Get them while they’re young. It worked for the tobacco industry, it worked for Michael Jackson, and it is the new mantra for Aprilia Motorcycles, as the Italian marque is getting aggressive with its offerings for young and future motorcyclists.
Regular Asphalt & Rubber readers will know that we have talked at length about the motorcycle industry’s aging demographic, and that the younger generations are not filling in sales that are being left behind by Baby Boomer motorcyclists.
Getting Gen-X and Millennials on motorcycles has been a key part to every motorcycle brand’s marketing strategy, and now Aprilia is taking that move to its next logical level, and focusing on getting kids on bikes at as early of an age as possible.
Aprilia USA will be part of MotoAmerica’s inaugural season, as the US subsidiary of the Italian brand confirmed an officially supported entry into the MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 class.
To go racing, Aprilia has partnered with HSBK Racing to form the “Aprilia HSBK Racing” team, which will campaign a two-rider lineup on the 2015 Aprilia RSV4 Factory superbike. The names of the riders have not been released as of yet.
Aprilia issued two recalls today, one concerning 2014-2015 Aprilia Shiver 750 models, and the other concerning 2015 Aprilia Caponord 1200 models. In all, the recall affects 337 units, and involves the output gear shaft.
According to the report filed with the NHTSA, the the output gear shaft face may have been improperly machined, which can cause the fastening screw on the sprocket to loosen, and potentially lock-up the rear wheel.
It’s hard to fault the current Aprilia Tuono V4 R APRC ABS, except perhaps the sport bike’s alphabet soup name, which the Italian company seems to grow longer with each passing year and added feature.
That being said, the Tuono V4 R is easily our pick for the best streetfighter on the market — it packs a punch with its V4 engine, has the industry’s best electronics package, and is just downright fun to ride.
Noale, Italy isn’t resting on those laurels though, so accordingly the 2015 Aprilia Tuono V4 R APRC ABS is getting some minor updates: namely a bump in peak power (170hp) and torque (83.3 lbs•ft), thanks to a new exhaust system.
While David is in Aragon, I am down in Laguna Seca for the World Superbike races (apparently AMA Pro Racing is here too, though you wouldn’t know it from their TV contract), and Aprilia USA just debuted and confirmed that the alphabet soup that is the 2014 Aprilia Tuono V4 R APRC ABS will be landing on US soil starting in October 2013.
The naked version of the venerable Aprilia RSV4 R APRC ABS superbike, the Tuono V4 R is our hands-down favorite liter-class streetfighter, with its burly, yet smooth, power delivery, and industry-leading electronics package.
Keeping the machine inline with its competitors, Aprilia is now adding ABS for the 2014 model year , and thus has raised the bar a little higher with its next iteration of the Tuono V4 R. Helping seal the deal is the $14,499 price tag, which is $500 less than last year’s MSRP.
Looking to add more manufacturers to the traveling circus, AMA Pro Road Racing has homologated the Aprilia RSV4 Factory ABS for racing duty, though with one interesting caveat. Instead of giving the 999cc Italian V4 a birth in the AMA Pro Superbike class, the RSV4 Factory has been homologated instead to race in the AMA Pro Supersport.
With Aprilia USA lacking a 600cc machine and the budget necessary to race at the factory level in the Superbike class, AMA Pro Road Racing officials have come to a compromise with the Italian company on how it can enter the American road racing scene with its current equipment, and hopefully thus spur its sport bike sales.
We already told you that Aprilia USA was getting very aggressive with its pricing on the leftover 2012 stock, and now that the Italian brand has released its 2013 price list, we can see that the trend continues on. Adding ABS to its RSV4 sport bikes for 2013, Aprilia has drastically undercut its main rival Ducati on pricing with the 2013 Aprilia RSV4 Factory APRC ABS (previously known as the Aprilia RSV4 Factory APRC ABS SBK), which is $3,000 cheaper than the similarly spec’d Ducati 1199 Panigale S.
Additionally the 2013 Aprilia RSV4 R ABS gets an aggressive MSRP of $14,999, which puts it also $3,000 under the base-model $17,995 Ducati 1199 Panigale, and into a price category that was previously only open to the Japanese OEMs (though recently joined by BMW). At only $500 more than say a 2013 Yamaha YZF-R1, Aprilia is going to make some price-sensitive sport bike buyers think twice about their purchases. We like it.
Aprilia is getting serious with its sport bike offerings here in the United States, as we just got an email from Aprilia USA announcing massive price reductions on its 2012 model year Aprilia Tuono V4 R, Aprilia RSV4 R APRC, and Aprilia RSV4 Factory APRC, to the tune of $2,000, $3,000, and $4,000 respectively. That’s right, you can get a Tuono V4 R for $12,999, an RSV4 R APRC for $13,999, and an RSV4 Factory APRC for $18,999 MSRP. Boom goes the dynamite.
You wouldn’t know that the Aprilia Tuono V4 R even existed if you went to Aprilia’s USA website, though the fire sale of the older Tuono 1000 should at least raise an eyebrow. That being said, Aprilia USA is set to bring the new, as in debuted at EICMA last year, Aprilia Tuono V4 R to our American shores. Set to hit dealers in March 2012, Aprilia USA has at least gotten one thing right with the 2012 Aprilia Tuono V4 R, and priced the streetfightered RSV4 with $14,999 MSRP.
That puts the base model Aprilia Tuono V4 R a full $4,000 cheaper than the $18,995 MSRP 2012 Ducati Streetfighter S, and $2,000 more than the $12,995 MSRP Ducati Streetfighter 848. With that price point, Aprilia has aggressively positioned the Tuono V4 R against Ducati, its biggest competition in the performance-oriented street-naked segment. With 167hp on tap, there is plenty to get excited about with the Aprilia Tuono V4 R, and true to its ethos, the Tuono V4 R is basically a de-tuned Aprilia RSV4 R superbike without its fairings.
Aprilia USA has tapped Hell for Leather and Tangent Vector to help them market the 2010 Aprilia RSV4 sport bike in a three-part video clip series. First up is a response to the BMW tablecloth trick video, which went viral on YouTube three months ago. Deciding to rest its laurels on its World Superbike doubles at Miller Motorsports Park, Monza, and Portimao, instead of cheap parlor tricks, Aprilia is clearly poking BMW in the eye with this video response. Check it out after the jump.
Aprilia USA, the North American importer and distributor of Aprilia Motorcycles and scooters has sent out an update on the recall for the 2010 Aprilia RSV4‘s motor, saying that replacement motors from Italy have arrived, and that the company is ready to begin replacing affected machines. Aprilia USA expects the recall to take two to three weeks to replace every RSV4 motor sold in the USA, but it’s unclear how long it will take for the Noale brand to recover its lost footing with would-be Aprilia purchasers.