Hubster, as the elder statesmen of all things Aprilia on this forum, I wanted to get your blessing for this transformation of my RSV4 by OEM bolt-ons from the parts bin, all from the Lava Red Factory Version. I wanted to liven the old girl up from the dull Matte Black/Matte Silver finish.

Original Stocker

* Last updated by: Kruz on 9/3/2023 @ 8:57 PM *

You have my box stock blessing to leave the OEM be all packed and boxed nice.

Let the Patina begin.

Burp! I got ahead of the celebration, oops.

I'm not Hub, but I like it. Better than the stock paint even. But I've always liked the livelier paint schemes.

I'm not Hub, but I like it. Better than the stock paint even. But I've always liked the livelier paint schemes.

LOL, thank you Vic for the vote of confidence, I'm still trying to figure out exactly what Hub said here, I must be rusty in my Hubbish.

You have my box stock blessing to leave the OEM be all packed and boxed nice.

Let the Patina begin.

Burp! I got ahead of the celebration, oops.

Hubster, you lost me this time, I cannot translate this and when I tried Google Translator from Hubbish to English,it blew the main circuit boards at Google Headquarters.

My best guess is you prefer the original silver/black matte livery from Mother Ape and leave OEM parts in their original packing material?

Original OEM Parts Bin Organ Donor:

* Last updated by: Kruz on 9/4/2023 @ 6:39 AM *

Well, kind of and kind of not LOL. See, the bike is box stock out of crate, so the way I look at it is a 100 point specimen. To mod it, is fine and all that, but to cut the fairing for say a luggage box, there goes an OEM piece that has to be replaced. That throws off the bleach of the sun's patina and now it looks odd with a new OEM for said year.

But to grab a parts bike and pick parts off it to save the patina of the original color, that's the way I would go. That saves the patina and sun damage of the original for how it came in that year and those colors.

So it's always salvage the OEM by sacrificing a who cares aftermarket, or pick a part OEM all scratched, dinged and still useable. Figure there is one who likes the battleship gray, not the spotty red blue, and black. So there is your buyer right there.

Lucky I buy engine performance and could give two sparkles of how its wrapped. Stock returns the big bucks, not the mad mods.

Hubster, the one you call spotty red blue and black (actually called Lava Red) is my absolute favorite, the bike is stunning in the flesh.... butt lettuce bee clear hear, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder or different strokes right?

The gray/black pieces go back in the OEM box and on a shelf in the closet. Two hours and it's back to stock if I ever want to sell it.... or throw them in with the deal like the guy that sold me my new BMW did.

I've already swapped out the carbon fiber front fender for the OEM red/white/blue on that bike, too high a fiber diet is not always good for the digestion, different strokes?

The silver/black OEM look was stealth, fly under the radar but I want a bike I turn around and take a second look at, red OEM parts do that on this machine... for me anyway, your mileage may vary.

Burp!

* Last updated by: Kruz on 9/4/2023 @ 7:28 PM *

* Last updated by: Kruz on 10/23/2023 @ 7:04 PM *

The current photos for my sock matching, the bmw seems to look better with matching fairing and fender. The black is more stealth to cocktail, or the mean machine needs to be all black from there back. Looks more like it went in for a tattoo.

The ape with the ferrari/duc red change of seat? Out in the sun the reddish/orange panels match the seat, and the gray front fender. In the garage the seat turned red and the front fender turned black. Is this just a repeat of shots, no change?

Hi Hub, your eyes do not deceive you.

The Ape photos were taken a few days apart, the Lava Red color is activated by sunlight, looks red in subdued lighting or heavy shade, in bright, direct sunlight it looks more of a hot orange-red. Carbon hugger and front fender look almost black in the shade but come across as more of a graphite grey out in bright sunshine.

I typically park it in the shade when I'm out on a lunch ride and it now grabs a lot of attention where before, in the OEM grey/black, it was a bit of a sleeper....ho hum.

Mission accomplished, it may not be everyone's cup-o-tea but it does get noticed now.

* Last updated by: Kruz on 10/24/2023 @ 2:12 PM *

Duc red is much darker Hub, almost a blood red for the Duc.

So Kruz, of all the bikes, I'm guessing the ape handles best. The honda/10/rr is where I'm stuck as to who comes in as 2nd, 3rd and so on? Top torque is the 14 no doubt, but again, I'd be stuck as to who's next? Heading down the overall check sheet, the bmw I'd guess is the better fit and finish. Who comes next in the ?fleet?, stuck again. Plus, you've been R&R'ing all the parts, who shows the simplicity of engineering?

And the overall winner is? Cough, up till now.

Hubster, you must have read my mind.

I've been thinking about starting a new thread on this very subject, call it My Sport Bike Preferences Part II as the original thread is getting long in tooth and the pecking order has changed dramatically. That original thread was over 6 years ago and a lot of the bikes have now changed position, one was sold off and two more have been added to the mix, the '09 ZX-6R was top of the heap back then and now trails the pack by a wide margin.

'16 ZX-10R was back of the pack back then and now vies for top contender with the BMW S1000RR with Ape probably in third spot.

What is amazing is the '06 ZX-14 is still a top contender and not far off the pace from the top three, it's really that good and the only bike I'd take on a long road trip.

WOW, the ape is 3rd? Well, time to revise a write of the fleet. Probably more surprises I'm not aware of. Because I'm thinking the two GS's I had, plus a track test of the inline street/dirt bmw, they all had that same handling feel between the 3 bikes. Being that the bmw more glided into a turn, the ape more snapped into a turn. The steady handler was the ape.

Hub, I am really conflicted on the APE, yes it snaps into a turn and the S1000RR more glides into a turn, the APE is almost two years old now and I still don't feel comfortable on it. It's power delivery is arm stretching starting at around 5000 rpm, it pulls like an animal to the redline and is unrelenting, S1000RR feels like an electric motor is pushing you down the road, autopilot job, very user friendly but still very quick. My '16 ZX-10R splits the difference, has no low end but screams beyond about 8000 rpm, pulls hard but is completely manageable like a jumbo 600 and handles like one too. The 14 has no TC aids but has so much torque you can leave it in one gear and it will pull like a beast off the corners and the long wheel base and relatively soft suspension absorbs the bumps well and the cornering ability in the fast sweepers is hard to beat. Each machine brings something different to the table. Understand, I am not a track guy, fast backroads only and the roads I ride are not billiard table smooth, lots of bumps to deal with and suspension plays a big role here. The two Italian bikes, APE and 959 are stiff and probably would be top notch on a smooth race track but feel a little unyielding on the roads I ride.

Your text to link here...

This thread is in need of an update, everything has changed as I have become a faster and more experienced rider over the years and become more used to the machines.

An expert rider may rank the bikes differently but I wouldn't call myself slow by any stretch as I push these bikes very hard these days.

* Last updated by: Kruz on 10/25/2023 @ 10:15 AM *

How tall are you BTW? Do you dwarf the duc or you're cramped for gp? Between the ape and duc, I'll assume the duc has motor on the ape? And is there quicker dive with the duc than the ape's turn in?

You are really missing the closed course environment, Kruz. There is back road fast, and there is race track fast. It's not about the safety, not about tickets, it's all about deep braking, and the many entries and exits to an apex. You're slow and will windup in the C class for Can't figure it out yet. May B in that class is Better than the Can't get out of their own way. And A is for you better know your Apex, because this group are test and tune boys/girls with number plates, or seasoned old farts like yourself that know the ropes, aka, seasoned racers w/money.

Gotta learn the ropes about pit work, pass inspection with oil pans if the engine blows, tire warmers and stands to keep the warmers off the ground, race gas so as not to hurt the engine. Van/trailer/truckbed for gear and bike. Big investment in tires. Where 3 or 4 laps w/out warmers you pin it.

You walk away a better rider with a bag of, I didn't know I could brake that deep, to, any strange road in front of me are the many approaches reading an apex from a distance. Let alone it makes you smoother because you straightened out the road more clipping the apex.

If I were to go out today for a trackday? A can of race gas, a tire pressure gauge, a set of soft race compounds, an ice chest to stay hydrated. I'm old style with a few laps then pin it.

Disclaimer: Shit is addicting for some.

I'm 6'3" 220 lbs Hub, so I dwarf all my bikes except for the ZX-14 which may be the reason I get along with that machine so well.

Ape is a full 1100 and tuned, so has about 70 BHP on the Ducati 959 at the back tire, Ape turns in super quick but the Ducati feels more stable but slightly slower to turn in.

On a twisty back road, I can relax more with the Ducati, the Ape makes a long straight seem short, things happen a lot quicker.

Ape would be perfect for a mega-track like COTA, not so much on our local track, G2 Motorsports Park, which is pretty tight.

I agree fast road and track are different like the Isle of Man TT is different from short circuit racing, two different animals and fast on one does not automatically make you fast on the other but there is some overlap.

I road ride with local racers all the time, novice to intermediates cannot keep up, I feel comfortable running at the Expert roadracers pace on back roads.

One of the problems with track is how many days a year can you ride and the cost? It's very expensive and only a few track events per year at G2.

I live literally three minutes from awesome back roads here in North Texas and my work from home job allows me to ride almost every day, year around, I'd guess 250 days out of the year conservatively. It costs me about $6 worth of gas to have an hours worth of back road fun.

Here's me on the APE, I look like a monkey riding a football, Ape is a 600 size machine packing a whole lot of power!

Again, would think the duc has spunk to spare. But if the ape motors away, I'm about to stop looking and wait for the next bike to stomp on the 14. Either way, that fleet has come a long way. A nice selection only an "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe can choose for the day.

Hub, the Ducati V4S is the natural enemy of the RSV4 and more of a close match than the 959 which is marketed more as a Super-Mid than a Superbike but it has plenty of poke and is very enjoyable to ride. I don't think you could go wrong with either the V4S, the RSV4 or the S1000RR if you're looking for the latest in Superbike tech. SPOILER ALERT: I give the nod to the S1000RR, on the back roads anyway, it's so easy to ride quickly, almost an autopilot job and has almost no faults.

* Last updated by: Kruz on 10/26/2023 @ 7:20 PM *

This was going a few years back, where I sat on a R1 yammie, slapped it between my legs and felt like a 600, it was so light. I didn't want to step down in torque, needing to crank that thing up like a toy to get away.

A fender cometh, a 14 take-eth away. The life-eth saver uppa U ass without showing the gesture.

He he Hub, I can assure you of one thing, the RSV4 is no 600, weight between the legs I'm guessing here, is 465 lbs wet.

Not exactly a porker or in ZX-14 territory but it's no light weight either, probably due to a 14 year development cycle of the original RSV4 platform.

Since the '09, they have tweaked the frame and suspenders numerous times, punched the motor bore out from 999cc to 1078cc and now stroked it to 1091cc, added aero refinements, winglets etc. and had to comply with Euro 1-5 emissions bullshit over the years while still increasing power delivered to the back wheel by over 50 BHP.

It gives up about 40 lbs to my BMW S1000RR but you'd never know it once underway, the old girl carries her weight well just like the 14 does.

Not the least, the V4 configuration, like Yamaha's CP-4, is inherently heavier than the equivalent inline four but you make it up with instant torque, more top end HP potential and more midrange grunt plus it's narrower for aerodynamics and has better mass concentration.

V4s are starting to dominate in MotoGP and WSB, Ducati and Aprilia.

* Last updated by: Kruz on 10/27/2023 @ 2:10 PM *

Was given a free first year 1991 Honda ST1100. Pristine condition parts and internals. I added more patina throwing the leg over the saddlebags and seat. When I dropped the oil pan, took a leak down, I had a runner. V4 configuration with cylinders right and left, not fore and aft ala duc/ape.

The beauty of swapping between two bikes were the riding/handling characteristics. When I got a few hundred to a thousand miles on the shakedown with new tires, it brought out the steering between the two. The 14 showed this abrupt hands leaving the grips; applying the V4's power twist I came used to. That was the first thing. The next was the bar input once making a turn.

The 14 is more a neutral steer, but a worn front tire speeds up the dip in. Meaning, it drops fast, you bar it to correct it back up. I'm feeling this exposure that I didn't catch the very last time I rode the 14. When I swapped those worn tires, the quick-dip was gone.

I'm sure you caught that between swapping bikes every now and then, no? Full fledge rookie here with the tiny fleet. Man, I couldn't wait to get those steppers off from under me.

Absolutely I have noticed that quick dip on the Vee'd worn tires Hub.

I've always said my best handling sportbike is the one with the best tires.

To do an accurate apples to apples handling comparison, they both need to be on equivalent rubber or the results are pretty much meaningless. Just my .02.

* Last updated by: Kruz on 10/28/2023 @ 11:55 AM *

BTW Hub, I solved the mystery of the bright orange appearance of the RSV4 in it's new Lava Red livery today,it's the camera I'm using.

I took the pics with an Android cell phone and it doesn't register the color correctly, probably needs a polarizing filter to render the colors accurately.

I took it out in the bright sun and it looks like a hot red to the naked eye but through the camera view finder it appears a very bright orange,just an optical illusion.

I'll try to get some shots with a real camera, the color is really quite stunning.

* Last updated by: Kruz on 10/29/2023 @ 8:38 AM *