Aprilia Tuono 1000 R FACTORY 2007 — Specifications

Are you looking for the ultimate Italian roadster of the 2000s, the one that has retained the soul and chassis of a superbike, but looks you straight in the eye without fairings? Forget Ducati for a moment. The answer is the Aprilia Tuono 1000 R FACTORY of 2007, a machine so exclusive that only 300 copies were produced. This is not a simple dressed-up version, it's a declaration of war. Aprilia took the 60° magnesium V2 from the RSV-R Factory, gave it a polish with larger valves and a reworked mapping, to produce 139 horsepower at 9500 rpm and a torque of 106.9 Nm. All this for 181 kg dry weight. We are in the category of precision weapons, not toys.

The transformation into the Aprilia Tuono 1000 R FACTORY 2005 and later is radical. Farewell to the Showa and Sachs suspensions of the standard version, make way for all Öhlins: 43 mm inverted fork and monoshock. The radial braking with four-piston calipers is directly inherited from the sportbike. But the most striking thing is the hunt for the gram. The forged aluminum OZ rims, the engine guard, the panels, the mudguard... all of this is carbon fiber. As a result, this Tuono Factory 2008 feels as nervous and light as a 600, with the punch of a big twin. At 14,589 euros at the time, it clearly targeted the demanding track rider or the touring enthusiast seeking raw sensations, the one who finds the S4Rs a little too refined.

On the road, or rather on the winding section of your choice, the Aprilia Tuono 1000 R FACTORY 2010 is not a motorcycle, it's a revealer. The aluminum double-beam frame offers fantastic rigidity, and the fine settings of the Öhlins allow you to stick to the asphalt like a leech. The engine, for its part, is a mechanical delicacy. It breathes strongly from the mid-range, with an explosive revving that constantly reminds you of its competition origins. The 18-liter tank is just sufficient for intense sessions, but you don't ride this kind of machine to rack up miles. You take it out to feel alive.

So, flaws? Of course. The 810 mm seat can be intimidating, the riding position is committed, and the 60° twin can show a somewhat hot character in the city. It's not a motorcycle for beginners, nor for daily commutes. It is a specialized instrument, the culmination of the Aprilia Tuono 1000 R FACTORY philosophy: take a legendary sportbike, remove the fairing, and take nothing away from its soul. Faced with a Monster S4Rs or a Speed Triple of the time, it doesn't play in easy seduction, but in pure efficiency and mechanical connection. If you come across one, know that you are facing a piece of history, a supermotard for purists, that has not aged.