Aprillia RSV Mille R

Aprillia RSV Mille R Price £9,999 :
* 998cc Liquid cooled inline four 8V, 60 V-twin :
* Dry weight 183kg Insurance group 17 :
* Claimed power 120bhp @ 8,800rpm :
* Issue tested: October 2002
* Contact: Aprilia UK on 0161 475 1800

Rating in 2002 bike of the year? Fourth
The bike choice for many track day fiends, but can it really cut it as a ride it everyday type of machine? Some might say not, but they're the slow guys.
This is serious junkie action. When you have become desensitised to 900s and you can't get a buzz from a middleweight, you're on a slippery slope. Those bikes are recreational drugs for the non-committed who kid themselves they could stop if they wanted. When your 140bhp FireBlade seems too damn nice you're staring down the barrel of a tough choice. Go cold turkey from biking and try to get a bigger rush jumping off bridges without an elastic band or pull the trigger and get on a Mille.

For the uninitiated this is the most racer-like bike money can buy, right down to the feel of the thin grips and hard seat. The RSV R has been kicking arse in tests since it debuted in 2000. The revision the following year made it top twin and it has stayed there since. There is no bullshit with this bike. It's built to go fast and that means it's aggressive. You ride a Mille and there can be no softly softly catchee monkey. Get on and say 'I'd like to proceed straight to the intravenous injection of hard horsepower, please'.

The RSV doesn't even have that much on paper. Average output for the last few test bikes are 113bhp and 70lbs-ft of torque. The difference is in the 60-degree V-twin engine's close firing order that hammers the bike forwards with such ferocity that the more powerful SP-2 and 998s actually lose out on corner exist and rarely manage to gain much on a straight.