Some Pills With Your Coke, Its Hyserical

[Kickstart]

Hi

Rumours of the 450 V twin in the old RS250 chassis have been around for ages (one of those pics looks like the MCN photoshop job from last year), but I don't think Aprilia have really said anything about it.

However, could make an interesting Minitwin racer.

The age of that article is given away (other than by the mention of 2004) by mention of triples and Laverda, given that Piaggio have pretty much said that they have no intention of doing anything with the Laverda name.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Keith]

The MX and SM bikes which are currently running with the 450 motor are very competitive machines, doing extremely well and winning plenty after such a short time of the bike being released.

I wont be surprised if they bolt it into a sports chassis and release it next year. Would probably be interested in one myself, but for the price of one new, you could pick up a 3 year old RSV Mille.
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Aprilia RSV Mille R Edwards Replica - Aprilia RS250 - Suzuki GSXR600 Supersport Race Bike

[G]

[TOM M]

[colin1]

my fave aprilia dream project is the aprilia magnet 3 wheel thing. i might even be able to persuade the girlfriend its a car

https://www.gizmag.com/pictures/hero/3629_06.jpg

https://www.bikernewsonline.com/blogphotos/aprilia-magnet.jpg

unfortunately i just discussed this with her and she has decided its not a car
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[lilredmachine]

They are releasing the road versions of the sm and mx before the end of the year. I'm not sure how the mx has done in competition, but the supermoto has won the S2 supermoto world title .

The motor produces around 70+ horsepower in racing trim, with the 550 sporting even more impressive numbers.

The supermoto machine weighs 120kgs wet. Ouch.
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Bikes: too many, too much for one man to maintain anyway.