Aprilia RSV4 RF: not uncrashable
Bike launches don't always go to plan...
APRILIA'S £18,135 RSV4 RF is many things but despite its smorgasbord of electronics and gadgets, they haven't made the thing uncrashable - as proven by one of our Spanish colleagues on the bike's launch last week.
As you can see, the bike went down while braking for a right hander. Fortunately the rider was ok and the damage to the bike doesn't look too bad, although perhaps I wouldn't be thinking that if it was mine.
I've been told that there was a time when a bike launch was a week-long affair, a romantic weekend away with time to get to know each other. Now it's more like speed dating; a few sessions, a thousand new tweaks and gadgets to get your head around; it's easy to see how you could forget your braking marker.
Still, you could always rip the fairings off and stick some flat bars on it, right? Safe to say that Aprilia didn't welcome my offer of £2,000 to take it off their hands...
Read my full review and watch a fast onboard lap of the new RSV4 around Misano.
