Milan Show 2007: Aprilia

How to take on Ducati’s Hypermotard? Aprilia began with its Shiver standard-style roadster, not a bad starting point. Engine is a dohc, liquid-cooled, 90-degree V-Twin in the same state of tune as the Shiver’s, producing 95 peak horsepower and 59.7 foot-pounds of torque.

The new bike is dubbed “Dorsoduro” (Hardback) and is a very neat-looking entry. The composite-construction frame (steel trellis up front, bolted to cast-aluminum spars) remains unchanged from the Shiver’s; likewise the side-mounted, cantilever shock, though the “twin” swingarm is new in design. At the front, the Shiver’s pretty basic 43mm in-verted Showa fork has been replaced by a longer-travel Showa, fully adjustable this time and gold-anodized, which makes it look a lot richer than the Shiver’s basic black.

The bike appears lean and mean, exactly what’s called for in a street-going supermoto. Suspension travel is 5.9 inches rear, 6.7 inches front. Wheels are lightweight construction and come in 3.50-17 front/6.00-17 rear sizes, shod with 120/70 and 180/55 radials, respec-tively. Front end geometry is a sporting 25 degrees of rake and 4.1 inches of trail, a “quick” geometry to compensate for a rather tall seat height (34.2 inches) and a longish wheelbase (59.5 inches). The front brakes use twin petal-style 320mm discs teamed up with a pair of radial, four-piston calipers. No weight figures have been released, but a good guess would be under 450 pounds.

Rumors indicated that the new Dorsoduro would be powered by the much stronger 1200cc edition of the same 90-degree Vee, but this unit is still a ways from production. In Milan it was inserted into an FV2 concept bike that, in addition to its innovative styling, sported a very interesting “parallelogram” front suspension. The engine is a lot closer to becoming a production item than is the FV2. The engine is highly oversquare at 106mm bore and 67.9mm stroke. It uses a further-evolved “ride-by-wire” throttle command and larger-yet throttle bodies to produce in excess of 140 hp. Look for it to power a sportbike, too.

No sight of the supposed 65-degree V-Four Superbike engine, said to produce in excess of 200 hp. Next time, maybe?