Aprilia SMV 750 DORSODURO 2011 — Specifications

For years, Aprilia played the extremes in the supermoto world: on one side the Pegaso Strada, docile as a Sunday school lesson; on the other the SXV 550, a race machine disguised as a street bike. Between the two, a gaping void that the competition had largely filled. Ducati had launched the Hypermotard, KTM was hammering the market with its 950 SM, and buyers looking for a civilized yet spirited supermoto were shopping elsewhere. Aprilia finally answered, and the answer is called the SMV 750 Dorsoduro.

The engine is the Shiver's unit reworked for cross-plane duties. This 90° L-twin, 750 cc, produces 92 horsepower at 8,750 rpm and 82.4 Nm of torque at 4,500 rpm. The fuel mapping has been redesigned to beef up mid-range response, where a supermoto really earns its keep — in tight sequences and village exits. The electronic throttle management handles all of this silently, without the rider ever noticing. The result: a machine that pushes early and hard, without waiting for the needle to climb into the rev range. Compared to the Ducati Hypermotard and the KTM 950 SM, the Aprilia SMV 750 Dorsoduro arrives with a more manageable size — 186 kg dry and 212 kg fully fuelled — which matters when you're threading through cones.

The bodywork is the product of a designer who spared no effort. The gold thin-spoke wheels, the petal discs paired with radially mounted Brembo calipers measuring 320 mm up front, the 43 mm upside-down fork with 160 mm of travel, the exhaust outlets tucked under the seat with their machined outlets. Every detail speaks. The steel tubular trellis frame connected to aluminium plates follows a proven architecture — rigid and precise through direction changes. The passenger footpegs have been deleted, which says everything about the machine's intentions. The 870 mm seat height will be a stretch for shorter riders, but it's consistent with a bike that's ridden standing on the pegs, knees bent, ready to attack.

The question of pricing comes up frequently among enthusiasts wondering today what an Aprilia SMV 750 Dorsoduro fetches on the used market, with values varying widely depending on condition and mileage. New, in 2011, it listed at €8,999, positioning it aggressively against its Italian and Austrian rivals, which were often more expensive to buy. A coherent pricing strategy for a machine that has nothing to prove on paper, and even less on the road.

The Dorsoduro speaks to a rider who knows the supermoto classics, who wants a sharp machine without the maintenance demands of a genuine competition bike, and who refuses to be mistaken for someone boring on a dressed-up trail. The 12-litre tank will limit long-distance touring, and the claimed 200 km/h top speed is not its natural hunting ground. Its territory is the winding country road, the roundabout turned racetrack, the Sunday morning ride with footpegs scraping the tarmac. For that, it is built with surgical precision.