Aprilia RSV4 is here

[maillotpois]

I like the pink scooter better.   

Me too!   

They have an orange and a pink one at the Vespa store in Corte Madera.  I stopped by there killing time before my kid's soccer game and was looking at them and the saleguy was all "Well, you have to have a motorcycle license" and I said "Yeah I have a Ducati."  Vespa was my gateway motorcycle....

[thunderpuppy]

I don't know about Aprillia but I do like the V4. I hear they are doing a Touano with a V4 as well. Honda is redoing the interceptor this year with a 1300 V4. Must be a moto gp thing...

[desmoquattro]

We stopped by the Scuderia open house and saw them today. They had two sold bikes under an EZ up, and a display model.

Don fired up the display bike so we could listen. The exhaust note deepens a lot when the bike's in gear...there's a butterfly valve in the exhaust that activates only when the bike is in gear. My first thoughts:

• It's small and compact...very short, very light. Just like my impression when I saw it at Miller.
• The exhaust can is fugly: big, square, long. That'd have to go.
• The cockpit makes you feel like you're on the bike, not in the bike. Reminded me of the way the Streetfighter felt.
• The shifter is a direct connect to the splines for regular shift. GP shift would, presumably, require a linkage and new rearsets. Ouch.
• Lots of carbon fiber on the factory model. Ohlins all around, including a well-hidden transverse steering damper under the top triple.

List on the Factory model is $21k. Not sure I want to spend that for a first model year, but we'll see how this bike develops.

[ducleaner]

Lets see if I can employ this correctly.

Well by that logic, you must be saying that function is before form,

I said I understand choosing form over function. I used my distaste for the Vette as an example.

and therefore any bike that functions very well for its intended purpose  must be likable,

I only claimed that since taste is subjective, it would be narrow minded to say that you couldn't imagine anyone liking the styling. Remember, you didn't just say "You don't like it." You said you couldn't understand why anyone would like it.

so therefore I must reverse my opinion, as it is, about the "Ant eater Bike" (Which picture I shall not post up here) and we should all run out and buy one because it probably is a good bike, regardless of how it looks.

Nope. No more should you do that than should I go buy a Vette which I don't like. Of course you're free to like or dislike it.  I was just suggesting your language about the bike were too  harsh considering how good it is purported to be. In fact, I all but came out and said that you were letting brand loyalty affect your ability to judge the product on its merits. Aprillia came out with a phenomenal bike and by being too effusive in panning it you lost credibility.

[Spidey]

Are you thinkin' about gettin' one, DQ?

Remember, you didn't just say "You don't like it." You said you couldn't understand why anyone would like it.

Uh . . . no one said that.

[desmoquattro]

Are you thinkin' about gettin' one, DQ?

No. I'd go 1198s before I did the Priller.

[MendoDave]

I said I understand choosing form over function. I used my distaste for the Vette as an example.

I only claimed that since taste is subjective, it would be narrow minded to say that you couldn't imagine anyone liking the styling. Remember, you didn't just say "You don't like it." You said you couldn't understand why anyone would like it.

Nope. No more should you do that than should I go buy a Vette which I don't like. Of course you're free to like or dislike it.  I was just suggesting your language about the bike were too  harsh considering how good it is purported to be. In fact, I all but came out and said that you were letting brand loyalty affect your ability to judge the product on its merits. Aprillia came out with a phenomenal bike and by being too effusive in panning it you lost credibility.

Never mind all that. Was my "straw man" done correctly or are you just countering it?