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New Models
BIKES: The Aprilia Dorsoduro
The Aprilia Dosoduro can do it all.
The Aprilia Dorsoduro (Photo: Neal Bayly and Scott Ely)
Warning, prolonged use of this product may cause worn out adrenaline glands, heart palpitations and a stupid grin on your face that might not wash off. Your driving license will be screaming for mercy, you’ll be on first name terms with your local tire changer and none of your law abiding friends will go riding with you anymore.
The Aprilia Dosoduro is unfortunately inflicted with the same strain of madness that runs through the SVX550 moto we had on test last year, although thankfully in a slightly milder and more civilized fashion. Still inducing sweat filled nightmares, where I wheelie past a whole line of nine-to-fivers gridlocked in their status symbols on the way to work, before putting the front wheel down in time to see the flashing blue lights, I almost needed rehab when the folks at Aprilia took it away. Thankfully, if you are extremely well behaved you can manage to keep both wheels on the floor, and come to a halt without sliding sideways in a cloud of blue smoke, most of the time. You can even cruise on the highway in reasonable comfort and pretend you are an energy saving commuter for a while. But as soon as you hit a piece of twisting asphalt and lose the company of the four wheeled brigade, it’s game on.
Using a short stroke, 90-degree V-twin, there is a sense of urgency and visceral excitement when you pin the throttle butterflies wide open that is typical to all Aprilia V-twins. Urgent, raw and bordering on manic the way the bike leaps forward, it’s one extremely addictive rush. Looking through the press brief, the bike is quoted as making 92 horsepower at 8,750 rpm, and while I figure there is little Italian optimism in that quote, it’s certainly extremely powerful for a 750cc V-twin. I recently put in a couple of track sessions on a very well built, big bore SV650 superbike, it still felt docile in comparison, and it was putting out around 84 hp. Whatever the real figure, there is just something about the way Aprilia motorcycles put out their power that guarantees a thrill every time you ride.
Chatting with bike’s designer, Miguel Galuzzi, in Noale, Italy, a couple of years ago, I should have noticed the glint in his eyes when he talked of riding the Dosoduro around the streets close to the Aprilia factory and the surrounding countryside. He also talked about the bike’s philosophy of fusing dirt and street into a big Super Moto style bike that can be enjoyed for commuting, racing, or touring. With motorcycles serving a more practical function in Europe than here in the States, this is truly a one fits all in that respect. It makes even more sense with the bike coming with three engine map settings for Rain, Sport or Touring. We are getting used to this feature on motorcycles these days, but it certainly is a very practical system as you can custom set the engine characteristics to a variety of situations you might encounter at the press of a button. It is also found in the Dosoduro’s sister machine the Shiva, and I used this feature while filming in the Alps in some very wet conditions, greatly enjoying the confidence the more relaxed power curve gave.
One of the first things you notice about the Aprilia Dosoduro is there are no generic looking parts anywhere. Starting up at the dual taper anodized aluminum handlebars, race inspired of course, the first thing you notice is the slick matching hydraulic reservoirs for the clutch and brake systems. The attractive levers are both four-way adjustable and covered by a bark buster style hand guard. This is really more for fashion than function, but with the angular mirrors and the futuristic mini fairing, the bikes front-end signature is certainly unique and very modern. The moto style shorty fairing juts out of the gold inverted 43mm forks and accentuates the race inspired front wheel. There are stylish fork shrouds covering the exposed part of the fork, and a pair of four-piston radial Brembo calipers squeezing 320mm wave rotors. These are badged with the Aprilia logo and do a decent job. They are certainly not as sharp and powerful as the sort of brakes on modern sport 600cc bikes these days, even with braided steel lines as standard, but certainly work well enough. A set of softer pads might sharpen things up, but we didn’t get time to make any changes for this test, so rode it as delivered.
Check out more photos of the Aprilia Dorsoduro:
The Aprilia Dosoduro is unfortunately inflicted with the same strain of madness that runs through the SVX550 moto we had on test last year, although thankfully in a slightly milder and more civilized fashion. Still inducing sweat filled nightmares, where I wheelie past a whole line of nine-to-fivers gridlocked in their status symbols on the way to work, before putting the front wheel down in time to see the flashing blue lights, I almost needed rehab when the folks at Aprilia took it away. Thankfully, if you are extremely well behaved you can manage to keep both wheels on the floor, and come to a halt without sliding sideways in a cloud of blue smoke, most of the time. You can even cruise on the highway in reasonable comfort and pretend you are an energy saving commuter for a while. But as soon as you hit a piece of twisting asphalt and lose the company of the four wheeled brigade, it’s game on.
Using a short stroke, 90-degree V-twin, there is a sense of urgency and visceral excitement when you pin the throttle butterflies wide open that is typical to all Aprilia V-twins. Urgent, raw and bordering on manic the way the bike leaps forward, it’s one extremely addictive rush. Looking through the press brief, the bike is quoted as making 92 horsepower at 8,750 rpm, and while I figure there is little Italian optimism in that quote, it’s certainly extremely powerful for a 750cc V-twin. I recently put in a couple of track sessions on a very well built, big bore SV650 superbike, it still felt docile in comparison, and it was putting out around 84 hp. Whatever the real figure, there is just something about the way Aprilia motorcycles put out their power that guarantees a thrill every time you ride.
Chatting with bike’s designer, Miguel Galuzzi, in Noale, Italy, a couple of years ago, I should have noticed the glint in his eyes when he talked of riding the Dosoduro around the streets close to the Aprilia factory and the surrounding countryside. He also talked about the bike’s philosophy of fusing dirt and street into a big Super Moto style bike that can be enjoyed for commuting, racing, or touring. With motorcycles serving a more practical function in Europe than here in the States, this is truly a one fits all in that respect. It makes even more sense with the bike coming with three engine map settings for Rain, Sport or Touring. We are getting used to this feature on motorcycles these days, but it certainly is a very practical system as you can custom set the engine characteristics to a variety of situations you might encounter at the press of a button. It is also found in the Dosoduro’s sister machine the Shiva, and I used this feature while filming in the Alps in some very wet conditions, greatly enjoying the confidence the more relaxed power curve gave.
One of the first things you notice about the Aprilia Dosoduro is there are no generic looking parts anywhere. Starting up at the dual taper anodized aluminum handlebars, race inspired of course, the first thing you notice is the slick matching hydraulic reservoirs for the clutch and brake systems. The attractive levers are both four-way adjustable and covered by a bark buster style hand guard. This is really more for fashion than function, but with the angular mirrors and the futuristic mini fairing, the bikes front-end signature is certainly unique and very modern. The moto style shorty fairing juts out of the gold inverted 43mm forks and accentuates the race inspired front wheel. There are stylish fork shrouds covering the exposed part of the fork, and a pair of four-piston radial Brembo calipers squeezing 320mm wave rotors. These are badged with the Aprilia logo and do a decent job. They are certainly not as sharp and powerful as the sort of brakes on modern sport 600cc bikes these days, even with braided steel lines as standard, but certainly work well enough. A set of softer pads might sharpen things up, but we didn’t get time to make any changes for this test, so rode it as delivered.
Check out more photos of the Aprilia Dorsoduro:
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