Aprilia Motorcycles

About Aprilia

Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle company, one of the marques owned by Piaggio.

Aprilia was founded after the Second World War by Cavaliere Alberto Beggio, as a bicycle production factory at Noale, Italy in the province of Venice. Alberto’s son, Ivano Beggio, took over the helm of the company in 1968 and constructed a 50 cc "motorcycle" with a dozen or so collaborators. The first production Aprilia mopeds were named Colibrì, Daniela and Packi. Aprilia later produced a motocross bike in 1970 called the Scarabeo. Produced until the end of the 1970s, the Scarabeo came in 50 and 125 cc versions.

In the 1980s Aprilia added enduro, trials and road bikes of between 50 and 600 cc. In 1981 Aprilia introduced the TL320 trials machine. In 1983 Aprilia launched to St 125 road bike. In 1984 Aprilia launched an improved model called STX, and an enduro, called the ET 50.

In 1985, Aprilia started outsourcing engines for some models to the Austrian company Rotax. In 1985 Aprilia launched a 125 STX and 350 STX. In 1986 Aprilia launched the AF1; a small sports model, and the Tuareg; a large tanked bike for African rallies like the Dakar Rally.

Aprilia has 124 times won 125 and 250 cc class Grand Prix, 15 Road Racing World Championship titles, and 16 European speed titles. Many world champions started on Aprilia such as Biaggi, Capirossi, Gramigni, Locatelli, Sakata and Rossi.

Also in the 1990s, Aprilia entered the scooter market starting in 1990 with Italy’s first all-plastic scooter, the Amico. In 1992, Aprilia introduced the Amico LK and the two stroke Pegaso 125, both with catalytic converters. In 1993 Aprilia launched a large diameter wheel scooter reusing the name Scarabeo with a four-stroke, four-valve engine. Later Aprilia launched more scooters such as the Leonardo, the SR and the Gulliver.

In 1995, Aprilia commissioned Philippe Starck to design the Motò which was shown in New York’s Modern Art Museum. Also in 1995 Aprilia launched the two stroke RS 125 and RS 250 sports bikes. In 1998 Aprilia launched what is its current flagship model the RSV Mille, a 1000cc V-Twin Superbike, and the Falco, a 1000cc V-Twin sport tourer with emphasis on sport. Both bikes used a variation of a Rotax 1000cc engine.

During 2000, Aprilia acquired Moto-Guzzi and Laverda, both historic heritage Italian marques. In 2000 Aprilia launched the 50 cc DiTech (Direct Injection Technology) two stroke engine for scooters which provides high mileage and low emissions, and also the RST Futura, a sport tourer, and the ETV 1000 Caponord; an adventure touring motorcycle. Both of these latter two motorcycles used a variation of the Rotax 1000 cc V-Twin.

Most recently, in 2003, Aprilia launched the RSV Mille Tuono which was essentially an RSV Mille with motorcross-style high handlebars and only a small headlight fairing. Most of the major motorcycle magazines picked it for the best bike of the year. In 2004 Aprilia was acquired by Piaggio & C. SpA, to form the world’s fourth largest motorcycle group with 1.5 billion Euro in sales, an annual production capacity of over 600,000 vehicles, and a presence in 50 countries.

Despite being a relatively small company by global motorcycling standards, Aprilia is very active in motorcycle sports. It contests many Road Racing formulae, including the FIM 125 cc World Championship, the FIM 250 cc World Championship, and the now-defunct FIM 500 cc World Championship.

Moto blog

Piaggio Reports First Half 2011 Results

The Piaggio Group reported slight increases in net sales and net profit over the first six months of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010. Net sales increased 1.1% to 830 million euros (US$1.19 billion) over the first six months of 2011, compared to 820 million euros (US$1.18 billion) in the first half of 2010. Piaggio reported a net profit of 33.3 million euros (US$47.9 million), a slight increase from the net profit of 33.1 million euros (US$47.6 million) reported last year.

Price Cut for Aprilia Tuono 1000R

Piaggio USA has announced a price cut and special financing offer on the Aprilia Tuono 1000R to help clear inventory for the impending arrival of the streetfighter’s successor, the Aprilia Tuono V4R. The winner of our 2009 Streetfighters Shootout, the Aprilia Tuono 1000R is regularly priced at $12,999, but until Sept. 30, 2011, Aprilia USA is cutting the price to as low as $7,499 (for the 2007 edition of the Tuono).

Aprilia USA Creates Video Honoring Space Shuttle Program [Video]

Aprilia released a video tribute to the NASA Space Shuttle Program a day in advance of the program’s final mission. On July 8, 2011, Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:29 a.m. EDT, ushering in the end of a “30-year program of exploration, which launched great observatories, built an International Space Station, and taught us how humans can live, work and thrive in space,” says a brief description on NASA’s website of the final flight.

RC45 envy. Pure and simple.

I spotted this RC45 in the garages at the Spa Bikers' Days Classic. I couldn't find the owner so I'm afraid I don't know anything about it, other than what you can see here. It's been nudged into this century with Ohlins superbike forks and Brembo monobloc brakes and an Ohlins rear shock.

V.I.P treatment for first Dainese D-Air customers

To celebrate the release of the D-Air race suit in the UK, Dainese are offering the first 20 customers to order a complete V.I.P treatment at the upcoming World Superbike round at Silverstone. The iconic safety brand will have each of the customer's suits personally tailored, with measurements undertaken by a Dainese D-Air engineer from the factory in Italy. Following this, the first 20 customers to register will receive a hospitality lunch, garage tours of the Aprilia, BMW and Kawasaki teams with the opportunity to meet the Dainese riders and rub well protected shoulders with the big names of the WSB paddock.

Henry Kissinger, Chinese Police and the Aprilia Mana 850

Okay, the headline sounds like the setup to a bad joke, but it pretty much describes the scene in the picture above released by the Piaggio Group. Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is in China this month to mark the 40th anniversary of his secret diplomatic visit in 1971 which paved the way for formalized relations between China and the United States.

Aprilia SR Max Touring Scooter Unveiled

Aprilia has unveiled a new touring scooter, the Aprilia SR Max, available in 125cc and 300cc configurations. Okay, perhaps “new” isn’t the right word for it, as the SR Max is a rebadged version of the Nexus from Aprilia’s Piaggo Group stablemate, Gilera. It’s also not clear if Aprilia will import the SR Max to North America, but the scooter is more likely to pop up here, where Aprilia already offers the SR 50 scooter, with its new name, than it would as a Gilera.

2011 Aprilia RSV4 Factory APRC SE vs. 2010 Nissan GT-R [Video]

Italian motorcycle manufacturer, Aprilia, has posted a YouTube video showing a battle between the company’s flagship sportbike, the RSV4 Factory APRC SE, and a Nissan sportscar, the GT-R. We’ve seen a number of these bike vs. car videos before, but they always strike me as a little suspect, as you never know if the pilot of either vehicle is really trying their best, or not, to win the race.

Get On: Bitten by the bug (again)

"Hello, my name is Robin and I have no confidence in riding motorcycles." It's ironic really, I'm the next generation from a family of riders, I work with bikes and am pretty much an obsessive for racing but somewhere in my motorcycling life I completely lost all confidence in riding bikes and my ability. Developing something I've never really had for them; fear. Setting the scene.

Winter weather but summer carries on.

Aye, it’s been a another good week in the world of Niall Mackenzie. My friends at Moto Direct sent me a new RST Pro Series suit to try out, I acquired some new rubber for my S10000RR and young Taylor Mac splashed home to 12th place on his Aprilia in the 125cc British Grand Prix. Being no fashion guru and pretty ancient now I’m satisfied the brightest suit I’ve ever climbed into looks the biz.