38 Concept ZZR-X

Sex and the sport-tourer.

-by Steve Anderson

44 Big Wheels

Haulin’ hybrids.

54 Art in Alloy

Coachbuilt Ducati and the loveliness of

hand-hammered aluminum.

-by Phil Schilling

PHOTO BY BRIAN BLADES

57 The Education of Evan

Wilcox

Metal master at work.

59 Pick up the Hammer

Liberating your inner Evan.

62 Backroads Almanac

Getting to the Party of the Century.

-by Allan Girdler 

72 Project 100, Part III

Centennial Super Glide, on the road.

-by David Edwards

48 Aprilia RSV 1000 R

Ducati beware.

-by Brian Catterson

80 Long-Term Wrap-Up

Suzuki V-Strom.

82 Hazardous Sports

Headcase

Lid locker.

82 Hardline Rollastand

Help for the centerstandless.

86 Moving Right Along...

American roadracing rewrites its rules.

-by Kevin Cameron

12 LEANINGS

Another green Triumph.

-by Peter Egan

14 TDC

Sideways suspension comes of age.

-by Kevin Cameron 

18

24

28

78

102

109

118

Hotshots

New Ideas

Roundup

CW Library

Service

Slipstream

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-TWO

miles per hour read the Aprilia’s

digital speedometer as we railed

through Willow Springs’ daunting Turn 8

and prepared to brake for Tum 9. That

sounds impressive until you realize two

things: 1) This was the bike’s first lap on

cold tires, and 2) it was only in third gear.

Hurried glances at the speedometer on

subsequent laps saw our Tum-8 speed climb

to as high as 139 mph, which just goes to

show-as if anyone needed further remind-

ing-that Willow Springs International

Raceway really is stupid fast. And the RSV

1000 R is exactly the right bike for the track.

For the 2004 model year, Aprilia has

revised its flagship Superbike to the point

that it’s almost unrecognizable. Starting

with the name: Heretofore known as the

RSV Mille (Italian for “thousand”), it’s now

called the RSV 1000, and gained the “R”

suffix formerly reserved for the uprated

model, which now goes by the name

“Factory" (CTF. November, 2003).

Be that as it may, the new Mille (you're

going to call it that anyway, and so will we)

also looks substantially different. Whereas

previous iterations w'ere relatively tall and

fat, with bulbous tailpieces sporting twin

rocket-tip taillights, the '04 example is posi-

tively svelte, w'ith a rakish fairing, sleek tail

and faired-in taillight and turnsignals, the

front ones integrated into the rear-view mir-

rors. Our testbike’s combination of flat-

black fairing lowers and gloss-black uppers

gave it a racy yet refined appearance. Even

the graphics were tastefully subdued, as ±e

Aprilia USA website states, “When you

have this much personality, you don't need

to shout.”

A number of onlookers said the Mille’s

lines reminded them of a Yamaha YZF-R1,

though there's a hint of Honda RC51 in the

new central air intake, a touch of Futura in

the sculpted aluminum frame and, from cer-

tain angles, maybe even a little Ducati 999,

if you can picture the RSV in red. But no

matter what it most resembles, it’s striking.

That beauty’ is more than skin deep.

Aprilia has always played up the Mille’s

rideability, and that was the central focus of

this latest-and most thorough-redesign. The

cover of the factory press kit depicts a pit

board displaying “-01.00 sec.," which sug-

gests the bike is lagging behind its competi-

tion until you read farther and learn that

what it means is the '04 Mille was an aver-

age of one second per lap quicker than its

predecessor at Aprilia’s various test circuits.

That's a substantial gain, and one that did

not come easily.

Much of the credit for this improvement

should go to the new chassis, which is 1

inch lower and 1.4 inches shorter than its...