SportBiKeZ

Aprilia’s FV2 concept bike, which has been making the expo rounds, is here to showcase three things: first and foremost, the company’s home-cooked 1200cc, 90-degree v-twin engine, which we’ll probably be seeing in the RSV and Tuono in the next couple of years. With a bore and stroke of 106 x 67.8mm, it’s almost as oversquare as Moto Morini’s CorsaCorta motor, so it’s going to be a nice, quick-revving, racy powerplant. The company is claiming 134.5 metric horses and over 10.5 kgm of torque, which is in the ballpark for sporty streetbikes and nakeds these days.

Secondly, the FV2 demonstrates some of Aprilia’s future technical direction. To that end, the injection is controlled by a fly-by-wire system like what’s already used on the 750cc Shiver. There’s traction control, ABS and electronically adjustable suspension. Ho hum. The dash integrates a nav system and a bunch of downloadable performance telemetry data, which you can send to a phone or PC, and it’s set up so you can easily upload new engine mappings from the Web in a similar way.

Perhaps most interesting is the front end - a pair of big slabby Hossack-style forks that look similar to the Duolever system BMW has been putting on its K1200R. is a bit of an obsession of mine, so I’d be very glad to see Aprilia working to move beyond the telescopic fork and give the market some options.

The final purpose of the FV2 concept is to show us the direction Aprilia wants to take its styling in, and to that I’d say “please kill me.” The front-heavy techno look with that ginormous dangling radiator does very little for me except to say “I’m going to be hard to control on the back wheel.” Having said that, the rear two-thirds of the bike aren’t bad to look at, in a sort of KTM RC8 meets MV Agusta sort of way. The shorty pipes are pretty sexy and the shock is very accessible, which wouldn’t matter to FV2 owners with their wimpy electronic adjustment, but is very welcome on any bike we’re expected to adjust with a c-spanner and a tub of elbow grease.