|
This is a thread where you can review your own bike(s), or bikes you've owned or test-ridden or maybe once you just locked gazes with across a crowded parking lot. Feel free to convince the masses why your bike is the best bike ever (or why nobody else should ever touch it with someone else's barge pole). I'll try and cover all the bases with my review but feel free to amend/add as you feel necessary. Model: Aprilia SL750 Shiver Year: 09 Owned since: New (09) Miles: 14k Type of riding: Mostly urban commuting, occasional weekend posing and tours. Good bits: Engine, exhaust noise Bad bits: Crappy turning circle, Aprilia parts availability Why you should buy it: Get the Fine Italian Motorcycle Experience with less (not zero) chance of being stranded by the side of the road Why you shouldn't buy it: A bit underpowered compared to the competition, also the Fine Italian Motorcycle Experience. Engine: The 750cc 90-degree makes 95hp at the crank - a respectable figure although down on it's natural competitors like the Monster 848, Striple, and MT-07. An almost completely-flat torque and and linear power curve looks like it'll be dull but the point is that it makes almost all it's torque from idle, so it pulls like an absolute train from 3k rpm (or even lower, see the mods section below), and of course makes an amazing noise while doing so. This was not only Aprilia's first in-house >125 cc engine (designed by the same ex-Ferrari F1 team as the RSV) but the first production bike in the world to be 100% ride-by-wire. That many uses of the word "first" in an Italian bike should make you nervous but the engine is pretty bulletproof, although more on that anon. It has three selectable throttle mappings that at least are usably different compared to many RBW bikes. Sport mode gives you instant throttle response but can be snatchy at low speeds and partial openings. Touring mode gives you the same power as Sport but tones down the throttle response, and is pretty boring, truth be told. Rain mode gives you an even softer response and chops 20% off the torque. You will use this once by accident, assume the bike is broken, and never use it again. Design: The design is obviously influenced by the daddy of the italian naked market, the Monster, but this isn't coincidental - Piaggio poached Miguel Galluzzi, the designer of the Monster, to head up their design division and the Shiver was his first bike for them. Interestingly however the Monster's change from "Space Hopper with wheels" to the much pointier and more aggressive styling it has now came *after* the Shiver was released. Not suggesting that Ducati were stealing idea from their upstart competitors but... There are some nice touches - the underseat exhaust is well insulated and you won't notice much more heat from it than a conventional one (although the position of the cat means you get hot very quickly at a standstill), the top of the tank flares out and includes plastic crash protectors to keep the the frame off the deck if you crash as well as providing a surprising amount of protection against weather (another idea ripped off by multiple manufacturers) and some pretty terrible ones - the water pump in particular looks hideous and stone-aged sticking out the side of the engine, and the routing of a lot of the cooling system and loom looks sloppy as gently caress. Handling and comfort: It's a much taller, wider bike than most of the competition, giving it much more of a streetfighter feel than a normal naked bike. The seat is a tiny bit high but the very narrow tank/seat interface means even the stumpy-legged like me can comfortably reach the ground. At low speed it feels a bit top-heavy but anything above walking pace that disappears. The upright riding position is pretty comfortable especially if you're coming from a sports bike. The clocks do a surprisingly good job of knocking the air out of the way and there's very little buffeting at legal speeds, but getting up towards triple figures gets very windy. You can certainly ride it for several hundred miles a day without any ill-effects, with the fairly low and forward pegs and narrow tank keeping you in a pretty relaxed riding position. The suspension is definitely at the budget end - non-adjustable forks and preload and rebound-adjustable rear aren't terrible but could be a lot better. Fast sweepers are easy but the front end feels a little vague under heavy braking and turn-in, and it gets very squirelly over bumps mid-corner. . Corner exit is amazing though - at almost any lean angle and speed just crank the throttle and it'll spit you out of the corner like a cork from a bottle. Wayne Rainey's old wisdom about "Nobody ever lost the front under power" definitely seems to apply here - you'll not break any lap records but you'll have a poo poo-eating grin every time you come out of a corner, even if it's 10mph slower than other bikes can get there. Speed through traffic is limited by the wide bars sitting exactly at car-mirror height and an Exxon Valdez-sized turning circle. Equipment and gadgets: Big digital speedo is really easy to read, and also has info like MPG, average and top speed, and gear selected available. There's a lap timer if you're into that too. No fuel gauge though, just a light that comes on way early. That's about it though, no clever cubbyholes or anything (the half-faired GT version comes with a lighter socket in one of it's three little cubbyholes). Headlights are a little bit weak on low beam but high beam can be used as a weapon. Common problems: The Shiver (and Dorsoduro with which it shares an engine) have three common vices of which I've encountered two. First, pre-10 bikes had a problem with the clutch springs fatiguing and allowing the clutch to slip - the 2010-onwards clutch springs fix this and are a direct drop-in replacement. Second, the MAF sensors (one of the few non-Italian components in the bike) can crap out leaving the bike immobile. It's a cheap problem to fix but diagnosing it can be an expensive nightmare (it fails in a way that dumps random noise into the loom, making the ECU think everything is hosed). Third (this is the one I've not encountered, yet) the camchain can develop a (non-terminal) rattle. It's not a cheap fix but as it doesn't seem to hurt the engine most just leave it be - the noise is mostly drowned out by the Ducati-clutch-loud rattle of the water pump anyway. There was also the (for some reason hilarious to some people) ECU problem that stopped the bike starting at 0 degrees centigrade - this should have been patched out if it went into a dealer for a service at any point after 2012. Other common problems are pretty much just character - it has the normal Aprilia battery-murdering tendencies (and the battery is a nightmare to get in and out) so invest in a tender, and I've had a few problems with brakes seizing, switches crapping out, and once the clutch slave cylinder seal failing (this latter one apparently unique at least according to other owners). At least some of these problems can be safely ascribed to my riding habits, I commute all year in all weather and park the bike outside. The biggest problem is of course spares availability. Pray you don't break down in August. Also for whatever reason Aprilia don't sell certain components (brake dust seals being the most egregious example) as spares *at all*, so you're left putting generic replacements on. Common/essential mods: Almost every owner will have fitted a Fat Duc or similar O2 emulator - it's a two-minute job, inline with the lambda sensor, that richens up the mixture to get rid of the nasty lean surge and snatchiness at low revs in Sports mode. If you get the non-ABS version a belly pan is also essential as the starter motor and oil filter are right behind the front wheel and get utterly covered in poo poo (also it just looks so much better with one on). The ABS version comes with a little pan to protect the ABS electronics that are also mounted there - the Skidmarx pan fits over that too and looks much better IMO). A lot of owners swap out the suspension for something sexier too - the rear shock is an easy job but the forks may need entirely replacing. There's a factory-fitted Akrapovic exhaust option and a couple of manufacturers make replacements, but most owners keep the stock pipes because they sound good and fit the back end so perfectly. What I'd change if money were no object: That bloody turning circle. Also i'd prefer the pegs were either further forward or further back, they're in a sort of compromise position that is both a little uncomfortable on long rides but also makes them tend to bottom out pretty easily. More power would be nice too. Conclusion: Honestly it's the perfect bike for me. Enough power and handling for 95% of situations, great looks and sound. To be honest when I replace it next year it will almost certainly be with the new model (which is more black and therefore better than, and also has uprated suspension and ABS as standard). If you can put up with the niggles (and like the looks, which are a bit polarising) then it's well worth a look.
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2015 10:47
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 2, 2024 18:49 |
|