Test: 2008 Aprilia SL 750 Shiver

With the Shiver and its forthcoming derivatives, look for Aprilia to gain floor space in American garages.

By Don Canet | Photos by Jeff Allen

October 2008

Photos: Aprilia SL 750 Shiver >>

Times are good, as 2008 has produced a bumper crop of pickin's for riders in search of an affordable, user-friendly, sporty motorcycle. The midsize-naked category is well covered in this regard, with recent additions including the Ducati Monster 696, KTM 690 Duke, an updated Suzuki SV650 and the spirited Triumph Street Triple 675. While residing in the upper end of the class price range, the $8999 SL 750 Shiver is Aprilia's first major step toward broader mass-market appeal.

Said to be the first of several new models under development at Aprilia's Noale, Italy-based facility, the Shiver has an engine and chassis that set the foundation for the modular design scheme that Aprilia has adopted as a means of expanding its model line while being more price competitive. The 90-degree V-Twin powering the Shiver is an all-new design produced entirely in-house. The liquid-cooled, dohc engine is very compact, clean in appearance and incorporates what Aprilia calls "Ride by Wire" technology, otherwise known as an electronically controlled throttle similar to that used on the Yamaha YZF-R6. The frame is a mixed structure of a tubular-steel trellis section and cast-aluminum parts, not unlike that first employed by Aprilia's RXV and SXV 450 and 550cc Twin enduro and supermotard models.

While the highly oversquare 92.0 x 56.4mm bore-and-stroke dimensions of the Shiver engine yield 750cc of displacement, the basic engine architecture leaves plenty of room for larger configurations in the future, all part of the modular production concept.

Anxious to see what level of performance has been achieved in its current form, we strapped our Shiver test-bike to Cycle World's dyno for a batch of pulls. We were impressed with the linear nature and steady rise in horsepower production throughout the entire rev range, accompanied by a very broad and flat spread of torque. The peak numbers are about what we had anticipated, with 11 more horsepower and 3 more foot-pounds of torque than what the "Best Firsts" SV650 tested in our last issue had mustered. We also learned that while the 78-horse Twin is no match for the higher-revving Street Triple's 93 peak ponies, it is slightly meatier through the midrange, as you might expect for a bike displacing 75cc more.

Rolling off the dyno and onto our calibrated scale subdued our enthusiasm a bit, though, because the Shiver weighs in at a portly 470 pounds with its 4.0-gallon fuel tank drained dry. While we hadn't put much stock in the manufacturer's claimed 416-pound figure, the sad reality is that on our scale, the Shiver weighs 77 pounds more than a Street Triple, 79 pounds over a Monster 696 and spots the SV650 58 pounds. The significance of this added chub, while well-masked by the bike's superb steering agility, helps explain the lackluster acceleration performance our testbike posted.

Midsummer heat in excess of 100 degrees didn't help matters when we arrived at our Mojave Desert test site, even though there was a stiff tailwind offering some compensation—if not a scientific correction factor—in the later part of the run. Launching the bike without bogging the engine in first gear required a minimum of 8000 rpm and far more clutch slippage than I would have imagined considering the torque numbers recorded on the dyno. The Shiver's best pass of 12.17 seconds at 110.89 mph was worlds off the 11.06/121.73 quarter-mile mark our Street Triple had previously set, although that bike was run in much cooler conditions. Worse still, the $3000 less-expensive SV650 gets in its licks with an 11.99-second run down the strip.

With that straight-line skeleton out in the open, we can now get down to the bare bones of how the Shiver performs in town, on the highway and on twisty mountain roads. You'll be hard-pressed to find a sporting Twin that produces less vibration than this rigidly mounted mill. Its smoothness throughout the rev range is uncanny, with just enough of a hearty beat felt under load at low revs to remind you that two sizable pistons are at work within. At freeway cruising speeds, running 4000–6000 rpm in top gear, the engine has a soothing, silky quality. And even spinning the crank to the 10,000-rpm rev limit won't have you guessing at what appears in the vibe-free bar-mounted mirrors.

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